#versatility

The XF 16-55mm F/2.8 - Born to be ... a Brick!

I did it. Finally. A couple months ago I bought the “Brick” (again). “Brick”? That’s the short name for Fuji’s Pro F/2.8 24-85mm full frame equivalent zoom. Fuji calls it the XF16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR. Now why would having a zoom be such a big deal? Coz I’m a prime guy. Don’t like zooms. Then I went out and got one regardless … And it has taught me what a “Love/Hate Relationship” is. Please read on to find out more!

City park contre-jour, taken with X-H1 and XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R WR @16mm, F/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 400

Look at the above contre-jour picture taken in our city park during the early morning! I tell ya, images taken with this lens are tack sharp. Always! So, full disclosure here: I had it already back in 2017, on my X-T2 (my main camera at that time). But then sold it (despite loving its image quality), coz I found that it was not suited to low light photography in the golden hours at the beginning and end of the day having a max. aperture of “only” F/2.8. That’s 2 (two whole!) stops below my F/1.4 primes, without any OIS (optical image stabilisation) to compensate the loss of light. That’s why it’s a Brick! Or have you ever seen a Brick with image stabilisation? No? Well, I ain’t either. So, it’s a Brick. Now why would I buy a “Brick” again?

For sure y’all have heard of the “definition of insanity”: Doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same result, but expecting a different one. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein (also to Ben Franklin and Mark Twain …). But it was neither from those nor from Einstein, coz that quote would contradict the laws of thermal dynamics & chaos theory. Those teach us that it is actually highly unlikely that you get the same result when doing something the same way over & over … Go try shuffling a deck of cards in the same way several times and see how often you can get the same card to come out on top. See? It ain’t gonna happen, not if you’re not a halfway good magician … ;-) Actually this “definition of insanity” first appeared in 1981 in a document published by Narcotics Anonymous: A guide book to help narcotics overcome their addiction by persuading its members that it’s a futile exercise to continue using narcotic drugs and expecting to be able to stop on their own

So, maybe I ain’t “insane” after all - I got a real reason for buying “The Brick” again! Coz of what’s meanwhile changed: Fuji gave us the X-H1, first time sporting IBIS (In Body Image Stabilisation). So, on the X-H1 the “Brick” is stripped of its main reason for being a Brick: With the X-H1’s IBIS I can now use the Brick in a “Brick-less” environment (twilight, IBIS+F/2.8 @1/8-1/15 sec, comparable to no IBIS+F/1.4@ 1/30-1/60 sec). So, the X-H1 has given the Brick the chance to taste life as if it wouldn’t have been a Brick! Below another image I liked because of the subtle gradations from pure white to deep black:

White & black cars, seen with XF 16-55mm F/2.8 on X-H1 @55mm, F/8, 1/400 sec, ISO 200, -1 EV

Ok back to topic now. What are the pro’s & con’s of the XF 16-55mm F/2.8 and why do I have a “Love/Hate Relationship” with this lens?

Here the Pro’s (the “Love” relationship):

  • Fantastic image quality, comparable to Fuji’s F/2 primes already from max. aperture F/2.8 onwards. Only at its longest focal length you can find some very slight edge softness (no issue)!

  • Max. F/2.8 aperture over the whole zoom range & aperture values marked on aperture ring

  • Versatility: The 16 - 55mm range (substantial wide angle to portrait telephoto) is perfect for all-round photography, esp. when you don’t wanna change lenses (wedding, travel, dust, rain, …)

  • Flexibility: Y’all can switch from overview to detailed images at the turn of the zoom ring!

  • Excellent, extremely robust build (mainly metal, only front tube of high quality plastic): No play, no wobble. Rings have just the right resistance. Zoom doesn’t extend with lens pointing down

  • Build quality: Well centred, no dust / smears on inner lens surfaces (as some Fuji lenses have)

  • Completely weather & dust resistant (special seals to prevent sucking dust in when zooming)

  • Good close focus of 0.4m (0.16x magnification): You can take a frame filling image of your hand!

This is the kind of image I love this lens for: No need to change lenses when documenting festivities (weddings, anniversaries, parties, …) & superior, prime-like image quality from F/2.8 onwards:

Anniversary “selfie”, captured on X-T2 with XF 16-55mm F/2.8 @23mm, F/5.6, 1/30 sec, ISO 1600, flash -0.3 EV

The above image of me & my pretty wife at our anniversary was taken using the zoom’s moderate wide-angle setting of 23mm by hand-holding the camera with Brick and flash in “selfie” mode - quite a stunt to hold that rig steady at arm’s length weighing nearly 2kg (4.4 lbs) ! ;-)

And now the Con’s (the “Hate” relationship):

  • Even if the X-H1 takes care of image stabilization it’s still a Brick, as in big and heavy: Strap that Brick onto your X-H1 and you’re holding nearly 1.4kg (that’s 3lbs!) in hand! All the time …

  • This lens has no image stabilisation! Means it is less useful on non stabilised bodies (X-Pro2/3, XT-3, …), limiting how far you can venture into the golden twilight hours w/o a tripod. That’s why it was born to be a Brick! w/o image stabilisation the max. aperture of F/2.8 is just not enough …

  • It has a seriously intimidating effect on people (with a 77mm filterø it’s in full frame territory!). Try pull this thing out and point it at someone - people dive for cover and the person you wanted to take an intimate portrait of best case gives you a somewhat irritated smile & feels sorry for you!

  • I’ve a tendency to use this zoom mostly at its focal length extremes (i.e. at 16 and 55mm), less in between. This negates its flexibility a bit as I could just as well run around with 2 cameras with the XF 16mm/1.4 and YF 56mm/1.2 bolted on them!

  • I got the feeling that images taken with this multi-element zoom (17 elements in 12 groups!) somehow come out a bit “flat” (lacking the 3D pop that my primes exhibit). Just a feeling …

Edit 2020/7/20:

On the last item above, regarding tendency of multi-element zooms to maybe generate a bit “flat” image rendering … I really dunno, but if I look at below image taken with my XF 23mm F/2 in very similar circumstances as the first image of this post, I do kinda get the feeling it has more “3D pop”. Maybe I’m just imagining stuff … So, y’all please decide & let me know your comments! Take a look:

City park contre-jour, X-Pro2 with XF 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/40 sec, ISO 400 - amazing “3D-pop”!

As you can see I’ve got quite an ambiguous relationship with this lens … In fact I don’t really use it that often, despite it’s fantastic image quality! It mostly only gets used when I absolutely need the flexibility of a zoom and/or need to work in dusty / wet environments, where changing lenses would freak me out (remember? I’d risk getting PTSD if any dust’d get onto my sensor!). The main issue I got with this lens is it’s (full frame-esque) size & weight. Holding those 1.4kg (3lbs) continuously in one hand gets annoying rather soon. If I compare this to taking along my 2 camera / 2 lens kit (2 X-Pro2’s with 23 & 50mm F/2’s attached in my compact Think Tank Hubba Hubba Hiney), I get a much more balanced kit for only 200g extra and only around 15% larger bag size. In this setup I have one camera in hand, that weighs only around half (!) of my X-H1 + Brick combo: It’s just way easier to hold only 800g in your hand over longer periods of time! Meanwhile the other camera/lens is in the bag nicely distributing the weight

Anyway, see below image I did with the 16-55 zoom. Especially architecture photography works well with zooms as you have to adjust the angle of view all the time & need in-between settings to match the image to the frame:

Town house, on X-H1 with XF 16-55 F/2.8 @17mm, F/5.6, 1/550 sec, ISO 400

Well, that’s about it with my short review of Fuji’s XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR lens: It’s undeniably THE best mid range zoom I’ve ever had (and I’ve seen ‘em all), at a very fair price of just over a grand. IF you can live with its weight & size handicap, that is. Ideally you’d combine it with an image stabilised body (X-H1 or X-T4) to enable low light hands free photography, despite the F/2.8 max. aperture

Please head over to Philip Sutton: He’s an avid user of this lens & you can learn a lot from his beautiful people photography! Actually he triggered me to buy the 16-55 again, thanks Philip!

As always, if you have any questions or would like to leave me some comments (constructive critique is always welcomed ;-)) please do so in the comments section below or send me a message via my “about” page. I will answer every one, I promise!

Wish y’all a good week & hope you stay safe & healthy,

best regards

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

NO More Sensor Dust, a Creative Solution !

In the days of film it didn't matter: Dust. Ok, sometimes if you got unlucky dust manifested itself by leaving "telegraph lines" on your film but this could be prevented by being reasonably careful while changing film. Fast forward to the digital age, dust has become more of a problem. Well, at least mentally ... I´d never thought that I´d do what I did to solve it. Please read on if interested !

Twin spires of the Stadtpfarr Church in Bayreuth: XF 18-135 mm @f8/18 mm (27 mm FF equ.)

To be honest, since I exclusively use Fuji mirrorless cameras I´ve only once had a real problem with sensor dust: Happened to my (meanwhile sold) X-T1: Sent it in for cleaning as the dust was underneath the sensor cover glass - discovered that it didn't disappear after wet cleaning the sensor (Jeezus, just doin´ that little operation nearly gave me a freakin´ heart attack ! ;-)

House facade in the Winter Sun, captured by XF 18-135 mm @f8/18 mm (27 mm FF equ.)

Otherwize, touch wood - didn't have to clean a sensor again since then coz the fear of dust - Amathophobia ;-) has driven me to become a kinda "one lens guy", reluctant to change lenses when out on the street and IF necessary really sweating about it ... While this restriction has been good for my creativity I was missing the peace of mind I´d experienced in my film days. So I went out & got myself the Fujinon XF 18-135 mm / f3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR zooooom - Oh boy, already the name of that thing´s longer than you can say in one breath !

Slightly more compressed perspective, with XF 18-135 mm @f8/55 mm (83 mm FF equ.)

Hang on, say again ? Yes, a Z-O-O-M lens ! Ya know ? Those telescopic barrel shaped things, filled with hundreds of lenses, way too dark max. apertures, and usually having a bad reputation of delivering soft, soggy, unsharp, contrast-less images. And I´d always used primes till now ... So, even if this decision´s gonna cost me at least half of my numerous, faithful blog followers ;-) I´ll do my best to try to convince y´all otherwize - see below my sneak review of the Fuji XF 18-135 mm WR zoom lens (comparable to a 27-203 mm zoom on full frame) !

Fuji´s Air Ventilation System
(courtesy of Fujifilm Global)

All the images on this post were taken with the Fuji XF 18-135 mm WR zoom, and I gotta say I was very positively impressed about the amazing flexibility and image quality this lens offers, especially also at the longest focal length (normally the Archilles´ heel of tele-zooms). It truly is a "one lens" solution which can replace a bag full of primes (with some caveats, see below) ! So, no more need to change lenses ! I felt like liberated & it gives me a wonderful peace of mind regarding sensor dust. This WR (weather resistant) lens also uses a clever "Air Ventilation" feature (see on the right) to effectively prevent the pumping action of the zoom sucking dust into the system !

I really appreciate the combination of an 18 mm (27 mm FF equ.) wide-angle all the way thru to 135 mm (203 mm FF equ.) telephoto, all in one lens. On my DSLR´s (a long time ago) I had 3 f2.8 L zooms (from 16 to 210 mm), but always seemed to end up using the focal length extremes of the respective lenses´s zoom range. Here the Fuji lens offers much more flexibility and sufficient image quality over the whole zoom range that I now often also use the focal lengths in between the extremes:

More compressed view of backlit streetlamp: XF 18-135 mm @f8/75 mm (113 mm FF equ.)

Yes, the maximum opening from f3.5 at 18 mm to f5.6 at 135 mm is a bit restricted, but the images IMO are already quite punchy and absolutely useable at max. aperture ! The integrated OIS (optical image stabilization) system does an amazing job. It allows me to compensate the modest max. aperture (at least for static subjects) by allowing me to use an up to 2 (18 mm) -4 (135 mm) stops slower shutter speed. The advertized 5 stop difference can only rarely be achieved in ideal conditions with solid bracing of the camera. So, the only real caveat from my point of view is the limited background separation due to small f5 - 5.6 max. apertures at longer focal lengths, however the bokeh is quite smooth !

Backlit narrow street, seen with XF 18-135 mm @f8/105 mm (158 mm FF equ.)

I never thought I´d love using a zoom (even less with a 7.5 X zoom ratio) ... But after intensive use the last week I can really recommend Fuji´s XF 18-135 mm WR zoom as a "one lens" solution for travel, casual walkabouts, all-round use, etc. Granted it ain´t as sharp as Fuji´s amazing primes  so I continue to use those for critical assignments. Summarizing, the following positive things can be said about the XF 18-135 mm WR zoom:

  • Extensive zoom range covering all the main focal lengths from wide-angle to telephoto. No need to change lenses, no dust worries, no fuss and fast adapting to situation
  • Good image quality even at the extreme focal lengths and at max. apertures, decent Bokeh
  • Fast accurate and silent autofocus (with X-Pro2). Front element does not rotate
  • Amazing in lens image stabilization (OIS) allowing up to 4 stops longer shutter speeds
  • Portability: acceptable size & weight, no problem to hand carry around all day on X-Pro2
  • Build quality: Weather resistant, metal bayonet, filter thread & rings (focus & aperture), high quality plastic lens tube. Tight, compact feel and smooth operation. No lens creep
  • I like the aperture switch: The lens remembers the last manually set aperture value when switching back from auto to manual
  • Absolutely use-able macro capability (up to 0.27 X, min focus at 45 cm)

And here the cons:

  • Some chromatic aberration - can be corrected in post
  • Modest max. aperture limits ability to stop motion and potential for background separation
  • Zoom ring has increased resistance towards the long end of the zoom range (because of the weather sealing I think). Always need to double check if I really have the max. setting
  • Aperture setting not visible on lens, need to check viewfinder or LCD

Didn't´t say anything about price yet - I think that 899$ / 850€ is a fair price for what you get but it ain´t really a bargain ...

Please let me know if you´ve any questions - you can contact me via my about page or leave me a comment below 8your email address will not be disclosed) ! Many thanks for your interest & for visiting,

Many thanks & best regards,

Hendrik

I hope you enjoyed reading this post - If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance !