In summary
Plastic lenses are often disappointing since they tend to be built to a price, rather than for performance. So it was nice to find a Fujinon lens that appears to buck the trend.
The Fujinon XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II lens will suit entry-level buyers, for whom it represents excellent value for money.
As a kit lens, it delivers very good image quality, although it relies quite heavily on internal corrections for distortion and vignetting (which are at least partly applied to raw files when converted with Adobe Camera Raw).
This lens isn’t normally sold on its own in Australia, so you’ll probably buy it with a camera body. It’s a good match for the X-A3 and also for the X-T20 but less suitable for Fujifilm’s larger, higher-featured cameras.
Full review
Announced on 15 January, 2015, the Fujinon XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II lens is normally only offered in kit format with an X-Mount camera body in Australia, although it’s sold separately in some overseas countries. Commonly paired with entry-and lower mid-level cameras, it covers a poplar focal length range, equivalent to a 24-75mm lens on a 35mm camera. It comes in black and silver to match the camera bodies.
Side view of the Fujinon XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II lens without its lens hood. (Source: Fujifilm.)
The optical design of this lens is moderately complex, with 12 elements arranged in 10 groups. Among them you’ll find three aspherical and one extra low dispersion elements. Unlike many kit lenses, the XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 is supplied with a generous, petal-shaped lens hood.
Who’s it For?
Because it’s usually bundled with a camera, this lens will suit entry-level buyers, for whom it represents excellent value for money. As a kit lens, it delivers very good image quality but relies quite heavily on internal corrections for distortion and vignetting (which are at least partly applied to raw files when converted with Adobe Camera Raw).
Its main competitor is Fujifilm’s XR 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS, which is two thirds of a stop faster but spans a narrower field of view at each end of its range. It costs roughly AU$700, which puts into a slightly different category.
Build and Ergonomics
The Fujinon XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II lens is made almost entirely from composite materials (plastic), right down to the lens mount. For a plastic lens its build quality can be considered good, although it would be unlikely to tolerate rough treatment and is definitely not weatherproof.
The outer barrel is 55 mm long with an inner barrel that extends a further 35 mm when you zoom in from the 16mm to the 50mm position. Both the focus and zoom rings operate smoothly and we found no signs of wobbling when the lens was zoomed all the way in.
Being an XC lens, it lacks a dedicated aperture ring so you’re required to set the aperture by turning the rear dial on the camera. Aperture settings range from f/3.5 at 16 mm to f/5.6 at 50mm with a minimum aperture of f/22 across the zoom range.
Focusing is handled internally by a micro-motor which moves a group of elements. In use, it’s almost noiseless, making the lens suitable for use when shooting movies.
The manual focusing ring is located right at the front of the outer barrel. It’s 10 mm wide and turns through 360 degrees when the lens is not powered. Powering up the camera activates manual focusing ‘by wire’, triggering the AF motor with minimal tactile feedback.
Immediately aft of the focusing ring is the zoom ring, which is 25mm wide and turns through roughly 50 degrees. A band of ribbing roughly 17 mm wide covers the front of this ring. Behind it is an unribbed section on which is marked focal length settings for 16mm, 23mm, 35mm and 50mm. These line up against a black line on the fixed section of the lens barrel, which is 20 mm long and ends in the lens mount.
The petal-shaped lens hood is made of fairly rigid black plastic. It fits onto the lens via a bayonet mounting at the tip of the inner barrel. (You have to align the white dot on the hood with the mark on the outer barrel when fitting the hood for shooting and align the Fujifilm tag on the hood with that mark when reversing the hood for storage.)
Internal threading enables the lens to accept screw-in filters with a diameter of 58 mm. Front and end caps are supplied.
Performance
We were pleasantly surprised at the performance we obtained from the review lens, which comfortably outstripped expectations for the X-A3’s 24-megapixel sensor in our Imatest tests. Surprisingly, at the highest centre resolution level, edge resolution was also above expectations.
The highest resolution measured was at 50mm with the maximum aperture of f/5.6, although the other focal lengths weren’t far behind. Imatest showed the usual discrepancies between centre and edge resolution as the lens was stopped down, until diffraction began to take effect at around f/8. The graph below shows the results of our tests.
Lateral chromatic aberration was negligible and we found no evidence of coloured fringing in test shots taken in contrasty lighting. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests.
Corrections for peripheral illumination, chromatic aberration and diffraction are applied by default to JPEG files in the X-A3 camera we used for our tests. So we had to resort to raw files to determine the extent of these aberrations. We rather suspect that Adobe Camera Raw picks up at least some of the camera’s auto corrections and applies them to conversions because we found both vignetting to be slightly ‘negative’, indicating over-correction. Distortion was surprisingly low for a kit lens.
The review lens handled strong backlighting very well and appeared to be relatively flare-resistant, even when pointed directly towards a bright light source, although we found traces of veiling flare around bright areas in some backlit shots. As noted in our review of the X-A3 camera, autofocusing was generally quite fast.
Bokeh varied according to the contrast range in the background. When the background was evenly-lit, unsharp areas merged smoothly into each other. However, bright highlights tended to show outlining and bokeh could appear choppy.
Fujifilm claims the built-in optical stabilisation in the lens can provide up to four f-stops of shake correction. Even in the hands of experienced photographer, we think that’s pushing it. By our estimate, a more accurate figure would be about two stops when used by a typical purchaser.
Conclusion
Plastic lenses are often disappointing since they tend to be built to a price, rather than for performance. So it was nice to find a Fujinon lens that appears to buck the trend.
This lens will also meet the requirements of anyone who’s looking for a lightweight ‘walkaround’ lens. It’s not particularly fast and moderately large for a standard zoom; but it certainly doesn’t weigh you down.
As noted above, this lens isn’t normally sold on its own in Australia, so you’ll probably buy it with a camera body. It’s a good match for the X-A3 and also for the X-T20 but less suitable for Fujifilm’s larger, higher-featured cameras.
A Google search for this lens showed a few local online stores offering it at around AU$250, which represents reasonably good value for money. B&H, which markets aggressively into the Australian market, has it listed at US$399, which converts to AU$520.18 at the exchange rate that applied when we checked. Whether you purchase the lens on its own or with a camera body, you’ll be better of buying locally, given these figures.
SPECS
Picture angle: 83.2 to 31.7 degrees
Minimum aperture: f/22
Lens construction: 12 elements in 10 groups (including 3 aspherical and 1 ED elements)
Lens mounts: Fujifilm X mount
Diaphragm Blades: 7 (circular aperture)
Focus drive: Stepping motor
Stabilisation: Built-in optical
Minimum focus: 60 cm across zoom range; Macro 15 cm (16mm) to 35 cm (50mm)
Maximum magnification: 0.2x (at 16mm)
Filter size: 58 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 62.2 x 65.2 mm
Weight: 195 grams
Standard Accessories: Lens front and end caps,
Distributor: Fujifilm Australia; 1800 226 355; www.fujifilm.com.au
TESTS
Based on JPEG files from the X-A3 review camera.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at 16mm f/3.5.
Vignetting at 23mm f/4.2.
Vignetting at 35mm f/5.
Vignetting at 50mm f/5.6.
Rectilinear distortion at 16mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 23mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 35mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 50mm.
16mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/280 second at f/9.
50mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/210 second at f/9.
Close-up with 16mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/400 second at f/9.
Close-up with 50mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/400 second at f/11.
Close-up with 16mm focal length, ISO 2000, 1/125 second at f/3.5.
Close-up with 50mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/85 second at f/5.6.
16mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/420 second at f/10.
50mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/500 second at f/7.1.
Strong backlighting; 35mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/600 second at f/16.
Slight veiling flare in a backlit subject; 16mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/10 second at f/5.6.
32mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/280 second at f/11.
50mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/1000 second at f/6.4.
50mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/50 second at f/6.4.
28mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/30 second at f/8.
50mm focal length, ISO 640, 1/60 second at f/7.1.
Additional image samples can be found with our review of the Fujifilm X-A3 camera.
Rating
RRP: US$399; Not sold separately in Australia
- Build: 8.5
- Handling: 8.8
- Image quality: 9.0
- Versatility: 8.7