In summary
While the asking price for the 8mm f/3.5 R WR lens is high for such a specialised product, it represents good value for photographers who want performance plus convenience. There are a number of other, cheaper 8mm lenses available for Fujifilm ‘s X-mount but most require manual focusing and few would be as distortion-free.
Full review
Announced on 24 May 2023, the new Fujinon Super EBC XF 8mm f/3.5 R WR lens has the widest coverage angle of any in Fujifilm’s XF prime lens line-up and the same angle of view as the widest setting on the faster and more expensive XF 8-16mm f/2.8 R LM WR zoom lens we reviewed in March 2020. With an angle of view of 121 degrees diagonally and 112 degrees horizontally it is equivalent to as 12 mm lens on a 35mm camera and covers roughly twice the field of view of the average person. The compact and lightweight design makes it a good match for many of the X-mount cameras, including the new X-S20 model that we used for our tests.
Angled view of the Fujinon XF 8mm f/3.5 R WR lens with the bundled lens hood fitted. (Source: Fujifilm.)
The optical design of this lens contains 12 elements in nine groups and includes three aspherical elements and two ED elements. Together they control lens distortion, spherical aberration and astigmatism across the image field.
The internal autofocusing system is driven by a micromotor, which can achieve lock-on speeds as fast as 0.02 seconds with Phase Detection AF activated and the High Performance Mode set to ON. Placing the distortion-controlling aspherical elements at the front has effectively reduced its overall size, keeping the length to just 52.8mm and weight to 215 grams.
This diagram shows the locations of the exotic elements in the lens design. (Source: Fujifilm.)
The versatile 62mm filter thread size can accept a wide range of screw-in filters and gelatin filter adapters. The lens barrel is sealed at 10 locations to achieve dust- and weather-resistance and the front element is fluorine coated to repel water and resist stains.
Who’s it For?
The wide angle of view of this lens is best suited to landscape photography and it’s fast enough to use for taking photographs of the night sky where maximum coverage is required. It can also be used for architectural and interior photography, where its edge-to-edge sharpness will be useful.
Because of its wide angle of view, this lens has a fair amount of inherent angular distortion. Owners of X Pro-series cameras who prefer using the optical viewfinder should give it a miss as the angle of view is too wide to provide a proper view of subjects.
Angular distortion is obvious for anything that is at an angle to the camera, increasing quite dramatically towards the edges of the frame, as shown in some of the Samples below. However, the lens is remarkably distortion-free when subjects are parallel to the sensor plane.
Although it’s not as fast as some other astrophotography lenses, it is probably more versatile being easy to use on gimbals and drones. At only 52.8 mm in length, with a 68 mm diameter and weight of 215 grams it’s small enough to slip into a pocket or camera bag, while comprehensive weather-resistant sealing will ensure worry-free use in outdoor environments.
Build and Ergonomics
Build quality is similar to other Fujifilm lenses we’ve reviewed recently and, although Fujifilm doesn’t specify what this lens is made from, its light weight implies some polycarbonate is involved. Nonetheless, the mounting plate is solid metal so the barrel is likely to be metal, too.
The front element is 30 mm in diameter and bulges slightly outwards. It is surrounded by a 13 mm wide ring of black plastic that has ridging on its inner half, while the outer half carries the name of the lens engraved in white.
The 62mm filter thread stands up around it, with a bayonet fitting for the shallow petal-shaped lens hood, which is supplied with the lens. Having a normal filter thread on such a wide angle lens is unusual and will make this lens popular with landscape photographers who make frequent use of neutral density filters for blurring out moving water and clouds.
Just behind the hood mounting is the 15 mm wide manual focusing ring, which can be rotated freely through 360 degrees when no power is supplied. Like most modern lenses, the focus mode must be set from the camera’s menu and focusing is driven from the camera body. Autofocusing is almost instantaneous, as you would expect from an ultra-wide angle lens.
The12 mm wide aperture ring is located between the focusing ring and the camera. Its leading edge carries f-stop markings from f/3.5 and f/4 through to the minimum aperture of f/22. There’s also an ‘A’ position for setting auto aperture control.
Click stop adjustments are barely loud enough to be audible, which means adjustments are felt rather than heard. Videographers won’t be able to de-click the aperture ring but the risk of noise being recorded is quite low.
The lens is not stabilised and there’s no AF/MF slider, which means the focus mode must be set via the camera’s menu. It also lacks a distance scale but Fujifilm’s recent cameras will display one in the EVF or monitor screen when the camera is in manual focus mode.
Ten gold-plated contacts inside the mount provide contact points for signals to pass between the camera and lens. The X-S20 we used for testing the lens can use these contacts to indicate the area that was in focus when Focus Check is activated in the camera’s menu.
Performance
Our Imatest tests showed the review lens to be a decent performer, although it suffered somewhat from edge and corner softening. Resolution in the centre of the frame with both JPEG and RAF.RAW files was better than expected for the 26-megapixel sensor on the X-S20 we used for our tests. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests based on JPEG files.
As expected, RAF.RAW files recorded simultaneously with the JPEGs and converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw delivered higher resolution than the JPEGs. Interestingly, lateral chromatic aberration in uncorrected raw files was similar to the values recorded for JPEGs, which suggests it is a minor issue.
In the graph of our test results for the RAF.RAW files above, the red line indicates the upper boundary of the ‘negligible’ range. We found no instances of coloured fringing in test shots.
Since vignetting and rectilinear distortion are auto-corrected in Fujifilm cameras, we had to check raw files to see their effects. We found very slight edge and corner darkening in shots taken with the widest, f/3.5 aperture but this became negligible by f/5.6.
Some obvious barrel distortion is to be expected from such a wide-angle lens but it was less than we expected and effectively corrected in the JPEG files through in-camera processing. It’s worth noting, however, that angular distortion resulting from the camera’s alignment to the subject is impossible to correct.
The review lens was also surprisingly flare-resistant, although it could be forced to produce flare artefacts when the sun was inside of the frame. Normal backlit shots where the light source was occluded were, however, totally flare-free.
With a minimum focusing distance of 18 cm and a ‘stretched’ perspective, this lens is not ideal for close-up shooting. However, bokeh was surprisingly smooth in transition zones and out-of-focus areas at wider aperture settings and showed no outlining, even at f/3.5.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Picture angle: 121 degrees diagonal
Minimum aperture: f/22
Lens construction: 12 elements in 9 groups (including 3 aspherical and 2 ED elements)
Lens mounts: Fujifilm X-mount
Diaphragm Blades: 9 (rounded aperture)
Weather resistance: Dust and weather-resistant sealing in 10 locations
Focus drive: Micromotor driven internal focusing
Stabilisation: No
Minimum focus: 18 cm
Maximum magnification: 0.07x
Filter size: 62 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 53 x 52.8 mm
Weight:215 grams
Standard Accessories: Front lens cap FLCP-62 II, rear lens cap RLCP-001, lens hood, wrapping cloth
Distributor: Fujifilm Australia, 1800 226 355
TESTS
Based on JPEG files recorded with the Fujifilm X-S20 camera.
Based on RAF.RAW files recorded simultaneously and converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at f/3.5.
Rectilinear distortion.
Close-up at f/3.5; ISO 160, 1/27 second.
Close-up at minimum focus; ISO 160, 1/300 second at f/3.5.
Bokeh at f/5.6; ISO 160, 1/250 second.
Sunstar in specular highlight; ISO 160, 1/17 second at f/22. Note the angular distrtion of the subject in this close-up view.
Sunstar; ISO 160, 1/8 second at f/22.
Flare artefacts; ISO 160, 1/15 second at f/22.
Normal backlighting; ISO 160, 1/350 second at f/5.
Angular distortion in JPEG file; ISO 160, 1/400 second at f/6.4.
The same image as an uncorrected raw file.
ISO 400, 1/20 second at f/5.
ISO 160, 1/140 second at f/5.
ISO 160, 1/85 second at f/4.5.
ISO 160, 1/20 second at f/3.5.
ISO 160, 1/240 second at f/8.
ISO 160, 1/150 second at f/7.1.
ISO 160, 1/640 second at f/11.
ISO 160, 1/1100 second at f/3.5.
ISO 160, 1/125 second at f/9.
ISO 160, 1/200 second at f/4.5.
Additional image samples can be found in our review of the Fujifilm X-S20 camera.
Rating
RRP: AU$1429
- Build: 9.0
- Handling: 9.0
- Image quality: 8.8
- Autofocusing: 9.0
- Versatility: 8.5
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