{"id":3369,"date":"2014-04-15T21:11:56","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T02:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=3369"},"modified":"2014-04-16T11:44:51","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T16:44:51","slug":"review-fujifilm-fujinon-xf-10-24mm-f4-r-ois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-fujifilm-fujinon-xf-10-24mm-f4-r-ois\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm f\/4 R OIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fujifilm just keeps on churning out lenses to fill out its two-year old X-Series system. \u00a0This rate of production is outstanding on its own, but what is most amazing is the catering to the enthusiast. \u00a0In just two years, Fuji has managed to create a nearly complete enthusiast lens lineup. \u00a0The only things missing now are super-fast zooms, supertelephotos and the specialty lenses such as tilt-shift lenses. \u00a0The latest offering from Fujifilm brings a true ultra-wide-angle zoom to the system in the XF 10-24mm f\/4 R OIS. \u00a0This lens covers a wide range from the extreme wide-angle to the more moderate wide angle, with a field of view equivalent to 15-36mm on a full-frame camera. \u00a0Not only have they created a useful range, but they’ve thrown in an optical stabilizer to boot. \u00a0It’s not a cheap lens, at $999, but let’s dive into this Fuji 10-24mm review to see if it’s worth the cost.<\/p>\n

\"Fujifilm<\/a>
Fujifilm 10-24mm f\/4 R OIS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with my reviews, I review from a real world shooting perspective. \u00a0You won\u2019t find lens charts or resolution numbers here. \u00a0There are plenty of other sites that cover those. \u00a0I review products on how they act for me as a photographic tool in real-world shooting.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Build Quality and Handling<\/h3>\n

The 10-24mm f\/4 is a constant aperture ultra-wide zoom that has to cover an APS-C sensor and contains an IS unit. \u00a0As you might imagine, this does make it rather difficult to keep the size down. \u00a0As a result, the 10-24mm is a relatively large lens. \u00a0Compared to many other mirrorless lenses, it’s downright huge. \u00a0However, I honestly thought it looked larger in photos than it felt on the camera and in my hand. \u00a0The lens has a large 72mm front filter ring, though the rest of the lens slims down considerably. \u00a0As a result, it’s a relatively lightweight lens despite its size, and when used with my X-E2 with the accessory grip, it felt great on the camera. \u00a0I’d imagine it would handle beautifully on the X-T1 as well. \u00a0The lens felt slightly awkward on a very small body such as my X-M1, as the weight distribution is just a bit out of whack on a body that small.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Fuji 10-24mm is a rather large mirrorless lens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the light weight, the 10-24mm f\/4 is built very solidly. \u00a0The majority of the lens body is made of aluminum and there is no flex anywhere on the lens. \u00a0The large rubberized zoom ring is well damped and moves smoothly, though I felt the throw on the zoom was a little shorter than I’d like. \u00a0The metal focus ring is well damped and silky smooth.<\/p>\n

One oddity about the 10-24mm is that it features the same unmarked and free spinning aperture ring as the 18-55mm f\/2.8-4 and the 55-200mm f\/3.5-4.8. \u00a0Since the 10-24mm has a constant f\/4 maximum aperture, there is absolutely no reason a marked aperture ring couldn’t have been put in this lens, as it is on all the Fuji prime lenses. \u00a0This is simply a bizarre design choice. I’d love to have the convenience of seeing my working aperture prior to turning the camera on.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The 10-24mm with the included lens hood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The lens comes with a broad petal shaped lens hood that provides decent coverage for the front element and is reversible for storage.<\/p>\n

Autofocus and Stabilizer Performance<\/h3>\n

The 10-24mm features a very quiet and quite quick focus motor that is, like all the other Fuji lenses, very accurate as well. \u00a0Focus in almost any normal shooting circumstance was very quick and sure. \u00a0However, as light levels dim, you definitely need a high-contrast target on which to focus. \u00a0Without a suitably contrasty target, I found the 10-24mm to occasionally give up without finding focus in low light. \u00a0 The lens can focus all the way down to 0.24m, allowing for tight framing at the long end of the zoom and lots of creative freedom at the wide end.<\/p>\n

The optical stabilizer in the 10-24mm is effective for about an extra two to three stops of handholdability. \u00a0I found I could get sharp shots at about 1\/4 second at the wide end and at around 1\/10 second at the long end in most situations. \u00a0While this is a decent performance, it’s not quite as impressive as the outstanding stabilizer in the Fuji 55-200mm lens. \u00a0I did find that if I could properly brace my arms against something rigid, I could get outstanding performance out of the stabilizer, with shots approaching one second at the wide end of the zoom range.<\/p>\n

Continue: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Image Quality<\/h3>\n

Sharpness<\/h4>\n
\"Milestone<\/a>
Milestone 229 – Fujinon XF 10-24mm @ 10mm, f\/8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following in the footsteps of the other high quality zoom lenses in the Fuji lens lineup, the 10-24mm f\/4 is a very solid performer when it comes to image sharpness. \u00a0The lens particularly excels at the wide and middle regions in the zoom range. \u00a0When shot at the widest focal lengths, the lens starts out with very good central image sharpness and passable borders. \u00a0Stopping down to f\/8 yields images that are quite sharp corner to corner. \u00a0This level of performance continues through to about 18mm. \u00a0Beyond 20mm, the lens does take a bit of a hit. \u00a0While the center and most of the image frame is still outstanding, the borders and corners can’t quite keep up. \u00a0Overall, one of the best performances by an ultra-wide zoom lens that I’ve had the pleasure to use.<\/p>\n

With that said, the 10-24mm can’t quite reach the truly outstanding resolution provided by the Fuji 14mm f\/2.8 and 23mm f\/1.4, though I don’t think most rational photographers would expect an ultra-wide zoom to match these lenses.<\/p>\n

Bokeh<\/h4>\n

An f\/4 ultra-wide zoom isn’t going to be a lens that you typically use to provide high levels of subject isolation, though it is possible to produce a bit of a blurred background at the long end of the zoom. \u00a0 While it’s possible to blur out the background some with the 10-24mm, it’s not a lens that produces a particularly pleasing out of focus rendering. \u00a0The bokeh of the 10-24mm is relatively nervous and produces some harsh outlining on finer details that are out of focus.<\/p>\n

Color, Contrast and Chromatic Aberration<\/h4>\n

The Fuji 10-24mm f\/4 OIS produces images with high contrast and rich color at all apertures and throughout the focal range. \u00a0When using a lens like this, landscape, travel and architectural photography come to mind, and the 10-24mm has a contrast curve that suits those applications.<\/p>\n

\"Alley<\/a>
Alley Sunrise – Fujinon XF 10-24mm f\/4 R OIS @ 22mm, f\/9<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 10-24mm controls lateral chromatic aberration very well. \u00a0There is a very small amount of CA visible at the edges of the frame upon close inspection, though you really need to look for it to see it. \u00a0As with most minor CA, it can be cleaned up extremely easily in your postprocessing workflow.<\/p>\n

Distortion, Flare and Vignetting<\/h4>\n

The Fuji 10-24mm turns in a pretty nice performance when it comes to distortion control for an ultra-wide zoom. While some other reviews I’ve seen have noted some rather significant barrel distortion at the wide end, I have to say I saw only minor barrel distortion at the wide end in my shooting, even when shooting in tight city alleys. \u00a0In the mid-range of 14-20mm, distortion is negligible. \u00a0I found the pincushion distortion present at the longer end of the zoom to be more objectionable than the barrel distortion at the wide end.<\/p>\n

The 10-24mm generally works fairly well against strong light sources, especially at the wide end of the zoom range. \u00a0Even shooting into the sun, contrast loss is minimal and ghosting artifacts are almost entirely absent at the wide end. \u00a0Zooming more towards the long end of the zoom range does show an increase in flare artifacts. \u00a0At the long end, some ghosting and minor contrast loss is visible in images with very bright light sources in the frame, as shown on the image to the left, though overall this still isn’t a bad performance.<\/p>\n

The 10-24mm also controls vignetting quite well, as only minor corner darkening is visible at f\/4 and 10mm, and is virtually invisible at 24mm and f\/4. \u00a0Nothing to worry about here.<\/p>\n

Continue: Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Pros<\/h4>\n