{"id":3838,"date":"2014-08-15T15:59:19","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T20:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=3838"},"modified":"2014-08-15T19:40:38","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T00:40:38","slug":"review-fujifilm-fujinon-xf-18-135mm-f3-5-5-6-r-lm-ois-wr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-fujifilm-fujinon-xf-18-135mm-f3-5-5-6-r-lm-ois-wr\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18-135mm f\/3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fuji has done a great job in building a robust lineup for their X-Series mirrorless cameras, but despite releasing the weathersealed X-T1 earlier this year, they hadn’t created a weathersealed lens until now.\u00a0 The XF 18-135mm f\/3.5-5.6 R OIS WR is a wide range super-zoom lens that features Fuji’s new Weather Resistant tag, with rubber gaskets around all points of entry and even a novel ventilation system to allow air to enter and leave the lens without sucking in moisture and dust.\u00a0 The lens covers a great range of focal lengths, equivalent to the field of view that a 27-205mm lens would have on a full frame camera.\u00a0 The one big up front question with this lens is whether it’s worth the rather high $899 price of entry.\u00a0 Let’s take a look.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The XF 18-135mm f\/3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR on the Fujifilm X-T1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Construction and Handling<\/h3>\n

If you are familiar with Fuji’s 55-200mm f\/3.5-4.8 telezoom, then you already know predominantly how the new XF 18-135mm is constructed.\u00a0 The lens has a similar build with a metal mount, high quality plastic body shell, aperture ring, well-damped and rubberized zoom ring and a metal front filter ring and hood bayonet ring.\u00a0 However, the 18-135mm is a weather resistant lens, and as such, there are subtle differences in the construction and feel.\u00a0 The aperture ring still moves similarly to those on the 55-200mm or 18-55mm, but there is a different feel to its motion due to the weather sealing.\u00a0 Likewise, the zoom action is mostly similar, except near the end of the zoom range.\u00a0 There is gasketing in the zoom extension mechanism to prevent water intrusion when using the lens at longer focal lengths, and you bump up against it as you near 135mm.\u00a0 As a result, there is a spongy resistance at the long end of the zoom that makes it more difficult to turn to 135mm than to other focal lengths, which, to be honest, is a bit annoying.<\/p>\n

The lens is fairly large for a mirrorless lens, and weighs slightly less than the 55-200mm.\u00a0 It’s not a lens that I would recommend for use on the small X-M1 and X-A1 bodies, but it handles fine on the X-T1 and the X-E2 (with the added grip).\u00a0 Considering the range, its primary use will be as a single lens solution that can take the place of multiple lenses when you want to simplify what you’re carrying, and due to that, its size isn’t a major issue.\u00a0 The lens does extend towards the long end, adding several additional inches to the length.\u00a0 Below is a size comparison of the lens with the 18-55mm f\/2.8-4 and the 55-200mm f\/3.5-4.8.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The XF 18-55mm, XF 18-135mm, and XF 55-200mm, at their shortest focal lengths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"XF<\/a>
XF 18-55mm, XF 18-135mm, XF 55-200mm, lenses at their longest focal lengths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Weather Sealing<\/h4>\n

As has been mentioned, the XF 18-135mm is Fuji’s first weather-sealed lens.\u00a0 There are gaskets around moving parts on the lens, a rubber gasket around the lens mount and a unique ventilation system to ensure water and dust don’t get sucked into the lens while zooming.\u00a0 I took the lens out on my X-T1 in some rain to shoot for a few minutes to test out the sealing, and for the most part, it performed well.\u00a0 No moisture made it into any part of the lens or camera body, and everything worked flawlessly.<\/p>\n

\"18135_wet\"<\/a>
The XF 18-135mm is Fuji’s first ‘weather resistant’ lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, I am disappointed in the sealing at the lens mount.\u00a0 I’ve owned several weather sealed bodies and lenses, and most use a thin rubber gasket that presses up against the lens mount on the camera to create a seal.\u00a0 Oddly enough, the rubber gasket that surrounds the mount on the 18-135mm doesn’t actually make contact with the face of the lens mount on the camera.\u00a0 Instead, it surrounds the metal of the camera mount.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this relies on the rubber properly fitting flush to the outside of the mount, and the problem is that it doesn’t<\/em> fit flush to the surround.\u00a0 As a result, the rubber mount gasket only serves to deflect the water around the mount instead of actually creating a seal against it.<\/p>\n

After I came in from my brief shoot in the rain, I toweled off the lens and camera.\u00a0 To my surprise there were several drops of water that had made it past the gasket and were sandwiched between the metal mounting surfaces of the lens mount.\u00a0 While no water made it beyond the lens bayonet and into the camera, I have to think that if you’re shooting in heavy rain for more than a few minutes, the potential for water to make it into the camera is there.\u00a0 So while the weather sealing for the 18-135mm is good enough to keep your lens and camera safe in some light drizzle or if you are caught unexpectedly in a storm, I would not rely on it for protection of your gear in a steady rain.\u00a0 Frankly, I’m quite surprised that this oversight was made considering the apparent quality of the sealing everywhere else on the lens.<\/p>\n

Autofocus and Image Stabilization<\/h3>\n

Like the other recent Fuji zoom lenses, the 18-135mm features a very quiet linear motor (the LM in the lens designation).\u00a0 This gives the lens rather quick focusing capabilities. In good light, focus is fast and accurate, and can be used for most any purpose, including continuous autofocus outdoors.\u00a0 In lower light, the slower f\/5.6 maximum aperture at the long end limits the light that can be used for focusing and results in the lens slowing down a bit.\u00a0 In dark conditions, autofocus is fairly slow, but in most situations, I had no complaints.<\/p>\n

One thing that is excellent about the 18-135mm is the ability for the lens to focus to .48m at all focal lengths.\u00a0 As a result, the lens is excellent for shooting closeups, and this ability truly makes the 18-135mm a versatile lens. While you’re not going to shoot macro images with the 18-135, the maximum magnification is approximately 1:4, which is great for closeups of flowers or larger insects like butterflies or dragonflies.<\/p>\n

One of the big features of the 18-135mm is its new refined optical image stabilization (OIS). Fuji is claiming an unheard-of 5 stops of stabilization for this lens, and for the most part, it’s a fairly accurate claim.\u00a0 While I wasn’t able to regularly achieve 5 stops of handholdability (which is equivalent to around 1\/6 second at 135mm), I was able to consistently get sharp shots at 1\/10 second at 135mm, for a gain of more than four stops, and I did occasionally get a 1\/5 second sharp shot at the long end.\u00a0 It is among the most effective optical stabilizers I’ve used.<\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n

Image Quality<\/h3>\n

Sharpness<\/h4>\n
\"Restaurant<\/a>
Restaurant Reflected – Fujifilm X-T1 with Fujinon XF 18-135mm f\/3.5-5.6 @ 37mm, f\/8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With an $899 price tag on a slow variable aperture zoom, my expectations for the optical quality for the 18-135mm were quite high.\u00a0 Much like with the Sony 18-105mm, however, I was slightly let down.\u00a0 The 18-135mm produces very good central sharpness throughout the zoom and aperture range, and even produces fairly good border sharpness in the middle part of the zoom range. However, the edges at the wide and telephoto ends of the range are only mediocre, even when stopped down to f\/8.<\/p>\n

The 18-135mm is capable of producing quality images, but nothing in them is going to blow your doors off.\u00a0 Both the Fuji 18-55mm and the Fuji 55-200mm show better overall performance than the 18-135mm, though perhaps that’s to be expected given the generous 7.5x zoom range.\u00a0 Still, given the high price tag, I was hoping for performance more in line with the 18-55.\u00a0 Though the 18-135mm doesn’t have the sharpness to compete with the other XF zoom lenses, it isn’t all that far behind, and the resolution produced by the lens is definitely quite good for a super zoom lens.<\/p>\n

One thing I did notice is that the 18-135mm does seem to have just that right combination of contrast and resolution to induce the watercolor effect on X-Trans sensors in Lightroom.\u00a0 I noticed it popping up much more when using the 18-135 than with my other Fuji lenses.\u00a0 Perhaps it is the slightly lower resolution combined with high image contrast\u00a0that causes Lightroom to not do so well in this case, so you may want to stick to other RAW converters when using this lens with landscape images with fine foliage detail.<\/p>\n

\"Wind<\/a>
Wind Chime Ball – Fujifilm X-T1 with Fujinon XF 18-135mm @ 135mm, f\/5.6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bokeh<\/h4>\n

Most manufacturers tend to leave bokeh as an afterthought in their super-zoom lenses, but Fuji has had a good track record in producing zoom lenses with good-looking out of focus areas.\u00a0 Luckily, the 18-135mm performs rather well in this area.\u00a0 The out of focus areas with the 18-135mm are quite pleasing in most circumstances, with smooth specular highlights and even gradation.\u00a0 While it can get a little busier at shorter focal lengths, it’s still a solid performance for a lens in this range.<\/p>\n

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

The XF 18-135mm produces punchy images with good contrast and rich\u00a0color throughout the zoom range and right from wide open.\u00a0 If you like the look of most of the other Fuji XF lenses, you’ll appreciate the 18-135mm, as it is definitely cut from the same cloth in this department.<\/p>\n

The lens does have some visible lateral chromatic aberration, especially towards the edges of the image frame, though it’s really only prominent with light-colored areas of fine detail.\u00a0 While this can mostly be corrected in post-processing, there is some residual loss of detail as a result of the CA.\u00a0 Longitudinal CA and fringing didn’t appear to pose a problem in my daily shooting.<\/p>\n

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

The Fuji 18-135mm handles distortion rather well for a zoom with this range.\u00a0 The wide-angle end has a fair bit of barrel distortion, but nothing particularly egregious.\u00a0 This can be fixed rather easily with basic distortion correction tools in situations where it’s noticeable.\u00a0 As it moves towards the long end there’s a bit of pincushion distortion, but again, not particularly noticeable.\u00a0 Overall, I was quite pleased with the performance here.<\/p>\n

There is some vignetting as well, though it usually only can be spotted in areas of even illumination and little detail, such as the sky or smooth walls.\u00a0 I didn’t shoot against the sun all that much in my time with the lens, but in the few images I did shoot with the sun in the frame, the lens maintained good contrast with no visible ghosts.<\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

\"xt1_18135\"<\/a>Pros<\/h4>\n