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Lens review

Fujifilm Fujinon XC 16-50 mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS

14 July 2014
Arkadiusz Olech

11. Summary



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Pros:
  • very good image quality in the frame centre,
  • decent image quality on the edge of the frame,
  • negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
  • sensibly corrected coma,
  • slight astigmatism,
  • fast, silent and accurate autofocus.

Cons:

  • high lateral chromatic aberration at 16 mm,
  • monstrous distortion at the wide angle in RAW files,
  • weak performance against bright light,
  • significant vignetting in RAW files,
  • plastic casing and mount,
  • high price.

Taking all the pros and cons, presented above, into account, the purchase of the tested lens for its suggested price, amounting currently to 1699 PLN, would be ludicrous. Fortunately nobody has to buy it separately as it is offered with the Fujifilm X-A1 and X-M1 cameras if you pay a little bit extra. It cooperates very nicely with both of these bodies, providing a quite universal focal length range – especially that wide angle of view, which you cannot find in 18-55 mm instruments. What’s more, it generates sensibly sharp photos no matter what focal length you employ. It would be foolish to demand more from a kit lens, added almost for free to a camera body.