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The following chart shows a comparison between basic properties of the tested lens and other macro lenses with similar angles of view designed for smaller sensors. You see at once that the Fujinon is physically the biggest and the heaviest instrument of all – in fact it weighs 2-3 times more than some of its rivals!

The photo below proves that the Fujinon 2.8/20 is bigger even than many 100 mm macro lenses designed for full frame; in the photo below we positioned the tested lens next to the Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro and the Fujinon XF 56 mm f/1.2.

Although the very casing of the lens looks very solid indeed there’s one thing that makes us worried. When the lens is detached from a camera body and you move it you hear a quite distinct rattle. That sound comes most likely form the stabilization system and is, allegedly, something normal. It’s true that when you attach it to a camera and switch it on the lens stops rattling. Still you can’t help guessing how such a noisy, clattering system might perform after 2-3 years of intensive wear and tear…

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The tested lens starts with a metal barrel which surrounds contacts and a rear element. That element doesn’t move, it is 22 mm in diameter and positioned about 15 mm inside a well-matted, and properly darkened tube. From this side the situation is perfect and the instrument - tightly sealed.

A metal ring which doesn’t move and turns wider after a while is the first part of the proper body. On that ring there’s a red dot, making an alignment with a camera easier, the focal length of the lens, its serial number and information that this piece of equipment was produced in Japan and is weather resistant. The diagram below, coming from the producer, shows all seals and gaskets of the tested lens.

On the left side of that ring you also find two switches. The first, responsible for the focusing mechanism working mode, offers three ranges: FULL, 0.25–0.5 of a meter and from 0.5 of a meter to infinity. The second switch controls the optical stabilization unit (OIS ON/OFF).

A ribbed aperture ring, 13 mm wide, is the next part of the lens. It moves every 1/3 EV step and it performs really beyond reproach.

Then comes a manual focus ring, as wide as 49 mm. It doesn’t feature any distance or DOF scale and is completely covered by fine ribbing. It is a focus-by-wire construction and its precision depends on the speed of the turning and the range you work in.

A smooth ring with doesn’t move is next, featuring the name and parameters of the lens. It turns into a hood mount.

The front element is 35 mm in diameter and it doesn’t move as well. It is surrounded by a non-rotating filter thread, 62 mm in diameter.

The optical construction of the lens consists of 16 elements positioned in 12 groups. Among those you can find one aspherical element, one Super ED and three ED elements as well. Inside there’s also an aperture with nine diaphragm blades which can be closed down to f/22. A fluorine coating has also been applied to the front lens element to repel water and dirt.

Buyers get both caps and a hood in the box.

Image stabilization

According to the producer angle shake and shift shake is suppressed by using a gyro sensor and an acceleration sensor with high accuracy, which, as a result, allows the lens to achieve 5-stop image stabilization (CIPA guidelines). Of course we had to check that claim. We took several dozen photos at every exposure time ranging from 1/160 to 1/2 of a second with the stabilization switched on and off and then we determined a percentage of blurred photos for each set. The appropriate graph showing that percentage, correlative with the exposure time expressed in EV (with 0 EV being an equivalent of 1/125 of a second), you can find below.

The maximum distance between both curves reaches 4 EV and such is, in our opinion, the efficiency of the optical stabilization unit of the Fujinon 2.8/80. It is an excellent result although a bit short of the declared 5 EV.