REVIEW: What is the Best Fuji Kit Lens? Part 3


Well it has been a fun three weeks testing the two XF 'Kit' lenses and I will admit that I would be happy to have either in my camera bag.  They certainly are not 'kit' lenses in the same vein as the ones you find on the low end DSLRs.  In this final review in this three week test I will weigh up the pros and cons of the two kit lenses and how they compare to the big brother, the XF16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR.

I conducted two earlier reviews in Part 1 and Part 2 of this feature.  Click on the links below to see those reviews and sample images.

Part 1: XF18-135mm f3.5/5.6R LM OIS WR
Part 2: XF18-55mm f2.8/4R LM OIS            

QUALITY PRODUCTS
Both the XF18-55mm f2.8/4 and the XF18-135mm f3.5/5.6 are well built, have a solid construction, are optically on a par with the best of the XF range of lenses and have a very useful Optical Image Stabilisation system built in.  The 18-135mm is also weather resistant which for lens that is very well suited to travel photography this is a big plus point.

VALUE FOR MONEY
Compared to the XF16-55mm f2.8 both lenses stack up really well in all departments but the red badged pro lens still edges it on image quality plus the constant f2.8 aperture is certainly a big plus for me.  However the other lenses both have OIS, which the f2.8 lens lacks, and the extra £300+ on the price tag, means the two 'kit' lenses are great value for money. They are even better value if you buy them bundled with a camera body.  

The street price for either kit lens is just over £600 but buy an 18-55mm with an X-T2 and that price difference between body only (£1399) and X-T2 + 18-55mm (£1649) is £250.  Buy an XE2S and the price difference between body only and body + lens is even lower at £140.

Put another way, if you buy the XF18-55mm lens at its RRP of £619, you can get an XE2S for just £70 - the combined price is £689 CLICK HERE, and there is a £40 cash back on that price before the 31st January from Fujifilm UK.  

LENS SIZE
The size of the 16-55mm f2.8 is quite large but it is quite nicely balanced on any of the X-Series cameras, especially on the X-T2 with the battery grip fitted.  At 655g it is also double the weight of the 18-55mm (310g) and heavier than the longer reaching 18-135mm which weighs in at 490g.

Lets look at the physical size of the lenses as they all extend when zoomed out to the telephoto end of the focal length.

The three shots below show the three lenses fitted to an X-Pro2 body with the lenses set at the wide end of the zoom range.  You can see there isn't much difference in size between the three lenses.

XF18-55mm f2.8/4 at 18mm
XF18-135mm f3.5/f5.6 at 18mm
XF16-55mm f2.8 at 16mm
Now here are the same three images but with the lenses set at the telephoto end of the zoom range.  You see the differences in size.

XF18-55mm f2.8/4 at 55mm
XF18-135mm f3.5/f5.6 at 135mm
XF16-55mm f2.8 at 55mm

USE IN THE REAL WORLD
I test lenses and cameras in the real world as a working photographer, not in a lab.  I found there really is very little difference in image quality between the two lenses.  The 2/3 stop extra on the 18-55mm compared to the 18-135mm at the wide end was useful in low light conditions but I found the OIS coped very well on shutter speeds as low as 1/15s handheld using both lenses.  

The 18-135mm is very compact and lightweight and fitted with the X-Pro2 really well. When zoom out to 135mm the extra barrel length on the lens did look comical on the X-Pro2 body but it was certainly not unbalanced.  On the X-T2 both lenses worked really well ergonomically.

IMAGE QUALITY
Image quality, as I have already said, is excellent, you really have to 'pixel peep' to see any flaws. If using either lens zoomed in or out at the widest aperture you will see a marginal fall off at the edges of the frame but stop the aperture down a stop and this solves the problem. 

Here are two examples. The first is a shot on the XF18-55mm taken at 55mm at f4.  The top image is the JPEG straight out of the camera.  The second shot is a 100% crop on the left edge of the image.  You can see the fall off at the edge.


XF18-55mm f2.8/f4 at 55mm @ f4
XF18-55mm f2.8/f4 at 55mm @ f4 - 100% crop showing the edge detail
Now here is the same scene taken on the XF16-55mm f2.8 taken at 55mm at f2.8.  The top image is also the JPEG straight out of the camera and the bottom image is the same crop as above.  

XF16-55mm f2.8 at 55mm @ f2.8
XF16-55mm f2.8 at 55mm @ f2.8 - 100% crop showing the edge detail   
You can see the better quality of the edge detail in the shot taken using the 16-55mm.  

The detail in the shot using the 18-55mm is not as good but the overall image is very good.  If you stop down to f5.6 or f8 the detail in the edges will improve significantly.

The extra pulling power of the 18-135mm was welcome and I could see me having this lens in my camera bag for that all round travel lens.  Yes the slower aperture was frustrating at times, especially when trying to throw the background out of focus in some of my shots, but it worked really well in all  the situations I put it through.

OIS FOR VIDEO
The one area that both kit lenses have an advantage over the pro f2.8 lens is when shooting video handheld.  As I said earlier the 16-55mm doesn't have OIS.  Now for still images this doesn't bother me because of the fast 2.8 constant aperture, but for shooting video OIS is a huge boon as it eliminates any 'waivering' when hand holding the camera.

CONCLUSION - Which is best?
If I had to choose I would probably go for 18-135mm for its flexibility, the 'one lens fits all' appeal, when travelling and the weather resistant build.  However I can recommend both these lenses.  They are certainly not second best and if you choose either they will serve you well for many years.  

Yes the 16-55mm edges both in the image stakes but the difference is relatively minor unless you are 'pixel peeping'. As a professional photographer it is important that I have the best quality lenses and that means having the 16-55mm f2.8 in my camera bag.  However each photographer has different priorities and budget.  You will have to weigh up if it is worth the significant difference in the price tags or not.

Here is a small table comparing the three lenses and what they have to offer.


XF18-55mm f2.8/4 R LM OIS XF18-135mm f3.5/5.6 R LM OIS WR XF16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR
Focal Length 35mm Equivalent 27-84mm 27-203mm 24-84mm
Max / Min Aperture (Wide) f2.8 / f22 f3.5 / f22 f2.8 / f22
Max / Min Aperture (Tele) f4 / f22 f5.6 / f22 f2.8 / f22
Filter Size 58mm 67mm 77mm
Weather Resistant no yes yes
Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) yes yes no
External Dimensions 65.0mm x 70.4mm(Wide)/97.9mm(Tele) 75.7mm x 97.8mm (Wide) / 158mm (Tele) 83.3mm x 106.0mm(Wide) / 129.5mm(Tele)
Weight 310g 490g 655g
Fujifilm RRP (UK) £619.00 £659.00 £959.00
Street Price (Fujifilm UK Dealer) £619.00** £659.00** £849.00
Website Information  CLICK HERE CLICK HERE CLICK HERE
** cash back available until 31 January 2017

Finally here is a set of images taken with both lenses in similar situations for you to compare.  There are 24 shots taken with the 18-55mm and this gallery is followed by a set of 22 images taken with the 18-135mm.

Images Taken with the XF18-55mm f2.8/4 R LM OIS




























Images Taken with the XF18-135mm f3.5/5.6R























CLICK HERE for more information on the XF18-55mm f2.8/4R LM OIS

CLICK HERE for more information on the XF18-135mm f3.5/5.6R LM OIS WR

CLICK HERE for more information on the XF16-55mm f2.8R LM OIS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE
By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALL IMAGES (UNLESS INDICATED) ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION

MacLean Photographic run Tours and Workshops in East Lothian and the Borders of Scotland.  CLICK HERE for more details and availability



Jeff Carter is an Official Fujifilm X Photographer and was named as a Fujifilm brand ambassador in June 2015. In 2016 he worked with the company on the launches of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 in Tokyo and the Fujifilm X-T2 in Paris in July 2016.  You can view his profile and gallery on the Fujifilm website HERE

If you like what you see on this blog please visit our Facebook page and click 'like'

Comments

  1. I have all three of these, as none are perfect.
    18-55 - small, light, OIS, very good at 18-40mm, but too soft at 55/f4.
    18-135 - good for travel, sharpness generally good but varies through the range, not wide enough at 18mm so I carry a 14mm as well.
    16-55 - super sharp, great for portraits at 55/2.8, useful 16mm, but heavy, bulky and no IS.
    Cleverly positioned by Fuji so you end up buying more than one ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting post. Have to say I never saw any difference between the 16-55 and the 18-55 when I had both. I sold the former because I missed the IS and because I found it too heavy. The 18-55 is my favourite of all the various Fujinon lenses I own - light, versatile, top quality. Probably more photos published using this lens than any other too, so I would gently dispute that the 16-55 is superior from a professional point of view. Perhaps I have an especially good copy! But of course everything is relative - all the Fujinon lenses are excellent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The first 18-55 I bought was a poor performer. Luckily, I bought from my local camera shop so I was able to test it against another example and prove that it was just a bad one. I was surprised that the quality could vary so much, but happy that the camera shop was able to swap it without any quibble. I still think the results at 55/f4 are not quite good enough to use it as a portrait lens, but I have kept the lens for its other advantages

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: Using Nikon Lenses on a Fuji X Camera

Rode Wireless Go for the Fujifilm X-T4

REVIEW: The New Fujinon 2x Converter