Intro

As you may know, if you are a regular reader of my blog, I shot with Fujifilm a lot in the past 5 years. Started with the low budget cameras and lenses, and switching between systems and brands, I gradually upgraded my gear. The Fujifilm XF 16-50mm F/2.8-4.8 R LM WR lens is THE BEST kit lenses I ever owned throughout my time in the photography realm.

But because this is a day when I switch again, away from Fujifilm, I wanted to assess a few items in the Fujifilm kit, that I will always remember no matter what the future brings.

Build Quality & Handling

Fujifilm knows how to make lenses. Although this lens is not their best in terms of materials, the construction of the lens is still top notch. It’s made of mostly plastic, but it’s good quality plastic. It has weather sealing all around.

By omitting heavier materials such as metal in the build of this lens, they managed to make it so small and light that it’s a joy to use. It weighs only 260g, and you barely feel it on a bigger body like the X-T5. I can’t vouch for how well, or not, it handles on a smaller bodies like an X-M5 or an X-E5, but I assume that it fits perfectly on those as well.

It is also an internal zoom lens, which makes it even nicer to use, and it can be balanced on a light and “cheaper” gimbal too.

I would not be worried about easily damaging the lens, because it seems to hold up well. Actually, I never had a Fujifilm XF lens that would’ve shown any sign of usage during the time I had with them, so that’s saying something (maybe about the gear or more about me, I don’t know).

I can’t say anything about the weather sealing, because I did not had the chance to shoot with it in the rain, but knowing Fujifilm gear, I’m sure it can handle quite the downpour. I shot with the 50mm f2 in the rain and that did not skipped a beat.

Performance

It has the new linear motors, and it makes a difference. It has small glass elements, so combined with the new motors this lens focuses lightning fast. If there is an issue with focusing it’s most likely the body, or user error.

The sharpness is also good, even wide open, I haven’t had an issues. But it’s worth mentioning that this lens without the corrections, has a huge distortion and vignetting. But after correction, you will not notice anything.

And last but not least, this lens shows no purple or green fringing at all, at least in my experience I did not see any after using the normal correction profiles that are being applied by default in Lightroom or the ones that the camera applies on the SOOC JPEGs.

Minimum Focus Distance & Bokeh

The minimum focus distance on this lens is 24cm which lets you get real close to your subject, and the image quality stays amazing.

The bokeh itself is decent, but you can’t expect too much from this aperture on an ASP-C sensor. You can get most of your shots in focus because of this, and occasionally miss but that’s mostly the fault of the bodies rather than the lens. Fujifilm does not have the best autofocus performance unfortunately. I’m not saying it’s bad, just not Sony or Canon or even Nikon level.

My experience and would I recommend it?

I had this lens for around 4 months now, and shot with it a lot of images in a lot of situations, both street, portraits, pets, details, nature and so on. In my opinion this lens is amazing, the best kit lens ever made.

I would highly recommend this lens for anybody looking for an all around lens for street, travel, landscape, anything really. But I must say, the full asking price for this lens is a bit outrageous. If you can get it as a kit with a body, or get it on the used market for €500 or less then it’s a good deal.

Conclusion

The Fujifilm XF 16-50mm f2.8-4.8 R LM WR is a beast of a kit lens.

The only competitor I can think of is the Sigma 18-50 f/2.8, but I’m not sure it’s worth it in this case. The Sigma is NOT smaller, NOT lighter. The difference between the max apertures at the long end does not make a lot of difference, at least not outweighing the other disadvantages like: slower focusing, worse weather sealing, extended zoom barrel, lack of an aperture ring. If you want a faster lens, I don’t think you should look at the Sigma 18-50mm to replace the new Fuji 16-50mm. You should be looking at a prime lens to get alongside the Fuji 16-50mm.

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Fujifilm XF 16-50mm F/2.8-4.8 R LM WR - Review