Photography News Issue 38

Photography News | Issue 38 | absolutephoto.com

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Fujifilm lens jargon buster

An ultra-wide zoom lens ideal for dynamic landscapes, interiors and environmental portraits. Fujifilm’s advanced optical design ensures high sharpness and excellent reproduction of fine detail while distortion is minimal so straight lines are recorded faithfully even at the 10mm setting. Despite its wide view, it is a compact lens and the f/4 maximum aperture is constant throughout the focal length range. An OIS system is integrated into the lens to ensure sharp pictures when handheld shooting in low-light conditions or when using small lens apertures and relatively long shutter speeds for extensive depth-of-field. XF10-24mmF4 ROIS 35mm format equivalent 15-36mm

Featuring an advanced optical design, a constant aperture of f/2.8 throughout the focal length range and weather-resistant design, this zoom lens is the flagship standard zoom of Fujifilm’s X Series lenses. It is compact and lightweight enough to be a ‘take everywhere’ lens. Picture quality is exemplary at every lens aperture with excellent edge to edge sharpness, while flare and ghosting have been controlled by Fujifilm’s advanced HT-EBC lens coating. Nano-GI coating has been used to help produce crystal clear, high contrast images. XF16-55mmF2.8 R LMWR 35mm format equivalent 24-84mm

Fujifilm XF lenses are state-of-the-art optics packed with the latest technologies. Here are the key Fujifilm lens features explained. APD The Apodization or APD filter is built into the Fujifilm XF56mmF1.2 R. This adjustable filter gives smoother background bokeh. Aspherical element An aspherical lens element helps defeat or minimise optical flaws such as spherical aberration and astigmatism. Fujifilm’s optical engineering skills ensure that its aspherical elements are produced to the required precision. ED glass Chromatic aberration is when light of different colours focuses at different points and give fringing effects. ED (extra- low dispersion) glass elements are used to combat the problem HT-EBC Fujifilm’s High Transmittance Electron Beam Coating. This is Fujifilm’s unique, high tech lens coating that allows 99.8% of light to be transmitted with only 0.02% reflected to ensure stunning image quality. LM Fujifilm’s Linear Motor technology gives practically silent, highly precise and very fast autofocusing in its lenses. Nano-GI Fujifilm Nano-Gradient Index coating. An advanced lens coating that helps to reduce flare and ghosting when light is striking the lens from an oblique angle. OIS Stands for Optical Image Stabilisation. This is Fujifilm’s system to defeat camera shake. Depending on the lens, the benefit is considerable, up to 5EV. Stepper motor Using a stepper motor in a lens’s autofocus system ensures near-silent operation. WR Many Fujifilm lenses and several cameras have weather-resistant (WR) construction with strategically positioned environmental seals to give high levels of protection against water and dust.

Specs

Lens construction 17 elements in 12 groups Filter size 77mm Minimumfocus 60mm normal use, 30cmmacro (at 16mm) and 40cmmacro (at 55mm Aperture range f/2.8-22 Weight 655g Dimensions 83.3x106mm

Lens construction 14 elements in 10 groups Filter size 72mm Minimumfocus 50cm in normal mode, 24cm-3m in macro Aperture range f/4-22 Weight 410g Dimensions 78x87mm

XF50-140mmF2.8 R LMOISWR 35mm format equivalent 76-213mm A nicely-balanced zoom lens encompassing a very popular range of telephoto focal lengths, so ideal for an enormous range of subjects from portrait and street to travel and wildlife. Its f/2.8 fast aperture makes it very well suited to use in low-lighting occasions and Fujifilm’s latest lens coating technologies keep flare and ghosting at bay. Five ED glass elements and one Super ED element minimise chromatic aberration and help to maximise image resolution. Fujifilm’s OIS technology makes an appearance on this lens with a benefit of up to 5EV, while high-speed, near-silent autofocus is possible with the world’s first triple linear motor.

XF100-400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OISWR 35mm format equivalent 152-609mm Fujifilm’s super telephoto zoom will appeal to action and wildlife photographers with its longest setting giving an equivalent focal length of 609mm in the 35mm format. It’s perfect for pulling in that distant subject and its WR construction makes it a rugged lens capable of handling extreme outdoor conditions. The front element also has a fluorine coating to repel water and dust. Chromatic aberration is a potential hazard with long telephoto lenses and to avoid any such issues this lens uses five ED and one Super ED lens elements. Another potential problem is camera shake when handholding a lens of this focal length and for this Fujifilm has installed a very effective OIS system with a 5EV benefit.

Specs

Lens construction 23 elements in 16 groups Filter size 72mm Minimumfocus 1m Aperture range f/2.8-22 Weight 995g Dimensions 82.9x175.9mm

Lens construction 21 elements in 14 groups Filter size 77mm Minimumfocus 1.75m Aperture range f/4.5-5.6-f/22 Weight 1375g Dimensions 94.8x210.5mm

Fujifilm teleconverters

XF1.4X TCWR

XF2X TCWR

Fitting doubles the lens’s focal length while absorbing 2EV of light. Thus, on the XF50- 140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR you get an effective 100-280mm f/5.6. Phase-detection autofocus is still available with this lens/ teleconverter combination. With the XF100-400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR, live view contrast- detection autofocus is available. The optical quality and contrast of the attached lens stay at a very high levels thanks to the advanced nine elements in five groups construction.

This weather-resistant model multiplies the focal length of the lens it is attached by 1.4x and there is a 1EV light loss, so with the XF50- 140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR, the lens effectively becomes a 70-196mm f/4 zoom. An advanced optical construction ensures that the high optical performance of the attached lens is maintained and that includes autofocusing which is handled by the camera’s live view contrast detection AF system.

Teleconverters are underrated. They are incredibly useful compact optical accessories and worth having in the camera bag for those occasions when extra focal length is needed. Fujifilm has two high-quality models available in its X Series lens range, and both fit the XF50-140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR and XF100- 400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lenses only. Teleconverters fit in between the camera body and the lens and while they affect the amount of light reaching the sensor, this is accounted for by the camera’s metering system so exposure is straightforward. What is potentially affected is autofocusing.