Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-03-28)

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LENS TEST Testbench

Resolution

Cornersharpnesslagssomewaybehindthatof

centresharpnessatthewideendofthezoom.Edge

sharpnessimprovesasyouzoomin,withbetter

figuresrecordedat35mmbetweenf/5.6andf/8.

Sharpnessdropsoffa touchatthelongend,but

remainsrespectablefora general-purposelens.

You’llnoticediffractionstartstoaffectoverall

sharpness when stopping down to f/16 and f/22.

16mmcentre

35mmcentre

80mm centre

16mmcorner

35mmcorner

80mm corner

FujinonXF16-

80mm F4 R OIS WR

Curvilineardistortion

WithFujifilm’sbaked-inautomateddistortion

correction,userscanexpectwell-correctedJPEG

andrawformatimageswithnoobviouscurvilinear

distortion.Toviewthenaturalbehaviourofthelens

withoutanyautomatedcorrectionsappliedyou’ll

need to research the Adobe plug-in workarounds.

Shading

Ourteststellusthatthecornersappearjust0.3EV

and0.4EVdarkerthanthecentrewhentheaperture

is setwideopenat16mmand80mmrespectively.

Thevignettingcorrectionthat’sbuiltintotheraw

filemetadatadoesanexcellentjobofcorrecting

cornershadingwhenfilesareprocessed through

Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom.

16mm f/4 80mm f/4

16mm 80mm

SMIA TV = -0.4% SMIA TV =-0.2%

X-seriesuserswho’vebeenwaitingfora

versatilezoomthatcanshootwiderand

longerthantheXF18-55mmF2.8-4R LM

OIS,butalsowanta lensthat’scheaperthan

theXF16-55mmF2.8R LMWR,willbe

verytemptedbytheXF16-80mmF4R

OISWR.It’sa verylikeablegeneral-purpose

lensthat’sidealfortravellingwhereyoucan

seeyourselfwantingtoshootwideangleone

minuteandat mid-telephotothenext,but

don’talwayshavetimeortheinclinationto

swapbetweendifferentlenses.It’snotquite

assharpassomemighthopefortowards

theedge,whichis wheretheoptically

stellarXF16-55mmF2.8R LM WR

presentsanadvantage.

In summary,thiszoom

putsin a performance

thatreflectsitsprice.

Theopticalstabilisation

is highlyeffective,it’sa

practicalsizewithout

beingtoobulky,andthe

buildqualityis suchthat

it feelsrobustenoughto

enduredailyuse.It’llbe

a greatlong-term

partnerforFujifilm’s

weather-sealedX-series

camerasanda very

appealing one at that.

Verdict

Shootin rawandyou’llfindchromaticaberrationis virtually non-existentFujifilm X-T3, 1/2900sec at f/5.6, ISO 200

Price£769

Filterdiameter72mm

Lenselements 16

Groups 12

Apertureblades 9

Aperturef/4-f/22

Minimumfocus

distance35cm

Dimensions

78.3x88.9mm

Weight440g

LensmountFujifilm

X-mount

Included

accessoriesLens

caps,lenshood,

wrapping cloth

Data file

howsharpit is throughitszoomrangeandhow
wellthelens-specific metadatathat’saccessed
automaticallybytherawconvertercorrectsfor
opticalflawssuchasvignettinganddistortion.
OurAppliedImagingteststellusthelens
producesitssharpestresultsin thecentreat
thewideendof thezoom,howeverit should
benotedthatsharpnessat theedgesat 16mm
is considerablysofter,withlittleimprovement
tobegainedfromstoppingdown.Though
centresharpnessfiguresat themidpointand
longendof thezoomdon’tquitematchthose
recordedat thewideend,userswillbeableto
makeoutthatcornersharpnessis superior,
withbetteredge-to-edgesharpnesslevels
beingrecordedbetweenf/5.6andf/8at
35mmand80mmthanat 16mm.To
preserveoptimumsharpnessusersshouldtry
tosteerclearof stoppingdownbeyondf/16as
thisis wherediffractionbeginstohavean
effectonsofteningimages.Thosewho’dliketo
createattractivebackgroundbluranda
pleasingseparationbetweennearandfar
subjectscaneasilydosobyusingthelensat
thelongendwiththeaperturesettoits
maximumf/4opening.
Chromaticaberrationis handledreasonably
wellin JPEGimages,althoughI didobserve
somepurplefringesof colouralonghigh-
contrastedgesin thefarcornersof wideshots
capturedat 16mmat f/4.Userswhoshootin
rawbenefit fromFujifilmdeliveringitslens
correctionsvialens-specific metadata.When
youopena rawfile thismetadatais accessed
bytherawconverteryouuse,meaningyou
don’thavetheextrastepof havingtoenable
lensprofile corrections.Inspectinghundredsof
rawfilesrevealedthelens-specific metadatais
extremelyeffective.It doesa fabulousjobof
keepingvignettingat wideaperturesunder
controltothepointyoucan’tvisuallytellif the
cornersareanydarkerthanthecentre.Barrel
distortionat thewideendof thezoomaswell
aspincushiondistortionat longerfocal
lengths is extremely well corrected for.

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