Fujifilm has released the final piece of their wonderful mirrorless puzzle…..a super telephoto lens.
The FUJINON XF100-400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR is out on the market now and it is, arguably of course, one of the finest super telephoto lenses available from any manufacturer. Visit the Fujifilm site HERE I‘ve only had the chance to shoot with this lens a couple of times and so far, I’ll say that Fuji has a real winner on it’s hands!
The build quality of this lens is amazing and on par with any Canon L lens that I’ve owned. Metal body construction means that this lens is not light, but by no means is it abnormally heavy. The weight helps to bring a solidness to the lens that just exudes quality.
The large grippy zoom and focus rings fall easily to hand and you can make fast adjustments on the fly, or, micro adjustments of focus to nail the shot you are going for.
The lens has a telescoping barrel which helps keep the overall length down to a size that can fit in a backpack with the full Fuji_X system. I no longer have to carry a separate backpack when I want to take out the “big gun”.
For me, the two biggest factors that I obsess over is image quality and then the built in stabilization. Fuji has hit it out of the park on both of these. The IQ is simply amazing for a lens with this focal range!!!! It beats my Canon 100-400mm hand down. Everything is tack sharp from corner to corner; no distortion or random artifacts at all. Below is an image from the Olympic National Park, shooting across the river. Only a slight crop for compositional needs.
The above tree image was shot on a tripod, however, the fantastic image stabilization on this lens is so good, I am able to handhold 1-2 stops slower than I am with my Canon system. Well done Fuji!
(originally published 4/6/16)
Leave A Comment