Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18-55 mm f/2.8-4 OIS review - Introduction

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Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18-55 mm f/2.8-4 OIS

6 September 2013

Arkadiusz Olech

1. Introduction

All companies with mirrorless systems on the market started with the launch of very plastic kit lenses with slow apertures, usually produced in countries known for cheap labour force. Fuji was an exception to that rule. The X-Pro 1 model hit the shelves along with three solid fixed-focus lenses, all produced in Japan, with the following parameters: 2/18, 1.4/35 and 2.4/60. Already at the very beginning you got an f/1.4 device – even much older mirrorless systems, manufactured by e.g. Olympus or Sony, haven’t managed to produce such a fast instrument (as at September 2013).

When Fuji finally decided to add zoom lenses to their line-up they continued the same strategy: instead of a plastic 18–55 mm f/3.5–5.6 kit lens you got the 18–55 mm f/2.8–4.0 model – mostly made of metal, very solid and produced in Japan.

Theoretically everything looks perfect. The Fuji system offers you high quality bodies which can provide great images and solid lenses with very interesting parameters. What about practice, though? Let’s check what are the differences between the 18-55 mm Fuji lens and its rivals.

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We would like to thank the Fujifilm Poland for making this lens available for our tests.

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