Fujifilm Fujinon XF 80 mm f/2.8 LM OIS WR Macro review - Summary

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Fujifilm Fujinon XF 80 mm f/2.8 LM OIS WR Macro

14 December 2017

Arkadiusz Olech

11. Summary

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Pros

solid, sealed casing,
sensational image quality in the frame centre,
good image quality on the edge of the frame,
negligible spherical aberration,
imperceptible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
low lateral chromatic aberration,
invisible distortion,
sensational coma correction,
negligible astigmatism,
noiseless, very quick and very accurate autofocus,
efficient image stabilization.

Cons:

significant vignetting on RAW files.

Producing very big lenses is always a risk. A potential user is able to accept bigger physical dimensions and weight in a given class of equipment, checking them undoubtedly before the purchase, but they also have to be aware what they get in return. Most of users will assume that a bigger lens means no compromises when it comes to optics and mechanics so they expect a superior device with an excellent performance. Every slip-up in such a case might mean a failure. If you launch a big lens on the market you must do your utmost to make it an excellent instrument in every respect.

Was the Fujifilm company successful facing such a difficult task? Definitely yes. The Fujinon XF 80 mm f/2.8 LM OIS WR Macro is a very sharp lens with an excellent autofocus unit and very efficient image stabilization. In experienced hands it will perform admirably, never letting its owner down.

Usually, when after our test a lens has a long list of pros and just one flaw I award it our „Editor’s Choice” badge. Still, although the tested Fujinon came very close to that distinction, I won’t do it in this case. With such significant dimensions of the lens, I think its huge vignetting level is a serious flaw. There were also several issues which don’t exactly fit the list of cons but they spoilt the overall image nevertheless. The lens should have had a smaller resolution difference between the centre and the edge of the frame (a typical and desirable effect in the case of a macro device) and performed against bright light a tad better. It would be also nice if it didn’t rattle. As you see it was a close thing but the lens fell a bit short of expectations.