[Music] Foreign Abbott and I'm here today to give you my Review of the fujinon XF this is the 150 To 600 millimeter f 5.62 f8 it is r l m W r o i s all of those things are a part Of the name and they help to break down What the feature set is here but this is The only the second lens from Fuji on The XF Mount to have this matte silver Or silver matte finish and the first was The amazing 200 millimeter F2 ois which I reviewed a couple of years ago this is Of course now the longest focal length On the x-mount platform it is up to 914 Millimeters in a full frame equivalent And so obviously that's considerably Longer than the lens that previously Occupied that position being the longest Which is the 100 to 400 millimeter I've Got here and I will be releasing a Review of that subsequently now Obviously this there are two different Design philosophies at work here the 100 To 400 millimeter being in internally Zooming lens or excuse me externally Zooming lens and so it extends when you Zoom out this is an internally zooming Lens which we'll talk about in just a Moment so it has a constant length but It also obviously means it is Considerably longer to begin with so This has the potential because it is Compatible with Fuji's 1.4 times and two
Times teleconverters it has the Potential to reach up to 1350 Millimeters with the 1.4 times or up to 1828 millimeter at full frame equivalent Which is of course with the two times Cell converter up to 1200 millimeters in Terms of the Native focal length before The crop factor there so that obviously Is an incredible amount of reach however There is going to be some serious Downsides that come with that that will Detail in just a moment At the end of the day this is obviously A very welcome and intriguing addition To the Fuji X Mount platform however it Is as we're going to see a little bit of A difficult pairing for the high Resolution body the new Fujifilm xt5 That I reviewed it on for a couple of Reasons despite being a very nice Telephoto option I think that there is a New Fuji camera that is a better match For which will detail at the very end Here today A quick breakdown if you're Not familiar with Fuji's naming diagram And what that means the r and the name Means that it has an aperture ring which In my experience is not all that typical In a variable aperture lens so there are No markings on the aperture ring and so It's kind of just free going and there Are detents there but obviously because It is variable aperture it means that The aperture ring doesn't always have
The same fixed values associated with it But if you prefer to be able to control Aperture from on the lens rather than in The camera you do have the ability to do That here it also has LM in the name Which stands for linear your motor which Is Fuji's premium Focus system more on That when we talk about autofocus it Also has WR in the name which means that It is a thoroughly weather sealed lens In this case we have 19 total seal Points starting at a gasket at the lens Mount we've got a flooring coating on The front element and then we have seals All throughout the lens at the switches The buttons the Rings and so this makes This a very durable lens to take out Into the field to be used uh you know For sports or Wildlife the kind of Things that a lens like this is designed For also we have got the built-in ois or Optical image stabilization in the lens And so in this case it is rated up to Five stops though in a situation like The Fuji xt5 it also can work in Conjunction with the in-body image Stabilization giving you even better Results and for example this shot I that It breaks out to about six stops of hand Holding capability and I was able to get Easily repeatable results at that focal Length and so as a byproduct you know Obviously this is something that's going To be very useful for either video or
For Stills when it comes to studying That very long focal length and all the More important if you happen to be Pairing it with a high resolution body Like the 40 megapixel Xt5 or xh2 Now as far as the actual specifications Of the lens itself this lens in many Ways reminds me in the design and the Overall look of a favorite lens of mine Which is the Sony 200 to 600 millimeter G lens and a very similar design Philosophy and handling of the two Lenses in this case this lens is Actually only about three point uh Excuse me about three millimeters Shorter than what the Sony lens is and So as you can see it's not a short lens And even though it's designed for aps-c As as opposed to full frame though there Are a few other you know size and weight Savings to be had more has to do in the Diameter here this lens is only 99 Millimeters in diameter or 3.9 inches And so you have just an 82 millimeter Front filter thread I don't know that I've ever seen a lens that reaches 600 Millimeters it has that small of a Filter thread so that was interesting to Me also the lens is a total of 314.5 millimeters in length that's 12.4 Inches and while I noted it's only three Millimeters shorter than what the Sony Lens is this lens weighs in at 1605
Grams or three and a half pounds which Is about 25 percent lighter than the Sony and they've accomplished that and By the way you can feel it it's not a a Lightweight lens obviously but neither Does it feel overly heavy and though While it's quite big it feels fairly Light for that and they've managed to Accomplish that in a couple of ways for One thing we have got some engineered Plastics over a magnesium alloy frame so This is a tough pro-grade build but They've designed it in such a way to Where it is trying to save weight but Then also of course they are able to Achieve that lightness in part because It has a fairly small maximum aperture Which is going to be a little bit of a Recurring theme in this particular Review So let's talk about some other things About it just some of the basic controls This is a nice handling lens as noted This is an internally zooming lens so it Doesn't all it's not just that it Doesn't change links but very nicely in The field you're able to very quickly go From one extreme to the other and so From about 100 or from 150 millimeters To 600 millimeters is only about a 90 Degree rotation and so that allows you To very quickly make changes in the Field which is extremely useful with a Lens like the uh 100 to 400 here for
Example it's a longer rotation but more Importantly because this lens is really Prone towards Zoom creep as you can see It it just it creeps very quickly if I'm Out in the field with it very likely I'm Going to have a locking gauge to present That you know prevent that Zoom creep Which means if I'm wanting to make a you Know Focus change quickly I'm going to Have to unlock it I have the longer Rotation to achieve that there's more Work involved whereas a lens like this You can just very quickly make those Focus changes so very very useful we Have a nice manual focus ring here we've Already talked about the aperture ring Also unlike the 100 to 400 we have got Four different each in the each of the Cardinal positions we have got a Function button here at the front now Those don't have all unique purposes but They're redundant and so that you have One always easily accessible and those Tie into the preset button here that is Down here and the set button that is is Put here so it allows you to assign some Different functions to that so in this Case we have the ability to to for these To function as an AFL or almost like a Back button Focus an AF on button and Then the third option is to go to that Preset which allows you to hit this set Button and actually set a preset Focus Distance so for example if you're
Shooting a sporting event you need to Keep coming back to a consistent Position it takes all the guesswork out Of autofocus and so you can just Immediately return to that and get Repeatable results by just pressing that Button so obviously that's going to be Useful there for particularly for some People that are in a repeatable Situation two other switches here one of Them is for the aperture ring allows you To choose between aperture control on The lens or to go to automatic control Or control from within the camera now Obviously unlike most Fuji lenses They're primes you can get to a a limit On one end and you go into the automatic Position with the ring because this just Rotates kind of endlessly you don't have That option so you have to have a switch To control it the final switch is just a Two position Focus limiter so either the Full range or from 5 meters to Infinity Now interesting what is missing here for A telephoto lens like this very unique In my experience is there is no control On the lens for the ois the optical Stabilizer so not only do you not have Multiple modes to access but you don't Even have them on off there I note that You know even on the 100 to 400 there's Definitely at least an on off button for The optical stabilizer So I'm assuming that controlling turning
That off is either has to be something That is sensed or if you have a happen To have a camera that is equipped with Um you know embody image stabilization I'm presuming that if you turn the Ibis Off you also turn off the stabilization In the lens but frankly that's really Not very well explained so a kind of a Curious emission to uh for me at that Point Also interesting here is that unlike This lens which has a very small little Tripod foot we have a larger tripod foot And it is removable in this case on the 100 to 400 the whole collar is removable In this case the collar is not removable But the foot itself is and so you can Just release this tension knob you can Hit a kind of a depressive button on This and you can slide that off if you Don't want to pack the weight along or You know you put it back into place and Quickly lock it down now this is ARCA Swiss compatible which I appreciate and Also note that unlike some lenses it Sticks out enough from the lens it's Actually a nice way to hang on to the Lens for I'm just bringing it along and So interesting there one other thing to Talk about when it comes to the handling Here our minimum Focus distance is not Super close it's 2.4 meters but you do Have a very decent maximum magnification Of 0.24 times and so it does add to the
Versatility and obviously gives you Quite a long working distance however There might be situations where your Subject gets a little bit too close and You might have a hard time focusing on It at that point speaking of autofocus Autofocus comes here via a linear Focus Motor the linear Focus motor is smooth It is quiet and it focuses quickly in Most situations this is not a fast lens When it comes to the maximum aperture And so you will you will definitely Notice a Slowdown in lower lighting Conditions and the reason for that is Quite simple Um even with you know for example if You're shooting at f8 on a one of the Prime lenses for example let's say it Has a maximum apture of F2 well if You're focusing at f8 the lens has the Option um you know or the camera has the Option of opening up the aperture Iris To F2 so it has all of that light to Achieve focus and then it will close Back down at the moment that you take a Photo when you've got a maximum aperture Of f8 which we do at some parts of this Focal range and I'll detail that in just A moment it means that the maximum that That can open up to is just f8 means That less light is going to reach the Sensor for Focus so in lower lighting Conditions the camera has no place to go To get additional light and so
Invariably you are going to see slow Down in some Focus situations this is a Lens that is better suited for good Lighting conditions for a number of Reasons I also noticed because I'm Reviewing it in winter that sometimes if I was shooting in falling snow it did Complicate focus and and you might say Well that's understandable however I was Shooting at the same time with a Sony Combination with the new Sigma 60 to 600 Millimeter and I didn't notice the same Problems on the Sony platform as I did On the Fuji platform Other conditions however I thought that Autofocus did really really well for Example in this shot of a squirrel Finding Wildlife actually out in nature This time of year is tough for me and so Squirrel's about as good as it gets but The squirrel was way up high it was a Really odd shooting angle and I had to Kind of shoot you know over a branch but Yet autofocus locked on quickly and Accurately for multiple shots right on The eye of the squirrel achieving very Good results I also had good results When tracking action having a runner Coming towards me and not only as you Can see from these kind of time lapses Was you know Focus consistent with very Very few I only saw one or two little Very mild Focus swings to towards back Focus but what I also noticed that in
The viewfinder I had very good lock onto The eye and very consistent tracking of The eye as the subject moved towards me So that maximum apture let's talk about It quickly for a couple of reasons first Of all just to give you a breakdown of How the aperture goes you start at F 5.6 At 150 millimeters that only lasts to About 182 millimeters and then we switch To the next Um you know smaller maximum aperture Which is at eight at 183 millimeters to 310 millimeters maximum apture available Is f 6.4 from 311 millimeters to 520 Millimeters maximum aperture available Is f 7.1 and then from 521 millimeters To 600 millimeters maximum aperture is F8 So obviously already you're going to Have some deal with you know some Limited light coming through the lens Now while it is compatible with the Teleconverters on the you know the Telephoto end that means that if you put The 1.4 times on there the maximum Available aperture is only going to be F11 with the two times teleconverter Maximum aperture is going to be F 16. Obviously that is going to slow Focus Down Um and anything but the very very best Of lighting conditions and probably even Then That small maximum aperture also has
Some impact particularly if you're Shooting as I did on a higher resolution Body like this now the MTF chart shows a Very good Center Performance and a Fairly consistent performance over Towards the edge of the frame However my results shooting on the 40 Megapixel Fuji xt5 showed a little bit Softer results than what the MTF chart Suggested and the reason for that is Going to be coming down to diffraction And we'll talk about that as we dive Into a detailed breakdown of the image Quality here let's dive in let's take a Look so while Fuji's correction profiles Do a very good job typically I always Like to see what's going on underneath The corrections in this case frankly not A whole lot is going on we've got a Really fantastic performance when it Comes to vignette and Distortion as you Can see here at 150 millimeters here on The left I have an uncorrected result on The right I have the corrected result And as you can see while there's a Little bit of brightness that's been Added for vignette correction there is Very little in terms of distortion and Vignette going on the same is true at 600 millimeters whereas you can see There is very little Distortion just a Tiny bit of pin cushion Distortion and Really not all that bad as far as Vignette which frankly is quite
Surprising when you consider that There's only an 82 millimeter front Filter thread up there so kudos to Fuji For designing a lens it has very little When it comes to vignette and Distortion I was also pleasantly surprised when it Comes to Chromatic aberration control Here you can see lots of opportunity for Longitudinal chromatic aberration in Terms of fringing very bright light Going through you know high contrast Subjects here but you can see as we pan To different places and look towards Areas that are kind of out of focus that Those are being controlled really really Well no issues there Likewise I didn't find any kind of Significant issue when it comes to Lateral chromatic aberrations and and so Really no problem on the chromatic Aberration front as well So one of the challenges for a lens like This when you test it on a 40 megapixel Body is that 40 megapixels on an aps-c Sensor means that diffraction starts to Play a role by as early as F 6.3 That's going to be an issue when you Consider that some of the maximum Aperture of this lens Falls outside of That threshold so for example here at 150 millimeters is where I see the Strongest performance but it's also the Only place where wake even at wide open I can see the result without diffraction
Taking a hit out of it so at 200 Magnification here on the 40 megapixel Body you can see that the center of the Frame results are really quite good as The MTF chart suggests likewise I am Pleased with what I see in the mid frame Here which has good contrast and good Detail and then right down into the Corner overall this is a good good Performance contrast is a little bit Softer here but overall that's a nice Looking result and also we can see that There is a good centering with a strong Result up at the other corner of the Frame as well now where you can see the Impact of diffraction is that typically You're going to see your best results Stop down a stop or two in terms of the Res resolution in contrast in this case However f8 actually puts us a little bit Beyond that threshold for diffraction Starting to set in and so whatever gains We might see at f8 are actually offset By the diffraction result so as a Byproduct here I don't really see any Advantage stopping down to f8 and in Fact in some cases it looks like Contrast is slightly diminished at f8 That only becomes more pronounced if you Move on to f11 where diffraction is Starting to Rob away uh contrast even More so and in this case I would say That the wide open Result looks better With better detail and higher contrast
Than what does the stop down result we Would see at f11 minimum aperture here Is F22 and of course diffraction has Long taken a huge hit out of the overall Resolution contrast leaving a very soft Result at F-22 So at 200 millimeters our maximum Aperture is now F 6.4 which is just Slightly beyond the threshold where Diffraction is starting to play a role So what I find here is that the results Aren't quite as sharp wide open however I do see a little bit more of an Improvement at f8 and so as we can see Here that's true not only in the center Of the frame but also here at the mid Frame and down into the corners though Less pronounced here in the corners Stopping on down to f11 ends up not Really giving us any kind of other Improvement whatever gain you might have In resolution is pretty much offset by Diffraction and so as a byproduct I Would argue that f8 kind of represents The peak here and stopping on down Doesn't really achieve anything further At 300 millimeters maximum aperture Continues to be F 6.4 and we can see a Similar pattern though I would say that Results are ever so slightly softer Still at least in the center of the Frame we can see stopping down to f8 Does give us a bit of an improvement Better contrast and that's definitely
True in the mid frame and also true Though to a slightly lesser degree down In the corners Corner performance still Not matching what we saw at 150 Millimeters which has been the strongest Thus far if we stop on down to f11 once Again we see that kind of tension there Between whatever gain you might get from Stopping down being offset by Diffraction somewhat and so as a Byproduct in this case I wouldn't say That f8 necessarily looks better than F11 but f11 certainly doesn't look uh Any better in terms of any further Improvement now by the 400 millimeter Range maximum aperture is f 7.1 which Means that we only get a third of a stop Stopping down to f8 and so in this case We see a very very Mild improvement but We can see that you know diffraction has Already taken a little bit of our Sharpness away and stopping on down Doesn't really give us much of an Improvement just a slight contrast boost Here now stopping on down to f11 once Again in this case I think that the Results don't look any worse maybe Marginally better but again not any kind Of significant way because you know you Have two competing forces working Against each other Finally when we get to 600 millimeters You can see that I really can't Completely frame my chart anymore I've
Run out of room because this is actually Equivalent over 900 millimeters you need A lot of room even with my smaller Telephoto chart to test this and so I'm Framing a little bit tighter but what we Can see here is that f8 and f11 we can See that you know obviously diffraction Has already taken a little bit of a hit Here stopping on down to f11 maybe gives Us a hair more contrast but it is Nothing significant here and you can see Comparing the f8 and the f11 results I Would say f11 is arguably just a tiny Bit better but not really significant Enough that you would notice it if you Didn't have them side by side so for the Most part I would say shooting wide open You're going to get about as good as What you're going to get with maybe a Very Mild improvement in some cases with A little bit of a stop down Now coming back to our minimum Focus Distance result I would say that this Actually looks quite good to me the Minimum Focus the detail that you're Able to render here the flat plane of Focus overall I was pleased with what I Saw on this front and so it certainly is Usable and of course with that 0.24 Times magnification there'll be lots of Applications for that Now real world results can look a little Bit better than what my chart test Demonstrates here particularly since I
Look at real world results at a hundred Percent rather than 200 magnification so In this shot of Nala here wide open you Can see nice detail and contrast this 600 millimeter wide open Result shows Overall uh I think good detail Particularly when looked at on a global Level if you zoom in detail is still Pretty good you can see that contrast Isn't necessarily bitingly sharp but it Is it's certainly quite good and you can See a very nice compression to the Background another area I would say is One of strength for this lens like many Fuji lenses is that the color rendition I think is really quite good and while This isn't the most colorful time of Year I felt like colors were Rich nicely Saturated you know and again in another Real world image here this is 150 Millimeters which is at least on my copy I think is the strongest place and here Wide open at 150 millimeters detail is Really quite good even on this 40 Megapixel body you can see a little bit Of drop off towards the edge of the Frame but by and large I think there's Lots of good detail rendered there Here's an image I really liked again It's not technically perfect as we'll See in just a moment but again looking At the overall look of the image it's Really really nice you can see the focus Did a good job and if detail is not off
The charts good it's it's good enough Even on this high resolution body that You can certainly get a very compelling Looking image likewise for this Moon Shot you can see that if we zoom into a Pixel level Um you know there's there's a lot of Detail being captured there there's room For a little bit of improved contrast But I would say I think most Photographers would be satisfied with That end result Another uh 600 millimeter f8 shot here And we can see that detail looks nice Focus is good and again this is an image That I certainly would be satisfied with So let's talk about vocab for a moment I'm going to return to this image for a Moment because at 600 millimeters when You're fairly close to your subject you Can really blur out a background though As we can see in some of the specular Highlights that are here there is a Little bit of outlining that's the Negative side and obviously a little bit Of geometric deformation there In this image Um it's you know the ratio is a little It's a I think a little over 300 Millimeters and so byproduct is the Background is not as blurred out and you Can definitely see you know circular Outlining however cat is subjective some People might really like that look other
People won't like it as well but you can See here that detail and contrast looks Good on the image and overall I'm happy With the performance you zoom in a Little bit further into a kind of a Similar situation and I don't think that The detail and contrast is quite as high Though you know it looks pretty good and But you can see that the background is a More pleasantly blurred out and that's The nature of having that really long Focal length So obviously the biggest challenge for This lens on you know a body like this Is that diffraction sets in even before You reach maximum aperture on high Resolution bodies and so it robs you of The benefit of stopping down because as You stop down diffraction is kind of Taking away what stopping down would add To and Achieve and so byproduct is is That this is a lens if you're shooting On the you know the xt5 or the xh2 or Subsequent bodies with this 40 megapixel Sensor it's a Lindsay you're probably Going to want to use pretty much wide Open all the time if you want to get the Best results out of it in some cases as We saw stopping down a you know a Partial stop to f8 or somewhere in that Range gave a little bit of a benefit but Beyond that diffraction is going to Start to Rob away whatever gain you Might get from stopping the lens down
So my conclusion is is not just that This is a lens that is best using good Lighting but also that I think the Optimal situation for the 150 to 600 Millimeter is a body like the xh2s the Hx2s obviously has very you know deep Buffers it has very fast Burst rate and So you can track action with it for Sports or for wildlife but also it has a Lower resolution point of 26 megapixels Which means that rather than diffraction Hitting around F 6.3 it's going to hit It f8 instead which does give you a Little bit more Headway to get the Maximum resolution or performance out of The lens and so as a byproduct it's a Little bit of a curious lens in that as It kind of a hit at the wrong time just At a time when Fuji is moving up to a Record high resolution for its aps-c Cameras and then also releasing a lens That's kind of going to be punished by That very same thing that they're moving Ahead on so at the end of the day your Mileage is obviously going to vary Depending on the resolution point of Your particular camera but this is a Lens that has a lot going for it but it Also has a few challenges overall I like The look of images I wasn't necessarily Wowed by the pixel level detail that I Saw out of the lens but at the same time It produced some really beautiful images It was a you know a joy to handle in the
Field despite its large size and I think For many photographers it's going to Scratch the itch of wanting to have Greater reach than anything has afforded Them on the Fuji platform before and if That happens to be you it's worth a Flyer interestingly there's only a Hundred dollars between these two lenses In the retail price though obviously There'll be some Market factors wherever You live and so at the end of the day It's really going to come down to a Decision of what form factor kind of Suits your needs better and so hopefully This review has helped you to make a Decision whether or not this beautiful New lens is one for you I'm Dustin Abbott if you look in the description Down below you can find linkage to my Full text review also to an image Gallery if you want to look at photos There are buying links there if you'd Like to purchase one for your yourself Linkage to follow myself or Craig on Social media to become a patron to get Channel merchandise and if you haven't Already please like And subscribe thanks For watching have a great day and let The light in [Music]
