[Music] Foreign Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today To give you my video review of the Fujinon XF 18 to 120 millimeter Lmwr pz or power zoom lens more on that And what all that means in just a moment This lens is a little bit of an oddball In that while on paper it has a lot Going for it it has a great Zoom range Going from 18 millimeters or 27 Millimeter full frame equivalent that Looks like this all the way up to 120 Millimeters or 183 millimeter full frame Equivalent it does all of this while Maintaining a constant aperture of f4 it Has an internally zooming thoroughly Weather sealed design and it has unique Power zoom capabilities it is the big Brother in every way to the cheap 15 to 45 millimeter power Zoom kit lens that Comes with some cameras So why don't more people love it more Well find out after a word from our Sponsor today Today's episode is brought to you by Phantom wallet the minimalist modern Wallet that is now even better with the New Phantom X that is crafted from Aluminum right here in Canada it is 22 Percent smaller and 35 percent lighter While still making it easy to access Your cards and money when you need them Thanks to their unique Fanning mechanism
You could even customize your wallet due To its modular design with accessories Like a money clip cash holder ID display And even chipolo and air tag tracking Integration visit Store.phantomwallet.com to check out Their unique sizes Styles and finishes That span from aluminum to Wood to Carbon fiber and use code Dustin 15 for 15 off when you're ready to check out So of course Fuji gives us the clues to The various features of the lens right There in the lens title LM refers to the Fact that it has Fuji's premium Focus System linear Motors WR refers to the Fact that it has weather resistance in This case 13 seal points throughout and A flooring coating on both the rear and The front elements making those easier To clean pz stands for power zoom Capabilities and so all of those things Are obviously going to be useful and More about the power zoom in just a Moment but a lot of people are Disappointed by some of the features That are missing what's not there in That name first of all there is no R Which refers to aperture ring in this Case there is no aperture ring which Makes it pretty odd amongst Fuji zooms Almost all of which do have that Aperture ring and of course because Aperture rings in general are so Commonplace on Fuji most people are
Accustomed to controlling aperture in That way and may have their control dial Set to some other kind of function which Means when using this particular lens You're going to have control aperture Through some other means which is going To be a disappointment for some Even more disappointing for others However will be the fact that there is No ois in that name ois refers to an Optical image stabilization and so there Is no Inland stabilization which is an Odd Omission for a lens that is so Focused on video production if you Happen to have a camera body as I've Done here testing on the Fuji xh2 which Has excellent m-body image stabilization No big deal I was able to hand hold Exposures of a half second at 120 Millimeters without any kind of issue With good repeatability and could get Handheld video without any kind of major Issue but of course there's a lot of Fuji bodies that don't have in-body Image stabilization and if you've ever Tried to capture handheld video with no Stabilization you know how frustrating That shaky footage can be so it's a Really odd omission and a lens that is So video specific and so in many ways I Think that some of things like the ois Got set aside in order to have the power Zoom capabilities so what is power Zoom Power Zoom is rather than having a ring
That actually just moves elements back And forth it actually routes things Through a motor that powers the zoom Function itself So why would you want that well as we're Going to see here there are different Ways to control a power Zoom both within The lens and then also you can Externally control it through various Means it actually pairs really nicely With this recent grip from them the tgbt One tripod grip that will allow you to Not only do things like start record or Take photos things like that but it'll Also allow you to control that power Zoom as you can see in this shot here I Did that remotely by using Bluetooth on This particular grip So being able to remotely control Power Zoom or zoom function is going to be Useful in some certain situations kind Of a camcorder style type control over That which is not all that typical on You know mirrorless type bodies Now there are three different ways Within the lens itself to control that Zoom so the first is obviously the zoom Ring itself but as I mentioned any kind Of function here actually rotates Through an actual motor that that powers That so as a byproduct it's a little bit Of a different feel it's kind of more Like Focus feel than it is zoomfield so You might be a little bit thrown by that
If you're not accustomed to it the other Thing that is an issue if you're just a Photographer which I'm primarily do Photography with video as an aside There's no quick way to get to from Point A to point B as far as zooming Through the range so starting here at 18 Millimeters by my count it takes a total Of five at least rotations to get all The way through from 18 to 120 Millimeters so as you can see neither is That particularly fast and it feels like A lot of wasted motion to accomplish That so in many ways doing the actual Focus or Zoom ring here is probably Going to be disappointing in some Applications now there is a second way Here to control that and it's through a Rocker style switch here that is Pressure sensitive and so if you go hard It will Zoom faster if you go if you put Less pressure on it it will Zoom slower And so I can move from as gradually as Just a little bit and then I can speed It up and go quite a bit faster and in That situation it took me about three Seconds to go from 18 to 120 millimeters The final way to control that is via two Switches that are underneath this ZF Switch and the way that they function is That once you hit one it will begin what Is more like a zoom pull a pan in or a Pan out where it moves very slowly and When I say very slowly in this clip you
Can see how slowly it's moving I Probably can't show you the whole clip But it took 29 seconds to go from one Extreme of the focal length to the other So this obviously is only going to be in Useful in some certain situations if you Happen to want a very slow panning out Or panning in or if you're wanting to do A smaller more gradual type movement It's fine for that and it starts going Once you click that and it will go all The way through to the end unless you Click it again at which point it will Stop at that point and so if I just Started going I got to click it again to To stop it but it's it almost takes a Second it's it's a little bit fidgety in Terms of getting that so it'll probably Take some practice to get down how it Actually functions Now there is a another option here and That is that ZF button that is allowing You to switch between Zoom or focus and So with this and it's controlling this Rocker style uh ring here and so what You can do is you can switch between a Zoom function kind of a zoom zooming or Panning in and out to a focus type pool And in this case you have the ability to Do that Focus pull and again it is going To be pressure sensitive but the problem Is here is that even at its extreme it Does not move all that quickly and so Even if you go as fast as you can it's
Hard to do a long Focus pull like that Because it just takes a number of Seconds to get from one extreme to the Other and so you're going to spend a lot Of time with your shot completely out of Focus before you start to actually see a Pool of focus so it's more useful over Small smaller Focus pools than you know Going from one extreme like macro to Infinity type shot But another way where that's a little Bit compromised is by the simple fact That you have to have pressure on that To start it which means that when you Get to your desired uh place where you Want Focus to end you have to find a way Of letting off pressure without jarring The camera and it's not all that easy to Do and so it's going to be compromised There so unfortunately for photographers Zoom is pretty much compromised through The power Zoom you're probably not going To enjoy the mechanics of zooming unless You're a very you know a very small Percentage person out there for the most Part I did not enjoy this Zoom Functionality but videographers are Going to be put off by another factor And that is the fact that this lens is Not par focal and so even if you are Zooming in Unfortunately the Focus motor is having To make little adjustments along the way Because it's not staying in Focus which
It would if it were a power focal design And what I find is that you can see Those little Focus adjustments along the Way or if I do the fast zooming in as You can see here focus is not really Keeping up so I get all the way to my Milwaukee charger and then focus is Catching up you know a split second Later so it makes for slightly jarring Shots and all of that could be avoided If they had gone with a par focal design Here and so I think that that is another Area that has really disappointed those That are kind of video specific So unfortunately a lot of the controls Here on the body are all about this Zoom Or you know Focus pull type situation But neither Works quite as well as what I would like and as a byproduct there's Other things that you could have as Physical controls you just don't have Now what is appealing is the overall Physical design here as noted this is an Internally zooming lens which means that It's a great lens to put on a gimbal Because whatever focal length you're Shooting at the balance is going to be The exact same that's awesome and the Lens itself is moderately sized it does Mean that because it is internally Zooming it is a little bit larger for Storage than what some opposing lenses Are but it's always going to stay the Same length at the same time which also
Probably helps with the weather sealing As well so the lens itself is three Inches in diameter or right over 77 Millimeters it is 4.9 inches in length Or 123 and a half millimeters and it Weighs in at one pound or 470 grams Moderately sized there's a 72 millimeter Front filter thread on front And the overall build quality is what You would expect from Fuji's nicer Lenses it feels like a well-built lens And obviously well weather sealed so a Lot of pluses on that front but there Probably are a few control type things And a few ergonomic misses that are Going to upset the apple cart a little Bit Now as noted earlier this does have a Linear Focus motor and focus is fast and Quiet I found accuracy to be good and Focus was fast enough that I could pick Up birds in flight and I could track Them quite successfully as you can see In this sequence here I also saw good Eye tracking capabilities whether I was Tracking an animal insect or a human Subject so no negatives there in fact For Stills I don't really have any Complaint about autofocus at all it was Snappy it was accurate it did what I Wanted it to do When it comes to the video side things Are mostly good with a few minor Exceptions
My focus pulls were smooth as you can See here but what I did find is that There is a little bit of split Hesitation when it arrives almost to the Subject a little bit of a pause and then It finishes and settles in on Focus Again it pulls you out of the shot a Little bit I did find better results if I was doing my hand test and it seems That in general the focus is more Confident if it has an AI trackable type Subject and it can you know knows what It's going to focus on and it does a Little bit better job with that Focus Breathing was low so that's a positive There I also found that for example I Had my daughter do a shot where the uh The my I was approaching in my Ford Maverick for my Maverick review and you Can see that as the Maverick approaches And then pans past the camera you can See that Focus stayed accurately locked On there and moved along without any Kind of visible stepping so that part Was good but as we already saw earlier In the clip with the fast zooming that Focus can't quite keep up with fast Zooming capabilities again and a problem That could have been solved by it being Par focal in general autofocus was good With those few minor Exceptions there So how about the image quality obviously Anytime you engineer for a lens with a 6.7 times Zoom ratio and a constant
Maximum aperture there are going to be Some challenges along the way for the Most part I think that Fuji has managed Those quite well and that there are no Major flaws here but as we're going to See there aren't really any major Strengths either either optically let's Take a closer look so let's start by Revisiting that focal range once again So as you can see here at closer Distance this is 18 millimeters and then At 120 millimeters so obviously at close Focus distances that is a or closer I Should say that is a huge amount of Variability choices for your framing for Landscape type purposes you have a huge Amount of variability on how you can Approach a certain scene which obviously Is going to be very useful either for Stills here as we're showing but also For video obviously so with 18 Millimeter end you can see that we do Have some pronounced Barrel Distortion Here though as you can see it's also not Super severe there is some vignette Which we'll address here in just a Moment you can see from my manual Correction that fortunately the nature Of this Barrel Distortion which isn't Always the case is that it is quite Linear and so it actually corrects very Well even manually though it's obviously Going to correct even better with a Correction profile so you can see that I
Dialed in a plus 17 so that is a Significant amount of barrel Distortion But as you can see as already mentioned It cleaned up well and then as far as The vignette plus 73 about three stops There in the corner so a significant Amount of vignette on the wide end Though again it cleans up just fine now Very early on that Distortion quickly Flips to a pin cushion style Distortion So already here at 35 millimeters you Can see some fairly pronounced pin Cushion Distortion as we move on through The zoom range that continues to be the Case fairly constantly all the way Through to 120 millimeters but Fortunately the nature of most pin Cushion Distortion and it is the case Here is that it again it's very linear And so even with a manual correction you Can see that the line straightened up Perfectly which tells you that the Profile is going to do a great job There's also less vignette here than Before my settings for correction was a -14 so again a significant amount but Again it corrects fine and then a plus 39 when it comes to the vignette so the Vignette is much less heavy on the Telephoto end we'll take a look at Chromatic aberration starting with Longitudinal chromatic aberrations in This case longitudinal chromatic Aberrations not too bad it's not a huge
Maximum aperture so as you can see here At closer Focus distances there is a Little bit of fringing before and after The plane of focus nothing pronounced However out in the real world I didn't Really see anything that concerned me Too much even here at a 200 Magnification you can see that there is A little bit of fringing around some of These edges but nothing here that's Going to show up and cause any kind of Problem where things do get worse However is when you have a little bit Higher contrast so a slightly harsher Lighting in a scene so here you can see That on the longer end here that we do Start to see some fringing here in these High contrast areas this is a lens that In some situations does struggle with Its contrast and so you can see some Fringing there this is more of a lateral Style chromatic aberration near the edge Of the frame but it does show up in Certain situations now we can see here On the 18 millimeter end as far as Lateral chromatic aberrations there's Not a whole lot there to see except for Just a little bit really concentrated Towards the very edge of the frame However if we jump up to 120 millimeters You can see that it starts to ramp up in Terms of those lateral chromatic Aberrations much more pronounced here And so obviously you're going to need to
Click to correct for that but there's Enough there that in certain lighting Situations it may not even all correct Just with that one click correction in Lightroom or other types of software so Let's take a look at resolution and Contrast the MTF chart showed a good Center performance a little bit of a dip To the center of the frame however as You get out to the outer third there's a Dip and then it comes back up towards The edge of the frame we'll see if that Is the case here so looking in the Center of the frame here's my caveat This is an xh2 so 40 megapixels this is A 200 magnification this is an extreme Torture test you can see that in the Center of the frame I would say that it Passes no problem that's not a bad Looking result at all decent contrast Good detail though you know it doesn't Jump off the charts in terms of detail But quite good mid frame also looking Quite good I have no complaints there And even though they're you know there's A dip that should happen along this Portion it doesn't look too bad and as We look down here towards the corner Also looking pretty decent at 18 Millimeter now if we stop down in the Center of the frame F 5.6 we see a very Mild contrast Improvement nothing Significant there the mid frame also a Little bit more contrast nothing again
Jumping off the charts but certainly an Improve And then the corners we can definitely See some improvement there we'll pop Over this side and take a look at Centering you can see that it is just a Little bit better at A 5.6 down here you Can see that it's maybe not quite as Strong on the left side of the frame and You can see that this corner looks a Little bit softer than what this corner Does now from F 5.6 to f8 there's less Of a jump and part of that is because Already we are past the diffraction Limit on a high resolution body like the Xh2 and what that means is that from This point onward diffraction is going To start to soften the image and so you Can see we kind of hit a high water mark There at F 5.6 and at f8 it's really not Improved anywhere that we look across The frame and that is because of the Effects of diffraction already and if we Carry that to its logical conclusion if If at f8 we're starting to see a little Bit of diffraction by F 22 it should be Very pronounced and we see of course That is the case you can see that Contrast and you know kind kind of the Overall Acuity or ability to render fine Details has really really been impacted So avoid anything past f11 if you can After that point I just don't think that You'll be happy with the trade-offs you
Get on a higher resolution body so Moving on throughout the zoom range if We go to 35 millimeter ish as you can See here looking in the center of the Frame comparing to 18 millimeters you Can see that there is a little bit of Improvement in contrast here in the Center of the frame mid frame less Obvious about the same and if we look Down into the corners we can see that There is just a little bit more contrast So a little bit more of a consistent Performance across the frame and if we Look at an area like this which is in That place where there is a little bit Of a dip at 18 millimeters there's less Of it at a 35 millimeter so a little bit More of a consistent performance there In that middle Zone that carries on here Towards the edge and as you can see on This the left side of the frame it's a More obvious Improvement at 35 Millimeters and definitely up here in The corner a pretty radical Improvement Now if we compare 35 millimeters with 50 Millimeters what do we find in the Center of the frame 50 millimeters is Better still just a little bit more Contrast as you can see there so a Little bit more of a detailed pop in the Mid frame it also has us more resolution In contrast and as we pop down towards The corner we can definitely see that There is more contrast here as well so a
Stronger performance and also it Continues to have that better left side Performance than what we saw at 18 Millimeters moving on comparing 50 Millimeters with 90 millimeters at this Point we have passed kind of our Peak Performance and so if this represents The high water mark at 50 millimeters Somewhere between there and as we get Towards the telephoto end we can see That things are starting to drop off and So not nearly as sharp there not nearly As sharp in the mid frame not nearly as Sharp down in the corner as well now What we do find is there is a more Significant Improvement if you stop The Lens down here at 90 millimeters and so There's a you know obviously a pretty Radical improvement from F4 to F 5.6 so If you're shooting towards the end and You want more just going that one stop F 5.6 is going to make a pretty obvious Improvement in terms of the overall Performance and get us kind of back into The realm that we've cut been accustomed To for its performance now unfortunately The trend that we saw at 90 millimeters Does continue at 120 millimeters but It's a little bit worse for a reason I'm Going to point out in just a moment so First of all there is a little bit more Contrast than what I saw at 90 Millimeters wide open you can see However that the mid frame everything is
Still a little bit soft looking and Towards the edges of the frame it's Actually a little bit worse than what we Saw at 90 millimeters 90 millimeters There's still some pretty good detail Here details are a little bit more mushy On that side and if we pop over to the Left side of the frame We can see that they are roughly about The same no major Improvement for either Side the main difference here is there Isn't that same kind of good Improvement Just stopping down at F 5.6 so at 120 Millimeters I can stop down and while There is a little bit more contrast here You can see that we really haven't Sharpened up strongly here and if we Look down here you can see that Everything remains just a little bit Soft and down into this corner you can See that it just doesn't sharpen up in The same way that we saw there at 90 Millimeters so as far as real world Performance at 100 magnification you can See that even if you look at the fur Along there it's just not super sharp Here's stop down to f8 which you know Should be about optimal here you can see At a pixel level that you know contrast In detail is still it's okay but it's Not exceptionally good what I did find Is that you can get better results in Lower contrast situations uh at 120 Millimeters it doesn't really handle
Really really high contrast situations Super well but here you can see at 100 Magnification you know that really looks Fairly good there this is wide open 120 Millimeters F4 and obviously the bokeh Quality is really really nice so Obviously that is going to be somewhat Of an impact when it comes to the up Close performance but as you can see Here it is a 0.20 times magnification so It's you know not off the charts but It's very useful and as you can see here It actually is producing a pretty good Result nice flat plane of focus it's a Very useful Magnification so we saw how in this shot That contributed to a nice blurred out Background and I will say at 120 Millimeters it may not be incredibly Sharp but the bokeh quality is quite Nice and even in this you know shot Which is a little bit more complex in Terms of the distance to some of the Other subjects you can see the detail Looks pretty good there and really there Isn't anything that's jarring in the Image and in this another situation Where you're kind of at optimal Conditions with a background round Blurred out there's enough contrast and Detail there to you know make the image Useful even on a high resolution body And then nicely blurred out background Now I did find at some of the shorter
Focal lengths I got a little bit less Pleasing bokeh you can see here there's Some you know more obvious outlining and A little bit further back that outlining Is there it's a little bit busier and if We take a look at the foreground stuff Here it's you know it's busier still Just a little bit more edging than what I would like but again you know not bad For a zoom zoom lens now you may have Noticed the nice colors on the previous Image and obviously that is a strength For Fuji glass quite often and in this Case you know this is again shooting at 18 millimeters no I'm not wowed by the Detail but if I step back and look at The image in the way that most people Are going to look at it it's very nice Greens had a nice saturation not over Saturated but well captured here's Another image that I thought was really Nice colors being you know lovely with a Nice amount of saturation but without Becoming garish or overdone and again Detail while it's not off the chart is Certainly good enough to look good at an Image and certainly would be plenty for Printing here's another image that just Captured light and color very very Nicely early morning light and a very Kind of hazy day and I really enjoyed The image that I got then finally a Couple of images just shot right into The Sun and you can see with it in
Different positions I found that flare Resistance was really quite good and so That wasn't an issue either and so as You can see from our Optical breakdown There's really nothing that kind of Stands out and jars you as being Optically wrong with this lens but Neither is there anything that jumps out And says wow about either the images or The sharpness any of those things along The way you know chromatic aberrations For example are well controlled in some Situations but in more harsh lighting Not so well and so there are things that It does well and things that it you know It does only okay and so at the end of The day that brings us to the price Point of about 900 US Dollars making it Expensive enough that you have to really Really want what the lens offers to lay Down that kind of money now if you are Just purely a photographer who Occasionally does video you're probably Going to be more interested in the lens Like the 16 to 80 millimeter F4 it's has More traditional controls on it it has An optical stabilizer it's a hundred Dollars less you have to really really Want the power zoom capabilities of this Lens and if you're looking for an Upgrade over the 15 to 45 millimeter pz That's kind of best case scenario here And that this lens does everything that That lens does just a little bit better
And with a much more useful Zoom range As a part of it on paper there's a lot Of good promise to this lens and I Really like the idea of it when I first Started shooting with it I thought this Is great but the more that I actually Used it and then tried to use it for its Intended purposes I was let down by the Execution in some key areas and and so I Think that Fuji had some great ideas Here but didn't necessarily execute them Quite as well as what they should have And so I would recommend this lens Really only if you are looking for a Power Zoom type lens and the Capabilities that a lens like this Offers otherwise I think Fuji has some Better options I'm Dustin Abbott and if You look in the description down below You can find linkage to my full text Review to my image gallery there are Buying links there linkage to follow me On social media to get channel Merchandise or to become a patron if you Haven't already please like And Subscribe thanks for watching have a Great day and let the light in [Music] Foreign
