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Fuji 10-24mm f/4 OIS
XF10-24mmF4 R (15-35mm equiv.)
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Intro   Specs   Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

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Fuji 10-24mm f/4 OIS XF

Fuji Fujinon XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS for X-mount cameras (metal 72mm filter thread, 14.3 oz./404g, 0.9'/0.28m close focus, about $999). enlarge. I got mine at Adorama and this link to it at Amazon is also a great place to get it. This free website's biggest source of support is when you use that or these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live — but I receive nothing for my efforts if you take the chance of buying elsewhere. Never buy at retail, since unlike milk or DVDs which are sealed, Fuji doesn't seal its boxes so you can't tell if it's a used lens or missing accessories. Thanks for your support! Ken.

 

May 2014    Fuji Reviews   Fuji X-Mount Lenses   LEICA Reviews   All Reviews

How to Use Ultrawide Lenses

 

Sample Image Files (more throughout the review)

NEW: Sample Images from Yosemite 16-18 May 2014

Inside The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley

The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley, 8:41 AM. Fuji X-T1, Fuji 10-24mm at 10mm, f/4 at 1/8 hand held at Auto ISO 250, Athentech Perfectly Clear. Full Resolution.

 

Dining Room, The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley

Dining Room, The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley, 9:32 AM. Fuji X-T1, Fuji 10-24mm at 10mm, f/7.1 at 1/4 hand held at Auto ISO 800, Athentech Perfectly Clear. Full Resolution.

 

Yosemite Valley with sunstar

Yosemite Valley, 10:22 AM, 16 May 2014. Fuji 10-24mm at 10mm, Fuji X-T1 at Auto ISO 400 and Auto DR 200, 10mm at f/22 at 1/60, Athentech Perfectly Clear. bigger.

 

Introduction       top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

Compatibility

Adorama pays top dollar for your used gear.

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

This Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS is an excellent 15-35mm (equivalent) ultrawide zoom that only works on Fuji X-mount cameras. Unlike other ultrawide zooms for DX/APS-C cameras, this Fujinon is made out of metal and is a tough internal-focussing and zooming lens. Nothing moves externally as zoomed or focussed.

This Fuji ultrawide stands out not only for its superior mechanical quality, but also for its complete lack of any visible distortion, lateral color fringes or light falloff as shot on the Fuji X-T1.

The only gotcha with this Fuji lens is that there is no instant manual-focus override. You have to move a switch on your camera to get to or from manual focus mode.

OIS means Optical Image Stabilizer, which eliminates the need for a tripod.

The Fuji X-Mount Lenses are all extraordinary. What most photographers don't realize is that Fuji has for many decades, just like Canon and Nikon, also made far more advanced optics, like binoculars for the military and for use in space, as well as lenses for motion pictures and television with six-figure price tags at discount. Unlike mud brands like Sigma and Tamron (or even LEICA), Fujinon has loads of experience actually supplying optics that cost more than some people's houses, and puts that same know-how into these lenses.

 

Compatibility       intro      top

This is a Fuji X-mount XF lens that works only on Fuji X-mount cameras.

 

Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS

Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS. bigger.

 

Specifications        top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

 

Name

Fuji 10-24 4 front

Fuji 10-24 f/4 OIS at f/4 OIS.

Fuji calls this the Fujinon Aspherical Lens Super EBC XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS, or XF10-24mmF4 R OIS.

Fujinon is Fuji's brand name for their lenses.

Aspherical means specially shaped lens elements for better sharpness.

Super EBC is Electron Beam Coating, also known as multicoating or HT-EBC coating.

XF is Fuji's line of lenses for their X-mount cameras.

R means it has an aperture ring.

OIS means Optical Image Stabilizer, which eliminates the need for a tripod.

72 means it takes 72mm filters.

 

Optics

Fuji 10-24mm f/4 OIS internal diagram

Fuji 10-24/4 internal diagram.

14 elements in 10 groups.

4 aspherical and 3 extra-low dispersion elements.

Additional coating on the back of the front element.

Internal focus.

The front group slides inside the barrel as zoomed, so if a filter is used, nothing moves externally and no air gets sucked in.

 

Diaphragm

7 rounded blades.

Stops down to f/22 in 1/3-stop clicks.

 

Focal length

10-24mm.

When used on the X-mount cameras with their 1.52x crop factor sensors, it sees the same angle of view as a 15-35mm lens sees when used on a 35mm camera.

When used on the X-mount cameras in their 1:1 square crop mode, it sees the same angle of view as a 35-85 mm normal lens sees when used on a 6x6cm (2¼"square) medium-format camera. This is about the same as a 18-45mm lens sees when used on a 35mm camera.

See also Crop Factor.

 

Angle of view

61.2º - 110º

 

Autofocus

DC coreless AF motor.

Internal focus.

No external movement as focussed, so little to no air or dust is sucked in.

 

Close Focus

0.8 feet (0.24 meters) in normal or in Macro modes.

Fuji specifies only to 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) in normal mode, but my X-T1 focuses as close in both modes.

 

Maximum Reproduction Ratio

1:6.2 (0.16x).

 

Filters

Metal 72mm filter thread.

 

Hood

Fuji 10-24mm with hood

Fuji 10-24mm with included hood.

Plastic petal-type bayonet-mount hood included.

 

Size

3.07" diameter x 3.42" long.

78 mm diameter x 87 mm long.

 

Weight

14.260 oz. (404.2g), measured, lens only.

Fuji specifies 14.5 oz. (410g).

 

Announced

18 December 2013.

 

Included

Lens.

Hood.

Front and rear caps.

"Lens wrapping cloth."

Paperwork.

 

Packaging

Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS

Box, Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS.

Inside the micro-corrugated cardboard box are pulp-formed cardboard holders for the plastic-wrapped lens and hood. A small folded tray of microcorrugated cardboard lies on top to hold the manual and lens wrapping cloth.

 

Price

$999, introduction - May 2014.

 

Performance       top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

Overall   Auto and Manual Focus    Bokeh    Distortion

Ergonomics  Falloff  Filters  Flare & Ghosts  Color Fringes    Macro

Mechanics   OIS   Sharpness   Spherochromatism   Sunstars

 

Overall      performance      top

The Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS ASPH is optically close to perfect, and is also very well built, making it the world's best APS-C ultrawide zoom even if it didn't have OIS.

 

Auto and Manual Focus      performance      top

Autofocus is silent, almost instantaneous, and always accurate.

You do have to move a switch on your camera to go between auto and manual focus.

Manual focus is by-wire, meaning the manual focus. ring is merely an encoder that talks to a computer that moves the lens.

 

Bokeh      performance      top

Bokeh, the softness of out-of-focus areas, isn't significant with a wide, slow lens like this.

Almost nothing is ever out of focus.

 

Distortion      performance      top

Distortion is invisible, at least as shot as JPGs on my Fuji X-T1, which for all I know is correcting it automatically.

What little pincushion distortion there is can be corrected for more critical use by plugging these figures into Photoshop's lens distortion filter. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.

 

Correction factor at 10' (3m)
10mm
0.0
14mm
-0.7
18mm
-1.0
20mm
-1.0

24mm

-1.0

© 2014 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Ergonomics      performance      top

Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS

Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS for X-mount cameras.

Ergonomics are easy.

It feels great to have a real metal lens in my hands. The only other real metal lenses made today are almost exclusively from LEICA; Nikon and Canon have been churning out mostly plastic since the 1980s.

The zoom ring is heavily damped. You'll want to use two fingers to zoom.

The aperture ring is only half an aperture ring; it's only an encoder to a computer and works like a generic command dial. It's not actually marked with apertures; you have to move the switch away from A to set an aperture manually.

For the manual focus ring to work, you have to change the setting on your camera. Otherwise the ring is ignored in autofocus. Even in manual focus, the ring is never connected to the lens; it's connected to a computer which in turn moves a motor in the lens to focus.

 

Falloff (darkened corners)      performance      top

Light falloff is completely invisible even wide open at f/4, as shot on the X-T1 which is probably correcting it automatically.

Even shooting gray fields wide-open at f/4 OIS to exaggerate it, it's still insignificant:

Fuji 10-24mm falloff

Fuji 10-24mm f/4 at 10mm and f/4 on Fuji XT1.

 

Fuji 10-24mm falloff

Fuji 10-24mm f/4 at 24mm and f/4 on Fuji XT1.

 

Filters, Use with      performance      top

There's no problem with vignetting, even with several stacked filters!

|I can use two filters even at 10mm.

With three stacked filters, one of which is my 72mm Schneider grad ND 0.6, I can zoom as wide as 14mm with no vignetting.

The filter ring doesn't move.

The all-metal filter ring is a pleasant surprise compared to the plastic rubbish from Nikon and Canon.

 

Flare and Ghosts     performance      top

Ghosts

Ghost, 1:03 PM, 21 May 2014. Fuji X-T1 at Auto ISO 200, 24mm at f/11 at 1/250, Athentech Perfectly Clear. bigger.

There's no problem with ghosts.

Even under the most devious conditions I could devise, all I got was a dim blob or two as seen here — and this was through a 72mm Nikon L37 c filter!

No problems here.

 

Lateral Color Fringes      performance      top

There are no significant lateral color fringes as shot on the X-T1 as JPGs.

If you get out the microscope, there are none from 10-18mm, and only the slightest hint of yellow-blue fringes in the corners at 24mm.

There are plenty of much more expensive lenses much worse here.

 

Macro      performance      top

It doesn't get very close, which we expect for ultrawides. This is as close as it gets:

macro

Omega Constellation at close-focus distance at 24mm. f/6.4 at 1/420 on X-T1 at AUTO ISO 400, Athentech Perfectly Clear.

 

Mechanics      performance      top

Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS

Rear, Fuji X-mount XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS. bigger.

The Fuji 10-24 4 is built much better than any other ultrawide APS-C lens.

It's mostly anodized aluminum, not cheesy plastic.

 

Hood

Plastic bayonet.

 

Filter Threads

Anodized aluminum.

 

Hood Bayonet

Anodized aluminum.

 

Front Barrel

Anodized aluminum.

 

Focus Ring

Anodized aluminum.

 

Focus Scale

None.

 

Infinity Stop

None.

 

Depth-of-Field Scale

None.

 

Zoom Ring

Rubber-covered plastic.

 

Internals

Plastic and metal.

 

Mid Barrel

Anodized aluminum.

 

Aperture Ring

Anodized aluminum.

Third-stop clicks.

 

Rear Barrel

Plastic.

 

Mount

Dull-chromed metal.

 

Barrel Markings

Painted.

 

Identity Ring

Front ring, laser-engraved.

 

Serial Number

Laser engraved on rear of lens barrel near mount.

 

Rain seal at mount

No.

 

Noises When Shaken

Mild clunking.

 

Made in

Japan.

 

OIS      performance      top

The stabilizer works fine.

It makes a slight hissing or running noise while it's working.

Image stabilizers are important for long lenses, but don't do much for ultrawides since camera shake isn't as much of a problem.

 

Sharpness      performance      top

Warning 1: Image sharpness depends more on you than your lens.

Warning 2: Lens sharpness doesn't mean much to good photographers.

The Fuji XF 10-24/4 is as sharp as Nikon and Canon's APS-C ultrawide zooms .

At 10mm it's always super sharp throughout most of the image. The farthest corners can be softer wide-open at f/4 and a little softer at f/5.6, becoming very sharp at f/11.

From 14mm to 24mm, it's always super sharp throughout most of the image. The farthest corners can be a little softer at f/4, and they're all super-sharp by f/5.6.

 

Rated MTF:

MTF at 15 cycles
MTF at 45 cycles
10mm MTF at 15 cyc/mm
(10 cyc/mm equiv.)
10mm MTF at 45 cyc/mm
(30 cyc/mm equiv.)
MTF at 15 cycles
MTF at 45 cycles
24mm MTF at 15 cyc/mm
(10 cyc/mm equiv.)
24mm MTF at 45 cyc/mm
(30 cyc/mm equiv.)

 

 

Spherochromatism       performance     top

I see no spherochromatism (called color bokeh by hobbyists). This means that out-of-focus highlights remain neutral and don't take on any slight color fringes.

 

Sunstars      performance      top

Yosemite Valley with sunstar

Yosemite Valley, 10:22 AM, 16 May 2014. Fuji X-T1 at Auto ISO 400 and Auto DR 200, 10mm at f/22 at 1/60, Athentech Perfectly Clear. bigger.

The 7-blade diaphragm makes exquisitely sharp sunstars at f/22.

The rounded blades soften the points as opened up. They're good at f/16 and starting to disappear at f/11. They're gone at f/8, f/5.6 and f/4.

 

Usage         top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

Fuji 10-24mm switches

Fujinon 10-24mm switches.

OIS is the image stabilizer. Leave it on as shown here, except if you're on a tripod for long exposures.

Leave the Diaphragm/A switch at the A setting as shown here. Move it to the diaphragm position to set an aperture manually.

 

Recommendations       top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

The Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS ASPH is the best-made APS-C ultrawide lens of any brand, and arguably the best optical performer, too. It's also the only APS-C ultrawide with image stabilization.

This is the very best ultrawide for the Fuji X-mount cameras. You could adapt LEICA or other lenses to the Fujis, but none will perform as well as this native lens optically, and none will offer autofocus, EXIF data or diaphragm automation.

There are no better lenses to use on the Fuji system at any price. Forget slumming with LEICA or other off-brand lenses; you can't get anything sharper and any other lens won't autofocus or autoexpose or log data or be optimized by the camera's DSP, and no other lens will have a diaphragm that opens and closes automatically as needed for focus and shooting.

If you've found my research here helpful, my support to run this free website comes from when you use these links to approved sources, especially this link to it at Adorama and and this link to it at Amazon, when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Please always use these links when getting any of your gear so I can continue to share what I know; it's what supports me. If you take the chance of buying elsewhere (or especially at retail), remember that Fuji doesn't seal its boxes. Unlike a bottle of milk which is sealed, buy your 10-24mm lens elsewhere or at retail and you'll not only cheat me out of the work I've done here to help you, you run the risk of getting a lens that's a customer return or been used for store demos.

Thanks!

Ken.

 

More Information        top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

Fuji's 10-24mm page.

Fuji's 10-24/4 press release.

 

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Thanks for reading!

 

 

Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

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21 May 2014