Fujifilm 8-16mm
XF f/2.8 R LM WR ASPHERICAL
Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 (no filters, 28.2 oz. /800g, 0.8'/0.25m close-focus, $1,999). bigger. I'd get mine at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.
This 100% all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to my personally-approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Fujifilm does not seal its boxes, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, non-USA, gray-market, store demo or used camera. Especially with an exotic lens like this, get yours only from the trusted sources I've used personally for decades for the best prices, service, return policies and selection. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.
April 2019 Better Pictures Fuji Fuji Lenses Sony LEICA Zeiss Nikon Canon All Reviews
Sample Images
All shot hand-held as NORMAL JPGs; no RAW files or FINE JPGs or tripods were used or needed.
Fancy Entryway, 21 March 2019, 9:33 AM. Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 at 8mm at f/5.6 hand-held at 1/15 at Auto ISO 320, 200% auto dynamic range. bigger or full-resolution.
Restaurant, 21 March 2019, 12:52 PM. Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 at 8mm at f/3.6 hand-held at 1/56 at Auto ISO 320, 200% auto dynamic range. bigger or full-resolution.
Trellis, 27 March 2019, 1:35 PM. Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 at 8mm at f/8 at 1/300 at Auto ISO 320, 200% auto dynamic range. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.
Introduction
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The Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 is a large, high-performance ultra-ultrawide lens for Fujifilm's APS-C cameras. It sees the same angles-of-view as 12-24mm lens sees on a full-frame camera.
Ultra-ultrawide lenses are extremely difficult to use well by anyone other than expert photographers. See How to Use Ultrawide Lenses. If you don't know why you need this lens, then you don't need it; your regular 16-55mm or 18-xxx mm will give most people better results unless you really know what you're doing.
It performs very well, but the real question is do you really want such a large and expensive special-purpose lens for a small and light camera system like the Fujifilm APS-C cameras when the same money gets you a full-frame lens like the Sony 12-24mm? People usually use ultra-ultrawide lenses like this for architecture and other subjects most often photographed on full-frame; the images of Fujifilm's camera have always been optimized for people pictures and this isn't exactly a people lens.
Fujifilm X-T30 and XF 8-16mm f/2.8 WR. bigger.
At f/2.8 this lens is faster than most other ultra-ultrawide zooms.
These personal notes aside, this is an excellent lens and among the widest non-distorting lenses ever made.
I'd get my Fuji 8-16 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.
Good
Great optics.
Magnificent Sunstars, which is very helpful with a lens this wide.
Well made.
Ultra-ultra wide.
Bad
Big and heavy.
No way to use a front filter to protect your expensive lens.
No easy way to use front filters like grads.
Expensive: $1,999.
Missing
No Optical Image Stabilization, but not needed with ultra-ultrawide lenses.
No sane way to attach filters either front or rear.
Specifications
I'd get my Fuji 8-16 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.
Name
Fuji calls this the FUJINON ASPHERICAL LENS Nano-GI XF 8-16mm f/2.8 R LM WR.
Fujinon is Fujifilm's brand name for their lenses.
Aspherical means specially shaped lens elements for sharper pictures with less distortion.
Nano-GI is Fujinon's brand of sub-wavelength continuously-variable index-of-refraction nano multicoating.
XF is Fuji's line of good lenses for their X-mount cameras.
R means it has an aperture ring.
LM means Linear (autofocus) Motor.
WR means weather resistant.
Fujifilm also calls this the Fujinon XF8-16mmF2.8 R LM WR.
Optics
Fujinon internal optical construction. Aspherical, ED and Super ED elements.
20 elements in 13 groups.
4 aspherical elements.
3 Super ED extra-low dispersion elements, which help reduce secondary axial chromatic aberration.
3 ED extra-low dispersion elements, which help reduce secondary axial chromatic aberration.
Floating elements to correct field curvature as focused.
Nano-GI sub-wavelength coating on the rear of the front two elements to eliminate flare and ghosts which used to plague these kinds of lenses. The Nikon 15mm f/3.5 was quite crippled from internal flare because it lacked these coatings on those surfaces.
Diaphragm
Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 (diaphragm not visible). bigger.
9 rounded blades.
Electronically actuated.
Stops down to f/22 in 1/3-stop clicks.
Focal Length
8~16mm.
On Fujifilm's APS-C cameras it sees the same angle of view as a 12~24mm lens sees when used on a full-frame camera.
See also Crop Factor.
Angle of View
121º ～ 83.2º diagonal.
Autofocus
Internal focus.
No external movement as focused., so no air or dust is sucked in.
Focus Scale
No.
Infinity Focus Stop
No.
Depth of Field Scale
No.
Reproduction Ratio Scale
No.
Infrared Focus Index
No.
Close Focus
0.8 feet (0.25 meters).
Maximum Reproduction Ratio
1:10 (0.10×).
Image Stabilizer
NONE.
Caps
Dedicated FLCP-8-16 front cap for Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8. bigger.
Dedicated Fujifilm FLCP-8-16 front cap included.
Standard Fujifilm RLCP-001 rear lens cap (p/n 16389783) included.
Filters
NO filter threads and no rear filter slot.
Hood
None; built-in petals are to protect the front element from damage.
Case
Just a sack, included.
Size
3.46" ø maximum diameter × 4.78" extension from flange.
88 mm ø maximum diameter × 121.5 mm extension from flange.
Weight
28.220 oz. (800.0 g) actual measured weight.
Rated 28.4 oz. (805 g).
Quality
Made in Japan.
Environment
Rated to work down to -10º C (14º F).
Announced
20 July 2018.
Promised for
Late November 2018.
Included
Lens.
Dedicated FLCP-8-16 front cap.
Standard Fujifilm RLCP-001 rear lens cap (p/n 16389783).
"Lens Wrapping Cloth."
Packaging
Box, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8. bigger.
Microcorrugated cardboard box with pulp-formed innards.
Fujifilm's Model Number
XF8-16mmF2.8 R LM WR or 16591570.
Price, USA
$1,999, 31 March 2019 ~ .
$1,499 on sale through 30 March 2019.
$1,999 at introduction.
Performance
Overall Autofocus Breathing Bokeh
Distortion Ergonomics Falloff Filters
Flare & Ghosts Lateral Color Fringes
Sharpness Stabilization Sunstars
I'd get my Fuji 8-16 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.
Overall
The Fujifilm 8-16 is a big lens with great performance. It's the only ultra-ultrawide for Fuji's X-mount, and it's marvelous — and big.
Autofocus
Like all autofocus ultra-ultrawides, autofocus is almost instantaneous.
The only odd part is that the AF motor system makes a slight hissing or water-running sound similar to what some image stabilization systems make. This is normal.
Focus Breathing
Focus breathing is the image changing size as focused in and out. It's important to cinematographers because it looks funny if the image changes size as focus gets pulled back and forth between actors. If the lens does this, the image "breathes" by growing and contracting slightly as the dialog goes back and forth.
I can't see any focus breathing in this 8-16mm; the image size stays the same as focused.
Bokeh
Bokeh, the feel or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, isn't an issue because you can't ever get much out of focus with a lens this wide.
Here are photos from headshot distance wide-open:
Davis 6250 weather station, 28 March 2019. bigger or camera-original © file.
Davis 6250 weather station, 28 March 2019. bigger or camera-original © file.
As always, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible, shoot at 16mm at f/2.8 and get as close as possible.
Distortion
The Fuji 8-16 has no visible distortion. The camera is mostly likely correcting it.
Using these factors with Photoshop's lens correction filter for more critical scientific use. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.
at 10' (3m) |
|
8mm |
-0.70 |
10mm |
-0.60 |
12mm |
+0.50 |
16mm |
±0.00 |
Ergonomics
|
|
Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8. bigger. |
Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8. bigger. |
© 2019 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Ergonomics are great, remembering that this is a full-sized lens about the same size as a small grapefruit.
Manual focusing is entirely electronic; the manual focus ring isn't connected to anything other than a digital encoder, which may or may not do anything depending on how you set your camera.
The zoom ring works best with two fingers.
The aperture ring is great. It's easy to set with a single fingertip and the full stops are slightly more deeply detented.
Falloff
Falloff is invisible. The camera most likely correcting it.
I've greatly exaggerated the falloff by shooting a gray field and placing these on a gray background; it will not look this bad in actual photos of real things:
Canon Falloff on Full-Frame and 35mm at infinity, correction turned OFF.
© 2019 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved. |
Filters, use with
Forget it.
There is no front thread, and no rear gel holder.
Your best bet is to get a Gerry-rigged adapter to hold huge square filters over the front. If you go this route be sure that any adapter shields the sides of the filter, otherwise this lens is so wide it will see reflections off of the filter and see behind itself.
Flare & Ghosts
There are nearly no ghosts; for an ultra-ultrawide lens this is a marvel of engineering:
Sky, 28 March 2019, 11:38 AM. Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 at 10mm at f/8 hand-held at 1/800 at Auto ISO 320, 200% auto dynamic range. bigger.
Lateral Color Fringes
There are no color fringes as shot on Fujifilm's cameras, which by default correct for any that may be there.
Macro Performance
Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic Watch at close-focus distance, 27 March 2019. Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 at 16mm at close-focus distance at f/2.8 at 1/3,500 at ISO 160, 100% dynamic range. bigger or camera-original © file.
1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. bigger or camera-original © file.
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your phone, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 11 × 16" (0.9 × 1.3 feet or 25 × 40 cm).
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 21 × 31" (1.7 × 2.6 feet or 50 × 80 cm).
If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 42 × 62" (3.5 × 5.2 feet or 1.05 × 1.6 meters).
Mechanical Quality
Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8. bigger.
This is a well made lens out of plastic and metal.
Front Bumper
None.
Protective Hood Petals & ID Ring
Plastic.
Filter Threads
None.
Hood Bayonet Mount
None.
Focus Ring
Anodized aluminum.
Front Barrel Exterior
Plastic.
Metal.
Zoom Ring
Rubber-covered plastic.
Mid Barrel
Thin section between focus and zoom rings: plastic.
Aperture Ring
Anodized aluminum with engraved and filled markings.
Slide Switches
None.
Rear Barrel Exterior
Plastic.
Identity
Printed around front of lens.
Internals
Seem like all metal!
Dust Gasket at Mount
Yes.
Mount
Chromed metal.
Markings
Paint, except for engraved and filled with paint aperture ring.
Serial Number
Printed on barrel near mount (not engraved).
Date Code
None found.
Noises When Shaken
Mild to moderate clunking.
Made in
Japan.
Sound & Noise
Oddly the autofocus motor system makes a slight hissing or water-running sound similar to what some image stabilization systems make. This is normal.
Sharpness
Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness and blame crummy pictures on their equipment rather than themselves. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that.
If you're not getting ultra-sharp pictures, be sure not to shoot at f/11 or smaller where all lenses are softer due to diffraction, always shoot at ISO 160 or less because cameras become softer at ISO 200 and above, be sure everything is in perfect focus, and be sure nothing is moving, either camera or subject. If you want to ensure a soft image with any lens, shoot at f/16 at ISO 1,600 at default sharpening in daylight of rapidly moving subjects at differing distances in the same image.
If we look in the lab, which has nothing to do with how sharp our pictures will be,at 8mm it is a little softer in the sides and corners wide-open at f/2.8. This minor corner softening sharpens up as stopped down, and is great by f/5.6 and perfect by f/8. Of course the rest of the image even in the lab is ultra-sharp at every setting.
At 11mm it's perfectly sharp all over, and just a tad softer in the farthest corners wide-open, improving by f/4 and perfect by f/5.6.
At 16mm it's perfectly sharp all over, and just a tiny tad softer in the farthest corners wide-open, and back to perfect at f/4.
Canary Palm Trunk, 28 March 2019, 8:26 AM. Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 at 8mm at f/2.8 at 1/2,200 at Auto ISO 320, 200% auto dynamic range. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.
Canary Palm Trunk, 28 March 2019, 8:26 AM. Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 at 8mm at f/11 at 1/150 at Auto ISO 320, 200% auto dynamic range. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.
Canary Palm Tree, 28 March 2019, 8:26 AM. Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm 8-16mm f/2.8 at 16mm at f/8 at 1/70 at Auto ISO 320, 200% auto dynamic range. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.
 |
 |
MTF at 8mm at f/2.8 at 15 cycles/mm. |
MTF at 8mm at f/2.8 at 45 cycles/mm. |
 |
 |
MTF at 16mm at f/2.8 at 15 cycles/mm. |
MTF at 16mm at f/2.8 at 45 cycles/mm. |
Image Stabilization
I get perfect tripod-equivalent sharpness for almost every shot at 1/15 of a second hand-held.
There is no Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), even though the lens hisses quietly and sounds like it does.
"Percent Perfectly Sharp Shots" are the percentage of frames with 100% perfect tripod-equivalent sharpness I get when I'm shooting hand-held while standing with no support. Hand tremor is a random occurrence, so at marginal speeds some frames will be perfectly sharp while others will be in various stages of blur — all at the same shutter speed. This rates what percentage of shots are perfectly sharp, not how sharp all the frames are:
| % Perfectly Sharp Shots | 1/2 |
1/4 |
1/8 |
1/15 |
1/30 |
1/60 |
| at 8mm | 0 | 0 | 75 | 90 | 100 | 100 |
| at 16mm | 0 | 0 | 10 | 90 | 100 | 100 |
Sunstars
This 8~16mm lens makes great 18-pointed sunstars on brilliant points of light at most apertures.
The vertical smear at f/2.8 is a sensor artifact called interline transfer smear; it's not a lens defect.
Click any to enlarge:
Click any to enlarge.
Compared
I'd get my Fuji 8-16 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.
This 8-16mm is a big, special-purpose ultra-ultrawide lens. It's not for general purpose use unless you really, really need the widest possible lens for crazy things and are willing to pay double just to get a little bit wider image than you can with the Fujifilm 10-24mm.
For most people, the Fujifilm 10-24mm is a much more practical lens that's smaller, lighter, takes filters, covers a more useful zoom range and only costs half as much.
Recommendations
This excellent lens is the widest native ultra-ultrawide for Fujifilm's APS-C cameras. The real question is do you really want to put this much money into such a big lens for a small-format camera system, especially when the Fujifilm 10-24mm is so much more practical?
This aside, if you're considering getting this lens and appreciate that you'll have to be careful not to damage the front element and don't mind the price, size and weight, go for it.
I'd get my Fuji 8-16 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.
This 100% all-content website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Fujifilm does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, non-USA, store demo or used lens. This is especially important with an exotic lens like this that all the lookie-loos will want to try before it gets sold to some unlucky hack at a local store. I only buy online. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.
Thanks for helping me help you!
Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.
More Information
I'd get my Fuji 8-16 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.
Fujifilm's 8-16mm f/2.8 product pages.
Fujifilm's 8-16mm f/2.8 press release, 20 July 2018.
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