Fujinon XF 16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR £699/$799

The most useful X-mount standard zoom? www.fujifilm.co.uk

The XF16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR is a really interesting standard zoom for Fujifilm X-mount cameras. Fujifilm has now made five standard zooms for its X-series cameras. The XC15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ is a low-cost compact retracting zoom for Fujifilm’s lower-end models, which seems to have replaced the older XC1650mm f/3.5-f5.6 OIS II lens. Mid-range Fujifilm cameras usually come with the neat XF18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS, which is a bit more upmarket, while pros will gravitate towards the big and heavy XF16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR. That left a big gap between the XF1855mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS and the XF16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR. Neither of those lenses has a very big zoom range, and the 16-55mm doesn’t even have optical stabilisation.

This is why the XF16-80mmf/4 R OIS WR offers such an attractive middle ground, with a longer 5x zoom range, but still with a constant f/4 maximum aperture, and the benefit of optical stabilisation. The constant aperture makes the lens faster at longer focal lengths than regular variable-aperture standard zooms and makes manual exposure much more straightforward.

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