Fujifilm XF55-200 mm F3.5-4.8 R LM Optical Image Stabiliser Lens

Product Information

Fujifilm X Mount Lenses and Fujifilm Camera Bodies both scream high quality - The 55-200mm has this continued quality. The AF+MF switch on the lens enables seamless manual focusing. Half depress the shutter to autofocus on the subject and then fine adjustments can then be made using the manual focus ring. A Linear Motor For Fast and Quiet Autofocus I have been super excited to write my official Fujifilm 55-200 Review for quite some time now. Having owned this lens for around 1 Year, I am ready to share my thoughts and, of course, plenty of sample photos for you to look through.

I just took the 18-135 and the 35mm f2 – and they did their jobs well. I never really hankered or wished for anything different whilst I was over there in Myanmar. As it turned out (you can read in my blog on the trip to Myanmar), I ended up falling into Inlay Lake with all of my camera gear attached. The only thing that got ruined was the X-T1 because it had no lens or body cap on at the time. However, the 18-135 and the 35mm F2 and my X-T2 were and are still fine. Just as well I opted for the sealed lenses! The only better lens is the 50-140mm f/2.8, which is bigger and heavier and has a shorter zoom range. It feels great to have a mostly metal lens in my hands. All the other brands of 55-200mm are all plastic. Here is what I am hoping will be able to happen. In normal shooting situations and for my travel trips to Asia, I am hoping to have the 16-55 glued on to one of my X-T2’s and the 55-200 glued onto the other. Though the 16-55 has no stabilisation, I am envisaging this to not be a problem. I used the 35mm F2 lens extensively in Myanmar and never had a problem with camera shake or wished that it had stabilisation. For the 55mm end, if stabilisation is needed, then of course I can pull out the 55-200 and use the 55 end for stabilisation. I am hoping the 16-55 will be just as sharp at 35mm as my 35mm F2 lens. I only lose one stop (F2-F2.8), so if this is the case then this small lens may have become obsolete and will end up with the 18-55 on ‘fleabay’. 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.As with all Fujifilm lenses, the 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 features an aperture ring. However, this one is unmarked and rotates in full turns in either direction. 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.

Crop from above 16MP image at 100%. If this is 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the entire image printed at this high magnification would be 50 x 35" (1.5 x 1 meter). Please note that vignetting compensation is also a lossy procedure because it increases the corner (sensor-)noise. This Fuji XF 55-200mm OIS is a fast, precise 80-300mm (equivalent) telephoto zoom that only works on Fuji X-mount cameras. Unlike other telephoto zooms for DX/APS-C cameras, this Fujinon is mostly made out of metal, not plastic. The lens is certainly sharp enough even being slightly better at the 55mm end than the 18-55mm. The main concern among artists is the bokeh characteristic. The 55-200mm lens is one I will replace with a 135mm IS prime when one becomes available. I’m sure the DXO labs and DPreview technicians will get their hand on the 55-200mm soon. When I got a chance to have a look at the images on L/R and process some of them, I was amazed at the sharpness of the 55-200, and the beautiful colour rendering – seems better than the 18-135. It is blistering sharp (wide open), right out to about 180mm (270mm equivalent). It is only the last bit that it loses some of its punch. You will see there is a photo of my wife taken at 181mm and it is still very sharp. There is another taken at full focal length (300mm equivalent), and you can just see some softness creeping in. This is marvellous news because I shot with Nikon for over 30yrs and always used an 80-200 or a 70-200mm lens. I never needed anything longer, so I am sure on the 55-200 I will be able to keep all of my shots under the 270mm to maintain maximum sharpness.Light falloff is completely invisible even wide open, as shot on the X-T1 which is probably correcting it automatically. The Fujifilm XF55200 features a 62mm Filter Thread. Which is perfect since it matches the thread of my 23mm f1.4 lens. I personally use GOBE Filters, which I have talked about time & time again here. The Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 is incredibly well built and clearly built to last. This lens weighs in at 580gm (20.5 oz), yet it doesn’t feel overly large for that amount of mass. Expanded Fujifilm 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS XF Fujinon Lens key Features: Classic High Quality Fujifilm Build When paired with a Fujifilm camera body such as the Fujifilm X-T3 or the Fujifilm X-T30, it doesn’t feel too front heavy – especially given that you are going to have to hold the lens with your left hand to control the zoom ring.

The aperture range of the XF55-200 Lens is f3.5-4.8 with a maximum of f22. Sure, there are faster lenses on the market. But this aperture range is plenty enough to produce pleasing bokeh and even get some killer moon shots in low light (which I’m obsessed with). In fact, if you see a moon shot from me, it’s 99% of the time shot with this lens. So, with that said, I’ve not felt a disadvantage due to the given apertures. Manual focus is by-wire, meaning the manual focus. ring is merely an encoder that talks to a computer that moves the lens. For its size, this lens is actually reasonably lightweight, tipping the scales at 580g. Even so the lens is very well built with the combination of metal and high quality plastics giving this lens a reassuringly robust feel. Thanks to the reasonable weight, this lens balances well on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 body used for testing.It’s hard for me not to be a bit bias about this lens. Some of my favorite images have come from it. I attribute a lot of this to its versatility and the types of things that I like to shoot. It’s honestly a lens that fits perfectly with my style of work and I couldn’t be more stoked that I added it to my kit. Here are a few of my favorite images before we wrap things up and I give you my final thoughts… If you are a Fujifilm shooter in the market for a zoom lens, then the Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 would be an ideal place to start and finish.

The Fuji XF 55-200mm OIS is optically close to perfect, and is also very well built, making it the world's second-best APS-C telephoto zoom after the Fuji 50-140/2.8. As with other X-series lenses, a manual aperture ring is provided, although the implementation of this is different on this lens. No aperture values are marked on the ring and it can be rotated all the way around. A separate switch for selecting automatic aperture control is provided instead of the A setting being on the aperture ring. However, at the moment I shoot with an old fully manual Tamron Adaptall 60-300 F3.8/5.4 and it's serviceable, if rather front heavy. Remembering the old Sunny 16 rule and allowing for the fact that ISO 1600 is now quite usable means that f8 and f11 aren't troublesome any more (hence Canon has released f11 relephoto lenses for those of us who hate lugging big lumps of glass around). Based on the fact that the Tamron is smaller and lighter than the 100-400, I have no interest in that lens but the 70-300 looks just about right - even if it is about the same weight, being optimised for mirrorless means it won't have the extra length that the Tamron has with the mount adapter.The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. Focusing is performed internally and a central lens barrel lens extends by around six centimetres at maximum telephoto. Even so, the 62mm filter thread does not rotate, making it perfect for use with polarising and graduated filters. The focusing and zoom rings are well damped, making fine adjustments easy to apply. Most telephoto lenses these days have Optical Image Stabalization (OIS) so this isn’t really a unique feature to the Fujifilm 55-200mm lens. Since I am on a tripod for the most part I have this turned off almost all the time. But it works very well and I’m glad to have it when I don’t have a tripod or just need to hand hold my camera for a shot. PS – since completing this write-up my filter arrived and I have taken some shots with the 16-55 – watch this space because there will be another blog coming soon. I will discuss how this lens fits in with my 55-200, 18-135 and 35mm F2 – and which lens is destined for ‘fleabay’)!!