Tough Nut!
Fujiflm expanded their portfolio recently with the addition of a few lenses for their interchangeable lens cameras. To complement the sturdy retro styled cameras, the lenses too have been crafted without compromise on the build quality. The XF55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS lens, incidentally, is Fujifilm’s first telephoto zoom lens for the compact interchangeable lens system.
Design and Build Quality
The Fujinon 55-200mm is ruggedly built with tough engineering plastic barrels and metal filter thread, a signature of genuine ‘Made in Japan’ lenses. The lens barrel extends about 6cm while zooming, but maintains original size while focussing, thanks to internal focussing. The lens mount is metal, presumably aluminium. The lens features three rings — Zoom ring, Focus ring, and Aperture ring. The lens has two buttons — OIS and Aperture. The OIS button provides only two options — Off and On. The Aperture button needs a little bit of explanation. All Fujifilm interchangeable lens cameras have a shutter speed dial, which allows you to choose the shutter speed. The dial has an additional ‘A’ marking, which denotes Auto. If the dial is at this position, the shutter speed will be controlled by the camera. Similarly, all the lenses have an Aperture button, which has markings ‘A’ (Auto) and Manual (denoted by an aperture icon). When the switch is at ‘A’, the camera
Key Features
will automatically control the aperture, while Manual allows you to change the aperture using the aperture ring. Now if you want to switch to Aperture priority, set the Shutter speed dial to ‘A’ and switch the aperture button to Manual. Similarly to switch to Shutter priority, shift the aperture button to ‘A’ and set the shutter speed from the shutter speed dial. If you want to let the camera decide the exposure (Auto mode), set both to ‘A’. The XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 lens provides an equivalent focal length of 84 to 305mm. The lens has an aperture range of f/3.5-22 at the wide-angle end and f/4.8-22 at the telephoto end. It features Optical Image Stabilisation, which, Fujifilm claim, provides a 4.5-stop advantage. According to Fujifilm, the linear AF motor facilitates high-speed autofocus. The lens provides an angle of view of 29.0 – 8.1 degrees. It features a 7-bladed diaphragm, which provides a circular opening. The lens focusses from 1.1m to infinity in Normal mode and 1.1 to 3m in Macro mode (all Fujifilm cameras have Macro button on the body, which allows you to limit focus distance even on a non-macro lens). The 55-200 provides a maximum magnification of 0.18x at the telephoto end. The XF 55-200mm lens is constructed with 14 elements in 10 groups including one aspherical, one extra low dispersion (ED), and one Super ED element. The Super ED element boasts of performance matching a fluorite lens. This is useful for controlling chromatic aberration.
The lens has dimensions of (dia) 75mm x 118mm at the wide-angle end and (dia) 75mm x 177mm at the telephoto end. The lens has a 62mm (dia) filterhead and weighs approximately 580g (excluding caps and hoods).
Ergonomics
The XF 55-200mm lens is comfortable to hold and use. The zoom ring has a nice rubber lining, which makes it easy to rotate. The other two rings rotate smoothly. The lens is slighly heavy compared to the competition, but that does not place it at any disadvantage. We tested the lens with a Fujifilm X-E1and the lens balanced well with the body.
Performance
The Fujifilm 55-200mm lens performed well in our tests. The lens controlled distortion very well. We did not observe any distortion in the images throughout the zoom range. Images were sharp out of the box, though the sharpness deteriorated towards the edges. Slight darkening of corners was observed at the wide-angle end at f/3.5, but not so much to be of concern. We observed prominent flare in strong against-the-light shots at 55mm with the lens wide open, but there was no trace of chromatic aberration in any image. This is quite rare, especially in a zoom lens of this class. We were quite satisfied with the performance of the Optical Image Stabilisation. We felt that Fujifilm’s claim of a 4.5-stop advantage with the OIS is correct. The lens coatings did not introduce any cast in the images. The AF, however, had difficulty in locking on to the subject when the contrast was slighly low. It also struggled to focus under low-light conditions. We are not sure if this is a problem with the lens or the body.
Value for Money
The XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS lens retails at an MRP of Rs.49,999. This price is very high, considering that similar lenses from competitors are available at much low prices.