Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS Lens Review

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS Performance

At 10mm, sharpness is already outstanding in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture and the clarity achieved towards the edges of the frame falls just short of excellent levels. Stopping down just one stop to f/5.6 results in peak performance across the frame, with outstanding sharpness from edge to edge.

Zooming to 18mm results in increased sharpness across the frame, with outstanding sharpness in the centre complimented by excellent clarity towards the edges of the frame. As is the case at 10mm, peak performance is realised at f/5.6 with outstanding sharpness being produced across the frame.

Finally, at 24mm, the lens still performs very well. At maximum aperture, sharpness in the centre of the frame is excellent and towards the edges of the frame it is very good. Stopping down to f/8 at this focal length results in peak performance across the frame. Sharpness is excellent from edge-to-edge at this setting.

MTF@10mm

MTF@18mm

MTF@24mm

How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Fujifilm X-Pro1 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are very well controlled, with fringing only just exceeding half a pixel width at 10mm and f/4, plus when the aperture is stopped down below f/11 at this focal length, towards the edges of the frame. This low level of CA should be very difficult to spot, even in harsh crops from the edges of the frame, or in large reproductions.

CA@10mm

CA@18mm

CA@24mm

How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Fujifilm X-Pro1 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the edges of the frame although quite strong, is typical for such a wide angle lens. At 10mm the corners are 1.7 stops darker than the image centre at maximum aperture and at 24mm the corners are only 0.9 stops darker. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down to f/8 or beyond at 10mm or at f/5.6 or beyond at 24mm.

Distortion is typical for a lens sporting a field of view as wide as this. Imatest was able to detect 5.03% barrel distortion at 10mm and 1.46% pincushion at 24mm. There is a slight wave to the distortion, which may make applying corrections manually in image editing software a bit of a pain. Automatic correction of distortion in camera is very good though, and this information can be read by many popular raw image converters.

With, or without, the petal-shaped hood attached, this lens is quite resistant to flare, coping admirably with harsh backlit situations. Contrast levels remain good when shooting into the light also.

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