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Fujinon XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS - Review / Test Report - Analysis |
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Lens Reviews -
Fujifilm X
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Page 2 of 2
Distortion
As far as image distortions are concerned, there are two sides of the truth. By default the camera and most software is correcting this flaw so most users will actually not notice any issues in this chapter. That being said it remains a choice whether auto-correction is activated. If you chose not to do so, you will notice a very heavy degree of barrel distortion (4.9%) at 10mm. However, at 14mm and 18mm, distortions are minimal before changing to a medium degree of pincushion distortion at 24mm.
If you move your mouse cursor over the image you can switch to the corresponding non-corrected results.
Vignetting
Vignetting is another aspect which is usually auto-corrected and as such only noticeable by the somewhat higher degree of sensor noise in the image corners.
Vignetting in JPEG mode:
In RAW mode - thus with disabled distortion and vignetting compensation - it is a different story altogether. At max. aperture there's an extreme light falloff at 10mm f/4 and it remains fairly heavy even when stopping down (although to be fair - this is also caused by the "natural" vignetting). The issue isn't quite as pronounced at the other settings but it's generally a good idea to stop down to f/8 when sticking to the "pure" image.
Vignetting in "RAW" mode:
MTF (resolution)
The Fujinon produced impressive resolution figures in the MTF lab. From 10mm to 18mm the center performance is generally excellent excpet beyond f/11 where diffraction takes its toll. The border quality is easily on a good to very good level. There is a small but visible decrease in center quality at 24mm although the image corners aren't much affected.
Field curvature is present albeit not beyond the ordinary for an ultra-wide lens. The centering quality of the tested sample was good. It is worth to note that we have seen several Fujinon lenses that had problems in the past here so hopefully this positive finding applies to all production batches.
Please note that the MTF results are not directly comparable across the different systems!
Below is a simplified summary of the formal findings. The chart shows line widths
per picture height (LW/PH) which can be taken as a measure for sharpness.
If you want to know more about the MTF50 figures you may check out the corresponding
Imatest Explanations
Chromatic Aberrations (CAs)
Lateral CA (color shadows at the image borders) are well controlled for an ultra-wide zoom lens. In the 10mm to 18mm range, they remain easily below an average pixel width of 1px at the image borders. They increase beyond that at 24mm when stopping down to f/8 and beyond - although even so the issue remains moderate.
VerdictIf you read our analysis so far, you may have noticed a few negative findings but this has to be seen in a context. Ultra-wide lenses are never flawless and the Fujinon XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS is actually one of the best representative of its species. It is very sharp in the image center and the border- and corner quality is very decent. Lateral chromatic aberrations are also low. Yes, image distortion and vignetting can be very noticeable at the extreme wide end but most users will probably take advantage of image auto-correction here anyway. In terms of build quality, we are highly impressed. Fujinon lenses are better than most here anyway but Fujifilm has reached a new level here. However, even so it is a bit disappointing that they didn't provide weather sealing. While it isn't something unusual anymore, we certainly appreciate the image stabilizer which actually lifts the low light capabilities of this zoom lens beyond the two ultra-wide prime lenses (Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 and Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 R) of the system. If you are still not convinced by now ... the author will keep the lens in his private stock. Consequently ... highly recommended!
Mechanical Quality:
★★★★★
Click here for an explanation of our star ratings
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