Fujinon XF 18mm F2 R Review

The Fujinon XF 18mm F2 R is a great compact lens for wide-angle shooting. While it lacks some features that higher-end lenses have, such as weather-proofing and edge to edge sharpness, it’s still a really good value at $599.

Fujinon XF 18mm F2 R Features

The Fujinon XF 18mm F2 R is very small, measuring 1.6″ x 2.5″ (HD) and weighing 4.1oz. While the barrel is made of metal, the bayonet mount is made of plastic. This isn’t a concern as Fujinon has proven to make durable lenses. The metal hood does a good job of protecting the lens from dust and scratches. You can add a 52mm front filter.

The Fujinon XF 18mm F2 R has a manual aperture control ring. You can adjust it from f/2 through f/16, in 1/3 increments. You can also use the manual focus control ring. While the Fujinon XF 18mm F2 R is electronic, you can still manually adjust the focus. However, I prefer letting the lens adjust itself.

The autofocus is very quick and works great. When you’re first using it, you may notice a bit of back and forth. You’ll get used to this. However, there’s been reports of it being problematic for shooting video. You can focus as close as 7.1″ thanks to the wide-angle lens. This is similar to what you’d see on a 27mm lens.

Image Quality

The Fujinon XF 18mm F2 R does a very good job of capturing images. You’ll see the most detail at the center of the photo. The edge drop-off isn’t all that bad. Compared to other models, it’s actually pretty good.

Narrowing the aperture on the Fujinon XF 18mm F2 R increases the sharpness of the photos, but doesn’t fix the edge problem. Increasing the aperture does help with the edge problem. I say problem, but it’s really not bad.

There isn’t much distortion with this lens. If there is any, it’ll be tough to view unless you’re really looking for it.

Pros

Good value
Compact
Wide angle

Cons

No dust and splash protection
Not great edge performance
AF-C isn’t the best