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80mm	$1,199 average price

Updates:
01/29/2018: Field Test & Gallery Images added

 

Fujinon XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro Field Test

Fuji's first 1:1 macro lens delivers fantastic sharpness

by Jeremy Gray | Posted 01/30/2018

f/2.8, 1/10s, ISO 200. This image has been modified. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

It is rather surprising that before the new XF 80mm f/2.8 Macro lens, Fujifilm had yet to make a 1:1 macro lens for their X series cameras. The mid-telephoto macro lens was definitely worth the wait. The lens delivers incredible sharpness across the frame and features very good optical image stabilization. The heavy-duty lens features weather resistance as well. Without further ado, let's take a look at the premiere 1:1 macro lens and see how it performs in real-world shooting situations.

Key Features and Specifications

• First native 1:1 macro lens for Fujifilm XF
• 80mm (122mm equivalent) focal length
• f/2.8 through f/22 aperture range
• Close focus distance of 9.8 inches (25 centimeters)
• 16 elements in 12 groups, including an aspherical element, super ED element and three ED elements in addition to fluorine coating
• 5 stops of Optical Image Stabilization
• Weighs 26.5 ounces (750 grams)
• 5.1 inches (130 millimeters) long with a diameter of 3.1 inches (80 millimeters)
• Weather, dust and freeze resistant
• US$1,200 retail price

Lens Design and Handling

The XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro lens has the same Fujifilm design aesthetic you have come to expect from their X-series lenses. It has a semi-gloss black barrel and includes dedicated focus and aperture rings. The aperture ring feels great and has engraved full stop markings from f/2.8 through f/22 in addition to the "A" designation at the far end.

I noticed two things as soon as I picked up the XF 80mm f/2.8 Macro. First, it's pretty heavy. The lens weighs in at 26.5 ounces (1.66 lbs; 750 grams), and it feels a bit front-heavy when paired with the X-T2. Secondly, it makes an odd rattle when the camera isn't turned on. I think this is a moving element as part of the Optical Image Stabilization system (more on that later), so it isn't an issue, but it was a little disconcerting at first to hear the lens rattling.

The lens is fairly large for an APS-C prime lens; it's 5.1 inches (130 millimeters) long and has a diameter of 3.1 inches (80 millimeters). Its width is constant throughout nearly the entire lens length and the focus ring takes up a good portion of the barrel, being around 2 inches (just under 50 millimeters) wide. When you add the hood, which is itself over three inches long (around 80 millimeters), the whole lens gets fairly long. When the hood is attached, the 1:1 focusing range is pretty close to the end of the hood. The hood is quite awesome though, because I couldn't force the lens to flare in any reasonably realistic scenario.

In addition to looking nice, the XF 80mm f/2.8 includes weather resistance. In fact, the lens is weather, dust and freeze resistant. I can't speak to the dust resistance, but the lens did work well in very cold conditions. On the topic of cold temps, while the focus ring rotates smoothly and is plenty large, I do wish that it had a bit more pronounced ridges so that it would be easier to grip when wearing gloves. The ridges are very shallow and don't add all that much grip. Overall, however, the build quality is top notch, and I have very few complaints about the XF 80mm f/2.8 lens.

Optics and Image Quality

The XF 80mm f/2.8 has 16 elements across a dozen groups and includes a few special glass elements. The lens includes one aspherical element, one Super ED element and a trio of ED elements in addition to fluorine coating. On the aperture side of things, the lens features nine diaphragm blades that create a rounded aperture. The out-of-focus rendition is very good, by the way, which I'll demonstrate with test shots later in the Field Test.

f/2.8, 1/3s, ISO 200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

Sharpness

If you are interested in a macro lens, you are looking to capture sharp, highly-detailed images. The XF 80mm f/2.8 Macro delivers sharpness in spades, even when shooting wide open. While you do get a bit of a bump in resolving capabilities by stopping the lens down, the lens performs remarkably well with respect to center sharpness at f/2.8. From f/4 through f/8, any changes in sharpness are essentially imperceptible. There's a slight drop-off in sharpness when you stop down to f/11, but it's still very good. At f/16, the drop is more noticeable, and at f/22, the XF 80mm's minimum aperture, images are fairly soft.

f/2.8, 1/3s, ISO 200. 100% center crop from straight from the camera JPEG image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/4.0, 0.6s, ISO 200. 100% center crop from straight from the camera JPEG image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/8.0, 2.1s, ISO 200. 100% center crop from straight from the camera JPEG image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/22, 17s, ISO 200. 100% center crop from straight from the camera JPEG image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

When looking at the corners, the XF 80mm f/2.8 performs very well. There is very little drop-off in sharpness as you move toward the extreme edges of the frame. The most noticeable difference between the center and the corner at wide apertures is the vignette, which can be seen in the crops below and also in the next section.

f/2.8, 1/3s, ISO 200. 100% bottom right corner crop from straight from the camera JPEG image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/5.6, 1.1s, ISO 200. 100% bottom right corner crop from straight from the camera JPEG image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

Vignette

The XF 80mm f/2.8 does not display much vignette, as you saw above, but there is a bit when shooting wide open. The situation is basically resolved by f/4.0 and you'd be hard-pressed to spot any vignette regardless of aperture except for in particularly challenging scenarios, such as when shooting against a solid background. The vignette is easy to correct for in post-processing, too. Overall, the XF 80mm f/2.8 scores high marks here as well.

f/2.8, 1/90s, ISO 200. Vignette test image. Processed via ACR using default settings plus reduced clarity and desaturation to better illustrate the brightness falloff. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/4.0, 1/50s, ISO 200. Vignette test image. Processed via ACR using default settings plus reduced clarity and desaturation to better illustrate the brightness falloff. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

Chromatic Aberrations

With respect to chromatic aberration, the Fujifilm XF 80mm f/2.8 does very well. I experienced purple fringing in limited cases and didn't have any issues with multi-color chromatic aberration. Purple fringing could easily be corrected during post-processing but I never felt that it was necessary with any of my shots with the XF 80mm.

f/2.8, 1/8s, ISO 200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/2.8, 1/8s, ISO 200. As you can see, there is very little purple fringing even in this particularly challenging shooting situation. 100% crop of the above image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

In the Field

Regarding autofocus, the XF 80mm f/2.8 is not a fast focusing lens on the X-T2 -- a fast autofocusing camera -- but it is usable. The autofocus gets noticeably slower when working near macro distances, but it can be improved slightly by setting the autofocus range from 0.25 to 0.5 meters via the switch on the lens. This is a great feature, and I wish all macro lenses offered it. Autofocus performance is pretty quiet and despite not being super fast, it is still very usable in terms of general shooting and walk around shooting.

The XF 80mm f/2.8 has built-in Optical Image Stabilization, which can be enabled or disabled via a switch on the lens. The OIS is rated for 5 stops of correction, and I found that it worked well. I was able to consistently get sharp shots at 1/30s shutter speeds with OIS enabled, which is pretty good for a 120mm-equivalent lens. Of course, it's a macro lens, so I suspect most people will use it on a tripod, but OIS does make it more usable as a portrait lens; a situation in which it does quite well.

Both shots at f/2.8, 1/30s. Left is with OIS enabled and right is with OIS disabled. Image Stabilization Test. Click here for the OIS ON file. Click here for the OIS OFF file.

Macro Performance

The XF 80mm f/2.8 Macro lens does very well with general optical performance, as I've shown, but how about with respect to macro shooting in particular? After all, it is a macro lens, so its 1:1 performance is critical.

Thankfully, the image quality when shooting at or near 1:1 reproduction ratios is very good. There's a bit of sharpness falloff as you move toward the edges at very close focus distances, but it's manageable.

f/11, 6s, ISO 200. Close focus test image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

It's important to consider how shallow the depth of field is when at very close focus distances. After all, the XF 80mm has an equivalent focal length of 120mm, and when you are less than a foot from your subject, the depth of field is razor-thin, as you can see below. Now, stopping down is a great option until about f/11, after which you have to deal with diffraction. Every macro situation will be a bit different, but I think that many users might find focus stacking to be a good option with the XF 80mm f/2.8 when you need more depth of field.

f/11, 4s, ISO 200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

An aspect of the XF 80mm f/2.8 that makes it a bit difficult to use for macro shooting is that the lens doesn't have any sort of focus scale or depth of field scale. This is typical with Fujifilm lenses, as they are focus-by-wire lenses with electronic focus and depth of field scales. Compared to a purely mechanical focusing experience, I don't care much for manually focusing Fujifilm X-series lenses and cameras. It can be very tricky to nail manual focus with this lens, and I find that often even a very slight rotation of the focus ring leads to overshooting my target focus distance. Your own experience will depend on which Fujifilm camera you're using, but with the X-T2, the manual focus experience for macro photography is not particularly good.

Portraiture & General Shooting

With its 120mm-equivalent focal length and a maximum aperture of f/2.8, you may wonder how the XF 80mm f/2.8 Macro does with portraiture. While it is not specifically a portrait prime lens, it still performed well. Some photographers say that there are occasionally times when macro lenses can be too sharp for portraiture, but I certainly don't fall into this camp. With that said, the XF 80mm f/2.8 is very sharp, even wide open, so you may need to soften images a bit during post-processing to give a natural look.

f/2.8, 1/450s, ISO 200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/2.8, 1/450s, ISO 200. 100% crop of the above image. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

With respect to portraiture, I'm more concerned with how the falloff is when moving from in-focus to out-of-focus areas. The XF 80mm f/2.8 does very well here although the cats eye bokeh issue in the corners can be a little distracting at times. The working distance flexibility with the XF 80mm f/2.8 is incredible though, and autofocus, particularly for normal portraiture distances, is plenty fast.

f/2.8, 1/90s, ISO 3200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/2.8, 1/60s, ISO 3200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

f/2.8, 1/60s, ISO 3200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

 

f/11, 1/30s, ISO 200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

 

f/6.4, 1/640s, ISO 200. This image has been modified. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

 

f/11, 1/50s, ISO 200. This image has been modified. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

Field Test Summary

Fujifilm's first 1:1 XF macro lens delivers excellent optical performance

What I liked:

• Great sharpness in the center
• Impressive macro capabilities
• Good build quality

What I didn't like:

• A bit front heavy
• Can be difficult to shoot macro images with lens hood attached
• Not an easy lens to use with manual focus

The Fujifilm XF 80mm f/2.8 Macro lens is an excellent optical performer. Build quality is top-notch and image stabilization works well. While manual focusing is not very easy, the XF 80mm remains a versatile lens with very good performance throughout its focusing range, from 1:1 macro all the way to infinity.

f/5.0, 1/5s, ISO 200. Click for full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.

If you are looking for a macro lens for your Fujifilm X-series camera, the new XF 80mm f/2.8 is a great choice. The lens will also prove useful for many shooting situations beyond macro photography, making it a flexible addition to your camera bag. It isn't cheap, but it delivers a lot of performance.

 

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Product Overview

(From Fujifilm lens literature) The new FUJINON XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro is a lightweight, mid-telephoto macro lens designed to deliver the very best results from Fujifilm's unique X-Trans CMOS sensor. Capable of achieving high quality macro shots, the XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR features an optical construction of 16 elements in 12 groups, including one aspherical lens, one Super ED lens and three ED lenses. As the first in the X Series interchangeable lens series to have a 1.0x magnification factor, the XF80mmF2.8 achieves high resolving power and beautiful bokeh, making it a perfect lens for capturing stunning macro images.

The XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR has enhanced AF capabilities utilizing a Floating Focus System that suppresses aberration. The lens also supports handheld shooting with Optical Image Stabilization. A fluorine coating has been applied to the front lens element, making it less susceptible to smudges, water and dirt, further improving its durability. The lens is also designed to be weather and dust resistant, and operates in temperatures as low as 14°F/-10°C.

FUJINON XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR Lens Key Features:

• FUJIFILM X Mount is compatible with all FUJIFILM X Series interchangeable system cameras
• Weather-sealed at eleven points around the barrel for weather and dust resistance; operates as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit / -10 degrees Celsius
• 16 lens elements in 12 groups including one aspherical ED lens, one Super ED lens and three ED lenses
• Uses Floating Focus System for improved AF
• Optical Image Stabilization system achieves 5-stop image stabilization
• Focus lens driven by a linear motor for fast and near-silent autofocus performance
• Fluorine coating applied to front lens elements for improved durability
• Compatible with XF1.4x and XF2.0x teleconverters

Availability and Pricing

The FUJINON XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR lens will be available in November 2017 for USD $1,199.95.