Fuji XF 100-400mm Review: Test results and more from Fuji’s premier sports and wildlife lens
posted Monday, August 1, 2016 at 5:47 PM EDT
Boy, the mega-zoom supertelephoto lens category has become increasingly popular these days. For the enthusiast and advanced amateur wildlife photographer looking for a high-powered, versatile telephoto zoom with a budget between $1000-2000, there's a lot of options out there. For DSLRs, Canon and Nikon both have a variety of offerings, as do Sigma and Tamron. The mirrorless gang are catching up now as well, such as Panasonic and Olympus. Fuji X-mount shooters, however, had been left out of the fun, that is until just recently with the introduction of the Fujinon XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R lens.
Back in May we brought you an initial impression on this rather big and brawny Fuji lens, and we were quite smitten with it. Now, we've just completed our in-depth review, and on a number of points, the Fuji 100-400mm is an impressive new addition to the X-mount lens family. Currently taking the title as the biggest X-mount lens offered, this long, weather-sealed telescoping zoom lens is definitely a big change from the svelte street photography-friendly primes that typically come to mind when we think of the Fuji X series. It's a bit of a handful on smaller bodies, that's for sure, but it feels right at home on the larger X-T1 or X-T2 cameras, especially when you add on their respective battery grips.
Quality-wise, the Fuji 100-400 is quite sharp, though we do see some softening, unfortunately, at the long end. Distortion, CA and vignetting, however, are things you don't need to worry about. Autofocus is also very fast, and the built-in optical image stabilization is impressive. For all the details, including our standard set of lab test results (including our I.S. testing), sample images and handling notes as well as a selection of real-world gallery images, head over to our Fuji 100-400mm review!
