XF 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR Yes Virginia…….There is a Santa Claus!
INTRODUCTION: O.K. so he either came a little late or really early! So, before I gush like a teenager, and sadly I’m going to, let’s go over the physical information on the new Fuji XF 100-400 f 4.5 – 5.6 R LM OIS WR . Above is the lens mounted on a tripod with the X-T1 Graphite body. The lens has 21 elements in 14 groups and they include; 6 extra low dispersion elements, and 1 super low dispersion elements. The 100-400 features 9 rounded aperture blades. The first great news is that the new lens takes 77mm filters, far smaller than we had guessed it would, most rumor sites were thinking around 82mm! This means polarizers and close up diopters, (like the Canon 500D work great!), more on that later! Below is the 100-400 with the lens hood attached, which bayonets on very positively and has a cut out for adjusting a polarizer, with a handy sliding door, much better than the removable, and easy to misplace, one for the 50-140!
When the lens extends out to 400mm it only grows 2.5 inches! It is solidly made and feels good in the hands, and trust me, with the great OIS you will shoot it hand held, sometimes!!! It is rated at 5 stops for OIS and I believe it has every bit of that!
THE SIDE CONTROLS; Top to bottom, the focus limiting switch that allow you to choose full range or 5 meters to infinity. The Program or Aperture Priority switch and finally the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization on and off switch). Between the zoom ring and the aperture ring is the Lock switch for keeping the lens locked in the 100mm position.
PHYSICAL IMPRESSIONS: The lens is solid, and wonderfully finished. The zoom is butter smooth but with the perfect amount of resistance, it does not feel like it will ever get loosey, goosey! The tripod collar is a near mirror image of the one on the 50-140 f 2.8. which is good, because it is well finished and solid. The two thumb screws that hold the bracket to the lens could use a very small (very, very small) dab of blue Loctite, beats constant re-tightening. Below a comparison of the new 100-400 and the 50-140. Shockingly, the new 100-400 fits in the same spot in my bag, with minor adjustment. The weight difference is 100-400 1,375 grams, the 50-140, 1,093 grams. The diameter is in keeping with the filter size, 50-140 – 72mm, 100-400 – 77mm.
DOES IT PERFORM IT’S INTENDED PURPOSE? For me a long lens is my tight landscape lens, it’s my wildlife and bird lens, my shooting things I want to shoot close up and tight, but want good working distance from, (like poisonous snakes!), my compression lens for compressing the scene, and my sports lens, even though I do little sports anymore. I took the lens down to St. Augustine, Florida this December and captured some tight wildlife images. I was thrilled with the performance, but I’ll let you be the judge. All images are at the long end 400mm (600mm angle of view equiv.) All of these images, except the wood duck and the monochrome alligator, were shot from a tripod. Those two were handheld. With wildlife you either can’t get as close as you would like, or you don’t want to be any closer!! In those situation this is the perfect set of focal lengths!
OPTICAL PERFORMANCE: The lens is tack sharp wide open and at every focal length. At maximum aperture the edges are a tiny amount less sharp, but they sharpen up nicely as you close down a stop! The inevitable comparison is with the 50-140 which is a legendarily sharp lens! Frankly I can’t tell any difference, it’s that sharp!! The lens is remarkably sharp across the board! Below are a couple of images of a historic billboard on old US 25 shot at 100mm and at 400mm. The following images are at the 400mm setting and hand held!!!!
HOW DOES IT DO WITH THE XF 1.4 TC WR 1.4 TELECONVERTER? The image below was shot by my dear friend and killer shooter Jack Graham, (check out his test report of the 100-400 at jackgrahmphoto.com) it is made with the 100-400 with the new Fuji 1.4 Converter, he is posting a vertical of this same shot on his blog post today that shows, even more clearly, how sharp this lens is with the converter! Below there are a few other examples of the 100-400 with the Fuji 1.4 converter.
The following three images are images of one of my favorite places to test lens for sharpness and old wooden garage door with peeling white paint and a door handle with great detail. The shots below are; first, the 100-400 at 100, second is the 100-400 at 400 and the final image is the 100-400 at 400 plus the new Fuji 1.4 converter making it an equiv. 840 mm lens!!!! All the full res files are bitingly sharp!
AUTO FOCUS TRACKING SPEED: I shot some cars on a local street going around 45 mph at 10 fps and got sequences of 15 and more images all tack sharp. Here are a few from each end of the sequence and the middle shot. Admittedly this isn’t NASCAR, but for the kind of action shooting most X-Shooters do, this is great performance. I shot some interstate traffic at almost twice that speed and they were tack sharp as well.
CLOSE UP PERFORMANCE: Below are examples of a penny taped to my small Route 66 mini license plate. The first shot is the lens at 200mm at the close focus distance, the next at 400mm at the closes focus distance with the Canon 500D diopter. The distance from the front of the lens to the penny for this shot is an amazing 16 inches. By-the-way, both were hand held!!!!!
HOW ABOUT THE OPTICAL IMAGE STABILIZATION? I would never consider hand holding a lens of this focal length, however in the interest of giving the OIS a fair chance, I shot the penny above at near 1:1 (life size). Ready for this…. at 1/67th of a second. Think about that, this lens at 400mm is actually the equivalent of a 600mm lens, and the penny images above is shot at high magnification, and it’s tack sharp. A remarkable performance, it also works very well with the Fuji automatic extension tubes. The image below is of a CD case on my office desk shot with the 100-400 at 400 at the closest focus distance at 1/400th of a second wide open f 5.6 with OIS turned on.
O.K. SO WHERE DOES THIS LENS FIT INTO MY SYSTEM? One of the best things about the X-System is the incredible selection and quality of the lens line. The only big hole in the system just got filled with the 100-400. I can now have coverage from 15mm to 600mm and beyond thanks to the 1.4 converter. Would I like a 400mm f 2.8? Not really, don’t want to carry it, pay for it and actually don’t need it. The 100 to 400 is a 5.6 at 400, or (600mm equiv.) and the overall performance is just stunning. Now, what is most exciting to me is we have now seen Fuji come out with twenty one lenses and there is yet another on the Road Map for this year, the 120mm f 2.8 Macro that goes 1:1 this is one I can’t wait to see and shoot!. I own the vast majority of the lenses Fuji has released, and I can say, without any reservation, that I’ve found each and every one to be spectacular! When I bought my first three, (18-55, 35 1.4 and the 60mm Macro f 2.4) I never thought that I was going to see the parade of great glass we have been treated to! What I appreciate most is that Fuji has taken my advice and that of many other dedicated X-shooters, to not compromise their high standards for their optics! I hate to admit that for a while I held my breath with each new release. It didn’t take long for me to realize they were keeping their promise, so I don’t hold my breath anymore! They certainly have kept their promise with the 100-400!
If you need the focal lengths in this lens, I can highly recommend it, so it gets 5 stars from me!
Bottom Line:
* Super well built, weather sealed, very reasonable size and weight.
* Autofocus is quick and accurate with the X-T1 and X-T10.
* Optically, near perfect, it and takes 77mm filters! Yeah!
* Close focus distance makes it a near macro performer and mates well with automatic extension tubes and the Canon 500 D diopter. * with 500 D it achieves almost 1:1 – life size, at 16 inches of working distance from the end of the lens.
* Works great with the Fuji 1.4 tele-converter.
* OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) works fantastic.
* Excellent, smooth, tripod collar and foot.
* A screaming bargain for the price!
With the release of this lens, I have reconfigured my bag and this is what I will carry on my first few trips this year, as always we will see how this works, I will let you know!
The Tamrac Anvil Slim 15 will hold the following: 2 X-T1 bodies, 10-24, 16-55, 35 f2, 18-135, 60mm Macro, 55-200, 100-400, 1.4 Converter, Spare batteries and accessories.
Blessings,
the pilgrim
Just in case you’re listening Fuji, please be sure the 200 Macro has a tripod collar!!
This entry was posted on Friday, January 15th, 2016 at 4:29 am
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
I think I want it!
I think you do!
Order in!
Thanks for the great sounding review of this lens Bill. Do you know when we clan expect to see it at our camera shops and the price of it.
I believe mid February, $1,895.
It’s $1899 and change…$200 more than I would like. Will be checking Vistek and Henry’s for Canadian pricing.
The X-Pro 2 looks great internally….externally it is not for me but I think it gives us a good look as to what we can expect for the XT-2.
That huge increase of on chip phase detection should make C-AF work great now. The increase in flash sink and shutter speed increase should be a big help for flash and 5 stops of exp comp can’t hut either.
I expect to have one to test very soon!
Was the 200 macro a typo?
200 instead of 120…..if so I’ll start believing in Santa Claus.
I was hoping the same thing Dick. Thanks for letting me know. But I still would like to have one!
Me, too! I got some Fuji stuff slightly cheaper from Vistek after exchange rate difference and longer warranty.
about $1560 USD or so from Camera Canada
I think it is a great lens for the price!
Thanks for the great review Bill. I want one!
It’s really special!
Woo Hoo!!! Thanks for the early look, Bill.
Now I must practice saying, “Oh that? I’ve had that lens for awhile, Dear…” 🙂
[…] through Scoop.it from: billfortney.com First Impresions: Fujifilm X-Pro 2 | BigHeadTaco From Leo to Revelation | Not an X-Pro2 Review […]
Too funny!
I’m heading to Iceland for a workshop with Jack on Feb 6th. Probably too soon to buy one. Can I borrow yours???
Great review with all the info we care about! Sue suggests a 5 lens caps rating to go with the 5 pickles one.
Thanks Jim!
Unfortunately it’s not mine!
Bummer!
Thank you for your review, Bill. I am wondering which plate you are using to mount to your RRS clamp?
I had a Kirk Enterprises LP-40 plate from some long past telephoto zoom in my plate drawer
And I tried it and it was a perfect fit!!!!
I looked it up and it is still in stock at $55. It was made for Nikon’s old long discontinued 70-180 Micro lens, that’s why I had it, had that one years ago!
Sweet! Thanks Bill. Might be awhile before I can add that long glass to my kit… but it’s good to know a good solution.
I just got mine, but haven’t tried it yet. Called RRS and they recommended
L84: Multi-use fore-aft plate
$55.00
SKU: #L84
Quantity: 1
Total Amount: $55.00
Thanks … am gonna order that to go with the lens
I’m going to look at my “spare” plate box but I wonder how much the Fuji version will be…lol!
From the reviews at B&H they are too thin. Went with the RRS L84: Multi-use fore-aft plate
$55.00
Bill,
You said it uses 77mm filters. The specs on DP Review say 82mm. Your thoughts? It looks like the Fuji telephoto has finally arrived!
It is 77mm I have been using a 77mm polarizer on it for several weeks, the 82mm was from an early pre-production lens, obviously they redesigned it!
Ordered mine today!
Your going to love it!
Bill, I assume your XT-1 does not yet have the new firmware for this lens?
I’m curious if and/or how well it focusses with the teleconverter at 400mm (i.e. at f8)
I do have the current firmware, a Fuji sent it with the lens and it works great, public release I think is very soon.
Nice lens. Seems like you’re rapidly approaching the weight issues for which you initially switched away from Nikon!
You think!!!!??? Actually I have diveded things in several separate bags, so no one bag is excessive, but in spirit you are right!
should divided!!!
I will do a blog post Saturday on how I’m solving the weight issue, because it is an issue!!!!
[…] Source: billfortney.com (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); […]
Bill, very nice review, after your write up I can’t wait to test this lens myself as I have been wanting this lens for the last year. Next time you are in Atlanta come by and say hi.
God Bless, Bob FitzGibbons
Will do Bob, great to hear from you, shoot me your current contact info, by email, please,
billfortney@earthlink.net
My name is on the waiting list.
Good decision!
Thanks for your comprehensive review and sample shots! Looks like a winner to me!
It’s the long piece of glass I’ve been hoping for!
5 thumbs up. Payed off my card and ordering it Monday!
Great review as usual Bill. I have been looking forward to the release of this lens and it sounds like a winner!
Thanks Mike, after I finished it and was proofing the text, I thought it sounds like Fuji’s marketing department wrote it but it is all true, they really knocked it out of the park. We all have different needs, I understand that, but for me, this was exactly the lens I “hoped” they would produce. It covers this entire end of the focal length range with extremely high performance, and in a very reasonable size lens. Fuji has been known for spectacularly low noise at very high ISO ( I regularly shoot at 3200 without a second thought). It appears that the new X-Pro 2 has upped that to even better performance and the replacement for the X-T1 will very likely feature that same technology!
So life is good, and f 4.5-5.6 is not nearly as slow as it used to be!!! It’s so good it will replace the 50-140 in my travel bag, the 50-140 being saved for situations where speed is critical.
Thats sweet glass, Yep I can see some needing a f2.8 long lens but really 10 years ago one needed a fast lens as the high ISO’s sucked big time now f5.6 isn’t as slow as it was. The 2 stops loss in speed can be made up with ISO. As being an old film shooter stuck with 100 ISO and a f5.6 or f4 at 1/500th in full daylight or maybe f8 I know I can live with it! The guys that never had to shoot film are so spoiled.
Yes, it is so hard not to think like we used to think, but as my grandchildren say, Papa it’s a new world! So right, so right!
Bill
Going to Ecuador and Gallapagos in few months
Currently have xt1 , 10-24, 16-55 and 55-200
For wildlife shots and faster focus considering either 50-140 with teleconvertor OR the
100-400 but both would make the gear too heavy ( again )
What is your opinion ?
Hi Bill
This 100-400 really seems to complete the lens lineup and i hve been infected with GAS
Hmmm, seems like my question didnt come through.. What are your thoughts about these long lenses with the x pro series bodies?
Can you talk about XT1 and 100-400 for birds in flight.
What is the case?
Hi Bill,
Thanks for sharing this lens review. I have one on order but went the Canadian route since it’ll save me about $300.
I can’t wait to get my hands around this lens. Thank you, again.
Hi Bill,
I found you blog while looking for reviews of the new XF 100 -400 Fuji lens.
I would love to follow your blog, and can I sign on somewhere for this?
Really appreciated your comments and review on the lens.
I’ve been a canon shooter for a while but recently found Fuji and currently ,slowly building up a lighter kit.
Blessings and kind regards
David Peake
[…] […]
FYI … just got a notification from B&H that my 100-400 has shipped!
[…] / nathanelson / ivanjoshualoh / mikemander / Fujinon XF100-400: ivanjoshualoh / mikemander / billfortney / fujixphotoworkshops / Fujifilm X70: ivanjoshualoh / jonasraskphotography / bigheadtaco Video / […]
Thanks for a great review!
I have a question regarding the Anvil Slim 15 size. My main lens is the 18-135mm. If you had this lens mounted (with shade not reversed), would the 100-400mm still fit in the center and if yes, how much space to the bottom remains?
I’m trying to figure out if I could get by with the Anvil Slim 11 or buy the Slim 15. According to B&H they differ by 1.2″ interior height, not much, but the price is better on the Slim 11.
Thank you for such a thoughtful review. Any thoughts on the new 100-400 on a xpro1?
I just found this blog, and t is awesome! I have shot Canon for 25 years, and recently won the xt10 from an online training course.( I work for Henrys in London Ont.) Then I got lucky and my friend and coworker won the XE2s, and I bought that from him for half price, at a Fuji event in Toronto. Yahoo! , I am having a ball with this Fuji gear, and it blows away my Canon kit. I have re discovered photography again! Thanks for a great review. I am a wildlife shooter, and this lens was amazing to try at the Fuji event! I am ordering mine soon. May have to change my email address! lol
Thanks again,
Paul
Sent off the last of my Canon L glass and backup body to B&H in trade for the 100-400. Keeping my 5D Mk III and 16-35 and 24 T/S in case I want to do architectural work. Lens is still not available at B&H though my local camera shop has one. Go figure. Hope to have it when I see you in the Smokies in October!
Great review on what looks to be an excellent lense, my question is how do you feel this will work/fit with the new X Pro2, do you feel it’s not a good mix due to size and balance?
Hi Bill ~ I see you were just up in my neck of the woods recently (Seattle)… I just purchased this lens and while I am excited to have it, I was a bit surprised at it’s size (when my gear was all Pentax, my longest lens was a 300mm), so just how does one incorporate it into a gear bag without needing a couple of mules to carry it all… lol… thanks! Love your shots of the Market, peninsula and of course the Palouse (perhaps my favorite place on earth)… All my best, Madge
If you are interested in topic: how to make your money go a long way
– you should read about Bucksflooder first