FujifilmFujinon XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR

A great all around lens! This lens is very sharp considering how wide of a range of zoom that it has. It can be a little soft in the edges wide open, but this is really quite minor and you only need to use 1 stop down and it performs very well. I have recently blown up some photos taken with this lens and have been very pleased with how they turned out. The stabilization of this lens is incredible! It really gives at least a four stop advantage, if not five. This is so nice to have in so many shooting conditions. The zoom and focus are both very smooth and the speed of the autofocus is nothing to laugh at, it performs very well in most conditions although not the greatest is low light but I think that is more the camera than the lens. The weatherproofing of this lens is a perfect compliment to the side range of the zoom. When I am in a difficult weather situation, where changing lenses is not plausible, this is a dream to have! You can get such a wide variety of shots while standing in the middle of a storm just due to the perfect combination of weatherproofing, image stabilization, and high quality imaging. In my opinion, it would be extremely difficult to beat this lens when needing that all-around lens!

To be honest I was not planning to get this lens. But I did need a good all-in-one zoom for my X-T1 as the only lens I have (had) so far is the 56mm f/1.2 (an amazing gem of glass). Had hoped to get the 16-55mm f/2.8 by the summer/fall of 2014, but when the Fuji roadmap recently changed, and with some more specs announced and sample photos released on this 18-135mm, I decided to give this one a chance as my “light travel” lens.The FOCAL RANGE is quite broad, and certainly useful. Sure, it could be wider and longer, but it’s still a decent wide-angle (27mm) and a decent telephoto (206mm). I’d personally prefer more degrees at the wide end at the expense of the long though (as the 16-55 will be). A 16-120mm (24-180) with at least a constant f/4 would be more in line with my wishes.Yeah, it is kinda SLOW. And I am known for using and loving fast primes (25 years as a photojournalist), so when I first saw the specs on this, I was not even interested. As I shoot a D4 on my day-job, my X-T1 is more of my personal (fun/art) camera. But it is highly capable for pro work, and for some things, I’d prefer it.The useful max f/stops break down like this (or there-abouts) :18mm 3.520mm 3.623mm 4.028mm 4.235mm 4.355mm 5.070mm 5.385mm 5.3100mm 5.6135mm 5.6What the lens lacks in aperture speed, the vibration reduction system (OIS) makes up for. And the OIS in this lens is really amazing, I really think the most useful I have used. Better than my Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8.For most of my pro work, VR or OIS is honestly not very useful to me. I’m more worried about subject movement vs. my hand-holding ability, which is why I prefer (need) very fast glass. I regularly handhold a 300mm 2.8 and have never used a 70-200 2.8 with a monopod—I just use a higher ISO and shoot wide open. But the ability of this lens to keep an image tack sharp at 4-5 stops slower than normal is amazing. And the system is quiet, unobtrusive, and doesn’t shake around. It is very useful on a compact all-in-one lens such as this, which would (in my use) be more for scenics, still life, nature, portrait snapshots---Travel, vacation. I don’t love variable-aperture lenses for my pro work either, but as a travel zoom, its fine. This lens is also highly useful for basic video work (home movies) with the broad focal range and very effective vibration reduction.The SHARPNESS is actually quite good for this 7.5X focal range. Bit soft in corners wide-open, especially at 18mm (I’d almost wish it was less sharp in corners at the long end vs the wide end) but it is still very useful. In fact, it seems resolving enough at EVERY focal length, which is really pretty impressive. Don’t expect it to match your primes, but I haven’t met any lens that does. There are just too many variables to engineer into making this broad a focal range perfect. I’d certainly say it’s the sharpest all-in-one lens I’ve had though. The multiple ED/Aspherical elements probably help out there.CONTRAST is very good all the way through, which adds to the impression of sharpness. Flare seems well controlled and Starbursts look decent too.Can a slow lens like this even have BOKEH? Well, that is probably what is impressing me most with this lens. WIth careful study of background/highlights, it CAN!It’s fairly smooth and creamy for the slow aperture openings it has. Guess the aperture openings stay fairly circular throughout the range and help with OOF highlights for a fairly decent bokeh for a slow lens.The minimum focus distance (MFD) is another highlight for me. It makes this lens way more useful as an all-in-one when you are able to get in close on a flower and just about fill the frame. No, its certainly not a 1:1 macro, but its more useful than most primes with generally more-limited MFD. In real-world shooting it seems to be around 10” in front of front element (filter to subject). This 10 inches or so is comparable across the focal range as well, so you can shoot around the same distances from wide angle (27mm) to telephoto (206mm). This is very useful and the close-focusing is helpful for bokeh in macro-ish shots.One of the major selling points is the WATER RESISTANCE, and that was certainly of interest to me. It’s nice to not have to worry about ruining your lens/camera when you get caught in a shower or want to take a hike and still get nice nature shots in any condition (which is sometimes more productive in cloudy light in drizzle).Well, if you are looking for an exact test on the effectiveness of the water-resistance, I am not gonna be the guinea pig just for tests-sake!! Winking smileAs I use the lens more, I will try to add some more observations though. I think the dust-resistance is nearly as important, although not nearly as touted about. Keeping dust particles from blowing around and through the back of the lens onto the fine sensor is very beneficial.But being able to use a one-lens system and not HAVE to change lenses in the field is very important for the effectiveness of the weather-resistance features.I can certainly see this lens as being great for shooting fall scenics and waterfalls in particular (as you generally want a slow shutter and don’t need a fast lens)—the range will be great.It is fairly LIGHT in weight too, making it even better for travel. Although light, the BUILD QUALITY still seems high. The ZOOM ring is very smooth mechanically, and it does not creep around either. I’d prefer a zoom that was totally internal, but probably hard to do with this wide a focal range. My copy seems to be a little tight at just the last few millimeters of zoom, say 128-135mm—but that may loosen with use.The included hood somehow seems a just bit small for the lens girth to me, and the plastic is slightly a lighter shade (grey vs deeper black of lens) which appears a bit mis-matched to me, but not a big deal. Unfortunately, the hood does not have a great “click” stop once in place either, making it a bit loose and prone to falling off.The AUTOFOCUS is internal, so you can easily use SFX filters (esp. polarizers) easily. The AF system is FAST and hits the mark well! I’d say its better than my 56mm honestly, with less hunting. It is also extremely QUIET and SMOOTH. Very pleased with the focus.In conclusion, This is a very USEFUL lens, even though it is slow. If it were faster with an even broader focal range, it would also be very heavy, very large, with a huge front element (that needed 77mm or larger filters). As such, it suits the small mirrorless bodies (such as the X-T1) perfectly as a take-anywhere but highly-capable camera system.

This is a very sharp lens. In my 30+ years of photography, this has to be one of the best lenses I have ever owned. In fact it is so good, my daughter who has her own X-T30 camera is borrowing this lens so often, I may have to go out and get myself a second one. The details that this lens is able to capture is mind-blowing and the quality of the optics is amazingly good. The fit-and-finish of the lens and its overall physical appearance is also excellent. The range of viewing angles you get because it is a zoom lens makes it a great all-around lens that gives you coverage for almost everything you need. I had my hesitations when ordering this lens and was not expecting sharpness and image quality to be this good. This lens puts the likes of Nikon and Canon who claim to have high quality optics to shame! Over the years, I have owned many Nikon and Canon cameras, and their high-end lenses, and this lens is equal to or better than many of their best lenses.

This lens works really nicely with my X-T1.Don't take the reviews that are critical of this lens too seriously - ALL Zooms with this kind of range have to make some compromises, and this one is no exception. Fujifilm did a TERRIFIC job of making this lens cover an extraordinarily broad range, while also incorporating Weather-Resistance and their EXCELLENT Optical Image Stabilization, while keeping the cost from skyrocketing. Unless you're a professional pixel-peeper or if you often make huge prints, you are unlikely to find much to gripe about.This is a really fine lens. It's kinda biggish, but still lighter and less of a space-hog than carrying-around the 3 or so lenses that it functionally replaces:-Wide-angle, Portrait, and Upper Mid-Range TelephotoProbably one of the best travel lenses you can get, you don't even have to worry about it getting splashed or being exposed to a typical rain shower if you pair it with the X-T1 or X-E10