Price when reviewed
Small, light and reasonably priced, the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro makes an attractive standard lens with 1:1 macro capability. Getting life-size reproduction with it means going very close with a working distance of just 1.2cm, so shading the subject can be a problem, but it’s great to have such focusing flexibility.
The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro is a new macro lens for Fujifilm X-series cameras like the Fujifilm X-T5 (announced at the same time) and the Fujifilm X-H2.
As it’s designed for use on APS-C format cameras, the Fujifilm XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro has an effective focal length of 46mm, making it a standard prime with the advantage of enabling very close focusing for 1:1 reproduction.
Fujifilm constructs the XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro from 11 elements arranged in 9 groups with 3 aspherical and 2 ED (extra low dispersion) elements. The aspherical elements help keep the size of the lens down while maintaining image quality across the frame and the ED elements reduce aberrations.
The ‘R’ in the lens’ title indicates that it has an aperture ring while ‘LM’ means that it employs a linear motor focusing system. The lens also has seals that make it weather-resistant (WR).
As a true macro lens, the XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro enables life-size (1:1) reproduction at its closest focusing distance of 10cm. When the sensor is just 10cm from the subject, the front element of the lens is around 1.2cm away, which means you can get very close to the subject. Fortunately, the lens focusing system is internal so it doesn’t change length during focusing.
At just 195g in weight and 69.5mm in length, the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro is highly portable and easy to hold for a long period of time.
As I mentioned earlier, despite that low weight, the XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro has weather seals at 9 points to keep out dust and moisture.
There are two ridged rings on the barrel of the Fujifilm XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro. The ring closest to its mount is the aperture control and it has marked settings in whole stops from f/2,8 to f/22. It’s possible to adjust the aperture in 1/3EV steps with a software click making it clear when an adjustment has been made.
The aperture ring also has an ‘A’ setting that, when selected, sets the camera to set the aperture value. When this setting is used, the aperture ring locks and it can only rotated to a specific value when the small button with the red dash on it is depressed.
The second ring, which is broader than the aperture ring and sits further towards the front element, is the manual focus ring. This has a smooth movement that feels assured. As usual, the focusing is by wire and there are no end points to the focusing movement. There’s also no focus distance scale, however, when the camera is in manual focus mode a scale appears on the camera screen or in the viewfinder when the ring is rotated.
Also, if ‘Focus Check’ is turned on in the menu, the image under the selected AF point magnifies as soon as the focus ring is rotated in MF mode.
As there’s no focus switch on the lens, the focus mode must be set via the camera.
So far, I’ve only used the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro for a couple of hours but I was impressed by the speed and decisiveness with which it focused when it was mounted on the new 40MP Fujifilm X-T5. It coped remarkably well with subjects close to its nearest focusing distance and I had no need to use the manual focus ring as the autofocus system got the subject sharp every time.
There’s lots more testing to be done yet, but the Fujifilm XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro is certainly capable of capturing plenty of sharp detail. Out of focus highlights also look great with a nicely rounded shape and no obvious aberrations.
The latest update of Adobe Camera Raw is compatible with raw files from the X-T5, which means I can examine its raw files. This reveals that without the correction that is applied automatically, the XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro exhibits significant vignetting when the aperture is wide open, but the correction profile deals with it, and the slight curvilinear distortion, superbly.
I can’t find any examples of chromatic aberration in the images I’ve captured so far, but I’ll be testing the lens further very soon.
Follow the link to browse and download full-resolution images from the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro.
The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro appears to be a great little standard lens with excellent close-focusing capability. Getting life-size reproduction means going very close and may result in the subject being shaded, but it’s nice to have the flexibility of the focusing range.
Using the lens on the 40MP Fujifilm X-T5 is the toughest resolving-power test that can currently be made with a Fujifilm X-Series camera and it’s not found lacking.
