The Fujinon XC15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ is available in black or silver. It’s the most compact and lightweight X-mount lens in Fujifilm’s line-up and has long been a popular kit lens option for Fujifilm’s smaller mirrorless cameras. The retractable design enables a stowage size of just 63x44mm and the lens weighs in at a mere 135g, making it ideal for walkabout and travel photography, where the ‘effective’ zoom range of 23-69mm comes in handy.
Specifications
Mount: Fujifilm X
Full frame: No
Image stabilization: Yes
Autofocus: Yes
Lens construction: 10 elements in 9 groups
Angle of view: 86.9-35 degrees
Diaphragm blades: 7
Minimum aperture: f/22
Minimum focusing distance: 0.13-0.35m
Maximum magnification ratio: 0.24x
Filter size: 52mm
Dimensions: 63x44mm
Weight: 135g
Key features
The fun-sized Fujinon ticks all the right boxes for casual handheld photography, as well as for shooting video. Along with a versatile zoom range, it features 3-stop optical image stabilizer plus an electronic power zoom facility which enables automatic extension of the retractable construction when switching the camera on. Slow and fast zoom speeds are available, depending on how far you twist the zoom ring.
Wide-angle close-ups are enabled by a 13cm minimum focus distance at the short end of the zoom range, delivering 0.24x maximum magnification. You can’t get so close at longer zoom settings, the minimum focus distance stretching to 35cm at the telephoto end.
The optical line-up is based on 10 elements in total, featuring three aspherical elements and two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements.
Performance
The electronically coupled focus ring works smoothly and the stepping motor autofocus system is quick and ultra-quiet. The motorized zoom works well for video capture but can feel less than ideal when making fine and precise adjustments for stills. Image quality is good overall, with high levels of center-sharpness at short to medium zoom settings, although it drops off a bit at the long end and edge/corner sharpness is relatively mediocre throughout the zoom range. Color fringing can be a little noticeable towards the corners of the frame but distortions are taken care of by automatic in-camera corrections.
Lab results
We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.
We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).
Sharpness:
Centre-sharpness is very good in the short half of the zoom range but drops off a bit at the long end.
Fringing:
Color fringing can be slightly noticeable at short to medium zoom settings but less so in the longer section of the range.
Distortion:
Thanks to automatic in-camera corrections, there’s only very minimal barrel distortion throughout the zoom range.
Verdict
With its small and lightweight retractable design, this standard zoom lens is ideal for Fujifilm’s ‘compact’ style mirrorless X-mount cameras like the X-A5. The motorized zoom facility is especially useful for smooth transitions when shooting video, and automatically takes care of extension for shooting and retraction for stowage, when you switch the camera on and off. It’s a capable performer with a versatile ‘effective’ zoom range of 23-69mm in full-frame terms.
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