Klicko Orange's reviews

  • Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 R

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    size, price, quick focus and smooth bokeh
    soft corners, color fringing

    The strange collectible
    A review of Fujifilm XF 18mm f2 R

    Considered by many as as the bottom dweller in Fujifilm's hierarchy of lenses, the Fujifilm XF 18mm f2 R has some of tricks up its sleeves that make it worthy to be in your bag. Here are some of them:

    1. Being the smallest 18mm ever made in itself makes the lens collectible. And since it is so diminutive it hardly occupies space in your bag. Being unobtrusive it makes the camera you mount it on less conspicuous.
    2. Having an aperture of f/2 it serves up some tasty bokeh, something quite strange or at least unusual for a wide angle lens.
    3. It focuses quickly and accurately, something that can't be said of all Fuji lenses.
    4. It is currently the most affordable Fuji wide angle prime lens.

    On the downside it never gets sharp at the corners even if you step down to the smaller apertures. There is some noticeable color fringing in back lit and/or high contrast areas in the corners of the frame. And if you use third party editing software, a heavy distortion that is kept under control by Fuji firmwares, will show up.

    This makes the lens not ideal for architecture photography and big reunion pictures as the subjects on the sides end up soft or even unidentifiable. The flip side to this is that it is the perfect tool for street photography. And with its yummy bokeh is great for environmental portraits as it provides some nice separation between main subject, background and foreground. This also good for travel pictures where in you want to isolate a historical marker from the rest of the frame.

    Yep, great stuff can leap out of small packages.

    reviewed August 5th, 2015

  • Fujinon XF 60mm f/2.4 R Macro

    9 out of 10 points and recommended

    This is the best food and portrait lens ever and probably Fuji's best lens for commercial photography. In the day time you only need a big window and probably a small reflector to do your assignment. Albeit it's a no-no for sports and birding and not sufficient enough as an only lens for wedding coverage and journalistic work.

    It has a sturdy enough build and the size is just about right but the hood and cap looks funny

    reviewed July 24th, 2015

  • Fujinon XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    quick to focus, sharp (edge to edge), light weight and comes as a kit (meaning free with X-m1 and X-a1)
    non for the price

    This is the best entry level kit lens ever made.

    Mine is only very slightly soft in the extreme right corner at 16mm wide open. But even then it's nothing to complain about as it is more than acceptable.

    Wish it ended at F/4.5 at the long end or F/2.8 in the wide end but then the price would be more expensive.

    reviewed April 8th, 2014