About Photography

Fujifilm 60mm f/2.4 XF Macro Fuji lens
a hands on reveiw

When I hear "macro", I expect a distortion free lens with sharp resolution over-all (even into the corners) and an ability to move in close enough to render an image ratio of 1:1.  This Fuji lens for the X-Pro1 and X-E1 cameras fills most of that definition.  The only thing it lacks is the 1:1 images ratio.  Instead it comes close enough to deliver .5x magnification, which is still respectable, particularly for a mirrorless camera.

At 60mm this lens is equivalent to 90mm with full frame.  Such a focal length is perfect for shooting portraits, and long enough to increase the subject to camera distance in macro mode to a comfortable length.  Its f/2.4 maximum aperture and 9-blade aperture enables the lens to deliver a nice bokeh effect in out of focus areas.

Photographed wide open at f/2.4 and at the closest focusing range of the lens this close up of a Christmas tree branch shows the pleasingly soft, round bokeh of the out of focus tree lights.

The lens has aspheric and ED lens elements and coatings that aid it in achieving a very flat, high resolution field that eliminates distortion.

I found the lens hood to be impractically large, so much so that I began leaving it off.  The hood is reversible for travel.  I also found the tiny lens cap very inconvenient to use.  Maybe my fingers are too big, but I have to fiddle with it a lot to get it on or off.  My solution for both the cap and hood was to find inexpensive, third party replacement parts on eBay.  It is easy to find a much shorter 39mm hood that is far more manageable. 

A major drawback to shooting with this lens on the X-Pro1 is that it hunts for focus excessively in macro mode.  There have been numerous firmware updates to the camera and lenses to correct focusing issues, and I can say that the problem is less acute than it once was.  Nonetheless, it is a serious enough issue to make be think twice about using this lens for macro work at all.

The resolution of this lens excels even when used with a wide open f/2.4 aperture.  This image was taken at the closest range of this lens.

To sum up, the lens performance is excellent in terms of resolution, lack of distortion, and an ability to maintain high quality even with its wide open aperture.  It is perfect for portraits, and good enough for macro if you are will to put up with the hunt for focus issues.  The latter may be more a problem with the camera than with the lens, and is improved with each new firmware release. It is too bad the X-Pro1 manual focus mode is so bad as to be unusable, otherwise that would be an alternative option.

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Fujifilm 60mm f/2.4 XF Macro Lens can be ordered from:  BH-Photo  Amazon