Fujifilm XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro Lens

I bought the XT3 as my first “real” camera (not including phone cameras). The moment I saw this lens I knew I had to have it because I really want to get into macro photography. Mainly interested in photographing plants and insects. It does AMAZING and it will not disappoint. In the short time I have owned the Fuji XT3 camera and used this lens I have photographed sea shells & flowers. Besides Macro, it works well as a medium range telephoto lens and a decent portrait lens as well. You will be using a switch on its side that allows you to preset whether you will be focusing .25 meters to .5 meters, full focus range, and can’t recall third option. Using this allows the lens to autofocus faster without so much “hunting” for focus.Understand that Macro photography is ... MoreI bought the XT3 as my first “real” camera (not including phone cameras). The moment I saw this lens I knew I had to have it because I really want to get into macro photography. Mainly interested in photographing plants and insects. It does AMAZING and it will not disappoint. In the short time I have owned the Fuji XT3 camera and used this lens I have photographed sea shells & flowers. Besides Macro, it works well as a medium range telephoto lens and a decent portrait lens as well. You will be using a switch on its side that allows you to preset whether you will be focusing .25 meters to .5 meters, full focus range, and can’t recall third option. Using this allows the lens to autofocus faster without so much “hunting” for focus.Understand that Macro photography is a niche market. So this may not be for you. But if you do have an interest in taking close up macro photography then go ahead and buy this lens. You will not be disappointed and you will end up using it for some portraits and medium range telephoto. I researched this lens on Amazon but ended up buying through BestBuy online due to the longer 0% financing. Will include some samples pictures. Since BestBuy only allows 5mb and maximum of 2 pictures uploaded for review I had no choice but to run the picture through editor to dumb it down to small enough size. Hope I can still convey to you through these two images how good the lens is.

Although the XF 80mm Macro is my macro lens, I have always wanted one ever since I first got into photography many years ago. This lens is more expensive, heavier, and larger than most other competing macro lenses in similar focal lengths designed for larger sensor format. Even with these downsides, I feel the XF 80mm Macro is worth it. The lens is very sharp even wide open at f/2.8. I always try to shoot macros with a tripod but in those instances when I can't use a tripod, the OIS is very effective. In non macro shots, with the OIS, I can handhold and be completely sharp all the way down to 1/8 sec. shutter speed. With closeups that are less than 1x magnification, such as the flower photos I have attached, I find that I need at least 1/80 to 1/125 sec. shutter ... MoreAlthough the XF 80mm Macro is my macro lens, I have always wanted one ever since I first got into photography many years ago. This lens is more expensive, heavier, and larger than most other competing macro lenses in similar focal lengths designed for larger sensor format. Even with these downsides, I feel the XF 80mm Macro is worth it. The lens is very sharp even wide open at f/2.8. I always try to shoot macros with a tripod but in those instances when I can't use a tripod, the OIS is very effective. In non macro shots, with the OIS, I can handhold and be completely sharp all the way down to 1/8 sec. shutter speed. With closeups that are less than 1x magnification, such as the flower photos I have attached, I find that I need at least 1/80 to 1/125 sec. shutter speed to be completely sharp. For anything at 1x magnification, I prefer to use a tripod because at those high magnifications, it is almost impossible to keep a certain part of the subject in focus without unintentionally moving the camera and lens backwards and forwards.When I first saw photos of this lens online, I thought that the extra large focus ring was a bit ridiculous and overkill. I initially only ever planned on using the auto-focus (remember that this is my first experience with a macro lens), but once I actually had a chance to use the lens with a tripod, I quickly began to appreciate the large and smooth focus ring. With the X-T2's focus peaking, I am able to precisely place the focus exactly where I want it even on those 1x magnification photos. The large focus ring really does help with precision focusing because it allows the use of more fingers to adjust focus.I really do not mind how the focus-by-wire behaves but I wish there was an easy way to quickly bring the lens to its minimum focus distance. Without stops on the focus ring, it is very inconvenient to quickly bring the lens to minimum focus because I am never sure when the lens has actually reached minimum focus. This is really only an issue when I'm photographing a subject so small that it doesn't fill the APS-C frame at 1:1 magnification. In situations like that, I want to be able to quickly bring the lens to minimum focus distance and move the camera backwards and forwards to achieve focus. This maximizes the size of the subject on to the APS-C sensor. I wish Fujifilm will provide a firmware update that would allow a custom button that brings the lens to minimum focus when pressed.There are also many comments regarding the bokeh (background blur) of this lens when used for portraiture. From my experiences using this lens, I think many people's complaints regarding bokeh with portraits on this lens applies to a specific shooting condition; that is, a high contrast background with a lot of small highlights. Yes, the highlight bokeh are not perfect circles, especially closer to the edges, but I think more importantly, it's because given the lens' focal length and the typical distances from which half body portraits are shot, the f/2.8 aperture is just not wide enough to throw out such distracting backgrounds. When used as a macro lens, where throwing out the background is not an issue, the bokeh is silky smooth. It is obvious that Fujifilm designed this lens first and foremost as a macro lens. If all I did were portraits, the XF 80mm Macro won't be my first choice. But for a macro lens, it's quite decent at portraits. You just have to mind your backgrounds.Even with its high price, heavy weight, and large size, I feel this lens is totally worth it. It is very sharp even wide open and the OIS, combined with the X-T2 and other X-mount Fujifilm cameras' very good high ISO performances, it is easy to get high quality photos even handheld.

I've been using this lens for nature photography. The image stabilisation is incredibly effective, it focusses reasonably with my XT-2 ( I suspect newer models will be even better), nice and close. I often use off camera flash for photographing insects, flowers and fungi. The lens has doesn't suffer from flaring and has pleasing bokeh, though its slightly cats eye nature might not be to everybody's taste. It's sharp enough right down to very tight apertures. I've printed A4 prints of shots taken at f20 and not had comments on sharpness.The knocking sound when the lens is off is actually quite similar to other lenses but more noticeable. You just need to accept it's there.My only gripe as someone else mentioned is the aperture ring is fairly uncertain and easily ... MoreI've been using this lens for nature photography. The image stabilisation is incredibly effective, it focusses reasonably with my XT-2 ( I suspect newer models will be even better), nice and close. I often use off camera flash for photographing insects, flowers and fungi. The lens has doesn't suffer from flaring and has pleasing bokeh, though its slightly cats eye nature might not be to everybody's taste. It's sharp enough right down to very tight apertures. I've printed A4 prints of shots taken at f20 and not had comments on sharpness.The knocking sound when the lens is off is actually quite similar to other lenses but more noticeable. You just need to accept it's there.My only gripe as someone else mentioned is the aperture ring is fairly uncertain and easily knocked out of place. To be honest I see that as an issue with the Fuji system. As much as I love the retro aesthetic and manual controls, with this lens and the 100-400 I'm forever accidentally changing things. It's a fine thing on smaller primes and zooms, especially for those of us who used lots of manual film lenses in the past, but on the larger lenses I find it's getting to the point where the aperture rings feel like style over substance now.