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.
The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro price is $599 / £599 and it went on sale at the end of 2022.
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 soft 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.
It didn’t take me very long to realise that the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro is fast and decisive in focusing when mounted on the 40MP Fujifilm X-T5. It also copes remarkably well with subjects close to its nearest focusing distance, and unless the subject is small and surrounded by high-contrast more-distant objects, there’s little need for the manual focus ring as the autofocus system gets the subject sharp on most occasions.
The focusing system is also very quiet, making the lens useful for videography.
Further good news is that focus breathing is controlled very well, so the framing doesn’t appear to change when the focus distance is moved. That’s useful for anyone wishing to focus stack or use the lens for recording video with a subject that moves towards or away from the camera.
Paired with the 40MP X-T5, the Fujifilm XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro is capable of capturing plenty of sharp detail. It’s impressively good at the widest aperture setting, f/2.8, even into the corners. There’s a slight boost to corner sharpness when the aperture is closed down to f/4 or f/5.6, but it’s not marked and I’d happily use the widest setting.
At the other end of the aperture range, there’s a hint of the impact of diffraction at f/16. If you’re inspecting images at 100%, you’ll see that f/22 images are a little softer than those at wider apertures. This is less apparent when shooting close subjects, however, which is good news for anyone wishing to maximise depth of field in macro images.
Most out of focus highlights in images from the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro look great and have a nicely rounded shape with no obvious aberrations. Occasionally, you may see some with a cats-eye shape, however, and complex backgrounds can look a bit ‘busy’ with lots of ‘bokeh rings’.
Without the correction profile that is applied automatically to Jpegs and raw files, the Fujifilm XF 30mm F2.8 R LM WR Macro exhibits significant vignetting when the aperture is wide open. Closing down to f/5.6 eliminates this. Alternatively, the correction profile deals with it effectively and there’s only a suggestion of corner shading at the widest aperture settings. You’re only likely to notice it if you capture a series of images (with a uniform background) at different aperture values and you toggle through them quickly.
The automatic correction profile also deals superbly with the slight pincushion distortion that makes straight lines bend a little.
After scrutinising images with lots high contrast edges, I have been unable to find any examples of chromatic aberration, with or without the correction profile. Similarly, flare isn’t a significant issue. If you point the lens directly at a light source, naturally, you will see some, but it’s not dramatic and Fujifilm supplies a deep lens hood to keep it at bay when the light source is the side of the frame.
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 is e 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. It’s also small and light, making it highly portable while its effective focal length of 46mm makes a great all-rounder for everyday use.
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.
