XF 10-24mm f4: Best Fuji Landscape Lens?

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In my eyes, there are two contenders battling it out for the title of best Fuji landscape lens. They are the XF 8-16mm F2.8 R LM WR and the XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS.

And it’s the latter, the XF 10-24mm, that wins for me. Let me explain why.

But before I do that, let’s talk about how great Fujifilm lenses really are.

Key Highlights

  • Versatile wide-angle zoom lens with a focal length range of 10-24mm (equivalent to 15-36mm in 35mm format).

  • Constant maximum aperture of f/4 ensures consistent exposure and excellent low-light performance.

  • High-quality construction with weather sealing for durability and suitability in various shooting conditions.

  • Advanced optical elements minimize distortion and chromatic aberrations, resulting in outstanding image quality.

Fujifilm 10-24mm F4 R OIS WR

Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f4

The Fujifilm 10-24mm f/4 lens is a versatile wide-angle zoom lens designed specifically for Fujifilm X-series mirrorless cameras.

With its 10-24mm focal length range (equivalent to 15-36mm in 35mm format), this lens offers a broad perspective ideal for landscape photography. The constant maximum aperture of f/4 provides consistent exposure throughout the zoom range, ensuring excellent image quality and low-light performance.

The lens features high-quality construction with robust build quality and weather sealing, making it suitable for outdoor shooting in various conditions. It incorporates advanced optical elements, including four aspherical elements and three extra-low dispersion elements, to minimize distortion, chromatic aberrations, and other optical imperfections.

It also boasts a fast and quiet autofocus system, making it suitable for both still photography and videography. Overall, the Fujifilm 10-24mm f/4 lens is a reliable and versatile tool for landscape photographers looking to capture a wide range of shots with exceptional image quality.

Overall
Features
Travel Convenience
Value for Money

PROS

  • Exceptional image quality
  • Constant aperture
  • Autofocus capabilities
  • Very versatile focal range
  • Robust build-quality (made of aluminum)

CONS

  • More expensive than other Fuji zoom lenses with similar focal ranges due to having a constant aperture

Some of the Fujifilm XF 10-24mm F4 important specs

Focal Range10mm to 24mm
Max ApertureF4 (constant)
Min ApertureF22
Elements/Groups14/10
Lens MountX-Series (APS-C)
Weight410 g (0.90 lb)
Filter Thread72mm

Producing Extremely High-quality Glass is What Fujifilm is Known For

Anyone who has ever used the Fuji system will tell you that one of its main advantages is the quality of their native lenses. Fuji lenses are true workhorses, they’re built like tanks and produce amazingly crisp images.

In this review, we’ll focus on which is the best Fuji landscape lens.

There is no perfect lens

While that’s very true, we’re not all in a position to own a range of lenses to cover every kind of situation.

Maybe you’re looking to buy your first dedicated landscape photography lens, or perhaps you’re simply looking to step things up a gear and move on from the kit lens but can only afford one new lens at the moment. Either way, you have to start somewhere, so long as you realise that a single lens is never going to meet all of your needs.

Having said that, in my opinion, the lens we are about to talk about is the ultimate Fuji landscape lens and I’ll tell you why.

XF 10-24mm f4 R OIS, The Ultimate Fuji Landscape Lens?

The XF 10-24mm f4 is the best Fuji landscape lens in my opinion.

The XF 10-24mm f4 has been Fuji’s flagship wide-angle zoom lens for years, and it’s arguably their best ever lens for landscape photography.

Recently Fujifilm released a rival lens, the XF 8-16mm f2.8, but it’s significantly more expensive and has a less versatile zoom range. So, for that reason, I don’t believe it can be called the best Fuji landscape lens. That title still very much belongs to the Fuji 10-24mm f4. But there is another HUGE downside to the XF 8-16mm and that is the fact you can’t use any filters due to its large convex front element. A massive issue in landscape photography and one that personally puts me off buying it.

Important Specs

Below are some of the XF 10-24mm’s most important specifications.

Mount type

XF lenses like this one are native to Fujifilm’s X-Series range of mirrorless cameras.

Prime/zoom?

The 10-24mm f4 is an ultra-wide angle zoom lens. That focal length range makes this lens extremely versatile and is one of the main reasons I think it’s Fuji’s best landscape photography lens.

Having said that, Fujifilm does make some absolutely amazing prime lenses at affordable prices like the XF 35mm f2 as well. The image quality their prime glass produces is mind-blowing. But if you could only pick one for landscape shooting, it would have to be a zoom as they’re simply more versatile.

Focal length

10-24mm, but since Fujifilm X-Series cameras are all APS-C, the equivalent full-frame focal length would be 15-35mm.

Max/min aperture

Having a maximum aperture of f4 might seem like a drawback when you compare this to other lenses, but we are talking in terms of landscape photography. When shooting landscapes, it’s unlikely that you would ever want to go to f4 let alone wider anyway.

F4 max aperture also means it’s not great for low light situations. But when do you really shoot landscapes in low light anyway since slower shutter speeds aren’t so much of a problem?

Also, it’s a constant aperture lens which means the max aperture stays at f4 throughout the entire zoom range.

Minimum aperture is f22.

Aperture blades

7 aperture blades are found inside this lens. If you’re interested in creating sun stars or capturing the best bokeh possible, you might consider this a drawback.

Weather resistant

The 10-24mm f4 isn’t weather sealed, unfortunately. That might be something to consider when buying a landscape lens.

Size

3.07 x 3.43″ / 78 x 87mm. Compared to some of Fuji’s prime wide-angle lenses, it’s a little on the large side. However, you are getting a wide range of focal lengths in one lens.

Weight

14.46oz / 410g. There are other wide-angle zooms that weigh less but, when you consider the image quality this lens produces, I think it’s a compromise worth making.

Minimum focusing distance

The Fuji 10-24 comes with a manual focus ring and the minimum focusing distance is 9.4″ / 239mm.

Filter thread size

Since we are talking about landscape photography, you most likely will be using filters a lot of the time. This lens has a 72mm filter thread.

Optical image stabilisation (OIS)

This lens does have optical image stabilisation, or OIS, which is a great feature to have. It means you don’t have to worry about camera shake so much in windy conditions.

Sample shot taken with the XF10-24mm
Sample shot taken with the XF 10-24mm f4 – Credit: Norbert Rupp

Pixel Peeping and Sharpness

Check out these full resolution sample images taken with the XF 10-24mm and a variety of different Fujifilm X-Series cameras if you want to zoom in and inspect them for yourself.

At 10mm

  • At f4 the centre of the image is very sharp, corners are also sharp, especially considering it’s at 10mm. Slight vignetting.
  • At f5.6 it is very sharp in the centre, corners also very sharp.
  • At f8 the image is sharp corner-to-corner. With this lens, f8 is the sweet spot for landscape photography.
  • At f16 the image starts to become a little soft.
  • At f22 the image is very soft.

At 24mm

  • At f4 the centre is very sharp as you would expect, and corner sharpness is also above average for an ultra-wide angle lens. Slight vignetting.
  • At f5.6 the centre is very sharp and so are the corners.
  • At f8 the image is sharp corner-to-corner. Again, this is the sweet spot for landscapes.
  • At f16 the image starts to become a little soft.
  • At f22 the image is very soft.

Overall, the sharpness of the XF 10-24mm f4 is extremely good pretty much corner-to-corner below f16. There is a deterioration in image quality over f16, but that’s common in most lenses.

It’s the sharpness in the corners wide open at its max aperture of f4 and at 10mm that blows me away. No other wide-angle zoom lens I’ve used is able to achieve what this lens does.

Build Quality and Ergonomics

Like most Fuji lenses, this lens is built to withstand almost anything you can throw at it. It has an almost all-metal construction and it feels solid in the hand.

The zoom ring is made out of a high-quality rubber (like you would want) but, again, it feels very sturdy when using it. The aperture ring is made out of hard industrial plastic.

The zooming is all done internally so the lens doesn’t extend when you zoom in.

On some of Fuji’s smaller cameras, like the X-T30, it can be a little front heavy but that might not bother you too much when shooting landscapes since most of the time you’ll probably be using a tripod.

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Conclusion

If you’re looking for your first dedicated Fuji landscape lens, then you can’t go wrong with the XF 10-24mm f4. Or, if you’re only able to add one new lens to your collection right now, and you are specifically going to shoot landscapes with it, this is what I recommend.

The 10-24mm can be your only wide-angle zoom lens, you’ll never have to upgrade it if you don’t want to. It’s a great base to build a set of landscape lenses around. If in the future you wanted to experiment with different wide-angle lenses, then you could add some of Fuji’s top-shelf primes to your kit bag. The XF 16mm f1.4, for example, would make a great companion. It’s around the same price point, extremely sharp and has a monstrous max aperture which would complement the 10-24mm perfectly.

It could be paired up with other Fuji wide-angles, or it could be the only wide-angle you own. In both situations, it’s a great lens which is why (along with image quality and price) I think the Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f4 is the ultimate landscape photography lens.