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Home โ†’ Reviews โ†’ Cameras and Lenses โ†’ Fuji XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II Review

Fuji XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II Review

By Nasim Mansurov 8 Comments
Last Updated On September 9, 2020

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Fuji XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II vs Fuji XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR Comparison

Let’s take a look at how this kit lens compares to the pro-level XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR. It is obviously not fair to compare a pro-grade $1200 lens to a $400 kit lens, but it is still useful to see how the two stack up against each other:

Fuji XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II MTF Performance 16mm

Fuji XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR MTF Performance 16mm

As expected, the sharpness difference is pretty drastic – the XF 16-55mm f/2.8 is much better optically and shows much better sharpness at all apertures. The crazy thing is, the XF 16-55mm f/2.8 is sharper at f/2.8 than the XC 16-50mm stopped down!

Fuji X-T20 Image Samples #26
X-T20 + XC16-50mmF3.5-5.6 OIS II @ 22.2mm, ISO 200, 1/400, f/8.0

Here are the two lenses at 23mm:

Fuji XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II MTF Performance 23mm

Fuji XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR MTF Performance 23mm

Although the 16-50mm performs a tad better at 23mm than at 16mm, it is still nowhere close to what the 16-55mm can do.

Fuji XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II MTF Performance 35mm

Fuji XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR MTF Performance 35mm

35mm looks pretty similar as other focal lengths, with the 16-55mm clearly dominating at every comparable aperture. And lastly, let’s take a look at the longest end of the zoom range:

Fuji XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS II MTF Performance 50mm

Fuji XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR MTF Performance 55mm

Both lenses perform the worst zoomed in all the way, but the 16-55mm is still noticeably sharper, so it is still not a contest.

Fuji X-T20 Image Samples #25
X-T20 + XC16-50mmF3.5-5.6 OIS II @ 29.5mm, ISO 200, 1/4, f/8.0

Table of Contents

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