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Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4 ASPH
XF60mmF2.4 R (90mm equivalent)
© 2012 KenRockwell.com. This page best with Corporate S regular and bold activated.

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations   More

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Fuji 60mm f/2.4 XF

Fuji Fujinon XF 60mm f/2.4 for X-Pro1 and X-E1 (39x0.5mm filters, 7.7 oz./218g, 0.9'/0.27m close focus, about $650). enlarge. This free website's biggest source of support is when you use these links, especially these directly to it at Adorama, at Amazon, or at eBay (see How to Win at eBay) when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks! Ken.

 

September 2012       Fuji Reviews   Fuji Lenses   LEICA Reviews   All Reviews

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Introduction       top

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Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations   More

This Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4 is an aspherical 90mm-equivalent macro lens with superior optical performance.

This lightweight all-metal lens has no visible distortion, focuses super-close, is super-sharp right out to the edges at f/2.4, has no lateral color fringes, has no visible light falloff even at f/2.4 and has superb bokeh — and it focuses so close that a subject 31 x 47mm (about an inch tall) fills your screen.

This Fujinon XF 60/2.4 has all engraved markings and electronic auto and manual focus controlled by the camera.

Most of the lens is a big, fat manual-focus ring. The manual focus ring works slowly and precisely, which is better than the XF 18mm f/2 and XF 35mm f/1.4, whose manual focus rings are useless. Who cares: the camera provides immediate manual focus, complete with magnification, with the tap of a button.

The XF 60 also has an electronic diaphragm, set the 1/3-stop clicks of its real aperture ring.

It's a funny lens, with a smaller snout that pokes out from the rest of the lens as focused more closely.

Unlike the XF 18mm f/2 and XF 35mm f/1.4 that have 52mm filter threads, this 60 XF has LEICA-standard 39mm filter threads.

Compared to the comparable LEICA MACRO-ELMAR-M 90mm f/4, this Fujinon lens has the same filter size, weighs less, is a stop-and-a-half faster, and most importantly, provides through-the-lens viewing, composition and focus, while the primitive LEICA system and LEICA M9 expect us to try to do macro looking through a viewfinder window a few inches away from the lens!

 

Compatibility       intro      top

This is a Fuji X-mount XF lens, and as of May 2012, only works on the Fuji X-Pro1.

 

Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4

Fuji X-mount XF 60mm f/2.4 for X-Pro1. enlarge.

 

Specifications        top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations   More

 

Name

Fuji calls this the XF60mmF2.4 R Macro.

 

Optics

Fuji 60mm f/2.4 diagram

Fuji 60/2.4 internal diagram.

10 elements in 8 groups.

1 ED element (6th element, low-dispersion glass).

1 glass-molded aspheric (7th element).

 

Focal length

60mm

When used on the X-Pro1 with its 1.52x sensor, it sees the same angle of view as a 90mm lens sees when used on a 35mm camera.

 

Angle of view

26.6°

 

Diaphragm

Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4

Fuji 60mm at f/2.4 (diaphragm not visible). enlarge.

9 rounded blades.

Stops down to f/22 in 1/3-stop clicks.

 

Close Focus

0.88 feet (0.267 meters).

 

Maximum Reproduction Ratio

1:2 (0.5x).

 

Minimum Subject Area

31 x 47mm.

 

Filters

LEICA-standard 39mm x 0.5mm thread pitch.

 

Hood

Metal hood with plastic bayonet, included.

 

Size

2.52" diameter x 2.79" long.

64.1 mm diameter x 70.9 mm long.

 

Weight

7.695 oz. (218.15g), measured.

Fuji rates it as 7.6 oz. (215g).

 

Announced

January 2012.

 

Shipping

Since the beginning of May 2012.

 

Included

Lens.

Front and rear caps.

"Lens wrapping cloth."

Hood.

Paperwork.

 

Packaging

Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4

Box, Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4.

Inside the box are two boxes: one large black one with the lens, and a black cardboard sleeve with the "lens wrapping cloth" and the paperwork.

The lens box is marvelous: it's got a magnetic closure. Inside are custom-cut foam holding your lens, hood and all three caps.

Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4

Box insert, Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4.

 

Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4

Insides of box insert. bigger.

 

Price

$650, Jan-May 2012.

 

MTF Curves (rated)

Fuji 60mm f/2.4 MTF
Fuji 60mm f/2.4 MTF

at 15 cyc/mm

(= 10 cyc/mm on full-frame)

at 45 cyc/mm

(= 30 cyc/mm on full-frame)

Performance       top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations   More

Overall   Auto and Manual Focus    Bokeh    Distortion

Ergonomics   Falloff    Filters   Color Fringes    Macro

Mechanics    Sharpness   Spherochromatism   Sunstars

 

Overall      performance      top

The Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4 ASPH is optically just about perfect, excelling at sharpness, falloff and distortion, as well as bokeh.

 

Auto and Manual Focus      performance      top

Auto and manual focus is closed-loop, read directly from the image sensor. Therefore there are none of the mechanical errors present in rangefinder (LEICA) or SLR cameras.

Autofocus is always in perfect focus, something we almost never get with any LEICA's open-loop mechanical rangefinder system and 90mm lenses.

Autofocus is slow, trading precision and huge focus range for speed.

Manual focus is slow and precise, asking for a few turns of the big focus ring to get one end to the other. Unlike the XF 18mm f/2 and XF 35mm f/1.4, this XF 60's manual focus ring may be useful to some.

 

Bokeh      performance      top

Bokeh, the character of out of focus areas, not simply how far out of focus they are, is wonderful.

Backgrounds are soft and undistracting.

 

Distortion      performance      top

Distortion is completely invisible, whoo hoo!

For critical scientific use, plug this figure into Photoshop's lens distortion filter. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.

Distance
Factor
10' (3m)
-0.35

© 2012 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Ergonomics      performance      top

Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4

Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4 for X-Pro1. enlarge.

It feels like any other real metal bayonet lens.

Most of the lens is the big manual focus ring. Grab and go!

The aperture detents are a bit light, but the ring flips with a fingertip, even as you're shooting with one hand, bravo!

When used with the Fuji X-Pro1's optical finder, the frame is a small rectangle in the middle of a larger viewfinder which also covers the XF 35mm f/1.4 lens.

 

Falloff (darkened corners)      performance      top

Light falloff is completely invisible, even at f/2.4.

I've greatly exaggerated it by shooting a gray field and presenting it against another gray field:

 

Fujinon XF 60mm f/2.4 ASPH light falloff on X-Pro1 at infinity:

f/2.4
f/2.8

f/4

f/5.6

© 2012 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

 

Filters, Use with      performance      top

There's no problem with vignetting, even with combinations of thick filters.

The filter ring doesn't rotate, but does move in and out with focus.

 

Lateral Color Fringes      performance      top

There are no lateral color fringes on the X-Pro1.

Spherochromatism is a different aberration.

 

Macro      performance      top

macro

Rockwell's Watch at close-focus distance. f/6.4 at 1/350 on X-Pro1 at AUTO ISO 800.

As with all macro shooting, there is no depth-of-field. One paper-thin plane is in focus, and that's it. In this sloppy hand-held shot of my watch, the center post is in focus, while the watch face and dust on the plastic crystal are out of focus. It's also a bit blurred from my own hand movement; this is a telephoto lens and both my camera and my watch on my other arm are moving around in the breeze, made obvious at this high magnification:

crop

Crop from above image in 50 x 33" (1.5 x 1m) print (100% pixel-to-pixel).

 

Mechanics      performance      top

Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4

Rear, Fuji X-mount XF 60mm f/2.4 for X-Pro1. enlarge.

The Fuji XF 60 2.4 is built much better than anything from Nikon or Canon today. It's built as well as LEICA lenses, with much newer technology to boot.

 

Hood

Anodized aluminum with plastic bayonet.

 

Filter Threads

Anodized aluminum.

 

Hood Bayonet

Anodized aluminum.

 

Fore Barrel

Anodized aluminum.

 

Barrel Exterior

Anodized aluminum.

 

Focus Ring

Anodized aluminum.

 

Depth-of-Field Scale

Yes, in camera.

 

Internals

Metal.

 

Aperture Ring

Anodized aluminum.

Markings engraved and filled with paint.

Third-stop clicks.

 

Mount

Dull-chromed metal.

 

Markings

All engraved.

All engraved and filled with paint, except for laser-engraved certifications on bottom of lens.

 

Identity Ring

Front ring.

Engraved and filled with paint.

 

Serial Number

Laser engraved on rear of lens barrel.

 

Rain seal at mount

No.

 

Noises When Shaken

Mild clunking.

 

Made in

Japan.

 

Sharpness      performance      top

Warning 1: Image sharpness depends more on you than your lens.

Warning 2: Lens sharpness doesn't mean much to good photographers.

With those caveats, the Fuji XF 60/2.4 is super-sharp edge-to-edge.

If you get out the microscope, it's a tiny but less sharp in the corners at f/2.4, but that's only in comparison to how super-sharp is everything else.

 

Spherochromatism       performance     top

As expected for a fast long lens this sharp, there is a tiny bit of spherochromatism, called color bokeh by hobbyists. This means that out-of-focus highlights can taker on slight color fringes, green in the background and magenta in the foreground. It's slightly visible in the crop of the macro shot above.

 

Sunstars      performance      top

The rounded 9-blade diaphragm rarely makes sunstars.

 

Recommendations       top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations   More

The Fuji XF 60mm f/2.4 ASPH is an extraordinary lens. When a lens is just about optically perfect, there isn't much to say.

If you have an X-Pro1, you need one for general telephoto use. Forget slumming with LEICA or other off-brand lenses; you can't get anything sharper and any other lens won't autofocus or autoexpose or log data, and no other tele lens will have a diaphragm that opens and closes automatically as needed for focus and shooting.

 

More Information        top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Recommendations   More

Fujinon's page on the 60/2.4.

Fuji X-Pro1    XF 18mm f/2   XF 35mm f/1.4   XF 60mm f/2.4 Macro

 

Help me help you         top

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Thanks for reading!

 

 

Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

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