The Fujifilm XF 18-135 -The Swiss Army knife of lenses? |
Tony Bridge
Just to make things really clear at the beginning, I have never had much time for one-size fits-all Swiss Army lenses. My prejudice came from seeing the results from an early Nikon 18-200 VR whatever. It was a superb lens for portraiture, which gave no risk of ever being sharp or accentuating skin blemishes. It had an (unintentional) soft-focus built in, Any aperture, any focal length. It barked. As did the Tamron I also tried. AND the Canon EOS equivalent, which had more bark than a gang member’s pit-bull. I have stayed away ever since. And there is a reason. I prefer primes and short distance focal length zooms (16-35, 24-70, etc.). My rationale has to do with the number of elements in the lens. Every time light transitions from air to glass or vice-versa, refraction occurs, and a small amount of clarity is lost, due to scattering, Those of you who slept through the optics section of school science and want to catch up can read more here. Every piece of glass is 2 opportunities for loss of quality. A lens with 6 elements has only six transitions; a 21-element lens has 42……..
Source: www.thistonybridge.com
Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18-135mm F3.5-5.6
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