Sharp, but too bulky and heavy

crowley213 wrote:

lasd wrote:

Great optics throughout the entire zoom range. I gave it up since it is too large and heavy. I switched from Canon FF to Fuji X to reduce weight and this lens goes against that ethos.

Would be an excellent choice for those that prefer not to carry around a set of primes, but I personally am going for a more low-key look and this lens screams PHOTOG.

No problem at all with your opinion and statements, nevertheless I dare to state:

- The lens may be "too large and heavy" for you (again, nothing wrong with that opinion), but phrasing it in an universal "valid" term doesn´t cut it for me. For me the lens is just fine!

- Also, it may for you go against the idea of reducing weight, but for others it may exactly do that compared to other gear (e.g. FF).

- Hmm, you honestly think this lens screams PHOTOG and other lenses don´t do so? From my point of view: Everybody who knows about photography gear will recognize valuable gear immediately, no matter how it looks. And not screaming PHOTOG is not just about how your gear looks but also how you behave while taking photos.

So the lens is not for you? No problem, that´s fine... we all are different, have different requirements, different opinions. And therefore there is a variety of gear we can select from... so everybody will find something that suits his needs.

Herbert

These are personal user reviews are they not? It's not up to you or I to dispute how the OP feels about it really.  Its a piece of gear, nothing more, opinions will be divided on it

But since everyone has their opinion, may as well offer mine - I liked this lens a lot, I don't think it's heavy either but I have used many much heavier lenses over the years, OP may not have.   I used it on the X-H1 so I got IBIS, didn't care that the lens had no OIS - again, others who use non IBIS bodies may not feel so wonderful about it

The ONLY thing I disliked about this lens, or rather felt it was lacking in, was it's close focus capabilities and magnification ratio.  If it could get a few cm closer and have better mag [even 25cm, 0.2x] it would be an incredible lens IMHO.  But, it doesn't, so I sold mine and got the even better 16mm 1.4 with some cash back to boot.  Sure, I don't get zoom, so I just add a 35 or 50mm prime for the times I need it [found I was mostly using the wider and longer ends of the zoom anyway] - and combined they're lighter than the zoom.  I get better low light capabilities, much better close focusing [15cm vs 30] better magnification along with [0.21x vs 0.16x] it's half the weight so can be much easier used one handed [when using off-cam flash for example] and I would dare say it's sharper at the same apertures too - though the 16-55 is about as sharp as you'd need for most situations.

It's all about choices, not every lens is for everybody.