I believe many X series owners who are interested in the XF 10-24mm f4 will be weighing it up against the XF 16mm f1.4, either as potential owners or existing ones. So in my first two tables below I’ve compared the sharpness of both lenses on the same view in the corner and centre of the image; I shot with the XF 16mm f1.4 first, then matched the field of view on the XF 10-24mm afterwards.

What’s more, there doesn’t appear to be any level But there are other improvements too. The Optical Image Stabilisation has been improved by 1 stop to -3.5 EV and when combined with XT4 this improves to -6.5 stops – pretty impressive. If you predict you will be shooting on the wider end mostly and value the compact nature of the XF 14mm f/2.8 R this may be a sound alternative. In the two sample images below you may see that the overall image quality is very similar with only a slight edge to the XF 14mm f/2.8 R. The Fujifilm XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS WR remarkably exhibits virtually no barrel distortion, even at the widest 10mm setting. On the upside, at the widest focal length, 10mm, the edge sharpness looks pretty good, and that wider focal length is probably what most people would buy this lens for anyway.With the XF 8-16mm F2.8 WR avaialable, folks interested in switching from a DSLR now have a match fo their hulking ultra-wide zooms. The XF 10-24mm F4 OIS costs about 50% of what it, and the full frame ultra-wide zoom do though. For less money, the Canon 72mm UV and B+W MRC 010 are excellent filters, as is the B+W 72mm 010 and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best. Diffraction limiting sets in at ƒ/11, but you won't notice any practical difference until ƒ/16 or ƒ/22, where we note generalized softness across the frame. The optical design employs 14 elements in 10 groups, with four aspherical and four extra low dispersion elements. The focal ratio is a constant f4 throughout the range and the aperture system uses seven rounded blades. There’s optical stabilisation built-in, and the closest focusing distance of 24cm allows a maximum magnification of 0.16x. The barrel measures 78mm in diameter, 87mm in length, weighs 410g and offers a 72mm filter thread. As noted above, there’s no weather sealing on this model.

With a 7-blade rounded diaphragm I get 14-pointed sunstars on brilliant points of light only at the smallest apertures. Also, though not as much of an issue for me, the aperture dial on my copy of the lens is loose. Not as in turning; that is fine, but you can move it from side to side a bit on the body, which is a little disconcerting and something I've never seen from my other Fuji lenses with aperture rings. Plus the fact they didn't put the aperture numbers on the dial is just lame. For this price, come on. All fixed aperture lenses should have hard markings, zoom or prime. Period. We found no problems with the way this lens performs physically, and the autofocus is fast, quiet and smooth. The image quality proved more of a mixed bag, however. The lab tests show poor corner sharpness at longer focal lengths, and this became very evident in our real-world tests. The XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS WR is by no means bad in this respect as most ultra-wide zooms start to soften at the edges, but it's clear to see at 24mm, the longest end of the zoom range, that the edges are not as sharp as the center.This Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 OIS is an excellent 15-35mm (equivalant) ultrawide zoom that only works on Fuji X-mount cameras. Unlike other ultrawide zooms for DX/APS-C cameras, this Fujinon is made out of metal and is a tough internal-focussing and zooming lens. Nothing moves externally as zoomed or focussed. If you pair the XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS WR with one of the few Fuji cameras that does have in-body IS, like the X-T4 that we tested the lens with, then the amount of stabilization available almost doubles to 6.5 stops of 5-axis image stabilisation. Sharpness is great in the center at most focal lengths (sharpness all over suffers some at 24mm), but towards the edges it gets blurry. If you shoot jpeg with Fuji's LMO turned on, you definitely will not notice it as much, but it's still there. Uncorrected it is significant. But stopping down to 5.6 improves things, and by f8, things are pretty solid across the frame (though the edges still lag the middle).

In regards to the XF 23mm f/1.4 R, it is more a case of light-gathering capabilities and lens character versus versatility in a lens such as the XF 10-24mm. And you could bring other lenses into this category as well such as the XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR, XF 23mm f/2 R WR, or the newly released XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR. There's also the same close-focus point of 24cm and 0.16x maximum magnification, iris diaphragm with seven rounded blades, high-speed auto-focusing achieved via an inner focusing system, and a Super EBC coating to help minimise lens flare and ghosting. Above left: Fuji XF 16mm f1.4 at f16, above right: Fuji XF 10-24mm at 16mm f16. 100% crops from corner of JPEGs

Light falloff is completely invisible even wide open at f/4, as shot on the X-T1 which is probably correcting it automatically. The lens does have a subtle vignette. RAW shooters can easily correct it in post or count it as a bit of extra character mixed in with that edge softness. Additional Image Samples

The Fuji 10-24mm WR lens has a traditional aperture ring on the lens barrel, which allows you to set the aperture in 1/3 steps. Body Versus X-T2 vs. X-Pro2 X-T2 vs. X-T1 X-Pro2 vs. X-T1 X-Pro2 vs. X-Pro1 X-T10 vs. X-T1 vs. X-E2(S) X-T1 vs. X-E2 vs. X-Pro1 X100T vs. X100S vs. X100 X-E2 vs. X-E1 X30 vs. X20 Interchangeable Lens Body Spec Comparison Fixed Lens Body Spec ComparisonLike many others I then got the 16-55mm which has been my workhorse for 3 years. It always feels heavy but really does do everything well (fast focus, very sharp and great into the sun). I did try the 10-24 for a short while, as an alternative to my Zeiss 12mm but I didn't really gain any focal length advantage when used alongside the 16-55mm (and it is not as well coated as my Zeiss). Since the XF 10-24mm has a maximum aperture of f4, the first three rows on each table show an expanded crop from the XF 16mm f1.4 at f1.4, f2 and f2.8. As you can see in the first table, the XF 16mm f1.4 performs very well in the corners even when wide-open at f1.4. As you close the aperture, you’ll see a lightening in the corners, revealing the inevitable presence of vignetting, although it’s fairly mild and essentially gone by f2.8. Similar to other high-quality Fujinon lenses, the build quality of the Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS is excellent. The lens barrel is made from a combination of tough plastic and metal. The focus and aperture rings, along with the rear mount and the front part of the lens (including the filter thread) are all metal, so the lens is built to last. X-T1 + XF10-24mmF4 R OIS @ 10mm, ISO 200, 30/1, f/11.0