I mentioned in a recent post that I purchased a new 32mm Zeiss prime for my Fuji X-T2. If you read the post, you’re probably thinking I’m going to tell you how great the Zeiss is.
But I’m not.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with the Zeiss lens and will be doing a post about it in the future. But then I expect a lens like that to perform well. Because of this it hasn’t wowed me or blown me away with its performance.
But the Fuji 18-55mm has.
This is the kit lens that came with the X-T2 and I ignored. I think I paid a couple of hundred pounds extra to get this lens with the body and it seemed like the obvious thing to do. And perhaps that’s what’s stopped me from using it. I think I have taken the lens out a couple of times in the past and maybe shot a few frames. After all, I have the amazing 16-55, although that lacks stabilisation which the 18-55 has.
Recently, I took the 18-55 lens out twice and used it properly. When I first pulled up the images I shot with it, I thought I was looking at images from another lens. Even when I zoomed in to 2:1 magnification on my Mac I was quite shocked by the sharpness of this lens and the detail it’s resolved.
The image at the top of this post was taken using the 18-55. There’s loads of detail, even in more distant objects and colours are excellent. It’s also such as small lens that it’s easy to carry and pleasure to work with. I’m going to be taking it out with me more often.
The Lightweight Photographer 
I have this lens too. After trading in my Nikon kit I could not believe how much better the Fuji lenses are.
I also had some problems with Nikon lenses once. I found you needed to apply a lot of sharpening or pay a lot for the lenses. Many of the Fuji lenses are still quite costly but they really perform well.
I have the kit zoom, 35mm 1.4 and 27mm pancake- that will do me for now. I would like the xt2 (from xt1) when the price becomes reasonable second hand.
I don’t think that will be too far off now Fuji has released the XH1.
Pardon me for an off-topic comment. I notice you have not made all of the structure’s piles vertical through the use of something like LR’s transform tool. I am sure this is just a question of taste – I am an engineer and always expect level to be level and vertical to be vertical, so I guess I may simply be funny that way. But I’d be interested in your thoughts on the question – when do you “transform” and when do you decide to leave the distortion in?
It’s not off topic and it’s a good point. The distortion effect you mention was caused by my titling the camera whilst using a wide angle focal length. In this instance, it was deliberate to give the pier a sense of height and size. I didn’t want to correct this. If I had wanted to produce an image with vertical uprights, the easiest option would have been to walk up the seawall behind me so that I didn’t need to tilt the camera. This would, in my opinion, have less of an effect.
Robin,
That’s an incredible photo taken with that “so called” kit zoom! I had one with an earlier camera that came with the kit zoom. I didn’t use it much & eventually traded it in. Now I use the 16-55 but will have to think more about getting this smaller & more light weight zoom.
Jed
Thanks Jed. Yes, the 16-55 is amazing but it’s twice the size and weight and doesn’t have stabilisation. The 18-55 is a great little lens. I almost sold it but now I’m pleased I didn’t.
Thanks, Robin. I’m also using this lens on my X-T2 and have been extremely happy with it. Best kit lens I’ve ever owned. Cheers!
Thanks Bob. Pleased to hear it’s not just me that likes this lens.
Part of my decision of staying with Fuji X cameras instead of going back to Nikon for my digital imaging is that for getting a similar performance with a lens in the Nikon lineup I would have to choose a much larger, heavier, and pricier lens. The 18-55 is not an F2.8 constant lens, but it’s still a great lens, capable and versatile in lots of situations, and optically great.
Yes, the Fuji lenses are excellent and the system is quite lightweight (ignoring the 50-140 lens which is heavy). As you say, the 18-55 may not be a constant F2.8 but it’s still very flexible and a great performer most of the time.