Fujinon XF16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II £1,149/$1,199

Updated standard zoom focuses on improved performance

- Matthew Richards

Like many photographers, I use a standard zoom lens for everyday shooting. You can't beat the combination of convenience, versatility and (hopefully) quality. Compared with most 'kit' standard zooms with a slower and often variable aperture, the Fujinon XF16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II is the second edition of the company's 'red badge' range-topping model, with a relatively fast and constant f/2.8 aperture. It also has a 24-84mm 'effective' zoom range in full-frame equivalence, the APS-C format X-mount lens equating to a 'trinity' standard zoom.

Trinity zooms tend to be big, heavy and less convenient for everyday shooting. This one replaces Fujifilm's nine-year-old original version of the lens, which was already relatively compact and lightweight, with a lens that's even smaller and lighter, despite bigging up the resolving power to suit Fujifilm's latest 40MP cameras like the X-T5 and X-T50 as well as others in the line-up of Fujifilm's best cameras.

Build and handling

The convenience of a standard zoom lens is largely lost if it's big, heavy, and cumbersome - a criticism that can be applied to many full-frame 'trinity' standard zooms and a few APS-C format standard zooms with a relatively fast and constant f/2.8 aperture rating. The original version of this XF16-55mm zoom was no heavyweight, measuring a modest 106 x 83mm, with a 77mm filter thread and weighing just 655g.