Fuji XF 150-600mm Review - The Best Fuji Wildlife Lens?
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2022
- Fuji XF 150-600mm Review - The Best Fuji Wildlife Lens?
My full review of the Fuji XF 150-600mm F5.6-8 R LM OIS WR lens. This wildlife focused review contains 27 photographs and 7 videos captured using this lens and I share my thoughts on the lens after a month of use. I discuss aperture (how is f/8 for wildlife?), autofocus, image quality, sharpness, the XF 150-600mm vs XF 100-400mm lens and much more.
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Fuji XF 150-600mm First Wildlife Photography Shoot With New Lens
• Fuji XF 150-600mm Firs...
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This lens has been amazing for wildlife coupled with my x-h2. Love it.
Finally. A nice, well-balanced, soothing, insightful and personal review. Thanks. 😊
Thanks very much! I’m glad you found it useful.
Thank you for a great review of this lens. Lovely shots, it's a definite purchase now.
Thanks very much I appreciate it 👍🏻
Brilliant review! Honest opinion with the images to back it up!
Excellent review, answered all my questions. Thank you!
That’s great to hear, thanks!
Hi Wayne ☺️
I have been watching your channel for a while now and I was excited when I saw that you had purchased the 150 - 600. I have been looking forward to this video knowing that it would take a while to put together as you got to know and experience the lens in different situations. Thank you very much for your honest opinions and some absolutely stunning shots 🙏🏻 I now know that I will eventually add this to the collection, it is just a matter of saving up the money. Many thanks ☺️👍🏻🙏🏻
Hi David, thanks for watching and for your comment! You are right - the video took a lot of time and effort to create so I’m glad you found it useful. I’m sure you’ll really enjoy the lens once you get it. Thanks again and best wishes 😀👍🏻
great review thank you, im reading up as im using this lens this weekend so wanted to get first hand reviews, your one is the best one i have seen, great photos and videos also so thank you
Thanks very much Claire and I hope you get some nice photos with it!
Great review. Much appreciated.
A wonderful review and lovely photos as well. Cheers
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you for a very detailed review, I am looking at this lens for aviation photography. Thanks again
Thanks for watching and I'm glad you found my review helpful. I'm sure the lens would be good for your needs.
Great detail presentation. Your effort is greatly appreciated.
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
These videos helped me decided between this lens and the Tamron. My xf150-600 arrives tomorrow. Very excited to use it.
That’s great to hear. Enjoy the lens!
Not much out there on this lens, so thanks Wayne for this in depth review and awesome photos! Will be upgrading from my Nikon D3500 with 70-300mm to the Fujifilm Xt-5 and this lovely 150-600mm. Cannot wait!
Thanks very much and I think you will really like that camera and lens combination!
The composition of your wildlife shots are inspiring
Thank you that’s much appreciated!
Very well presented review, thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for a very informative review
Thanks I appreciate that!
Great and informative review. Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
So pleased I found this - it has been most useful in helping me weigh up the pros and cons as to whether to buy one or not. I do have the 100-400 but this would replace it as it has been nothing but trouble from the day I bought it. I have the 70-300 as well and that is a super little lens. (By the way, that kingfisher dropping into your video clip made me jump as I was watching the duck, but so lovely to see. What a treat!!) Thank you for such an in depth review. The only other thing I would really like to know is how it would be on my X-T5 but I guess the only way to find out is to buy it and try it!!
I have the tamron 150-500mm and I love it. I shoot it at f8 because that’s when it’s at its sharpest. I love the close focus distance at 150mm. But today I held the 150-600mm for the first time. And I swear it weighs half as much. Definitely high quality. Does not feel cheap. The reason lenses like these are plastic is to be better in cold and hot weather. Plastics don’t expand and contract like metal barrels will.
"Plastics don’t expand and contract like metal barrels will." Well you should read up on that...
It's the other way around, don't get fooled.
Example (values in (10-6 m/(m °C)) ):
ABS (glass fiber-reinforced) : 31
ABS: 72 - 108
Aluminum: 21 - 24
Magnesium alloy AZ31B: 26
Polypropylene - glass fiber-reinforced: 32
Steel Stainless Austenitic (304): 17.3
Titanium: 8.5 - 9
Plastic is cheaper, easier to manufacture and lighter.
I much like the choice of music which accompanies your images. P.S. I also have this lens, the X-H2s, and concur with your assessment.
Thanks for watching and sharing your experience with the lens 👍🏻
Thank you for an excellent review. As a 100-400 user (with the 1.4 teleconverter it was really helpful in my decision making re changing ‘up’
Great to hear, thank you 👍🏻
Hi Wayne! Nice review. I agree with all your comments on this lens. I have it for a week. I don't have the 100-400 but the 70-300 and I can tell that it's worth it, even with the 1.4 tc.
Hi Carl, thanks for watching and your comment! I’m pleased to hear you are enjoying the lens too. Enjoy your photography 😊
Nice review, wonderful images! Certainly considering the upgrade from my 100-400. 👍🏼
Thanks very much I’m glad you found it useful! 😀
I did this upgrade and I’m so happy having do so. IQ is really better.
JUST ordered this lens. YOU took me over the edge! :) Will get it in a few days. I have an X-H2s. Can you imagine what this lens will do with that flagship camera!
That should be a great combination! Enjoy your new lens 👍🏻
Thank you for this review, I agree with you and it looks like you can still use it when it’s not bright daylight out.
Thanks for watching! Yes you certainly can, it just depends on our individual requirements and what/when we want to photograph.
By far the best review of this lens.
Thanks very much I appreciate that!
thank you, great one
Thanks for this video. I own this lens and first used it with an XT4 but have also used it with an XH2 and an XH2s and started looking for reviews due to the depth of field issue. I am going to increase it when on some shoots where i am a long way away as my hit rate drops. I am fairly shakey although the IS is excellent but I am also increasing slightly shutter speed at 600 because I think I am getting some motion blur. It is all about settings and I have had some excellent shots with all cameras and believe I get the best shots out of the XH2 but for bords in flight the XH2s has so far produced the best results.
Thanks for watching and for sharing your experiences with the various Fuji cameras!
Great video!
What about image quality using the 1.4 coverter?
Thank you for the sample images and video. I'm pretty much sold on picking up this lens for my X-H2S. I tend to try and include more of the environment in a pleasing way( I find it way more fun than just blowing out the background). The F8 aperture is actually perfect for video and Flog2's 1250 native ISO.
Thanks and I’m glad you found my video useful 👍🏻
Great review, this is on the list of my very next lens. Good to see f8 being sharp and detailed. Weight saving js a HUGE deal for someone like me who hikes a lot with camera gear. Every kg counts. I’d rather live with f8 than carrying extra kg of glass.
Thanks and I am glad you found my review useful. Sounds like you will enjoy the lens too 👍🏻
Thanks for the great review! I'm seriously considering this lens to replace my Fuji 100-400. I'm curious if the stills you posted are jpgs straight from the camera or if they were edited RAF files.
Thanks! They are edited RAW files but the editing was very light, I didn’t do a lot to the files.
Totally happy with my Fuji 150-600mm excellent lens
Thanks for sharing and I agree!
Great and informative video the pictures you got are really nice. The 150-600 looks like a really nice lens.... for me Fuji offers a good balance in terms of quality and price. I love working with my Fuji`s... thanks for sharing your thoughts. 👍😉
Thank you!
Agreed, after your review I tried then bouth this lens to go on an X T-5 and have been completely satisfied. The only thing I've added is a camo sleeve to make it less obtrusive with its white shiny bits. I've never need one of these before having been a confirmed Nikon user since 1965 but needs must. Thanks for the objective review I can only agree with your thoughts.
Thanks very much and enjoy your lens!
Very helpful and competent review and field report, thank you so much Wayne! You answered exactly to the questions I have in my mind. I am a Nikon full frame shooter, but for wildlife the long Nikkor telephoto lenses are very heavy, bulky and expensive, when you go above 300mm what is too short for wildlife. S I am looking around for a solution offering me a lighter and cheaper equipment exclusively for shooting birds and deer. This lens, paired with the new X-H2(s) could be a good solution, and affordable too.
But how do you develop your RAW files from your Fuji X-T camera? No drawbacks by doing it with Adobe Lightroom, which is my standard software?
Best regards from Switzerland.
Hi Markus, thanks for watching and your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed my video and found it useful. I’d love to try the X-H2S as I expect it to be very good for wildlife photography, especially when partnered with this lens. As for processing RAW files everything in this video was processed only in Lightroom, it’s what I’ve always used and it works well for me. I hope that helps, best wishes.
X-H2S was a bit dodgy with this lens until latest firmware 2.10, just a heads up. Initial thoughts on this firmware is good and a relief honestly
ive been looking at this lens to upgrade from the adapted Nikkor 500mm Reflex lens ive been using. it has a fixed f8 aperture so l being able to stop down would be a huge boon
Hi there and thanks a lot, not just for your great review but for the quality of editing your movies.
I sold my 55-200 a few months ago because I was waiting for that 150-600. I watched at least 6 reviews (Richard Wong / Fabien Butazzi / Kim Farelly / Mathieu Gasquet / Damien Bernal / Joe Allam) and recently two others (Wilkinson Cameras, in the UK, and another guy in Florida) and that was funny because the guy in Florida was complaining about the f/8 being the maximum we could use the lens at (and he has light over there) when the women in Wilkinson Cameras was shooting mostly on a grey day in the UK and had no complain at all (and most of her pictures were pretty sharp).
Anyway, I think the lens is probably worth buying, but a comparaison a few more people would be waiting for is not with the 100-400, which is still a very good lens, but a bit old and 400 is really different from 600 if we don't want to use a TC, but maybe more with the Tamron 150-500. Because here it seems the biggest difference is the price... and that's still my last hesitation. I'm pretty sure I would prefer the 150-600, I'm pretty sure my wallet would prefer the Tamron.
Thanks for watching and for your comment, I appreciate it. Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with the Tamron lens but I still have the same opinions about the Fuji. Good luck making a decision and enjoy your photography!
nice touch with the lighting right behind you. what color blue is your wall? looks great
Thanks very much. Sorry I’m not sure on the specific colour; it was done a long time ago.
Did you use a TC (telecovertisseur) 1,4 in your video ? Thank u and very explicative and good video
Thanks very much! No, I didn't use any TC.
Fuji now has loads of long telephoto options, but weirdly all have some sort of drawback! A ‘pro’ grade 70-300mm f4 that is sharp wide open, is lighter then the 100-400 and accepts teleconverters would be ideal for me :)
Nice review! May I ask what backpack do you use? Because not knowing how to carry this lens around is one of the reasons that is holding me back from buying it
Thanks! I use an old backpack that you don't get anymore specifically for carrying this lens (it doesn't fit in my normal one). It does take up reasonable room especially when attached to your camera.
Hi Wayne! very good review. I have the same set up fot wildlife photography. I agree with you in most of your considerations about this lens. It is a very good performer. I live in Spain so no problem at all with the lack of light in most of the year. The lens hood in my opinion is poor made, too thin and flimsy. You can fix it with using a neoprene lens cover. Talking about focussing, I experience some inconsistency using AF-C in video mode with the XT-3. Shooting stills is good enough for me but in burst mode (Continous shooting high) some photos get out of focus. One thing i like very much on this lens is when shooting in manual, you can zoom in pressing the back dial and reset the focus with the focus ring. This is a pleasure.
What is your camera settings for focus, in wildlife photography? It would be nice to know. By the way, very good photos. Many thanks.
Hi Miguel, thanks for watching and for sharing your thoughts. I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the lens too! Regarding my focus settings for wildlife I am constantly changing them depending on what I’m photographing and what I’m trying to achieve. Most of the time it’s AF-S or AF-C but I sometimes use manual focus as well. I vary my AF-C settings too depending on subject and location. Best wishes for your photography, Wayne.
I do love the 150 - 600mm but I was photographing kingfishers a few days ago and became REALLY frustrated!!!!! I needed to choose manual focus as I was after diving shots, but no matter what settings I chose it kept changing after sleep mode, so I was forced to recall the focus memory button at the front of the lens, the camera (X-T3) was at ground level and I was using a remote release. Yes I could have just kept my finger depressed on the button but that eats battery life (using pre-shot). Thinking on, perhaps I should have switch off sleep mode and rear display too to save the battery! I just think the lens should have its own manual focus switch that kills power to the focus servo and it becomes a true manual lens which cannot drift out of focus, what has your experience been Wayne?
Hi, Wayne!. I'm looking for my first telephoto lens to my XT-3. I would like to ask you a few questions, since I have no experience with this type of lenses. Basiclly I'll be shooting Motorsports and also wildlife. I was considering the two other options available on the market the XF 100-400 and the 70-300. But, since I've seen your review about the 150-600 my question is, which one between the 100-400 and 150-600 is better in terms of handholding?.
Thanks in advance, and congratulations for your review.
Hi and thanks for watching! I think I covered everything regarding weight, reach, adding a TC to the XF 100-400 etc. etc. in the review. In short most people, unless you have a very specific use case, will want as much reach as possible for wildlife. So you will probably want the XF 150-600 and the internal zoom is nice for handholding too. That would be my pick but I can use either lease handheld just fine.
Is the built of the lens scratch resistant?
Wow mus beguin saving,than you great review
Thank you Victor, I'm sure you'd really enjoy the lens.
Given that the X-H2 and the new XT-5 are 40mp, wouldn't it be best to go with the 100-400 and then crop if more reach is needed, without having to rely on the smaller f-stop of the 150-600 as well as taking teleconverters out of the image chain entirely?
I had the 40mp X-H2 for a bit and the extra mp is quite subtle as it's going up by a square root. 600mp scales up linear from 400 so is more substantial. Better to have the 40 on the 600!
Beautiful photography and a great review with lots of details. The video with the Kingfisher is beautiful. I am a 100-400 owner and have become somewhat disatisfied over time for two reasons. Firstly, at 400mm I find the lens soft. I have to stop down to at least f7.1 to get sharpness (could be my copy). Secondly, the most frustrating issue is that if I accidentally leave the OIS on above 1/500 it definitely causes the images to soften very badly. Quite a few times I have accidentally left the OIS engaged and it has ruined fast shutter speed photographs. Have you found any evidence of OIS at fast shutter speeds impacting image quality with the 150-600?
Thank you very much and I’m glad you enjoyed my video! I haven’t noticed that issue with OIS on the XF 150-600mm. That said I do turn it off when I don’t need it, but when it’s been on I’ve had no problems.
My copy was the same: Softish at 400 mm until stopped down. Not much fun with TC too.
@@kalenderquantentunnel9411 Same with mine.
Interesting video, very comprehensive. One thing I am wondering though is how much the pictures you are presenting are processed using lightroom or other similar software. No judgment here, as it is part of modern day photography, but this information is of prime interest in order to properly judge the quality of the lens (lens + camera pair).
Are your pictures cropped significantly, or upscaled/enhanced using pixel extrapolation? This is important to know in order to judge the real reach of the lens in field conditions and the quality of the photos straight from out the camera. I would be interested to have your feedbacks on this.
The images were processed using only Lightroom, and I did minimal editing to each image - only what was required to get the RAW files looking correct. In terms of crop, the vast majority are uncropped. The ones that are cropped were done to get the desired aspect ratio, I didn't need to crop to make the subject larger. I didn't do any upscaling nor did I use any additional software for noise reduction etc. I hope this helps, and thanks for watching!
@@WayneRobertsonPhotography Thank you a lot for your answer! This is very helpful to figure out what I wanted to know :)
hi, thank you for sharing your experience with 150-600. since i am mounting this lens on my xt5 with 1.5 crop factor, then technically with this lens i have an aperture limitation of 8.4-12! which is put me in a difficult situation of proper exposure in low light conditions, if i want to keep my iso low and shutter speed high. What's your advise?
For me with canon r7with rf100-400 Same Problem 🤣🙈
As far as I understand it the crop factor makes no difference to the light gathering of the lens - f8 is f8 whether full frame or aps-c, so there would be no difference in exposure. The difference is to do with depth of field, which is subject to the crop factor. So if you were shooting at f8 on an aps-c camera, your depth of field would be equivalent to shooting at f12 on a full frame, I think!
@@TiggerM i checked and you are absolutely right. thank you.
beautiful pictures
Thank you!
Is it mechanical focus or focus by wire?
Have you tried the Tamron 150-500mm? It’s also available for Fuji. Would love to know how they stack up.
Sorry, I’ve never tried that lens.
How is this an older body…? I see that you are using an X-T3, any issues with the AF…? I realize that this lens is optimized for the XH series, however as I have no interest in the XH lineup, preferring my XTs (2 & 3) and likely purchasing the XT-5 when released (still reeling from the absence of a Battery Pack/Booster for the ‘5’😡). I would be most interested in your thoughts.
The Single AF works well on my X-T3, no issues at all and it’s responsive. If you want to focus on and track fast moving subjects such as birds you can still do this but (due to the camera) results won’t be as good as on the newest Fuji cameras. I’ve got plenty nice shots of this type though on my X-T3.
I thought you covered all the bases very well if a bit long. I thought you had some really nice images and found your review very helpful. I wonder how this lens will perform with the X-H2. I look forward to any followup reports you publish.
Thanks for watching Bruce I’m glad you found my video useful. I too am excited to learn more about the X-H2, it’s an interesting camera.
The focal length is FF equivalent right ? actually for the apsc fuji cameras the focal should be 225-900 equivalent right ? or im wrong ?
The equivalent focal range is 229mm to 914mm.
I will not lie if I said I watched 7-10 reviews about this lens and this is the best one with great samples, also I have this lens with X-T4 but I can't get a sharp images like yours I don't know why 🤔
Thanks very much. The lens does produce sharp images so I'm not sure what could be causing that, especially if your other lenses give good results.
I honestly prefer f8 for wildlife. It gives you mercy room for fast moving subjects so they are more likely to be sharp. I think the bigger thing about this lense is a 70-300 with a teleconverter in your pocket is way more light and versatile in my opinion. Still cool to see, great shots.
Thank you Jesse. I appreciate you watching and sharing your thoughts 👍🏻
I just bought the 70-300 and the 1.4 tele so I don't have to lug my 100-400 in my personal bag when flying. I'm still thinking about replacing my 100-400 with the 150-600 for when I'm not flying.
@@svaphrodite that 70-300 with a tele is a great combo. I don't use it any more since I switched back to Olympus for wildlife. Tell you what though the sub-100 Fuji primes are fantastic for family gatherings
@@jessebraughler8594 Yes! Very good for air travel 😎
Hi, I am a user of the XT30 camera with a 70-300mm lens and a 1.4 teleconverter, which gives me an aperture of f/5.6-8. This combination can be a bit dark, and I have to increase the ISO to compensate.
Regarding bird photography, do you think using the XT30 with a 150-600mm lens would give me similar results to my current setup with the 70-300mm lens and teleconverter? ( Of course, I understand that the zoom range will be much longer with the 150-600mm lens)
I’m sorry but I have no experience with the 70-300mm lens to give any comments on image quality etc. However, although I’ve not used your lens and not with a teleconverter, I suspect overall the 150-600mm lens with no teleconverter would be the better performer in various ways. You do need to consider weight, size, cost etc. too.
I really don't want to be mean, but unless you're using some pretty expensive Prime lens, teleconverters will pretty much always massively decrease the quality of your images. For most lenses, just cropping will give you pretty much the same, if not a better, result because of the bigger aperture.
@@djstuc you absolutely can. 🤦🏼♂️
@@djstuc I've used it with my old 100-400mm, taking test shots and comparing myself, it's a huge difference. Apart from that, there's countless articles and videos talking about this. Teleconverters are pretty much useless with "cheap" zoom lenses.
It's a fact.
Just take a shot with and without, and crop the one without TC afterwards. It's pretty much the same image with less noise.
@@djstuc you're delusional if you think, that using a TC on a $700 telephoto lens won't massively decrease image quality. 🤦🏼♂️
I crop 90% of my images and they still look good "here are photos taken with a TC that look good" isn't an argument for proving that it doesn't decrease image quality.
Is ois always active? If not, how it is enabled?
You have full control over OIS via the cameras menus.
this lens work with X T1 anyone try ????
I just got mine in a couple weeks ago and it just seems so.... soft. That's even at a shutter speed of 2,000. Do bad copies of these go around, should I exchange it or is it my technique somehow? I have no idea how you shot a shutter speed of 160 at 600mm!
In theory there could be bad copies of any lens, this lens should definitely be sharp. I’d do some careful tests by taking pictures of something stationary using a tripod. That should produce sharp images so will help you determine the issue.
@@WayneRobertsonPhotography maybe I’m expecting too much from this lens? Do I need to be pretty close to these birds for really sharp photographs of them?
@jimk8353 the larger the subject is in your frame the more detail you will see however if conditions are suitable a scene or subject can be far away and still be sharp. I personally try to maintain some reasonable distance from wildlife to avoid bothering what I’m photographing. If any other lenses you may have are fine then you may want to get this one checked.
@@WayneRobertsonPhotography Thanks, Wayne! What would you consider a reasonable distance for a nice sharp frame of the subject? 10meters? 5 meters?
Why are these lenses white and not black?
Some say it minimises heat influence in sunny conditions. Experienced user tells never had issues with black optic 🤷🏼
Best review i’ve seen so far for this lens. Like and subscribe from me!😊
Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful 👍🏼