Fujinon XC 15-45 “Muffin Zoom” Review: “Detail is Reproduced Very Well for such a Compact and Affordable Lens”

Fujinon XC 15-45mm

The official “shipping embargo” ends tomorrow, and finally BHphoto, AmazonUS and Adorama will start delivering Fuji’s smallest zoom lens, the XC 15-45mm F3.5-5.6 PZ OIS.

The XC15-45 is an interesting option for those of us, who’d like to travel as light as possible, but do want to keep the flexibility a zoom lens offers.

The Fujinon internal competitor of the XC15-45 is the XF 18-55 (the XC16-50 will probably be discontinued).

Having 3mm more at the wide end can make the difference especially for landscape photography. I personally applaud Fuji’s decision to go wider (15mm) and sacrifice a bit of reach at the long end.

True, the XC15-45 won’t be able to keep up optically with the XF18-55 and it is also a slower lens, but these are inevitable tradeoffs for a lens, the XC15-45, that is about half the size of the XF18-55.

It remains to see how well it performs optically, and we now have the first review at photographyblog. Their conclusions:

What we do know about Fujifilm’s lenses, even the budget-friendly ones, is that we can expect very good image quality. The Fujinon XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ lens is no exception. Paired with the Fujifilm X-A5, we have been able to make images with wonderful clarity.

Fine and complex detail is handled and reproduced very well for such a compact and affordable lens. Usually kit lenses are below par, not so here.

All in all, the handling of the lens is average. Really, it’s to be expected of a lens at this level and price point. With an unmarked electronic zoom, it’s more friendly to filmmakers than photographers.

What is clearly the champion feature is its diminutive size and weight, and for that reason alone we expect the lens to be very popular.

Yet, what may get overlooked is how much wider this lens is than many other kit lenses. If you are into landscape photography, then the lens’ 23mm wide setting will be very accommodating.

Bottom line; the Fujinon XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ could handle better, but it is compact, it is light, it has a wider angle of view than most kit lenses and creates very sharp images indeed.

So overall a nice little lens, that performs better than comparable kit lenses of other manufacturers.

Fujinon XC 15-45: BHphoto, AmazonUS, Adorama
Fujifilm X-A5: BHphoto, Adorama, AmazonUS