Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR Review
Introduction
The Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR is the fifth zoom lens designed specifically for Fujifilm GFX medium-format mirrorless cameras.
This ultra-wide-angle zoom offers a focal range of 16-28mm in 35mm full-frame terms, with an aperture range of f/4-f/22.
Optically, it's comprised of 14 elements in 10 groups including 3 aspherical,1 aspherical ED and 3 ED elements, with 9 rounded aperture blades.
It has a linear stepping AF motor that delivers fast, near-silent focusing, a hydrophobic fluorine coating on the front element to repel moisture, and a dust-, freeze- and weather-sealed physical construction that enables it to function in temperatures as low as -10°C (14°F).
The Fuji 35-70mm has an internal focusing mechanism and is able to focus as close as 35cm / 13.8". It accepts 82mm filters.
The Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR is priced at £2349 / $2499 in the UK/USA respectively. It is designed and made in Japan.
Ease of Use
With a maximum diameter of 88.5mm and a constant length of 112.5mm, the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR is a wide-angle zoom lens that's very well-suited to the GFX 100S camera that we tested it with.
Weighing in at 725g, it's a fairly heavy zoom lens, but in use proved to be well-balanced on the GFX 100S.
As with the other GF lenses that we've reviewed, the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR boasts excellent build quality. The lens is dust, freeze and moisture resistant and it features a metal bayonet.
The Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR lens is comprised of 14 elements in 10 groups including 3 extra-low dispersion elements. It accepts 82mm filters via metal threads.
There is no built-in optical image stabilisation in this lens, instead relying on the GFX camera body to provide it.
The focus ring is just about wide enough, smooth and beautifully well-damped in action without being loose, and has a ridged, rubberised grip band. There are no “hard stops” at either end of the 35m-infinity focus range though. It has a large rotation angle which enables precise focusing and moves smoothly without any play.
Two different focusing aids are provided - auto magnification and focus peaking. In conjunction with the GFX 100S' high-resolution electronic viewfinder, we found it very easy to accurately determine critical sharpness.
When it comes to auto-focusing, the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR is a very quiet performer on the Fujifilm GFX 100S that we tested it with thanks to the linear motor, and it's also pretty fast too, taking about 0.2 second to lock onto the subject in good light. We didn't experience too much "hunting" either, with the lens accurately focusing almost all of the time.
Focusing is usefully internal and manual focusing is possible when set via the camera body. Full-time manual focus override is available at any time simply by rotating the focus ring, if specified in the menu system, or you set the focusing switch on the camera (if available) to M, C or S.
The Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR lens has a traditional aperture ring on the lens barrel, which allows you to set the aperture in 1/3 steps, complete with full aperture markings. The aperture is also shown in the viewfinder or on the LCD screen.
The aperture ring is nicely damped and makes a distinctive click as you change the setting. The aperture ring toggles between auto aperture control (the ring is set to A) or manual aperture control (the switch is set to one of the aperture values) or the C (Command) position which allows you to set the aperture via the camera body rather than the lens.
A soft cloth bag and a large plastic petal-shaped lens hood are supplied in the box.
Focal Range
The 32mm focal length gives an angle of view of 108 degrees on a 35mm full frame sensor, which is equivalent to a focal length of 16mm, and the 64mm focal length gives an angle of view of 76° degrees, which is equivalent to a focal length of 28mm.
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Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberration (purple fringing) is a non-issue with the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR lens, only appearing in very high contrast situations.
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Vignetting
Light fall-off is noticeable wide open at f/4, though this can easily be corrected in Photoshop. Stop down to f/8 and the vignetting is already much less prominent, but it is still visible when shooting pale scenes that fill the frame.
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Distortion
There's very little barrel or pincushion barrel distortion evident at either end of the zoom range.
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Macro
A minimum focus distance of 35cm doesn't make the lens very useful for shooting close subjects, not helped by the maximum magnification ratio of 0.14x.
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Bokeh
Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc.
With a maximum aperture of f/4, the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR isn't the fastest of lenses, but it still manages to generate smooth out of focus areas thanks to having 9 rounded aperture blades.
Bokeh is however a fairly subjective part of a lens’ image quality, so check out these examples to see the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR’s bokeh quality for yourself.
In order to show you how sharp the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm F4 R WR lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following pages.