Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR Review
Introduction
The Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR is a new standard zoom lens designed specifically for Fujifilm's range of GFX medium-format mirrorless cameras.
It's the third GF zoom lens that Fujifilm have released to date, joining the wide-angle GF 32-64mm f/4 R LM WR and the telephoto GF 100-200mm f/5.6 R LM OIS WR. It's also the third GF lens to feature built-in optical image stabilisation (OIS), joining the 100-200mm optic and the GF 250mm f/4 R LM OIS WR.
This 2.2x zoom lens features a versatile focal range of 36-79mm in 35mm terms, with apertures of f/4-f/32 throughout the zoom range. It can focus as closely as 65/82cm and it accepts 82mm filters.
It's comprised of 16 elements in 12 groups including three aspherical, one ED and one Super ED elements, has 9 rounded aperture blades, features a high-speed linear AF motor, offers 5 stops of built-in stabilisation and is fully weather-sealed.
The Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR is available now priced at $2049 / £2299.
Ease of Use
With a maximum diameter of 93mm and a length of 174.5mm when zoomed out to 100mm (144.5mm at 45mm), the Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR is a versatile standard 2.2x zoom lens that's quite well-suited to the Fuji GFX 50R camera that we tested it with. Weighing in at 1005g, it's quite a heavy lens, but proved to be pretty well-balanced on the GFX 50R.
As with the other GF lenses that we've reviewed in the past, the Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR boasts excellent build quality. The lens has 11 seals that make it dust, freeze and moisture resistant, and it features a metal bayonet.
The Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR lens is comprised of 16 elements in 12 groups including three aspherical, one ED and one Super ED elements to help control spherical aberration, field curvature and chromatic aberration. It accepts 82mm filters via metal threads.
There is also built-in optical image stabilisation in this lens, which can be truned on and off via the dedicated OIS switch on the side of the lens barrel.
This utilises a 5-axis image stabilisation system that provides five stops of image stabilization, as measured according to CIPA standards, allowing you to hand-hold the camera in much lower light and still achieve sharp results.
The focus ring is pleasingly wide, 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 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 50R's high-resolution electronic viewfinder, we found it very easy to accurately determine critical sharpness.
When it comes to auto-focusing, the Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR is a very quiet performer on the Fujifilm GFX 50R that we tested it with thanks to the linear motor, and it's also pretty fast too, taking about 0.25 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 not available at any time simply by rotating the focus ring.
The Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR lens has a traditional aperture ring on the lens barrel, which allows you to set the aperture in 1/3 steps from f/4 to f/32, 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 45mm focal length produces an angle of view of 62.6 degrees on a 35mm full frame sensor and the 100mm focal length produces an angle of view of 30.6 degrees.
45mm
100mm
Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberration (purple fringing) is a non-issue with the Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR lens, only appearing in very high contrast situations.
Vignetting and Distortion
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.
45mm
100mm
Macro
A minimum focus distance of 65cm at 45mm and 82cm at 100mm doesn't make the lens very useful for shooting close subjects, not helped by the maximum magnification ratio of 0.13x.
Bokeh
With a maximum aperture of f/4, the Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS 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 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR’s bokeh quality for yourself.
Sharpness
In order to show you how sharp this lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following pages.