Conclusion

The Fujifilm XF 18-120mm F4 LM PZ WR is an innovative addition to the extensive Fuji lens line-up that has a lot to offer videographers in particular, although stills photographers looking for a do-it-all zoom will also appreciate the combination of the versatile focal range and light, compact build.

The variable power zoom with an innovative zoom lever, smooth manual focus, and stepless aperture adjustments are all great features for video use, as is the non-extending zoom mechanism and the internal focusing, which makes this lens easier to use on gimbal stabilization devices as the balance and length never change.

The weather-sealing makes the XF 18-120mm F4 LM PZ WR a perfect partner for the similarly weather-proof X-H2 body that we tested the lens with.

Build quality is good rather than great, with the barrel made mostly out of plastic and a metal lens mount. Thanks to an internal focusing (IF) system, the front element and 72mm filter thread does not rotate on focus, which is very good news for those using polarisers and ND grads on a regular basis.

The maximum aperture of f/4 sounds limiting, but with the lens set to 120mm it's quite easy to creatively throw the background out of focus, with the seven-blade iris diaphragm achieving some quite nice bokeh effects.

The Fujifilm XF 18-120mm F4 LM PZ WR is sharp in the centre of the image throughout the focal and aperture ranges. The edge performance is not as good, though, requiring you to stop down to at least f/8 to achieve the best results.

Vignetting is well-controlled and chromatic aberrations are virtually non-existent. There is some barreling at the 18mm wide-angle focal length, but no pincushion distortion of note at the 120mm setting.

The lens' macro performance is rather unremarkable but its close-focus point of 60cm still comes in useful when including a foreground interest in the image, as does the maximum magnification of 0.2x at 120mm.

The Fujifilm XF 18-120mm F4 LM PZ WR features a fast, quiet and accurate auto-focus mechanism, although the power-zoom motor is fairly audible.

There are two notable omissions on this lens - an aperture ring and optical image stabilisation - both of which are featured on the more conventional XF 16-80mm F4 R OIS WR lens

Overall, this is a unique video-centric zoom lens that proved to be an excellent partner for the equally new X-H2S and X-H2 cameras, as they both offer in-body image stabilisation.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4
Value for money	4