Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 II Lens Review

If you’re eyeing up a premium new zoom lens for your Fujifilm camera that’s perfect for travel photography, you’re going to want to read my Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 II lens review.

---

After a trip to Sicily in late 2023, I no longer steered away from zoom lenses and happily kept the tiny Fujifilm 18-55mm f/2.8-4 as a ‘do-it-all’ lens; perfect for travel when you don’t want to be chopping and changing lenses dependent on the situation that arises. The issue I found however was that, with particular zoom lenses, it was fair to say you were sacrifycing image quality.

Fujifilm have, for a long time now, offered a 16-55mm f/2.8 lens as part of their red-badge line-up aimed at professionals with some of the best image quality available for the X System. To be honest, I never took the chance to try the lens as, from reading reviews, I felt that the large size put me off.

However, fast forward to November 2024, and the Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 II lens was released bringing with it a wealth of improvements; improvements that made me take notice. In fact, I had secretly hoped that the lens would have been released in advance of my trip to Japan and I even scouted out various locations of Bic Camera and Yodobashi to see whether I could find a copy.

Thankfully, Fujifilm were kind enough to send me a copy of this brilliant lens to put it through its paces on our first family holiday as a four to Cyprus. This was certainly not a photography-focused trip; I wanted to see whether this lens could replace my dual prime set up of the Fujifilm 18mm f/1.4 and Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4 especially for trips with the little ones where I really don’t have time to be messing around changing lenses.

Let’s dive right into it now and I’ll let you know my thoughts and share some sample images in my Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 II lens review.

Nearly all of the images in this post are captured using my ‘Summer Negative’ JPEG recipe with a few capturing using my ‘Nostalgic Neg’ JPEG recipe found here.

---

FUJIFILM 16-55MM F/2.8 II LENS REVIEW

---

ALL-ROUND PROFESSIONAL LENS

Ok, I’m going to start by talking about who I think this lens is for and why you might opt for this lens. The Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 II lens is Fujifilm’s flagship ‘standard’ zoom, equivalent to a 24-70mm lens on a Full Frame system; a kind of ‘workhorse’ that can handle any situation that you throw it into.

For me, I’ve always been a prime lens shooter for a few different reasons but primarily because I prefer a lightweight set up, exceptional image quality and lower light performance. This does however come with its downsides as you often have to change lenses or, as I have done in the past, use a second body which defeats the whole object. I remember once being out with two Fujifilm X-T2’s with prime lenses on and a Fujifilm X100F; a little overkill don’t you think?

This lens is like having access to all of your favourite prime lenses, 16mm, 18mm, 23mm, 35mm and (almost) 56mm in one package. I was instantly blown away by the flexibility of this lens and the quality of images it produces. Yes, I do love the tiny Fujifilm 18-55mm f/2.8-4 but that does require some compromises in terms of image quality.

The original Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 was outrageously large and it never appealed to me when my whole aim was to create a lightweight setup that was easy to take with me everywhere when travelling. This lens is however a huge step in the right direction; it’s much smaller, much lighter (over 200g lighter) and therefore it’s no longer quite as much of a burden to carry around with you all day long.

IMAGE QUALITY

As I said above, I only used this lens on our first holiday as a family of four so it wasn’t necessarily that important that I came away with exceptional shots; I just wanted to make sure I captured as many moments as possible without worrying that I didn’t have the right focal length with me. As you will see however, even just capturing a family holiday, this lens excels itself and produces incredible images. I love to shoot wide open and even at f/2.8, I was still able to create lovely subject separation and decent looking smooth bokeh especially at the longer focal lengths.

If you’ve read my other gear views, I’m not going to get all technical here. I’m just an ordinary guy who cares more about capturing moments, as cliche as that sounds, than edge to edge sharpness etc. The images are perfectly sharp straight out of camera (as long as you nail autofocus obviously) and the colours look incredible. All of the images in this review are JPEG’s with my ‘Summer Negative’ recipe.

AUTOFOCUS

I am very much aware that Fujifilm’s autofocus system continues to receive a bit of a bashing from users even with various firmware updates on the latest cameras. Whilst I haven’t tried cameras from other brands recently, I understand from others that Fujifilm’s autofocus, particularly continuous focus, is said to be miles behind its competitors.

For me however, I never had an issue at all capturing what I needed even with continuous focus ie my toddler running around not staying still or swimming around the pool not staying still. You get the idea, they never stay still do they?! The autofocus is fast and completely silent as it should be.

SIZE

If I’m honest, after using the Fujifilm 18-55mm f/2.8-4 and hearing about the decrease in size for this new lens, I was still a bit taken aback in respect of the size. I ordinarily carry my camera in a Bellroy 6L sling with one prime lens on the camera, one prime lens in a pouch and the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 in the other pouch. When attached to the Fujifilm X-T5, I could only fit the camera and lens in my sling. Not an issue if I’m not taking anything else with me, and I guess that’s kind of the point, but for me at least I literally cannot go anywhere without the Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4. It is unrivalled for me and my style of photography has developed to the point we are co-dependent on each other!

I know some will say this is a super lightweight lens but I think that’s probably to be taken in comparison to other f/2.8 lenses; it still weighs quite a bit and will take up quite some room in your camera bag. But, this is a lens that is designed to replace all of your little primes hanging around so you’d only really need one lens to do it all. To be fair, it does do it all and it’s not unbearable at all to carry around all day with you even around your neck. If you already own the original Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8, this would definitely be seen as a decent upgrade certainly in terms of weight and size; it would probably feel like the Fujifilm 35mm f/2 in comparison!

OVERALL THOUGHTS

So, after hoping that this lens would be the answer to the ultimate travel photography dilemma (size & portability vs image quality), what are my final thoughts? The lens is no doubt incredible and a proper workhorse. You could put this lens in pretty much any scenario and come away with stunning images. This is almost as good as having four or five prime lenses all on your camera at once plus it’s instantaneous to focus and is weather resistant!

If I was planning a big adventure again, I would absolutely purchase this lens and literally only take my 35mm f/1.4 alongside it but perhaps for my smaller trips at the moment (such as a recent four night trip in Copenhagen), it might be a little overkill. It was probably more than I needed for a family holiday to Cyprus despite capturing every opportunity that presented itself beautifully.

This is the lens that I wish I had when road-tripping around Australia or exploring South East Asia. If we ever get our honeymoon re-booked (Australia & New Zealand) then I will definitely buy this lens. For now, I’ll be keeping the Fujifilm 18-55mm f/2.8-4 as a back-up and stick to my tried and tested dual prime set up with the Fujifilm 18mm f/1.4 and Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4. If someone at Fujifilm wants to magic up an 18-35mm f/1.4 then that would do nicely!

I am not in anyway knocking this lens down, it’s fantastic and I know that if you’re in two minds as to whether to add to your collection or not, you’ll quickly fall in love with it! If you’re reading this, you’re presumably intrigued about adding it to your collection; whether as an upgrade or your first zoom lens. Either way, the Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 II will not disappoint.

SAMPLE IMAGES TAKEN WITH THE FUJIFILM 16-55MM F/2.8

---

---

READ MORE OF MY LATEST ARTICLES BELOW

IF YOU ENJOYED ‘FUJIFILM 16-55MM F/2.8 II LENS REVIEW’ WHY NOT PIN THE IMAGES BELOW?

Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.