LONDON DOWNTIME WITH THE FUJI XT2 AND 10-24 F4 OIS

15 Feb

Fuji XT2 and 10-24 F4 OIS | Lens review and picture of the tube station with man sat on a bench

Just before Christmas, the gaffer decided to treat me to a weekend away in London - I don't normally do London; it's a bit too busy for me!

We stayed close to the Gherkin, which was perfect for getting around, and everything we needed and wanted to do was close by.

I decided on taking the XT2 (no brainer) and a few different lenses; I didn't know what I was going to shoot and didn't want to see a shot and not be able to capture it because I didn't have the right lens with me. I took the 23 f1.4, 16mm f1.4, 35mm F2 WR, 10-24 F4 OIS and the 50-140mm F2.8 and plenty of batteries.

When I shoot street, I do like to shoot 'wide', and that normally means the 16mm f1.4 or the 10-24mm F4 OIS attached to my XT2 or Xpro 2. I started off the weekend shooting with the 16mm but quickly realised that it wasn't 'wide' enough or the shots I was getting were just a little bit boring and a bit samey..

I decided to give the Fuji 10-24mm OIS ago, and for 90% of the weekend, I used nothing but the 10-24mm F4 OIS.

The Fuji 10-24mm allowed me to get so much in the frame to give context to the scene

The great thing about shooting wide is the ability to show so much of the scene - you don't always need to, but it opens up some creative options.

Although the lens is only an F4 and not the fastest lens in Fuji's amazing lineup, the lens does have optical image stabilization (OIS) built-in which allows you to shoot at low shutter speeds and still get super-sharp results. The OIS allows you to be creative by allowing motion into your scene without camera shake causing you any problems - I was shooting a lot of my photos at either 1/8th of a second or 1/4th of a second.

Slow shutter speed and a static subject can create some interesting pictures | man in the British museum wearing a yellow jacket

British museum interior wide shot using the fujifilm 10-20mm lens

I loved using the lens; I loved the OIS and the interesting pictures it allowed me to create - the lens, though is not without fault; shooting at f4 did cause me some issues with soft corners (as in the above picture), but stopping down one or two stops made a big difference.

Another big issue for me was the lack of weather sealing and the ability to keep shooting when the rain came (it was December, after all) - but neither of these would stop me from recommending this lens, it has so many upsides, Yes it's pricey and you need to want this type of lens - but if you are on the fence, I say get off the fence and get it bought!!