The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS ($999.95) is an ultra-wide angle zoom lens for Fuji X mirrorless cameras. Its field of view is immense at its widest, equal to that of a 15mm lens on a full-frame camera, and it zooms to a moderate 36mm-equivalent field of view, all while maintaining an f/4 aperture. Its optics are excellent, it focuses quickly, and integrated image stabilization is a boon for still and video capture. It falls just a little short of Editors’ Choice honors, as the only ultra-wide mirrorless zoom to earn those to this point is the Samsung 12-24mm f/4-5.6 ED($799.95 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window). But if you’ve invested in the X system, a Samsung NX lens won’t do you much good, and this 10-24mm is an excellent one.

The 10-24mm ($999.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window)  is a big lens, especially compared with a slim mirrorless camera like the Fujifilm X-E2($899.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) with which I tested it. It measures 3.4 by 3.1 inches (HD) and weighs 14.5 ounces. The front element is big, it accommodates 72mm filters, and a reversible petal lens hood is included. The lens itself is mostly metal, with a rubberized grip over the zoom control, but the hood is hard plastic. There’s also a manual focus ring, located directly behind the front element, and an aperture ring that’s placed near the lens mount.

Despite the lens having a fixed f/4 aperture throughout its zoom range, the aperture ring doesn’t have any marked positions, so you’ll have to take a look at your camera’s display to judge the current f-stop. There’s a toggle switch on the barrel to change between automatic and manual aperture control, as well as one to enable or disable the image stabilization system.

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The lens focuses quickly when paired with the X-E2, locking on and firing in about 0.1-second. That compares well with the same body and the Fujinon 18-55mm XF F2.8-4 R LM OIS($699.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window), which requires 0.2-second to do the same. The minimum focus distance is 9.5 inches. The lens is optically stabilized, which is rare for a lens that’s this wide. It’s generally easier to handhold a wide-angle lens to get a sharp image, and if you’re using this lens for landscapes, you’re likely pairing it with a tripod. But videographers will appreciate the stabilization, as it does do a great job of smoothing handheld footage.

I used Imatest(Opens in a new window) to check sharpness and distortion at various points in in the zoom range. The lens is at its weakest at 10mm f/4 where it records 2,100 lines per picture height on a center-weighted test. That’s better than the 1,800 lines we use to mark an image as sharp, but there is a drop-off in resolution as you move away from the center of the frame. The center third of an image shows an average of 2,510 lines, but the middle third drops to 1,911 lines, and the outer third shows just 1,025 lines. Stopping down to f/5.6 improves scores all around, and bumps the center-weighted average score to 2,440 lines. The center improves just a bit (2,612 lines), and there’s far less drop-off in sharpness in the middle third (2,399 lines) and edges (1,877 lines). At f/8 the center-weighted score is 2,616 lines, which reflects small improvements all around. There’s some modest (1.5 percent) barrel distortion here, but it’s just barely noticeable in field conditions, and not bad at all when you consider just how wide the field of view is.

Any edge sharpness issues are gone by the time you zoom in just a bit to 14mm. At f/4 the lens shows 2,596 lines, and even the edges of the frame top 2,100. Stopping down to f/5.6 boosts the score to 2,685 lines, and sharpness is just about the same at f/8. At 18mm the score dips a little bit to 2,274 lines, but stopping down to f/5.6 brings it back up to 2,687 lines. When zoomed all the way in to 24mm, the lens scores 2,109 lines at f/4, and peaks at 2,510 lines at f/5.6. Distortion isn’t an issue at any of these focal lengths.

The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS is an excellent lens for wide-angle shooters. It captures a field of view that’s just about as wide as it gets without moving to a fisheye lens. It’s reasonably sharp throughout its range, even at f/4 and at f/5.6, and includes optical stabilization. It’s on the pricey side, and the choice not to put marked settings on the aperture control ring is a puzzler. But Fuji X shooters who love ultra-wide angles will find that the results are worth the cost of entry.