If you’re looking for the best lenses for Fujifilm X series cameras, you’ll want to keep an eye out for the Fujinon Red Badge lenses. These XF lenses are easy to spot since they feature a red badge logo on the lens body. This red logo with “XF Zoom” signifies the best standard when it comes to Fujinon performance.
What are the Fujinon Red Badge lenses?
At time of writing, there are five Fuji Red Badge zoom lenses in the XF lineup—the 8-16mm f/2.8, 16-55mm f/2.8, 50-140mm f/2.8, 150-600mm f/5.6-8 (not available on Amazon yet), and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lenses.
The Fujifilm XF 8-16mm f/2.8 R LM WR is a wide angle zoom lens that gives you the versatility of shooting in a variety of different situations. With its constant f/2.8 aperture, this lens is great for low light shooting and for creating shallow depth of field effects. The lens also features weather resistant construction, making it ideal for shooting in inclement weather conditions.
- Extremely wide at 8mm
- Constant max aperture of f/2.8
- Weather-resistant design
- Linear motor focusing
- Expensive
- Heavy
- No filter thread
The Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f 2.8 R LM WR is a weather resistant premium lens that covers a wide range of focal lengths. It's designed for Fujifilm X Series of cameras and is made up of 17 elements in 12 groups, including 3 aspherical elements and 1 extra low dispersion element, and has 9 rounded aperture blades. The Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f 2.8 R LM WR also has a linear motor which allows it to have a fast AF speed of 0.06 seconds.
- A Red Badge XF Zoom lens
- Incredible optics
- Weather-resistant
- Linear motor focusing
- No optical image stabilization
- Barrel extends when zooming
- Bulky and heavier than other lenses
The Fujifilm XF 50-140 mm f/2.8 R OIS WR lens is a great choice for anyone looking for a telephoto lens. This lens is perfect for sports and wildlife photography, as it provides a great range of focal lengths. The image quality is excellent, and the lens is also weather resistant, making it ideal for shooting in all conditions.
- XF Zoom red badge lens
- Excellent image quality
- Optical image stabilization
- Weather-resistant design
- Heavy
The Fujifilm XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR is a weather resistant lens that covers a focal range of 100-400mm. This lens has an aperture of f/4.5-5.6 and it is made up of 17 elements in 13 groups. The lens also has 5 stop image stabilization and a fast autofocus system.
- XF Zoom red badge lens
- Incredible telephoto zoom range
- Linear motor focusing
- Optical image stabilization
- Weather-resistant design
- Expensive
- Very Heavy
What are the notable features of Fujinon Red Badge Lenses?
The first thing you’ll notice is that these 5 lenses collectively cover an extremely wide range from 8-600mm if you have all of them. As a photographer, the Red Badge lineup prepares you for any kind of shoot in terms of focal length.
The aperture on the first three lenses are constant throughout the entire focal length range, while the 150-600mm f/5.6-8 and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lenses are variable aperture. This comes as no surprise since it’s very rare to see constant aperture or lower f-stop numbers of extreme telephoto lenses like these two.
For image stabilization, the 3 telephoto lenses come with optical image stabilization. This is essential for shooting action or wildlife photography.
All five of the Fujinon Red Badge lenses are weather sealed, so you needn’t worry about shooting outdoors.