Fujifilm XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro

This post is way overdue. I have been very remiss. I actually acquired this lens in early February 2026, but forgot to put it up here on AS. It’s an immaculate second-hand lens which I purchased from MPB

As you know, I have been using the very good TTA 40mm F/2.8 macro lens for an increasing number of macro shoots I have been doing. I like the lens immensely, but it has two drawbacks: it is manual focus only, and the close focus required can leave the subject in the dark.

So, I started to look at Fujifilm options, specifically the XF 30mm f2.8 R LM WR, the XF 60mm f2.4 R Macro and the XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro. Looking at online reviews, it was clear that the consensus was that the XF80mm was the better lens, “ perhaps Fuji’s best lens,” I read somewhere. However, brand new, it is expensive, coming in at £1K, with the other two at roughly half that price. So, I started to look at second-hand examples of the XF80mm and at MPB found one in “excellent” condition at about £800. I duly purchased it.

Looking at the lens’s properties, it stays a constant length throughout the focusing range as it focuses internally, unlike the TTA40mm. The lens feels solidly constructed, with a metal casing, which makes it heavy at 750 grams. It has 16 glass elements organised into 12 groups and includes a floating focus system that moves two separate lens groups on tiny ceramic balls, and these bearings ride on precision guide rails to keep the glass aligned. This eliminates image errors at close distances, but can be a little disconcerting when picking the lens up for the first time off the camera, as you can hear a slight thunk or rattle as the lens groups float inside the barrel. It also has Optical Image Stabilisation and a weather-sealed build.

It has the ubiquitous manual aperture dial (of course), and there are two further controls too. There is the OIS on and off switch and a three-position focus limiter that allows you to have a full range of focus from 0.25m to infinity – restrict it to 0.25-0.5m, or from 0.5m to infinity.

I have found the autofocus in the Fuji 80mm to be quick and accurate when tested on my X-T4 and X-T5 in good light. It also does a really snappy job on my old X-Pro2. The combined OIS of the lens and the IBIS in the cameras means that despite its size, it can be hand-held for macro subjects in good light. For non-macro shooting, it provides a very fast performance, locking quickly onto the subject with excellent accuracy.

I am not a portrait photographer, but some of the reviews from people who are and who have used the lens comment favourably on its performance.

So, there you have it, a very good lens in my opinion and here are a couple of macro shots taken using the lens.