Fujifilm Fujinon GF30mm F5.6 T/S review

Is the Fujifilm Fujinon GF30mm F5.6 T/S suitable for general use?

With it approaching 136mm (5.5 in.) in length and 87.1mm (3.4 in.) in width it feels quite large in the hands and with a weight of 1340g (2.95 lb) it’s quite noticeable. What’s more that last figure, I suspect, is without accoutrements such as the supplied tripod bracket, metal hood and adapter ring.

I weighed the lens with the hood, adapter ring, filter, tripod collar and foot with my own small Arca-style (RRS-made) lens plate attached and the rear cap in place and it totalled a cool 1778g. Still, it’s hand-holdable even with the tripod collar in place and I used it very successfully with the base sitting in my palm while focusing.

The adapter ring replaces a cosmetic ring with a detent rather than a filter thread used to hold the smaller (72mm) of the two supplied caps and features a filter thread (105mm) and a second thread for the hood.

Fujifilm provided a Fujifilm-branded 105mm Protector filter for the review, and while these 105mm filters can be expensive the larger size prevents vignetting when shifting. If you want to go without the hood and tripod bracket to use hand-held, you could leave the adapter ring on for filters, such as a polariser or even a filter holder, which is a nice touch.

When the fully-rigged-out lens is attached to the Fujifilm GF100 II, it’s quite a handful but crucially still smaller and lighter when compared to a medium format 645 DSLR with a 35mm lens.

One big advantage with something like the GFX 100 II is the built-in image stabiliser and while it is difficult to test its effectiveness the loan period coincided with some windy days, especially down on the southern coast of England and the exposed foreshore of Dungeness. While the wind cut short some of the planned test days, I could hand-hold the combination and still achieve high levels of sharpness.

Accurate focusing is a breeze with the magnified view option on the supplied Fujifilm GFX 100 II. I tried some of the other focusing aid options but, for me, the high-res viewfinder screen with its magnified view is the surest, most reliable option as the lens moves in and out of focus with the slightest touch of the focusing ring.

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