Question for XF16-55mm Owners: Having Focus Ring Issues?

[Jeremiah Hair]

Just purchased one used and looks to be in decent condition. However, I’m confused about the focus ring. All the reviews praise this lens for the high build quality and this focus ring feels quite poor to me. I can feel a constant light mechanical “clicking“ or “stuttering” at seemingly random times, and it intermittently makes a faint plastic-sliding-on-metal sound. It just doesn’t feel “right”. (The lens having power or not makes no difference.) Is this normal? Should I send it back? I use manual focus consistently with my lenses, so I can see this becoming irritating...

[Maurice]

I don't have the 16-55, but manual focusing an AF lens can be a little stuttery in its response.

If you're just talking about the mechanical feel of the focus ring, that should be smooth.

Maybe some dirt has gotten in there after all?

[Herco]

Many people seem to believe that XF lenses are full metal, but actually all are a mix of aluminium and engineered plastics. In itself there’s nothing wrong with that, as for some purposes plastics actually are a better choice.

However, it seems that with Fuji there’s quite a bit sample variation. At least much more than I experienced with some other brands (I use Hasselblad and Nikon professionally and Fujifilm and Leica for personal work. Before Nikon I was a long-time Canon shooter). Of the 16 Fujifilm lenses I own or have owned, 4 of them showed defects shortly after purchase. Ranging from misaligned mounts to loose aperture rings. With all of the 16 lenses each aperture ring, zoom ring or focus ring feels different and has a different sound. Even with two copies of the same lens. That leads me to believe that Fuji uses less strict tolerances at final QA production tests.

Fuji is not alone here. In fact some other manufacturers do the same. Too high rejection rates after production leads to higher costs (that’s partly why Leica lenses are so expensive - almost 3 out of 10 get rejected at end-stage testing due to very small tolerances). It doesn’t mean that these lenses will fall apart, it’s just that e.g. the level of play in each focus ring may feel a bit different from other copies.  In my experience the sample variation of XF lenses is greater than that of GF lenses, which makes sense in terms of price and purpose of the lens.

The 16-55 is considered one of the finest XF lenses (a red badge zoom) designed for professional usage. Nevertheless, when I compare it to my Nikkor Z 24-70/2.8 it is nowhere near in terms of build quality (and IQ as well by the way). There’s tolerance in each of the rings and even a tiny bit rotational tolerance in the mount (on a X-H1 which has the strongest mount of all X-bodies) and the zoom ring makes the sound of plastic on metal. Yet, the 16-55 has never let me down and costs half the price of the Nikkor full frame lens. I recommend to go to a camera store and try a brand new 16-55. If that feels miles better than your copy, you may have a good reason to return it. But don’t be surprised if the seller claims that ‘it has always been like that’. He/she is probably right...

Edited May 20, 2021 by Herco