Im trying to figure out my lens situation for a trip to Italy this summer, specifically the Amalfi Coast and maybe a few days in Rome. Ive been shooting with the 27mm pancake on my X-T30 for a while because I love how small it is but for this trip I really feel like I need some zoom range.
So Ive been doing some digging and I keep seeing the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 recommended everywhere as the gold standard kit lens. People say the image quality is way better than your average kit lens and its nice and compact which fits the X-T30 vibe perfectly. But then I started thinking about the reach... like is 55mm really going to be enough when Im looking at stuff across the water or trying to get some compression on those cliffside houses?
That led me to the 18-135mm. I read some reviews saying its the one lens to rule them all for travel because of the weather sealing and the huge range. My logic was that I could just leave it on the camera the whole time and never worry about dust getting on the sensor while Im out and about. But then I saw a photo of it mounted on an X-T30 and it looks kind of ridiculous? It seems like it would be super front-heavy and maybe ruin the whole small camera experience that I bought the Fuji for in the first place. Plus some forum posts mentioned it gets a bit soft after 100mm which makes me wonder if the extra weight is even worth it if the photos arent gonna be crisp.
Ive got about $750 to spend and Im totally fine buying used gear from somewhere like MPB. I even looked at the 16-80mm f/4 but then I heard the autofocus can be weird for video and I do like to take the occasional clip of the scenery. Its just a lot to weigh up. I want to keep it simple but I dont want to get home and wish I had more reach or a faster aperture. What do you guys think for a trip like this on such a small body?
I actually went through this exact same dilemma for a trip to the Amalfi Coast a few years back. Thought the Fujifilm XF 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR would be the perfect one-and-done solution, but unfortunately, it was a massive disappointment. On a small body like the X-T30, it felt completely unbalanced and made my wrist cramp up by noon. Plus, the image quality at the long end just wasnt as good as expected... everything past 100mm looked kinda muddy when I got home and looked at them on a big screen. It really killed the vibe of those cliffside shots. Then I tried the Fujifilm XF 16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR thinking the constant aperture would save me, but I had issues with the zoom creep and that weird jittery autofocus during video clips. It’s frustrating when you spend that much money and the tech feels unreliable. Honestly, super-zooms usually compromise too much. If I were you, I’d stick to the Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS. Its the only one that actually feels right on that camera. For the extra reach, maybe grab a used Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS from MPB for like 450 bucks and just swap it when you really need to see across the water. Its more reliable than trying to force an all-in-one lens to do everything poorly. Trust me, you dont want to get home and realize your once-in-a-lifetime photos are soft because of a mediocre super-zoom.
