Fujifilm - XF18-120mmF4 LM PZ WR Lens - Black

I've had this lens for about six months and feel I've used it enough to give an comprehensive review. I bought it during Fuji's Christmas discounts for $699. This lens is massively overlooked in the Fuji lens lineup. This lens is sharp, focuses quickly, accurately and quietly. It's weak spots are the at extremes of the range (18 with weaker corners and 120 some loss of resolution and contrast) but it really shines at F4 in the highly useful 23-60mm focal range and is very strong at the longer end if stopped down to 5.6. Even at F4 at the long end it's not bad. It's image quality is superior to the much loved Fuji 18-55mm F2.8-4 (which I own) and unlike the 18-55, it focuses accurately. The 18-55 in my experience back focuses extremely often in zone continuous autofocus, to the point that I often use single point focus to get proper focus. The 18-120mm on the other hand focuses accurately with my cameras (X-T30ii and X-S20) in zone autofocus, eye tracking etc etc The recent firmware update fixed the exposure stepping issue and now it is essentially eliminated. The body of the lens is plastic but it is of high quality and keeps the lens light. It is an internal zoom lens as well with weather sealing and has a fluorine coated front element. I've used it in dusty windy and wet conditions etc with zero fear of internal dust or moisture issues etc. I have several external zoom lenses for various systems that are known to be "dust pumps" and I won't use in certain scenarios. Compared to the Fuji 16-80mm, if your camera has IBIS I would choose the 18-120mm over the Fuji 16-80mm lens every time. It is the superior lens. If you value having the ability to take shots with slow shutters speeds (16-80mm has OIS) with a camera without IBIS, or feel you need the 16mm focal range then I would go for the 16-80mm, even though it is an optically inferior lens. In all other circumstances, I would choose the 18-120mm. I believe it is Fuji's best all purpose lens but has undeservedly gotten a bad rap because people were angry that it did not fix the exposure stepping issue that has been a known issue on Fuji bodies when zooming in video. That has largely been fixed now with this lens. On sale it's a no brainer purchase. At full price it's a tougher decision with some good third party options and the 16-80mm discounted in kits. It's too bad they don't offer this lens discounted in a kit with the X-T5, X-H2, and the X-H2S. I would be a much better option for these cameras.