If you are strictly a stills photographer you can look at the Fujinon MK 18-55mm T 2.9 and laugh. If you are a video worker you can slap the still photographer and then look on the Fujinon lens with great covetous desire.
The first people will see the inordinate length of the thing and compare it to the Fujinon 18-55mm f:2.8-4 lens that they might have gotten when they bought their X-E2 or X-T10 camera. The same " kit " lens that everyone says is the best all-round working lens of the Fujifilm X mount series. They'll look at the manual focusing ring...with no AF possible, the separate aperture ring...with no convenient click stops, and the weird numbers for the aperture. And what's with the twist on the focusing? It's 200º and takes you just ages...
And all of this is why the videographer is smiling and coveting:
a. The size is immaterial. This lens will live with a lot of other gear on a video rig - in its turn on a tripod.
b. The length of the thing separates the three rings - focus, zoom, and aperture physically. This is deliberate because those rings are designed to mesh and be driven by external controls. These controls will be operated by people assisting the camera operator as the shots are taken.
c. The long run of focusing is very deliberate to allow precise focusing. Remember that this lens also has a macro feature.
d. No click stops because you want no jerky motion while adjusting the aperture during a shot. Ditto with the focus and zoom rings. Video is fluid and things happen while other things happen. It is best that they happen unnoticed.
The bit you can't see from the outside is the bit you don't want to see on the screen - no inadvertent changes in focus or optical axis when the lens zooms. No-one sees anything.
e. The lens mount features adjustment for flange distance.
f. The odd aperture numbers are T-stop numbers. Video work uses these to get a more accurate measure of the light falling on the sensor. Numbers are numbers, don't let new ones throw you.
If you watch a lot of cinema or television it is likely that you have been looking through a Fujinon lens already. If you aspire to join the ranks of the successful video workers, consider doing it all the time with one of these.
Note: there is a companion lens in the same range that covers the 50mm-135mm focal lengths. Interestingly, it has the same dimensions for the actuation rings so that lenses can be interchanged in rigs.
