Fujifilm has released its XF18-135mm high magnification, weather resistant, zoom lens, which will be available next month. This latest addition to the company's line up of profession-grade lenses for X-series interchangeable-lens cameras covers a wide shooting range of 27mm wide-angle to 206mm telephoto equivalent. It featuers advanced 5.0-stop image stabilisation technology and a dust-proof and waterproof structure.

The XF18-135mm lens covers frequently used angles of view. These include wide-angle shooting, often used for landscapes and architecture with a great sense of perspective (27mm equivalent); a normal angle of view (35mm, 40mm, 50mm equivalent); and telephoto, which allows you to zoom right in to capture portraits and sports scenes (85mm, 135mm, 200mm equivalent) with its 7.5x zoom.

To achieve high performance with sharpness and contrast from the wide-angle to the telephoto,4 aspherical glass lenses and 2 ED glass lenses has been used. Multi-layer HT-EBC, which has high permeability (99.8%) and low reflectance (0.2%), is applied to the entire lens to reduce lens flare and ghosting.

The XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR also uses an inner focusing mechanism for rapid autofocus speeds.

In order to achieve a 5.0-stop image stabilisation performance, the ability to detect movement in the low-frequency band was improved, and an algorithm to sense blur from the detected signal was developed. Correction performance was doubled in the low-speed shutter range.

A dust-proof, weatherproof structure with sealing applied to 20 different areas of the lens barrel is resistant to typical atmospheric changes that occur in a natural environment, such as sudden rain, dust, and splashes of water.

In order to improve the feel when adjusting the zoom, a ventilator has been placed on the inside of the base of the lens barrel. The structure prevents dust particles and moisture from getting into the lens.

The lens will be available in July for $899.95.