Quick take: After two months and about six paid jobs with the Fujifilm XF 8-16mm F2.8, I'd pick it over the 10-24mm F4. It's weather sealed, its autofocus is excellent, it's tack sharp, and F2.8 helps a lot in badly lit venues. The downsides: it costs about twice as much, has a cheap-feeling focus ring and no OIS, and its bulb front means you'll spend around $300 more on an ND filter system for video.
Fuji's Two Ultra-Wide Zooms
I filmed this at Great Falls on the Maryland side, the kind of place you bring a really wide lens, with the 10-24mm on my X-T3 shooting me. Before these I had the Laowa 9mm, which was good for what it was, but its heavy vignetting on the Fuji X system became a problem as I did more video work.
The 10-24mm has been the standard for years. It's a phenomenal lens, and I've shot about 80% of my videos with it. It has optical image stabilization and decent distortion correction. The 8-16mm is one of Fuji's red-badge F2.8 "monster glass" zooms. Its list price was $2,000, though promos dropped it to around $1,500 earlier in the year. I passed on it then, but ended up ordering it when I needed something faster for conventions, which tend to have warehouse-style lighting you can't control. People also get nervous when you shine a light at them for an interview, so a faster lens was the easiest fix.
What I Don't Like
My lens is scratched up because I've put it through its paces, but I almost returned it because of the focus ring. It feels cheap and plasticky, nowhere near the much older and much cheaper 10-24mm. On a $2,000 lens, that was not a good decision.
It would also have been nice to have OIS. I understand leaving it out, since future X-mount bodies will probably all have IBIS, and shake isn't very noticeable at such wide focal lengths.
The ND Filter Problem
Like all lenses with a fixed petal hood and a bulbous front element, the 8-16mm can't take a standard screw-on filter. For videographers, ND filters are your lifeblood, since most cameras don't have internal ND. Landscape photographers already deal with this; video shooters are usually unprepared. Budget around $300 to $320 for a filter system with the adapter, a 3-stop ND and a CPL. Even with the 3-stop on in bright light, the image was blown out at F2.8 and didn't balance out until around F8, which is a shame when part of the appeal is getting some depth of field from a lens this wide.
What I Love
Autofocus on both lenses is incredible, and the 8-16mm is tack sharp even wide open. At F4 and above it's noticeably sharper than the 10-24mm, which is already a sharp lens. Autofocus is also a huge advantage over the much cheaper manual-focus Laowa.
The other big advantage is weather sealing. The 10-24mm can handle a few sprinkles, but you don't want to be caught in a downpour with an unsealed lens. Even if your body is sealed, water that gets in through the lens can reach the sensor. I was comfortable taking the 8-16mm near the water at Great Falls; I'd be afraid to do that with the 10-24mm.
The field of view is the real reason to buy it. Side by side, you get much more of the sky and the sides of the frame. It's a unique perspective, and I haven't been able to replicate some of these photos on the 10-24mm.
Is It Worth Twice the Price?
For my purposes, yes. If you're working professionally, or you're a serious enthusiast, I think you'll prefer the 8-16mm. Since I'm outside all the time, the 10-24mm's lack of weather sealing disqualifies it for me. The only time I had to swap back was filming a Star Trek Enterprise bridge model in D.C., where I had to hold the camera out at arm's length without a gimbal, and the 10-24mm's OIS saved the shot. I just had to live with more grain at F4.
Otherwise, save up, or rent the 8-16mm for a weekend and see how you feel. If the 10-24mm is your choice, buy it used: I found mine on Facebook Marketplace for about $500. You won't find many used 8-16mms, since people who buy one tend to keep it.
Vlogging
I'm a big Fuji fan, but these cameras were horrible for vlogging. There's a short vlogging test at the end of the video for anyone who asks, with the 10-24mm's OIS doing its job.
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