Fuji Fujifilm Announces XF 56mm F1.2 R Lens and Adds Five Lenses to 2014 Roadmap

My sample has finally arrived...

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I'll get new body firmware tomorrow (at least it was promised to me) but I couldn't resist to step out into the dark for about an hour and perform a little wide aperture test. The following was all shot at f/1.2, click on the images for larger views:

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DSCF1077 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

You are required to focus carefully, so the X-E2 with its improved CDAF and hybrid PDAF came in quite handy.

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DSCF1094 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

It appears like field curvature is something users of this lens won't have to worry about...

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DSCF1060 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

A hendheld 1/40s can be tricky with this lens, however I was more amazed by the AF of the camera actually finding its target – bulls-eye, almost literally. In reality, the scene was so dark that I couldn't make out much beyond a silhouette with my eyes. So the WYSIWYG EVF was very helpful. DR400% saved the highlights in the background...

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DSCF1080 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

Again DR400%. Putting some distance between me and the subject, even f/1.2 resulted in sufficient DOF.

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DSCF1084 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

More DR400% here...

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DSCF1089 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

...and here:

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DSCF1073 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

The local photo store had almost the full X-series palette on display: X100, X20, XQ1, XF1, X-E1, X-M1 and a very decent choice of lenses:

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DSCF1086 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

Finally ISO 200, pressing the lens hood against the shop window in order to hold 1/15s:

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DSCF1088 – SOOC JPEG, f/1.2 by ricopress, on Flickr

This may well be the best X-Mount lens Fuji has released so far. It's fully optically corrected, so the only digital correction via RAW metadata is some devignetting.
 
Still no portrait length prime to compete with the Oly 75mm. An 85-90mm equivalent just doesn't cut it for me - I'd really like something in the 120-150 range. The 50-140 f2.8 looks like it would handle some of that, but I'd much rather have something like an 85 or 100 at f 1.8 or even f2.0. That extra stop when shooting low light candids can really matter. The lack of such a lens on the current roadmap is a big part of what chased me away from Fuji in the first place and back to m43. Surprised to see it's still missing...

-Ray

Have you tried a legacy 90mm? It will give you a 135mm like fov which is really nice, plus I find these lenses really sharp in the center and have a nice softness or roundness everywhere else. I have a 90mm f2.8 contax g lens and it's really nice.
 
Still no portrait length prime to compete with the Oly 75mm. An 85-90mm equivalent just doesn't cut it for me - I'd really like something in the 120-150 range. The 50-140 f2.8 looks like it would handle some of that, but I'd much rather have something like an 85 or 100 at f 1.8 or even f2.0. That extra stop when shooting low light candids can really matter. The lack of such a lens on the current roadmap is a big part of what chased me away from Fuji in the first place and back to m43. Surprised to see it's still missing...

-Ray

I think that the initial release of the X-pro and the RF styling meant that only small FL primes would fill that "Digital RF" set.

Now with the introduction of the X-T1, HOPEFULLY that means they'll start introducing longer FL primes that would easily pair with an SLR handling regime.

What would be really great is if they made an 85 f/1.4. (Good on you Samsung)
 
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