Fujifilm XF 56mm f1.2 R Review
I am going through a bit of a transition period when it comes to the lenses I currently own, and I haven’t really found my perfect set yet. But this post outlines how I came to the conclusion that the 56mm doesn’t fit into my collection. After my findings, I’ve added the feedback on this very lens, of the photographer who bought it off me. Our findings couldn’t be more different!
As a disclaimer, I want to say that this lens is a fantastic lens, and throughout my selling process and even while writing this post, I felt some form of regret for selling it. At the end of the day though, this lens is just not for me, but not due to a lack of quality. Purely due to a matter of taste and preference.
Look and Bokeh
I will start of with this point first as I feel like it isn’t talked about enough with this lens; the look that this lens produces. I think there is a misconception that a lot of bokeh automatically makes a lens good. In my eyes, there’s so much more to it than that though.
The images of this lens are too sharp, lower in contrast, with little micro-contrast and low in vibrancy and saturation. Both colours and contrast do improve when stopping down to f2 or f2.8, but were never good enough to satisfy my wants. To me, the colours that a lens produces are incredibly important to me and I’m stunned every time I use my Fujifilm 23mm f2 lens on how much contrast that lens has and how punchy and lovely the colours are. Some of the new Voigtlander lenses also have amazing colour that I am just lusting over. They regularly make me consider adopting the Sony system as well, just so I can use that lovely Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 for instance or the unusual 50mm f3.5 or the 65mm f2! They’re such creamy and unique lenses!
If I upped the contrast and/or clarity, vibrancy and saturation, it would improve things, but the images from this lens would always stand out as being different, compared to the other photos I took on the same day with other lenses. It’s not necessarily that this lens is bad, it just isn’t cohesive with my other lenses.
More of the Lord Mayor photos here (taken with the 56mm and the Samyang 21mm).
The Fujifilm 56mm lens is considered to be a portrait lens. I could imagine that Fujifilm purposefully made this lens to have lower contrast and saturation to make it more suitable for portrait photography. Low contrast would be forgiving towards the model. They might have focused on skin tones with this lens instead of an overall punchy look. But this seems to be only half thought out because they made the lens too sharp. I remember the first photos I took with it, they looked good, I wasn’t blown away but I wasn’t blown away either. But the overriding thought always was, “Why are they so sharp? Couldn’t they tone it down a bit?” To me, it always stands out in comparison to my other Samyang and Fujifilm lenses.
The 16-55mm and 50-140mm are also capable of some very high resolution, but they don’t get that unpleasant, over-sharpened look that the 56mm is capable of. I believe that it is this obsession with sharpness that has ruined another vital component of this lens; the bokeh. The bokeh doesn’t have enough character to be considered beautiful but isn’t clinical enough (ie. Sony GM) to be considered perfect. It just awkwardly floats around somewhere in the middle. Sometimes the 56mm does absolutely hit the spot with it’s bokeh and look. But it doesn’t happen often enough for me to continue using it. I would have preferred for them to tone down the sharpness, improve the bokeh, add a bit of vignetting, make the lens a little smaller, keep it lower contrast but therefore turn it into a portrait lens. Or ramp up the contrast and colour, improve the AF and just turn it into an all-rounder landscape/action/portrait lens. Just like the bokeh, it’s awkwardly just floating in the middle of being nothing specific, but not an all-rounder either.
So why did I buy it?
Back in 2018 I needed a slight telephoto lens. This was when I started photographing MMA fights from ringside for Cage Warriors and BAMMA. It was just mere months before the Fujifilm 50mm f2 was available and the Fujifilm 50-140mm f2.8 or the 16-55mm f2.8 didn’t come into question at the time because of the f-stop.
With hindsight, Fujifilm is unfortunately not the format you want to be shooting MMA with. The reason behind this is that the arenas that MMA fights take place in are very dark and the fights are only dimly lit. Don’t ask me why. With the quick bursts that the fighters move with, capturing their kicks and punches require shutter speeds of at least 1/500 but preferrably 1/1000. Even then, you will stay have motion blur from various body parts. And unlike with motorsport, where photographers can use this motion blur for artistic creativity, in fighting it just looks dreadful. So combine fast shutter speeds, with a dim shooting environment and APS-C sensors that are sadly not that good in low light. That calls for only one thing; you need a fast aperture.
Would I have used the 56mm lens and the Fujifilm system again for photographing MMA fights? Nope. Nowadays, I would probably just grab a Canon 5d mkIII or a Nikon D750 with a 24-70mm or an 85mm lens. That would then live in my photography cupboard, purely as my MMA photography kit. But at the time the simplest solution was using the 56mm to photograph MMA. Insanity, now that I look back on it.
More photos of Fabian Edwards (left) here.
Autofocus
So my initial reason for buying the 56mm was to have something a bit more telephoto for action shots. I’m sure this wasn’t Fujifilm’s targeted scenario for this lens. I get that. But I’m sure they were thinking photographers would use this lens for weddings too and other such family events or even an outdoor portrait photoshoot. And that’s exactly what I ended up using it for as well.
It won’t come to a surprise to you then when I mention the dreadful AF this lens has. I know Fujifilm are coming out with an updated version at some stage, that will hopefully fix this, but I think it has come way too late.
When I’m focusing it on a subject, outside in the sun, it is fine. A bit loud but speedy enough, although sometimes it does confirm focus, when it’s slightly out of focus though. But generally it is alright.
More photos of the comedy duo ‘Lords of Strut’ here.
As soon as you’re indoors, however, maybe late in the evening of a wedding shoot. I’ll be in a dim room with candle lights or just intimate lighting, where that f1.2 aperture would be perfect. In those situations, it really struggles to focus on anything. And don’t you dare have your subject move a little, in which case, you’re back to square one. This is why I resorted to using my 50-140mm instead. I’d have an immediate focus confirm and would be able to shoot great, intimate photos of guests without their knowledge, since I didn’t have to point a camera at them for a solid minute or two to get a photo. The f2.8 aperture is a little annoying and makes me bump up the ISO more than I want in those situations, but it allows me to get more shots without getting frustrated.
I think that is the keyword to this lens; frustration. I am frustrated that this lens isn’t as good as I know Fujifilm could make it. Fujifilm makes some great lenses! But have a quick look at the Sigma 56mm f1.4. In my opinion, that lens is much better in the optical department, in terms of balancing sharpness, image quality and character. The Sigma has way better AF and is only a third of the price. How can that be? The Samyang 50mm f1.2 also has great colours, typically Samyang colours, which are great. Great contrast and micro contrast. Great bokeh and a nice compact size.
Sigma did announce they would be making their APS-C mirrorless lens trio (16/30/56) for the Fujifilm X-mount at some stage in the future. I don’t know what politics are at play but it seems bizarre to me that they haven’t done so already, or don’t feel like they should be doing so with more haste. Especially after I read the other day that they have released those exact lenses for the L-mount. Which is a complete dead end for APS-C lenses. Absolutely bizarre.
So, will I buy the Sigma 56mm f1.4 when, or if, it comes out? That’s a good question. I think that if I end up buying a prime lens in that focal length, it will probably come down to either the Fujifilm 50mm f2 or the Sigma. Maybe the Sigma a little more than the Fujifilm, because it will probably be cheaper and f1.4 just sounds a bit sexier than f2. I know it’s a silly statement to make but I think we all fall victim to this fact. But the Fujifilm 50mm is a bit wider. And that brings me onto my next point.
Focal Length
So why am I not pushed to immediately replace the 56mm? Well, it comes down to the focal length. This is obviously a very subjective and personal opinion, but I never felt completely comfortable with this focal length.
In a perfect world, Voigtlander would adjust the optical formula of the 40mm 1.2 to be perfect for Fujifilm camera sensors (I have been told that the Fujifilm sensors are thicker than the Sony A7’s and this produces white hazing when adapting certain Voigtlander lenses on Fujifilm bodies). I would then like for Voigtlander to add an amazing auto focus system to this lens and sell it with a Fujifilm X-mount. In a perfect world, that is what I would then buy and I’d be really happy with it and never need to buy another lens again. Pair it with my Samyang 21mm f1.4 on the other camera and I’d have an amazing wedding/event photography set up!
More photos of the pregnancy announcement here.
The Samyang 21mm f1.4 is my go to lens (my review here). I always have it with me, I couldn’t do without it. When I shoot with it, I need another lens with a tighter FOV to compliment it. This has always either been the Fujifilm 56mm, or the Samyang 35mm f1.2 (my review here). The only problem is, the 56mm always felt too tight and too close, especially when taking portraits of more than one person and I didn’t want to use the wide angle Samyang. I always had to run so far away from the subjects to get them all in shot. The images also looked too different to my 21mm. The 21mm has distortion, vignetting, punchy colours, heeps of contrast and very 3d like, engaging photos. The 56mm has too much of that flat, compressed, telephoto look. The two lenses couldn’t be more different. This difference in looks is especially noticeable in the photos I took of the Lord Mayor of Cork (also seen above, but click here to see the photos of both the 21mm and the 56mm together).
The 21mm did pair very nicely with the Samyang 35mm in terms of the look, however, there just wasn’t enough of a difference in terms of FOV. I always found myself wanting to be a bit closer. In comparison to the Fujifilm 35mm 1.4, the Samyang 35mm 1.2 is noticeably wider. Similar to the Touit 32mm. I am trying to pair the 21mm and Fujifilm 35mm together now and will see how that works. The Fujifilm 35mm 1.4 is a good lens, I wouldn’t rave about it as much as the rest of the internet but it is good enough for me at the moment. The autofocus isn’t as bad as the 56mm, although a bit loud, but the one thing I do not like at all with that lens is the foreground blur. It gets this horrible white haze that I don’t like at all. But ideally I would love a 40/45mm lens.
With social distancing and all that, the 21mm is currently on a bit of a holiday. So it’s all a bit up in the air anyway. I recently photographed an event though, where I ended up using the Fujifilm 35mm 1.4 and the 16-55mm only. And that worked surprisingly well. For the first time ever, I didn’t feel naked without my 21mm! Interestingly, I had a look on Lightroom afterwards and when I was using the 16-55mm at longer focal lengths, I always naturally gravitated towards the 38-45mm range without knowing that I did.
We’ll see what the future holds, but the 56mm is definitely not apart of it. I’ll keep an eye on what Sigma is doing, how the new Fujifilm 35mm Mk II lens will be and how I get on with my own selection of lenses. The Fujifilm 50mm f1 doesn’t really interest me. The Viltrox lenses don’t interest me at all.
My Conclusion
I didn’t mean to be too negative about this lens. I just thought I’d write out why it didn’t work for me, as there is so much positive things written about this lens on the internet. It’s not a cheap lens either, so it might help someone identify if this is a lens for them or not. At the end of the day it still got me all the lovely photos that I posted in this article. That’s not bad at all. I think I will instead just use my 16-55mm or the 50-140mm to fill my 50mm-ish focal length needs.
My 56mm found a better home with a local photographer, Jaco, who like me, also happens to be a South African living in Ireland. I thought it would be interesting to add his opinion to this article and see how he is getting on with the very same lens.
Jaco’s Opinion and Photos
Jaco writes, “I don't really care about the "look" to be honest, it's the field of view that I love. I also care about the excellent construction, lens hood availability, internal autofocus, FOV and compression, low light and strong optics, I don't look too deep into bokeh quality, or "micro contrast" etc, maybe I'm just spoiled though.
The short version is this: if Fuji release a fast prime in the 70mm vicinity, I’d rather have that. But compared to any other long lens available for fuji bodies, this is hands down my favourite option.”
Straight off the bat, there is a clear difference in our ideology and expectations of a lens. Where as I am looking for basically the same version of my Samyang 21mm but as a slight telephoto, Jaco is mainly interested in the compression and FOV. Compression is only slightly important to me, and it’s avoiding the wide angle distortion that has me reaching for the other camera and lens or zooming in more. But compression is not something I think of very often.
Let’s see what else he has to say; “I use 3 primes: the 16mm f/1.4, the 35mm f/2 and the 56mm f/1.2. I carry two bodies, one of which always has the 35mm, the other having either the 16mm or the 56mm. It really depends on the nature of the shoot, the spacing, the subjects, the backgrounds, the story. The 56mm simply serves to give me a tighter FOV, greater compression, better shallow DOF and better low-light performance than the other primes. In most situations I find myself in, the 56mm is very comfortable to use.”
Interesting. As I mentioned above, I always found this 56mm focal length a little bit awkward to use. Always a bit too tight or not tight enough. Interesting to read that he is very comfortable with this focal length. Also interesting that, like me, he always has one lens he takes with him everywhere.
“The image quality of the Fujifilm 60mm f2.4 truly blew me away, but sadly, for me, the slow and external autofocus, slow aperture and long lens hood outweighed the lens’s beautiful IQ. The Fujifilm 50mm f2 was great, but after Viltrox released their faster f1.4 56mm at a price lower than the 50 I decided to try it out. Optically it was brilliant, but with no internal corrections there was moderate purple fringing wide open. There are profiles available for Photoshop, but as I use Lightroom CC I was out of luck. Build-wise, it had an unpleasant clickless aperture ring, and the lens hood was quite long and needed to be reversed when stored, thus I needed to use a lens cap as well. Eventually I got Fuji’s 56mm f/1.2.
I don’t own any of these other lenses anymore, I just have Fuji’s 56mm. It gets out of my way and lets me focus on my shoots.”
That last line is the most important revelation; “It gets out of my way…”
I think all of us photographers just yearn for and seek a set up that allows us to purely concentrate on our work. For me, there are other lenses that do that for me. But that is the unique aspect of photography. There so many photographing styles and so much variety in gear.
So Jaco, would you keep this 56mm forever or are you missing any of the previous lenses you have owned?
“I love the 56mm, but if Fuji comes out with a fast 70mm-ish focal length, I'll strongly consider swapping it for that. But if they never drop a lens like that I'll stick with the 56mm. Regarding the old lenses, no I don't miss them at all really!”
Check out more of Jaco’s work here on his website (his portrait work is fantastic!):
jacobronkhorst.com
Or follow him on Instagram here:
@mrjacobie
If there are any photographer’s out there who have used this lens and would like to share their opinion, post it in the comments below or email me at: hello@savethejourney.com
I would find it very interesting to keep this conversation going and maybe make a follow up post on this.
