Every once in a while, an item becomes an instant classic. The Fujifilm XF 56mm f/1.2 R carries that title proudly and deservedly so! I’ve been using it for almost a decade and can’t recommend it enough. It’s a great lens with flaws that are easy to overlook.
As the title says, the entire lens body is metal. The lens barrel, the large focus ring, the clicky aperture ring, the mount—everything is made of black-painted metal, except for the lens hood. The black paint job is an important detail to note because if there’s one thing Fujifilm lenses are famous for it’s their ability to stay mint. A false and silvery look begins to show from underneath the paint. Now, I don’t treat my camera equipment very kindly. To me, they are just cameras and lenses and can withstand harsh conditions. I often photograph situations where keeping my equipment safe is my last priority. That being said, even after eight years of abuse, bumps, drops, and being tossed in bags without paying attention to scratches, my Fujifilm lenses have survived all the challenges with just a beautiful patina. beautiful to tell the story. It’s true that, over time, the aperture ring has loosened a bit, which makes it a bit more difficult to keep the lens at the same aperture while pulling it out of the bag, but I got used to the behavior. The simple move is to rotate it completely. on the left to adjust the aperture to f/1.2 before use.
So the build quality of the XF 56mm f/1.2 R is truly outstanding, even a decade after its release. There is only one grip that has held the lens back since I bought it, and that is the poor weather sealing. As soon as it starts to rain, I always put the lens away and take out something else, something more enclosed. Finally, Fujifilm will fix that with the release of a newer version called XF 56mm f/1.2 R WR, which I’ll review soon, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Considering the lens’s plastic lens hood, I can only imagine that it wouldn’t survive said treatment but to be honest, when I bought the lens in 2016, I threw away the lens hood into one of his drawers and never touched it since.
Not fast at all, but not too slow either
The lens’ focus group is powered by Fujifilm’s Micromotor, with no STM, no linear motor, and no ultrasonic. This means that the lens focuses quite smoothly, but because the focus group is quite heavy and the motor is not powerful, it can take a while to get from A to B. When used on a daily basis for street photography , portrait, and so it’s manageable, but you have to learn how to work with it and you certainly can’t count on it to grasp a subject quickly. Tracking moving objects is almost a losing battle, as is trying to focus on an object moving toward or away from you at a walking pace. I’ve learned to primarily pre-focus on where my subjects are if they’re moving, and that has helped me capture most moving subjects.
When the subject is stationary and you’re using one of the camera bodies that support phase detection, which is the X-E2 (X-Trans II) and newer, it can focus quite quickly, as long as you’re actually Use one of the PD points. My best bet is simply to use the center point and recompose after focusing. Everything else just takes too much time and is often distracting.
Nice image quality
This lens is famous for it. The way it displays images is nothing short of stunning. At the full-frame equivalent of an 85mm lens and with a large f/1.2 aperture, you get really nice and smooth bokeh in both the background and foreground. The nine-blade aperture helps make out-of-focus highlights nice and round while the parts of the image that are truly in focus are captured sharp and full of detail. That is, at least until the 40-megapixel X-Trans CMOS 5 HR arrives. That sensor may need a newer version, but the older version still gets the job done quite well.
Chromatic aberrations as well as LoCA are kept at a very pleasant and manageable level. As for image quality, I don’t think I have a bad word to say. This lens has helped me capture some of the best images of my career, and I wouldn’t be the photographer I am today without the XF 56mm f/1.2 R.
In low light, this lens simply opens up great opportunities. There were many nights when I had to walk through the dark streets of London or Prague looking for a lit shop window or a lonely street lamp. Most of the time that’s all I need to get a good photo. The lens just sucks the light in and gives you a great photo at the other end.
A lovely feature of the f/1.2 aperture is that when shooting wide open, the background can slightly swirl around the center, like the legendary Helios 44-2. It’s very delicate and you have to be at the right distance, but once you get it right it’s amazing. One somewhat disappointing optical feature is the minimum focusing distance. We were limited to 70mm and simply couldn’t focus any closer. This may be limited over time.
What is APD and should you be concerned?
This lens was released in two separate versions. Standard type and type named “APD”. What else does the APD version do and why is it more expensive? Simply put, the APD variant has a noise reduction filter right next to the aperture diaphragm. This filter is more or less clear in the middle but darker towards the edges. The resulting effect is an even smoother bokeh. You can clearly see the difference if you place images from each lens side by side. The blur from the XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD is smoother, it falls out nicely from the center but is not without cost.
Although the APD version is still f/1.2, it actually loses a bit of light due to the apodization filter darkening the edges of the image. This means that even though your depth of field and aperture size are equal to f/1.2, the amount of light hitting your sensor is equal to f/1.7. The camera knows this so there’s no need to calculate your exposure, but remember that you won’t be able to do as well in dark moments as with the basic variant.
The second and I would say most disadvantageous disadvantage of the apodization filter is its inability to work with phase detection AF points. Regardless of your camera, you won’t be able to focus using a hybrid system, and you’ll just be using a much slower and more cumbersome contrast detection system. Considering the standard version of the 56 is not a fast focusing lens at all, this puts it out of the realm of street photography, wedding photography, and documentaries. Yes, it will give you beautiful portraits and bokeh effects, but you have to take your time and get your shot.
What I like about the lens
- Beautiful construction
- Full metal body
- Compact and lightweight
- Aperture ring
- Excellent image quality
- Minimal optical errors
- Beautiful background blur effect
- Shallow depth of field
- A fairly silent operation
What I don’t like
- Not the fastest AF
- Lack of weather resistance
- Minimum focusing distance 70mm
A must-try for any Fujifilm user
I have yet to meet a Fujifilm photographer who hasn’t praised this lens at least at some point in their photography journey. Sure, it’s not a fast lens in terms of autofocus performance, and it doesn’t have any form of weather sealing, but the image quality, stunning bokeh, and unique character make make up for those things. And thanks to a replacement product that’s been on the market for a while now, Fujifilm XF 56mm f/1.2 R Can be a bargain when purchased used. I actually bought mine used for half price in 2016 and it had a barely visible scratch on it, which I was hesitant about. Well, take a look at the pictures in this review. I can’t even remember where the original scratch was. But there is definitely one thing this lens has, and that is history.
