Fujifilm XF50 mm F2 R Weather Resistant Lens, Black

Product Information

Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that. The manual focus ring sits comfortably between thumb and forefinger. It has a smooth and silent glide with just the right amount of resistance. If you are willing to try a manual focus lens and explore the 50mm focal length (75 mm full-frame equivalent), at a low price point you can’t really go wrong with the TTArtisan 50mm f/2. Most street photographers recommend shooting with fast 35mm and 50mm lenses (23mm and 35mm on APS-C) for their speed and versatility. I really like those focal lengths as well, but also enjoy shooting with wide angles and short telephoto lenses to get a new perspective. The XF 50mm (76mm) gives a very different look than the street photos I’ve taken with my XF 35mm f/2. Short telephoto lenses give a very intimate look of individuals and moments from the street, telling a very different story than a wider angle would tell. The XF 50mm f/2 is a very sharp lens at the center wide open, and sharp from corner to corner at f/4. There are times when I’m shooting in low light that I wish I had more speed than the f/2 provides, but the size and weight of the XF 50mm is more important than the extra speed of the XF 56mm f/1.2. ISO 320 | 1/80s | f/2.8 ISO 2500 | 1/80s | f/2.0 ISO 1000 | 1/80s | f/2.2 ISO 160 | 1/340s | f/2.8 ISO 160 | 1/200s | f/2.8 ISO 640 | 1/80s | f/2.2 ISO 160 | 1/90s | f/2.5 ISO 1250 | 1/80s | f/2.2 ISO 160 | 1/120s | f/2.8 ISO 640 | 1/80s | f/2.2 ISO 160 | 1/200s | f/2.5 Travel and Landscape Photography The autofocusing on the Fujifilm XF 50mm f/2 is on par with the fantastic performance of my XF 35mm f/2. I’ve shot moving subjects in the street, candid portraits of my toddler, and action shots of my dogs with impressive speed and accuracy. The XF 50mm f/2 has a silent inner focus system that uses a stepping motor to achieve these great results. The Fujifilm XF 50mm f/2 also gives users the option to manually focus using its dampened metal focus ring.

There is very little in the way of controls with theFujifilm 50mm f2 R WR. In fact, all you’ll need to worry about otherwise is the lens hood–and even then you’re not really worrying about it per se. When the XF 50mm F/2 is attached to any Fujifilm X Series camera body, it instantly feels at home. Fujifilm X Series camera bodies are neat and more compact than most camera brands. Placing a small lens like the XF 50mm F/2 on such a camera just makes sense. During the parade, I used theFujifilm 50mm f2 R WR and it simply kept working reliably. The camera and lens weren’t as soaked as I’ve gotten the 23mm f2, but they were both pretty thoroughly drenched from the NYC coastline shower. In fact, I wouldn’t call it a shower, more like a downpour. The XF 50mm f/2 provides a 31.7° field of view, and a full frame equivalent 76mm focal length. The minimum focusing distance is around 15.3 inches or 39cm. Combine that with a 0.15x magnification ratio, and you won’t be doing much macro, but it is a very capable lens for detail shots of objects close to the front element.

Fujifilm XF 50mm f/2 R WR Specifications

Overall, a beautifully made lens with outstanding results technically. It is compact, convenient to use and a very desirable addition to the Fuji X range. If this 1,200×900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 42 × 62" (3.5 × 5.2 feet or 1.05 × 1.6 meters). All three lenses feature a similarly designed fly-by-wire focus ring with a ribbed surface to give you a better grip.

Autofocus on the Fujifilm XF 50mm f/2 is fast, accurate, and silent. This lens also works very well with the face recognition mode on my Fuji X-T3. When shooting street portraits, candid shots, or events, I don’t always have time to set a focus point, so this feature is critical. The accuracy of the Fujifilm XF 35mm f/2 in my experience has been superb. ISO 160 | 1/6000s | f/2.8 ISO 160 | 1/6000s | f/2.8 For a second example, I photographed London’s Tower Bridge, again with both lenses from the same distance and closed to f16. Here’s the full view, followed again by crops of the best-defined spikes. So while the XF 56mm f1.2 can deliver greater blurring from the same subject distance, it can be beaten at the closest focusing distance. Indeed for me, the closest focusing distance of 70cm is a limiting factor of the XF 56mm f1.2, reducing its usefulness for product or food photography. I know it’s a trivial example, but I couldn’t hold an object at arm’s length and focus on it using the XF 56mm f1.2 and the camera’s viewfinder to my eye. Similarly when shooting product shots, I had to position the subject sufficiently far for it to be in focus that I couldn’t easily reach out to make adjustments while still viewing the camera’s screen. This won’t affect portrait photographers – unless they’re wanting the eye to dominate the frame of course – but it’s something to be aware of for anyone shooting products or smaller subjects at close range. When I'm working, at weddings, or anywhere else really, I'm looking for emotion in the pictures I make. Using face detection, especially with the latest firmware updates, was pretty much faultless and hunting for focus just didn't happen.I, like many others it would seem, was a bit confused by the 50mm focal length. This would be approximately 76mm on a full-frame 35mm sensor, which is not a common focal length for a prime lens. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it fit right into my shooting style and fixed a problem I didn't know I had. Here is where it seems everyone is trying to draw a comparison. The 50mm at first glance might seem like a cheaper, smaller, lighter version of the 56mm, but this simply isn't the case. The rendering is quite different to the 56mm, especially in the out of focus areas. The other big difference is in the focal length, which actually feels like a larger difference than the numbers would suggest.

What looks like a vertical line on the sun at f/2 isn't from the lens; it's the image sensor blooming from the extreme brightness of the sun at f/2. In the example above, both lenses deliver attractive bokeh blobs with no onion-ringing, typically turning to cat’s eye shapes towards the corners, but it’s clear how the XF 56mm f1.2, above right, is delivering larger bokeh blobs than the XF 50mm f2 on the left. That said, the XF 56mm f1.2 is rendering its blobs with quite clear outlines in comparison which may or may not be to your taste. Once again though, at least there’s no onion-ring patterns within the blobs on either. The lens’ minimum focus distance is another area where it has an advantage over the XF 56mm f/1.2 R. It has a maximum magnification of 0.15x and can focus within 39cm of a subject. By way of comparison, the XF 56mm f/1.2 R can only focus as close as 70cm. Fujifilm XF 50mm f/2 R WR – Build and Handling MPB puts photo and video kit into more hands, more sustainably. Every month, visual storytellers sell more than 20,000 cameras and lenses to MPB. Choose used and get affordable access to kit that doesn’t cost the earth.The only plastic elements of this lens are the lens cap and hood. The lens cap uses a pinch-release system, but given its size can feel a little clumsy to attach it securely. Especially if you have big fingers like mine. If you find you really like this focal length, the Fujifilm XF 50mm f/2 R WR may be the next step, or upgrade, in your photography gear journey. The base of the Fujifilm XF 50mm F/2 is only slightly bigger than the base of the lens mount. It also includes a weather and dust proofing seal around the entire base. The lens then tapers down in small steps towards the front. As with all Fujifilm lenses, the 50mm f/2 WR does hunt a little before reaching critical focus, but in good light, it is so fast you can barely see it. As you enter low contrast or dimmer situations, you will start to see the lens hunting quite significantly. I have found that indoors it can take around half a second to reach critical focus if you are not in a high contrast situation. What’s there to say about theFujifilm 50mm f2 R WR: well, it’s an interesting choice for sure. I personally would have liked a 56mm option to be a proper portrait lens, but the 50mm option gives a bit more versatility. It’s a great lens for street photography for sure if you’re looking to give a bit more distance to you and your subject. For that reason, I really recommend it for street photographers and street portraiture. Studio shooters have a whole number of other options. The weather sealing and autofocus performance make it well suited to the streets–which is where most Fuji shooters will be going. One of the best things is the reliability of this lens, you’ll be able to surely keep using it in tough weather.