FUJI 50MM F2 REVIEW & A VERY LONG WALK

26 Feb

This past week I have had the new Fujifilm 50mm F2 attached to one of my XT2's, I thought it was about time I posted a few thoughts and some pictures.

The 50mm F2 completes the Fuji F2 trinity of lenses; the 23mm f2, the 35mm f2, and now the 50mm f2 - all weather sealed.

I'm quite fortunate that I personally now own all three f2 lenses, along with many other Fuji lenses, and I can say 100% that the new 50mm is right up there.

On Thursday, I travelled into Nottingham with the Gaffer, who, after parking up, went off to work; whilst I took the 50mm f2 on a 10-mile walk home.

The reason? my walk home would comprise buildings, people, animals, traffic, and interesting things - I thought it would be a good test of Fujifilm's newest lens.

Before we get to some pictures, I just wanted to point out that in my wedding work - I mainly shoot with the 23mm f1.4 and the 56mm f1.2 - I love both lenses, but recently I've been struggling with the 56mm f1.2 - it's just not working for me. The 56mm f1.2 is an epic lens, and in good light, it's fast enough to lock focus. However, recently I have been shooting in some dark rooms for weddings, and the 56mm f1.2 has let me down - now I know there is a technique for getting the 56mm 1.2 to lock on - but even so, my hit rate recently has been terrible.

Straight away with the lens, you feel at home; the lens is well built, and although longer than the other two f2 lenses - it's much smaller than I was expecting. The lens is weather-sealed, the same as the other F2 lenses.

The AF speed? - Quick!

There were times when I had to check if the focus had been acquired as I pointed, pressed and then nothing, no hunting back and forth - nothing; it just acquired focus. Simple.

Fuji 50mm F2 Review | man on a bike focus check — Full Shot

I know it's not a great subject, but the first picture above - was shot completely on the fly - I turned, saw this guy quickly adjust my settings to F2, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400 single focus and BANG; it just nailed it. The 2nd picture above is cropped in and shows it's in focus.

So how's the BOKEH?

I really like the bokeh of this lens - the three images above are shot at F2, F4 and F5.6; I was standing around 5 feet away. I still need to test the lens for person distortion, hopefully, in the next week, I will get that chance.

Is it Sharp? - Yep!

This thing is sharp - really sharp, no issues at all.

First Impression?

I'm super chuffed with this lens, it has so many great things going for it:

Super quick AF in single mode and continuous
Very sharp
Weather resistance (well rain anyway!)
Works great with the OVF on the XPRO2
Super light

I'm looking forward to using this lens a lot more in the next few weeks - it will be with me for the wedding season and I do think that I will be reaching for this lens over the 56mm f1.2 when I don't need the extra stop or so of light.