Fujifilm XF 50mm f/1.0 Field Test: Fuji’s newest prime lens is all about that bokeh
posted Monday, November 2, 2020 at 11:30 AM EDT
Click here to read our Fujifilm XF 50mm f/1.0 Field Test
Fast prime lenses with apertures ranging from f/1.4-1.8 are very common, but our eyes widen and our attentions pique when we spot a lens with a faster aperture. Lenses with an f/1.2 aperture are pretty serious light-gathering tools, so when Fujifilm put a 33mm f/1.0 lens on their roadmap back in 2018, that was something excitingly different. F/1.0 lenses are quite rare, especially ones with autofocus, and can offer some really unique artistic qualities. Eventually, Fujifilm changed course with this lens, opting for a 50mm focal length rather than 33mm. Instead, we got a longer, more portrait-friendly 75mm-eq. prime over a 50mm-eq. At the same time, Fuji managed to keep that sweet f/1.0 aperture in there.
If you're looking for an ultra-fast prime lens with extremely shallow depth-of-field performance and beautiful bokeh for your Fujifilm camera, the new XF 50mm f/1.0 WR lens is the one to get.
Our colleague Jeremy Gray went hands-on with a pre-production sample of the new Fuji lens back in September ahead of the announcement, and he's now had an opportunity to go in-depth with a proper Field Test with a full-production sample of the new Fuji 50mm f/1.0 lens. Ergonomically, this f/1.0 lens is, as expected, quite large, all things considered. As an APS-C-format lens, it's still smaller and lighter than a full-frame equivalent, but with a weight of 1.86 lb. (845g) and a 77mm filter thread size, it's certainly a beefy lens.
But all that glass allows the Fuji 50mm f/1.0 to create some gorgeous images. Wide-open, the image quality is surprisingly impressive, though as one might expect, stopping down -- even just a bit to f/1.2-1.4 -- can increase overall sharpness and fine detail performance. In addition to providing incredibly thin, and at times challenging shallow depth-of-field, the f/1.0 aperture also makes this a terrific lens for low-light work.
For all of Jeremy's thoughts and findings from the field, as well as a whole new batch of real-world sample images, head over to our Fujifilm XF 50mm f/1.0 Field Test.