Fujifilm announces updated XF 56mm F1.2 R WR lens with significant improvements & new optical design
posted Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 3:00 PM EDT
Fujifilm has not only announced a new X Series camera, the 40MP X-H2, the company also announced a new X series lens, the XF 56mm F1.2 R WR. While the lens has the same focal length and aperture as the XF 56mm F1.2 R, the latest version includes many new features, including weather resistance and a new optical design.
The mid-telephoto lens delivers the same field of view as an 85mm lens on a full-frame camera, making it perfect for portraits. A large focus of the new design is improved image quality and bokeh. "XF 56mm F1.2 R WR is the first Fujifilm X Mount lens to feature an almost perfectly circular aperture, even at F4 or F5.6, resulting in a clean edge along a highlight, with minimal aberrations and distractions, that is especially pleasing when it is out of focus. This design allows beautiful bokeh with busy backgrounds melting away from their subjects to create an isolating effect untouched by any other lens," said Victor Ha, vice president of the Electronic Imaging and Optical Device Divisions, Fujifilm North America Corporation. "The new XF 56mm F1.2 R WR lens offers a wide variety of creative applications such as portraits, weddings, street photography, table-top, and commercial photography -- all situations that demand precise control over depth-of-field."
The lens incorporates 13 elements organized across 8 groups. There are two aspherical elements and one ED element. The lens includes eight elements within its focusing group and utilizes high-refractive technology from Fujinon cinema lenses to minimize chromatic, spherical, and comatic aberrations. Fujifilm says that, in particular, the technology minimizes light bleed within highlights, which enhances image quality and subject detail. This is especially important given that the new X-H2 is a 40MP camera that uses Fujifilm's highest-resolution X-Trans CMOS sensor yet.
In pursuit of excellent bokeh, the lens includes an 11-bladed rounded aperture diaphragm, the first of its kind for an XF lens. As Ha mentioned, the lens promises an almost perfectly circular aperture, even when stopped down to F4 or F5.6, which expands creative possibilities for photographers who want more depth of field and resolution without sacrificing bokeh quality.
The lens uses a DC motor to drive its eight-element focusing group. The aperture unit is also controlled via a DC motor. Autofocus should be better than the previous version concerning speed, but the lens also focuses closer. The minimum object distance is just 50cm (19.69 in.), which is 20cm closer than the prior XF 56mm F1.2 R lens. Fujifilm has also added a new bearing mechanism that results in quieter autofocus performance when the DC motor is operational.
At 445g (15.69 oz.), the new lens is about 40g heavier than its predecessor. It's also longer – 76mm (2.99 in.) versus 69.7mm (2.74 in.). That's not a big difference in practice, but it's still worth noting. The new lens also uses a larger filter diameter (67mm) than the prior lens (62mm). The new lens incorporates weather resistance via nine body seals in exchange for the larger form factor.
The Fujifilm XF 56mm F1.2 R WR lens will be available later this month for $999.95 in the US and $1,275 in Canada. The current XF 56mm F1.2 R lens is also $999.