The 50mm focal length (equivalent to 75mm in full frame) or similar focal length is a favorite among both manufacturers and photographers, showcasing its popularity. Most brands offer one or two standout lenses in this category. However, the real question is: Can this lens differentiate itself from the competition?
Intro
Before I proceed, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Brightin Star for sending this lens over for my review. Having said that, the review is based on personal experience and zero influence from the manufacturer.
This is Brightin Star first first-ever autofocus lens. It’s a great deal for the manufacturer and I am always happy to see more and more third-party lenses joining the Fuji family. This gives us one more option to choose from.
Design and Build Quality
At a glance, the striking yellow brand label is prominently marked on the lens body, and it resembles somewhat similar to a red badge brand. Nonetheless, it easily gives everyone a good impression of the brand. Oh yes, it comes with metal-built quality, which adds a touch of premium quality.
Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 50mm f1.4 @ 50mm . f2 . 1/400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative
Despite the presence of a textured half ring where the aperture ring would typically be located, this lens does not actually have one. I found myself attempting to rotate the “ring” only to discover that it was not present.
It’s a pity to see them missing out on the aperture ring. I was informed that by implementing the aperture ring, the height of the lens will be increased by at least 2cm. I guess the engineers behind this lens have some consideration and come out with this decision. Probably we might see one with the aperture ring someday?
With the weight of 445 grams, I can feel the weight when I hold the lens in my hand but it feels well-balanced when I mount it on my X-T5.
Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 50mm f1.4 @ 50mm . f1.4 . 1/400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative
It comes with a 58mm filter. I am glad that it comes with a small filter size, which does not require photographers to cough out a huge amount of money for a larger filter size.
Image Quality
My experience with Brightin Star 35mn f0.95 was positive and so I have a high expectation for this lens. I am glad that this lens did meet my expectations. The image quality is great at wide-open.
Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 50mm f1.4 @ 50mm . f1.4 . 1/80″ . ISO 3200 . Nostalgic Negative
The sharpness at wide-open is great but still falls behind the XF56mm f1.2. When comes to contrast, it seems to be slightly lacking too. I do not worry much about it since it can be done via post-edit. Nonetheless, vignetting and chromatic aberration are well-controlled.
When it comes to the background/foreground blur rendering, it is not the best rendering. But at least it is not something dramatic, nor is it messy.
One observation I’ve made is that, despite having the lens hood attached to the front, some flares are still able to penetrate and reach the glass. It’s uncertain whether this is due to the way I shoot, but it’s worth being aware of. However, the flare does not significantly diminish the quality of the captured image. It retains a good level of contrast on the subject while adding a unique character to the shot.
When it comes to the sun star result, the line is not the sharpest nor the lines are well-defined. The result is pretty dull in my opinion.
Focusing
This lens is equipped with a Stepper Motor (STM), and the focusing is considerably snappy for so many glass elements inside the lens. I have no issue with focusing on both bright days and well-lit environments. For low-light situations, I do experience occasionally a little slower autofocus performance. But it’s not a deal breaker for me.
Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 50mm f1.4 @ 50mm . f1.4 . 1/170″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative
In terms of eye-AF for portrait photography, the combination with the X-T5 performs well. It achieves a high success rate, with only a minimal number of out-of-focus results.
Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 50mm f1.4 @ 50mm . f2 . 1/100″ . ISO 2500 . Nostalgic Negative
I also encounter a few times when the focus is off when the focus box is already in green. I think this can be fixed by future firmware updates.
The focus breathing is a surprising minimum and I think this helps for videography.
Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)
It has a 50cm MFD, which is a little fall-short as compared with XF50mm f2 (39cm), Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 (45cm), but slightly better than Meike 55mm f1.4 (61cm), and Sirui 56mm f1.2 (60cm).
The MFD is just nice, and it is nothing to shout about. At least, the focus distance since any further than the competitions. In my observation, the image quality still preserved well with a minimal amount of softness is observed at wide-open. No sign of losing in contrast.
Price Point
It is priced at 299 USD. This is an attractive yet competitive price point for getting this amazing glass. Taking references from other similar focal length lenses like Sirui 56mm (279 USD), Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 (299 USD), Meike 55mm f1.4 (200 USD), Sigma 56mm f1.4 (529 USD), TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 (158 USD) and lastly XF50mm f2 (449 USD), this newly launched lens is actually quite reasonable.
Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 50mm f1.4 @ 50mm . f1.4 . 1/200″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative
Others
It comes with a USB-C port right at the rear of the lens mount, like many other third-party manufacturers do. This is mainly for future firmware updates.
According to Brightin Star, this lens does come with waterproofing, drip proofing, and dust proofing. Also, it comes with an anti-fouling fluorine coating that allows the stains that fall onto the lens to be easily removed. This surprised me, and I consider it to be a bonus point.
You might have noticed that there is something on the lens hood. It comes with a different lock release mechanism. When the lens hood is in the forward position, you need to press the button to detach it. However, this design only works one way, the lens hood is not able to lock when placed in the reverse position.
Who is this for?
We all know this focal length is suitable for the portrait genre, but this focal length is also suitable for the street genre, product genre, and journalism/documentary genre as well.
Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 50mm f1.4 @ 50mm . f2 . 1/6000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative
If you are new to Fujifilm and looking to start building a collection of prime lenses, this lens is both affordable and reliable for long-term use.
For seasoned photographers looking to experiment with third-party lenses, this could be the next lens to consider, as long as you are willing to accept that it lacks an aperture ring.
Conclusion
I have to emphasize again that this is Brightin Star’s first autofocus lens. Although it is not the perfect lens everyone is looking for (such as missing aperture ring and weight), the decent image quality and price tag is something worth considering.
In my opinion, image quality should be the higher priority among all functionalities, and I think the engineering effort for this lens deserves good praise. Nevertheless, this is a worthy lens, and I am already looking forward to their next autofocus lens.
Thank you for reading.
Disclaimer:
1. All the shots taken here are shot by me.
2. Most of the shots are straight out of the camera with some shots edited via In-Camera Raw Processing and Capture One.
3. The opinions are based on my experience. If there is any mistake, please kindly drop me a message and I will gladly make the amendment.
4. I reserve ownership of these images, if you wish to use my images, please notify me.
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