02 June is a public holiday, a day to celebrate Vesak Day, and it is also a day to witness the launch of Fujifilm X-S20 and XF8mm f3.5 in Singapore.
Last year, Fujifilm held the launch of the X-H2S at Monti At 1-Pavilion Italian Restaurant and Rooftop Bar. This year Fujifilm holds the launch event at KOMA at Marina Bay Sands.
There was a long queue of guests waiting to get registered and enter the restaurant. There are some photographers who signed up for their camera sensor cleaning and will have to pass their cameras to the Fujifilm staff before entering the event.
After walking past the torii, we are greeted by a big iconic bell of KOMA.Left: William Chua, X-Photographer, with model Right: Host presenting X-S20 and XF8mm f3.5Iwata San and Mindy Tan, X-PhotographerThe invited photographersThe X-Series Lenses
The X-S20 and XF8mm f3.5mm. Probably the best combo for vloggers.
Not forgetting to take the food photography
Photo taken with X-S20Photo taken with X-S20The Instax Link Printer!And finally to have my photo taken and printed by the Instax Link Printer!
I am lucky to have had the opportunity to test quite a fair amount of manual lenses but this is the second macro manual lens I have tested thus far. So testing a manual macro lens is still a new thing for me. Usually, I use a macro lens for 2 genres and that is product shots and portraits. It is because of the sharp optical glass and I am basically worry-free about the minimum focus distance limitation the lens has. Nonetheless, I am very excited to give this lens a spin.
TTArtisan 40mm f2.8
Intro
On September 2021, TTArtisan announced its very first macro lens. It comes with various mounts such as L mount, m43, EOS-M, RF mount, Z mount, E mount, and X mount. At 60mm (in 35mm format equivalent), this is an uncommon focal length where we do not see many players in the market releasing something close, except for Fuji XF30mm f2.8.
Although this lens has been in the market for almost 20 months, I am glad that TTArtisan is willing to send me this lens for a hands-on. Without their support, this post will not become a reality.
TTArtisan 40mm f2.8
In any case, this review is still my own opinion.
TTArtisan 40mm f2.8
Design and Build Quality
From the lens design, we can see how it has taken inspiration from their TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 and inspired their TTArtisan 35mm f0.95 and TTArtisan 50mm f0.95. They shared a lot of similarities lens design elements and yet we get to notice that each category has its own design characteristics.
Having said that, this lens weighing 380 grams is good to hold. It has a very gentle clicky aperture ring and it also comes with an excellent damp but smooth manual focus ring. Some photographers might prefer a less damp, smoother manual focusing experience, but I think it is just fine as it also gives me a sense of better manual control for my shooting style.
From the side view, it looks like a normal lens. But when you view it from the top, it has a unique lens barrel design where the front lens element is deeply recessed into the lens barrel. I have no idea why TTArtisan has such a design but it definitely stands out from the rest.
When the focus ring is at infinity, the lens is at its smallest compact look. But when we shoot at its Minimum Focus Distance, the lens is protruded approximately two third of its original length.
Unlike many other TTArtisans lenses where you need to stop down the aperture values to at least 1-2 stops to achieve decent sharpness, contrast, and details of photos taken. It has been a long time since I tested out a prime lens that I can truly use the images at wide-open (except for TTArtisan 25mm f2 and TTArtisan 50mm f2.)
At f2.8, I am amazed by the image quality. In most parts of the image, it has a good level of sharpness at the center and it does preserve some level of contrast but has decent enough details (not the best and not the worse either). As compared to most manual lenses, I am also amazed that the chromatic aberration is in good control.
But with all the praises, here comes the feedback. It has very strong vignetting and obvious softness at the corner. Of course, everything will be fine if you lower the aperture by 1 to 2 stops but that is not the point.
Another thing to note is that subject separation from the background is not as blurry as larger aperture values like f1.4 can do and most photographers know that. Also, it does not have a very seamless gentle fall-off between the main subject and others. Furthermore, depending on the background, the bokeh can be easily harsh.
The focusing from MFD to infinity is approximately 270 degrees and I think it gives a very good amount of “space” for nailing the shot but this amount of focus throw can be “troublesome” to some photographers who preferred to have a shorter focus throw.
Also similar to most manual lenses, it does not give a fully focused shot at infinity, we still need to rotate back a little to achieve the actual fully focused shot.
Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)
Although 17 cm MFD is not the closest I have tested, it is pretty decent for a macro lens. It still gives a very close-up tight shot of the subject and typically can cast a shadow on the subject.
This lens is selling at an attractive price point. At 99 USD (or 94 USD under promotion), it is one of the most affordable macro lenses out there in the market. For reference, Fuji XF30mm f2.8 is 599 USD, Meike 60mm f2.8 is 190 USD, 7Artisan 60mm f2.8 is 139 USD, and Voigtlander Macro APO-Ultron 35mm f2 at 629 USD.
I notice that the white balance changed when I shot with different aperture values. But this could be a problem for lenses that do not come with electronic contact? Or this could be due to how the sensor “sees” from the lens and the processor changes according to the information given by the sensor? Anyway, I think this is less of a problem if the photographers are shooting in Raw. But if you are a straight-out-of-camera photographer, then do take note of it.
I don’t know how well is this lens for insect photographers to shoot but I can say that this lens is very comfortable for landscape, street, food, and product shoots. For portrait, journalist, and documentary photographers, I will leave it for you to decide as it’s a manual lens and its focus throw is huge. You might miss the shots by the time you nailed the focus.
This lens is compact and I am very comfortable using this lens for the street. While the protruding front lens element can be quite a disturbing factor to me and the image quality at wide open is not the best among the macro lens category, I can give in to the focal length, compactness, and price point. All in all, it is easily a good macro lens for photographers to own and attempt to do macro shots, especially for photographers who do not have a macro lens.
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 2023. 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.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
Since my DSLR era, I have had a soft spot for macro lenses. Not because I love to shoot insects or flowers, but because I love to use them for product shoots. Till today, I am still using a macro lens for most of the product shoots in this blog.
Meike 60mm f2.8
Intro
The Meike 60mm f2.8 was announced in early March 2023. In case one wonders, this is Hong Kong-based manufacturer’s first-ever attempt to build a manual macro lens. So how well it works? Let’s find out.
Before I proceed, I would like to thank Meike for sending me this lens for review. Like other posts, the review of this lens is based on my true opinion.
Meike 60mm f2.8Meike 60mm f2.8
Design and Build Quality
This 300 grams lens is nicely built with quality. But the first thing I notice with the lens is the lens design. It is greatly inspired by the design of Canon RF-S lenses (maybe there are other manufacturers with similar designs too, please let me know as I would like to know it too, thanks in advance). The focus ring has a similar texture design to the one found in the RF-S aperture ring and I quite love the texture when I touch it with my fingertips. The rotating of the focus ring is smooth with little dampness/friction.
The next thing I would like to talk about is the aperture ring. This 90mm (in full frame equitant) has a smooth, clickless ring, and I believe videographers will love it. I am okay with it but I do miss the clicky experience. It gives me some sense of which aperture I am at now (after all, the lens does not have any electronic contact to provide the metadata to the camera body).
Oh yes, this 49mm filter-size lens feels great on hand.
Image Quality
When comes to macro lenses, I set my expectation a little higher than prime lenses. Typically, the results from the glass tend to produce much sharper, more contrasty, and more detailed images.
This lens does not disappoint me. Although the image quality level is slightly below the XF80mm and XF30mm, it still has very good sharpness and contrast at wide open. But I also notice that the sharpness isn’t that great at the extreme corners. In short, the image is totally usable.
Another surprise to me is that it has good chromatic aberration control but I do observe mild vignetting. At least there is one less thing to take care of in post-processing.
The background blur surprisingly renders quite well too. At least the fall-off between the subject and the foreground/background is comfortable to my eyes.
If there are some readers who wonder, the sunny star result is also a sharp one too.
Similar to Meike 35mm f0.95, it also has the problem of having off-focus results when I shoot at the infinity mark. So the right infinity shot is somewhere the infinity symbol is.
But there is something I observed for my test unit. If I shoot on a subject that is somewhere between 3 meters marking and infinity marking, I have a little hard time nailing the shot right. The focus on the subject is like either undershoot or overshoot. I have to rotate the focus ring really slowly to get it right. It could be my focus peaking issue or my technic is wrong.
Because there are various magnifications throughout its focusing distance, you might get the illusion that there is lens breathing or “zooming” going on.
At 190 USD, I think it is a very good price point for photographers who want to attempt to get an experience of what a macro lens can do but do not mind having to do with manual focusing. And of course, it is a lot cheaper than the autofocus macro lenses.
Something worth noting (but probably not for some readers): the lens is internal focusing, which means that the lens does not protrude or any movement when we rotate the focus ring back and forth.
Secondly, there is an obvious white balance change with the change in aperture value. This is similar to what I observed with the Meike 35mm f0.95. So again, it might be my camera setting. If you are shooting raw, then you have nothing much to worry about. You can always post-process it. If you are a Straight-Out-Of-Camera photographer, then you probably have to take note of it.
As I mentioned earlier, I think the price of this lens is very well priced and it gives photographers a good chance to experience the macro lens and its macro capabilities.
But that does not mean that a macro lens is limited to only macro photography. I find the focal length is very suitable for street (depending on the kind of street photography you are in), portrait, product shoots, and possibly journalist photography.
Conclusion
Despite being the first macro lens from Meike, they have done a good job with this lens. To summarize my thoughts, the lens design is very modernized and beautiful. Besides that, the lens build quality and image quality is nothing to shout about.
One last thing that I like about it is its size and weight. It is practically able to carry around more easily than the XF80mm. After all, the Meike 60mm is much shorter and weighs much lighter than the XF80mm (750 grams).
All in all, I feel that this lens is a great attempt for Meike.
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 2023. 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.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
As the title suggests, please take this comparison with a pinch of salt. It’s just for fun and nothing too technical to share and discuss. This is something I did not try before but there is always a first time.
First thing first, why compare these 2 lenses? My reason is simple. They are approximately the same size and same price range (approximately 150 USD different) for brand new. Some might suggest why not compare the Sigma 18-50mm with the XF 16-55mm instead. In my opinion, they are not the same size and you can buy 2 of the Sigma 18-50mm lenses and have some cash left. To cut things short, they are in a different league.
Here we go.
Left: Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 @ f2.8. Right: XF 18-55mm f2.8 – 4 @ f2.8. Shoot at approximately 50 cm. Both at 18mm.
Left: Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 @ f2.8. Right: XF 18-55mm f2.8 – 4 @ f2.8. Shoot at 30 cm. (XF 18-55mm minimim focus distance). Both at 18mm.Sigma 18-50mm @ f2.8 @ 18mm . minimum focus distance @ 12.1 cm
Left: Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 @ f2.8 @ 50mm. Right: XF 18-55mm f2.8 – 4 @ f4 @ 55mm. Shoot at approximately 100 cm.
Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 @ f2.8 @ 50mm. Shoot at approximately 100 cm.
In conclusion: Despite having 5mm shorter than the Fuji, Sigma has more versatility. All thanks to the capability of shooting at a much closer Minimum focus distance at both wide and tele ends. As for image quality, I think they come in quite close together. What do you think? Are you willing to sacrifice the aperture ring and the metal build lens to opt for a Sigma 18-50mm f2.8?
Thank you for reading.
Disclaimer: 1. All the shots taken here are shot by me. 2. All shots are straight out of the camera. 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.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
I can’t deny that 35mm (50mm in full-frame equivalent) is one of the favorite focal lengths among most photographers. And I see why the manufacturers are releasing this focal length at a higher priority and more frequently (with various aperture values) than any other focal length. Having said that, we, photographers, have so many options to choose from when it comes to this focal length.
Meike 35mm f0.95
As far as I know, 4 manufacturers are producing 35mm f0.95 to date. Namely TTArtisan, 7Artisans, Mitakon (Zhongyi), and of course, the main character of this post: Meike.
Meike 35mm f0.95
Intro
This is my first time working with Meike and I appreciate Meike for sending me this lens for review. Having said that, this review is not biased but rather based on my true opinion.
I did a short research on the company. The Hong Kong-based manufacturer was established in 2007 and they are specialized in many videography and photography tools and equipment. They have many cine lenses and still lenses (both auto and manual lenses) in their business portfolio. In order words, they are very experienced in this field.
This lens was announced back in October 2022 and comes with massive 6 camera mounts: Sony E, Fujifilm X, Canon EF-M, Nikon Z, Canon RF, and Micro Four Thirds.
From the look of this lens, it has a very distinctive design. The manual focus ring has that unique pattern that not only helps the photographer to “identify” the which ring he/she is rotating. This design is inspired by Voigtlander lenses and some of the older Nikon manual lenses.
(Update 15 April 2023: Special thanks to a friend who pointed out that the Voigtlander and some of the Nikon lenses manual focus ring has the same design.)
Speaking of the focus ring, I shall share my experience with both the manual and aperture rings together. Both have a different texture but they are very comfortable and grippy to hold. Rotating them is a pleasure. They have a good balance of friction and you do not need to apply too much force to rotate.
At 380 grams, it is not as heavy as it seems to be. The weight of the lens is very well distributed and balanced. Also, it has a relatively small filter size. Only 52mm. For context, XF35mm f1.4 and XF18mm f2 are the same filter size.
Oh yes, this lens comes with a metal build body with a cap-on lens cap, which I feel is a quicker removal option than the screw-in lens cap. But a little pity is that the lens cap is made of plastic. Something I am not expecting from a high-quality built lens.
Maybe it is me, but it is a challenge to nail the shot well in wide-open with moving/motion subjects. At f0.95, the image quality has a certain level of softness, lacking some contrast, sharpness, and a very shallow depth of field. It also has some glowing effect on it which sometimes make me think I have taken an off-focused shot.
I also do observe pretty obvious chromatic aberration and vignetting at f0.95. I think that’s acceptable or rather within my expectations for manual lenses with a large aperture. As for overall image quality, I find it is okay and actually much more usable than I thought. If you are picky or pixel-peeper, you will probably not be in favor of the results.
Nonetheless, I can also see better image quality improvement from f2 onwards. But that is not the main purpose of having an f0.95 lens if you want to stop it down to f2 right?
For sunny star result, it gives a much contrast and sharp star result as compared to some of the manual lenses. And also, it introduces some flares as well if facing directly toward the light source.
For most of my other manual lens tests, I always observed that the result is always off-focus when I shoot at the infinity mark. I have to rotate the focus ring somewhere before the infinity mark to get the right infinity shot.
This is also the case for the Meike lens. In order to shoot at actual infinity, rotate to where the printed infinity symbol printed is and not where it’s labeled position.
From MFD to infinity, the focus throw is approximately 90°. Like most manual lenses, this gives a good amount of “distance” for precise focusing. I do have not much of a comment for this department.
0.39m is its MFD. Not the shortest MFD for its focal length but the image quality from this lens is pretty good. The MFD is very similar to the Ronkinon 35mm f1.2 but a few centimeters further than the average 0.35m from other lens manufacturers have for their lenses.
Compared with other f0.95 of the same focal length, this lens is priced at 259 USD. Do you think it is expensive? I think Meike priced it just right among the competitors and I think it is still a fair price to have that f0.95 aperture value.
Something interesting to note: it may be due to my camera or its settings. There is an obvious white balance change whenever I changed from other aperture values to f0.95. It does not have a real impact on me since I can change it under In-Camera Raw Processing.
I have the TTArtisan 35mm f0.95 with me to compare with this lens. As you can see, they have very different designs, sizes, and approaches. So, which one do you prefer?
As a manual focus lens, it is targeted a very specific group of photographers who understand the pro and cons of owning this unique lens and knowing what they can achieve from this lens. Having said that, this is a focal length that is very suitable for many genres. And also, it is one of the focal lengths for new photographers to get adapt to easily, especially for first-timer prime lens photographers.
As for professional photographers, unless you know what you want to do with this lens, then you can consider getting one.
Conclusion
There are many manual lenses out in the market and we are spoilt for choice. But if you are planning to get into the brightest and fastest manual lens in the market with a fair decent price. Given that the shots taken wide-open are pretty usable, I think this is one of the lenses for your consideration.
This is my first time testing out this lens from Meike and it leaves me quite a positive impression. Although it shares quite a lot of similarities with other manual lenses in the market, it does stand out quite a bit from them too. Especially on the lens design and image quality at wide open.
Not forgetting that they have launched the first autofocus lens (85mm f1.8) for the Fujifilm community. I am excited to see more products released from them!
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. 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.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
When it comes to third-party zoom lenses, Fujifilm photographers do not have many options. If I remember correctly, Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 DC DN Contemporary is the 3rd zoom lens (among the third-party lenses), and it is the first zoom lens from Sigma for Fuji available in the market.
Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 was announced way back in October 2021 but that was meant for L-mount and E-mount cameras. The X-mount version was only announced merely one year later.
When I think about a constant f2.8 zoom lens, my perception of the lens is that it should be a huge lens, a big filter size, and be heavy. Sigma did a wise choice by doing something different with this lens. It is totally the opposite of what I just mentioned. It is so compact and small. And I can’t help thinking this might be a perfect choice to bring for travel.
Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Before I share further, allow me to thank Mr. Lawson from Sigma Marketing (Singapore) for loaning me the Sigma 18-55mm f2.8 Contemporary DC DN lens for review. I appreciate his support to make this review a reality.
Design and Build Quality
The overall design language of this lens shares a lot of similarities with Sigma 16mm f1.4, Sigma 30mm f1.4, and Sigma 56mm f1.4. It does not come with an aperture ring and the lens body is polycarbonate (also known as Thermally Stable Composite TSC) constructed.
Having said that, this 285 grams lens (it is just 5 grams heavier than the Sigma 56mm f1.4 and 10 grams heavier than the Sigma 30mm f1.4) is genuinely great to hold with and the built quality is very sturdy and it does not give out a sense of cheap feeling.
The 28-75mm (in full-frame equivalent) also comes with dust and splash resistant. This compact lens comes with a filter size of 55mm which is very decent and photographers who buy filters are delighted to know about it.
I have to say… The image quality coming out of this glass is great. The sharpness and contrast are great. At f2.8, the image is totally usable. The details are tremendous and resolve very well with my X-T5’s 40 megapixels sensor. This shows there are some quality and engineering works done with Sigma’s engineering team.
Although I am more of a prime lens user, I get to use or test with some zoom lenses. To be fair, prime lenses are still on better image quality, much sharper, and have better contrast. So if I am to compare the Sigma 18-50mm with the other zoom lenses, I think I am really impressed with this lens’ optic quality.
At wide open, the bokeh is very good with a very decent and gentle fall-off between the subject and background/foreground. I do observe very mild chromatic aberration and vignetting and I think it is within my acceptable range.
This lens comes with a stepper motor but, to be frank, the focusing performance surprises me. In good lighting conditions, it is really fast in focus locks onto the subject. Almost instantly. And I do not hear any sound produced by the focusing motor. It is silent.
However, I do occasionally experience slowing down and have the push-pull effect before it focuses on the subject. But it recovered quickly and the same behavior did not occur immediately.
As for challenging lighting conditions, I do see it struggle a little more before focusing on the subject. I think this is normal since most lenses have very similar behavior.
Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)
At 18mm, it has the shortest MFD of 12.1 cm. How close is that? You have to remove the lens hood to get that close. Otherwise, you will get the shadow of the lens hood in your shots.
At 50mm, it too has the shortest MFD for the same focal length. I haven’t come across any 50mm lens to have 30 cm MFD. With such a close MFD, it is very impressive to give me a new point of view.
At MFD, the shots retent their sharpness and contrast pretty well with a little bit of softness.
Price Point
This is probably the most important part. It is selling at SRP 549 USD. It is probably the best price-to-performance and size ratio in the market. It is probably the most affordable constant f2.8 lens on the market.
I can’t help but to compare this little beast with my very first lens and also the first zoom lens from Fuji, XF 18-55 f2.8- 4.
XF18-55mm f2.8 – f4 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Physically, they are very close to each other with XF18-55mm being a tad bigger but you cannot tell the difference if you are not comparing them side by side.
XF18-55mm f2.8 – f4 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Putting image quality and performance aside, if I were to choose between them, I will choose Sigma 18-50mm. The reason is simple: constant aperture. As I have an IBIS camera, I do not need an Optional Image Stabilizer lens.
Others
Unlike other third-party manufacturers, this lens does not come with a data-transfer port (i,e. USB-C) or docking station to update the firmware. It is simply downloading the lens firmware, transferring it to an SD card, and updating the firmware via the camera body. the same as how we do for Fuji lenses.
In general, if you want to use it for commercial works or shooting events, documentaries, etc, it is possible. The focal length is sufficient to cover most genres but I would like to suggest this lens to a specific group of photographers and that is travel photographers and budget photographers.
Travel photographers who want to travel lightweight (especially avoiding strain on your shoulder on long hours) or want to pack as compactly as possible but do not want to sacrifice too much on image quality. I think you can consider this lens for your next trip.
This lens also comes with a very attractive price point which I think is a good starter lens for the photographer who has a budget to work on.
Conclusion
Although this lens does not come with the widest possible focal length (like 16mm), this lens no doubt has great versatility which covers our most frequently used focal lengths. As a Fuji fanboy, I do miss the aperture ring. But let’s not forget that it does produce decent image quality, compact size, and reliable autofocus speed. And most importantly, it is priced very well for a constant aperture lens. What can I ask for? A better-built quality like the I series. I hope to see the X-mount variant someday.
Disclaimer: 1. All the shots taken here are shot by me. 2. Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 is running on firmware 0.99. At the time of this blog release, firmware 1.10 was released, but I have not had the chance to upgrade and test it. 3. Most of the shots are straight out of the camera with some shots edited via In-Camera Raw Processing or Capture One. 4. 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. 5. I reserve ownership of these images, if you wish to use my images, please notify me.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
Another week another Photowalk. In fact, it is just 4 days apart from the preview Photowalk. This is organized by Ivan Joshua Loh. For the first time ever, this Photowalk falls on a weekday, Wednesday. Thanks to the Fujifanboys, the weekday turnup rate is very high. To make things interesting, there is also a small challenge in this Photowalk. The winner of this challenge will win a Fiveray M40 (worth 159 SGD). Thanks to the sponsor, Zhiyun!
Mdm Yeo of Yeo Buan Heng has her portrait shots taken.
Our dear Matte is sharing about the home he stayed in from baby to 8 years old. This is the exact place. Shots with a powerful pocketable 40W source light, Fiveray M40 .
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 or 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.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
This is one of Fujifilm’s finest and best optical lenses that Fuji fanboys and fangirls should consider owning. Especially if you do not own any portrait lenses and plan to get one, you may consider this gem. I know it’s not a cheap lens, so save up the money and aim for this one. You will fall in love with it.
Intro
XF56mm f1.2 WR is one of the most anticipated lenses ever released. When it was announced at the X Summit NYC back in September 2022 together with the X-H2, I think I can hear many fans (including myself) of this 85mm (full frame equivalent) screaming to get one.
But lady luck is not with me. Somehow I did not manage to get one since it launched. It took me longer than expected and together with the help of my friend to get one.
Design and Build Quality
It comes with Fujifilm well-built, well-constructed, and well-weight lens. At 445 grams, it is actually not as heavy as it sounds. Fujifilm keeps the best clicky aperture ring and smooth manual focus ring (focus-by-wire) experience. They are still as satisfying as the other FujiFilm lenses.
They also include the auto-aperture lock button too, which I think is pretty standard for Fujifilm’s new-generation lenses. Similarly, Fujifilm includes a plastic hood instead of a metal hood (like the good old days).
The filter size is 67mm. This is considered a decent size for a mid-telephoto lens (and not too painful for photographers spending on filters).
Image Quality
What can I complain about this lens’ image quality? At wide-open, it is undeniable the clinically sharp image quality I have ever seen among the Fujifilm lenses (but personal opinion, XF80mm f2.8 is still the sharpest lens). I seldom use this word to express the image quality but it is definitely breathtaking.
As for the background blur, I love how beautiful the fall-off between the focused subject and the other is. Unlikely some other lenses from third-party manufacturers where the bokeh are hard and harsh, the bokeh from this lens is rendered very smoothly and very pleasing to my eyes.
Speaking of chromatic aberration, there is no purple fringing to be seen. Again, this is a benchmark from Fujifilm. But for vignetting, there is a tiny vignetting at the corners at wide open. This is very impressive for an f1.2 lens. Of course, you can either remove the vignetting in post-edit or step up the aperture value.
The lens/focus breathing is good here. The focus distance did not change dramatically as you change the focus distance between the Minimum Focus Distance and infinity and vice versa. But I cannot say this lens will be a great lens for videographers (I will share more later).
Focusing
It may not be the fastest from Fujifilm but it is a quiet one. It focuses fast if the subject is slightly off-focus and under well-lit conditions. Otherwise, the lens might give some wobbly focusing experience and might take quite a while to focus lock onto the subject. I do experience being unable to focus on the subject and that is mainly under extremely low light or challenging conditions.
If you are wondering how much better is the new one and the original XF56mm f1.2, I tested with the original one before and I can say that the newer one does focus much better and faster.
What contributes to the “not the fastest” focusing lens? I guess that it is missing the Linear Motor (LM) (as the name of the lens missing out the LM, suggested that there is no LM) which is designed to drive the focus lens group faster and quieter.
According to Fujifilm, they use the DC motor.
Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)
The MFD is 50cm, which is remarkably short for a mid-telephoto lens and also a huge improvement from the original XF56mm f1.2 at 70cm.
The image quality taken at MFD is very impressive too. Some lenses do have some characteristics shown up at MFD such as a soft glowing effect and this lens does not have any.
At 999 USD, it is definitely not the cheapest portrait lens out there in the market and the price of this lens set it far apart from its peers and competitors.
Who are the competitors? We have Viltrox 75mm f1.2 in the market at almost half the price of the XF56mm f1.2 WR and Viltrox 56mm f1.4 at 299 USD. Not forgetting that we also have the Sigma 56mm f1.4 and the original XF56mm f1.2 is priced just a little more than the Viltrox.
Others
I kind of dislike the plastic hood it provided. When I keep the lens hood facing inwards, it blocks the aperture ring and I am unable to control it. So some possible solutions will be:
Remove the hood completely / not mounting the lens hood at all;
Set to Automatic Aperture control and then control via the front command dial to get my shots.
Don’t get me wrong, I always do mount the lens hood facing outwards for long-duration shots. I just find it cumbersome if I want to do some quick snapshots.
Who is this for?
Putting the price aside, this lens is easily my recommendation for professional portrait photographers. But as for street photographers, journalists, and documentary photographers, I will leave it to you for your consideration. The focal length might be too tight for some to get used to but it is a good focal length to complement other focal lengths such as 28mm/35mm (in full frame equivalent). Be it with your primary camera or dual camera setup.
As for videographers, I think it is a great lens to use if you need the wide-open f1.2 aperture for your work. Also, the autofocus sometimes does have some jerking, so probably need to manually focus it or alternative external controls.
As my title said, this successor is almost perfect. What is the missing piece? For me, everything is perfect, the lens size, the weight, and the superior image quality. Only if Fujifilm could introduces the LM instead of using the DC motor, it will be a perfect lens. Of course, there might be many factors or reasons that stop them from using LM.
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 or 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.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
This is the first FFB photowalk in 2023. In this photowalk, we are happy to collab with Mezame from Zhiyun and Momotaru. Also, thank Mr. Iwata and Jasper from Fujifilm Singapore for attending this wonderful photowalk.
Once again, we would like to special thanks to Fujifilm Singapore, Zhiyun, Boundary Supply, and Momotaru for sponsoring this event.
Thanks to another monsoon surge, we have very cold and wet weather in Singapore. Despite the wet weather, we have every fanboy and fangirl turn up for the photowalk. Nothing gotta stops us, right?
Everyone has a good start by having a refreshing coconut shake from Momotaru. Briefing before the photowalk begins Mezame guides us using these amazing Zhiyun LED lights.
Model Natalie
Matte and his X100VWinner of Zhiyun Fiveray M40 + Silicon DiffuserWinner of Boundary Supply Errant PackWinner of Zhiyun Fiveray F100 comboMomotaru coconut pudding to bring homeAs usual, a group photo. Photo by Jasper.
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 or 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.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
I thank Ivan Joshua Loh from Fujifanboys for lending me this handheld cage for a short review. Before I begin, allow me to clarify, I am not a videographer so I cannot speak about how good the handling of this product is while filming. What I will share is my first impression of it, my apologies.
What’s in the box
It comes with many things in this package and I will list them below:
Cage
Top handler
HDMI & USB-C cable clamp
Hot shoe cover (with leveling)
Shutter button adapter
Side lock adapter
M2 screw (1 x short and 1 x long)
M3 screws x 2
Allen wrench
Tapered screw
Screws are not inside the shot.
Design
From its first look, it gives a compact and very strong retro steampunk vibe design (hence, the name). While the overall cage design is very much the same as the usual handheld cage design, this retro design set it apart from the norm. The brass-like cage with the brushed-off finished texture is so beautiful. Not forgetting the stitched leather handgrip is so beautifully curved along the grip.
Being a cage, it has to include several accessory mounting points right? So it comes with ARRI 3/8″-16 locating hole, a 1/4″-20 threaded hole, a 3/8″-16 threaded hole, a NATO rail, and also a cold shoe mount. And of course, this cage also comes with Arca-Swiss quick-release plate at the bottom.
Build Quality & Handling
The materials used here are mainly aluminum alloy, silicone, leather, and stainless steel. Overall, it gives a very sturdy and strong build. (I mean no one is expecting to have flimsy parts for a cage, right?)
It comes with a top handle, which gives a very good texture look and is comfortable in holding it.
The grip has a very deep contour and is very comfortable to hold for big hands like mine. With this huge grip design, SmallRig has even included a shutter button adapter to overcome the problem of reaching out to the shutter release button comfortably. How thoughtful they are. (But my long finger is still able to reach out for the shutter button.)
Others
There is a press-and-flip mechanism on the screw-on HDMI & USB-C cable clamp. This allows the videographer easily access to the camera interface cover without the need to remove the clamp.
If there are videographers who wish to wrist strap the camera, the cage comes with a wrist strap hole too.
At the base of the cage, there is a magnetic wrench/key which saves us a lot of time finding the right tool to loosen/tighten the screws.
In my own words
At 199 USD, it is the most expensive cage ever sold in SmallRig but I think it is totally worth it. I am sold by its retro design. It probably will seek some attention from the surrounding. But I feel that this retro cage does fuse well with the beautiful X-T5 too. Not only do they blend so well with each other, but the cage does also hold comfortably well. Thanks to its look, I might even consider getting this without the top handle. (Yes, SmallRig also sells without the top handle and cable clamp.) If you are looking for a beautifully crafted cage and do not mind spending a bit more, I think you can consider this.
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 or 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.
If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:
Alwin Kok 