Hi everyone, today I am going to compare four different portraits lenses that I have used on the Fujifilm X-H2 body, which has the same 5th generation 40mp sensor for X-T5. Hopefully, this blog post will help you make decisions on which Fujifilm portrait lens you are going to buy. I am going to provide some image examples in this blog post. The lenses mentioned in this blog post are: New XF56mm F1.2 WR, Original XF56mm F1.0 R, XF50mm F1.0 WR and XF90mm F2 WR.
Key Points
New XF56mm F1.2 WR
Original XF56mm F1.0 R
XF50mm F1.0 WR
XF90mm F2 WR
New XF56mm F1.2 WR
The new generation of 56mm F1.2 WR didn't disappoint. I was impressed by the quality of this lens and it improved on three main areas:
Straight out of the camera contrast - It seems to have more contrast from SOOC files.
It's sharper than the first generation.
Handles the sun flare with better control. For those of you wanting better control of the sun flare, this lens will be great for you.
I got this lens at October 4th, 2022 and did my first photoshoot at October 9th, 2022. Below is the full video if you want to check it out.
In this first photoshoot with the XF56mm F1.2 WR, I was impressed by the straight out of camera files with beautiful contrast and colors. I was using the classic chrome film simulation which has a retro look tone to it.
By the way, here are my full settings on the X-H2 if you are interested: (You can set the same in your X-T5)
Color +1, Sharpness +1, NR (-4), Color Chrome Effect: weak, Color Chrome Blue: weak. Classic Chrome. White balance: 6600k
Below are some more real world examples of the XF56mm F1.2 WR lens from my photoshoots this past month. The first two photos were on the XH2, the third one was on the XT4, and the last one was on the XT2. You can check out how it performs in different generations of Fujifilm sensors.
Overall, the new 56mm F1.2 WR performs very well and the sharpness is great. One of the nice improvements is the minimum focusing distance reducing to 0.5 meters so that you can be closer to the subject and still able to focus. This feature also helps to shoot in the situation of some flowers photos if you want to take a break from taking portraits. You can be pretty close to the flower and get a pretty good of background bokeh.
In terms of bokeh, as shown in the image above, the bokeh looks very smooth and pleasant to the eyes. It retains the quality of the old 56mm bokeh.
If you are buying a Fujifilm X-H2 or X-T5, I would recommend this new XF56mm f1.2 WR to start as your first portrait prime lens.
Original XF56mm F1.2 R
For this original XF56mm f1.2 R, I have been using this lens since 2014 from my Fujifilm X-T1 portrait photoshoot. I used it for a lot of backlight shots.
I was curious on how it performs on the new 40mp sensor (X-H2 body). Below is the comparison video I did between the new 56mm f1.2 WR and original 56mm F1.2 R:
And below is one of the example from the 56mm f1.2 R:
The original 56mm F1.2 R has a dreamy layer of sun flare. Depending on your preferences, some people want to have less flare for their portraits. I have used a lot of sun flare from my old 56mm F1.2 R for framing. The sun flare also creates a vintage lens look to the portrait.
In terms of sharpness on the XH2, the new 40mp sensor, It's still very sharp even though it's not in the fully utilized list of the new 40mp sensor. If you are under a budget, this original 56mm F1.2 R will be the lens to start with.
XF50mm F1.0 WR
The Fujifilm XF50mm F1.0 WR is a great lens and it seems even improved on the new 40mp sensor. It might be because of the new XH2 or XT5 focusing system, the images in general looks sharper than when used in the XT4 body. Below are photoshoots that I used the XF50mm F1.0 WR on the Fujifilm X-H2 body:
One of the image example from the video:
The new sensor makes the XF50mm F1.0 WR look sharper. Below are some other photoshoots that used the XF50mm F1.0:
Below is another sample image that you can take a look at the smooth bokeh rendering. It gives a very nice bokeh background. For those of you who wants to have the maximum bokeh effect, this lens is for you.
One thing to keep in mind that this lens is weighted at 1.9 lb, which is pretty heavy comparing to other Fujifilm prime lenses, but still less heavy than the Canon RF 85mm F1.2 L prime lens. If you want more compact lenses in your bag, you should go for the 56mm F1.2 WR instead, but if weight is not an issue, this lens can produce some of the most amazing bokeh with portraits.
XF90mm F2 WR
The last lens I am going to analyze is the XF90mm F2 WR. One of the most impressed feature to me is the focusing speed. It has the fastest focusing speed out of these 4 lenses in this blog post. It might be because it's a LM (Linear Motor) focusing design with 4 internal focusing motor for faster focusing speed.
Besides focusing, the image quality out of this lens is amazing! I love the background compression from this 90mm F2 (which is 135mm full equivalent). The background compression makes the portraits more impactful. Below is an example:
Because of the background compression, the tree in the background are fulled into closer to the portrait and making the image more impactful. Also, the bokeh of the Fujifilm XF90mm F2 WR is very nice as well. It's beautiful to shoot this lens in the sunset backlight. Below are more examples including one with a full body using the XF90mm F2 WR:
As you can see, in the full body shot, the compression draws the trees in the background closer to the model, providing a nicer framing for the portraits. Also, the bokeh at the top of the trees are very nice and smooth, while the model is very sharp in the image rendering of this XF90mm F2 WR lens.
One of the thing to keep in mind that in order to take full body portraits, I need to have a distance of about 15 feet away from the model. Therefore, while shooting this XF90mm F2, you need to make sure the environment that you are shooting in has plenty of room to work with. For example, if you are shooting in the coffeeshop with tight space inside, this lens is not the right tool for that photoshoot. However, if I am shooting in the park during sunset hours, I will definitely bring this lens to create some more impactful portraits with beautiful backlight bokeh. It depends on what kind of environments you are going to shoot in.
Summary
In summary, these four portraits lenses are great with their own unique characteristic, below are the quick summary of each lens:
New XF56mm F1.2 WR - Best contrast and colors out of the 4 lenses, comparably light weight among these 4, and best sun flare control in backlight situation. It's a great lens to start your journey with new 40mp sensor in X-H2 or X-T5 camera bodies.
Original XF56mm F1.0 R - OG vintage style rendering, love the unique sun flare. I still use the sun flare for some portraits framing. It's still pretty sharp using with X-H2 sensor. Great budget for this 56mm F1.2 R.
XF50mm F1.0 WR - Best bokeh and beautiful background rendering. If weight is not an issue, this lens is for those bokeh lovers with improved sharpness at the new 40mp Fujifilm 5th generation sensor.
XF90mm F2 WR - Best auto focus performance, great compression for more impactful portraits. The focusing area is super sharp as well. You need more room to work with if taking full body shots (at least 15 feet away from the model).
Thanks for reading :) More photos will be uploaded in my Instagram account: @caliallstaring.
B&H Photo:
XF56mm F1.2 WR
XF50mm F1.0 WR
FUJIFILM XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR