In this case, I actually preferred the overall look of JPEGs over RAW files. Achieving a higher contrast look on a local level without negatively impacting the global look of the image requires somewhat of an expert touch in editing, and I’m not sure that this is a skill that everyone has in their toolbox.īut that leads me to an interesting observation: Fuji is the one platform out of the various systems I test where people often go who want to shoot JPEGs and not mess with processing RAWs. It’s not really that easy to do, and just increasing contrast doesn’t mean that you can create details that simply aren’t there. Yes, you can add contrast via software (contrast sliders, tone curves, or even via layers), but the challenge is adding that contrast without fundamentally altering the global nature/look of the image. One reviewer commented that, “you can always add more contrast”, but that’s not really entirely true. That low contrast means that acuity (ability to render fine details) isn’t fantastic on the lens at wide apertures. This is more of a classic sharpness profile, where some aberrations are left uncorrected in order to produce softer, creamier bokeh…which the lens can produce in spades. The XF 50mm F1.0 has much lower contrast and acuity at wide apertures, though there is a bit of a twist I’ll get to in a moment. Those lenses are well corrected and incredibly sharp even at wide apertures. But it is no Canon RF 50mm F1.2L for Canon’s mirrorless or a Sigma 35mm F1.2 DN for Sony/Leica mirrorless. It performs better against bright lights, and even has smoother bokeh. The XF 50mm F1.0 is relatively sharp at F1.0 and has fewer aberrations. So, for some perspective: relative to the old Canon EF 50mm F1.0L that I referenced earlier, Fuji has done a great job of minimizing the weaknesses of a lens with huge glass. It’s also important to recognize that some of the observations here are relative to what happens to be your point of comparison. There’s a reason why you don’t see more autofocusing lenses with an F1.0 aperture – this is very, very hard to engineer. The best I can say is that the focus gets the job done, but don’t expect the XF 50mm F1.0’s focus behavior to be the best in your kit even if the price of the lens suggests otherwise. There’s a reason why most lenses with very large apertures are manual focus… Not to mention the fact that large aperture means small depth of field, putting more pressure on the lens/camera to achieve accurate focus. You have to start momentum quickly and then stop that momentum quickly to achieve accurate focus, and that is much more a challenge with very large maximum apertures. A lens with this large an aperture has large, heavy elements (12 elements in 9 groups), and those heavy elements need a lot of torque to move the focusing group with both consistency and speed. Things are slightly different when developing for APS-C, but when you look into the lens, you are going to see a LOT of glass nonetheless. I want to start this section by stating that developing an autofocusing F1.0 lens is a serious challenge. I was using Fuji’s new X-S10 body for this test, which fortunately does come with IBIS. It does lack an optical stabilizer, so unless you have one of Fuji’s cameras with IBIS, you probably won’t be doing much handholding of video with the lens. This is a big, heavy lens, but it also comes with a professional grade build. This isn’t an identical lens to what Canon did, however, as this is engineered for Fuji’s APS-C X-mount, and thus has a 76mm full frame equivalent focal length, so a narrower angle of view and a little bit less challenging to design.Īnd that’s it! Not much here in terms of features, but the build quality is nice, it has good weather sealing, and is thus perhaps a better choice over the 56mm F1.2 for portrait photographers who shoot in a variety of weather conditions. Fuji has stepped up to the plate, and has tackled their own halo project in the Fujinon XF 50mm F1.0 WR lens. Frankly, that lens wasn’t particularly impressive as a practical instrument (in my opinion), but some of the engineering triumphs there enabled the much more accessible EF 85mm F1.2L and 50mm F1.2L lenses that came later. Canon did that several decades ago with the Canon EF 50mm F1.0L, a now rare collector’s item that I got the chance to review a number of years ago. Car makers do the same, and those halo cars are almost never high volume models, but they bring attention to the brand that helps sale more practical vehicles. ![]() ![]() Every now and then, a lens maker delivers a “halo” project that in many ways is as much about showcasing engineering expertise as it is about delivering a practical product to the end-user.
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