Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD Lens Review

Handling and Features
Performance
Verdict
Specification

This telephoto lens for the Fujifilm X-series interchangeable lens cameras, may seem familiar, as it's virtually the same as the current 56mm f/1.2, which provides a field of view equivalent to an 84mm lens on a 35mm camera, sports a very bright f/1.2 maximum aperture and costs around £750. The difference with this lens is that it contains an apodisation (APD) filter in the optical path. The inclusion of this filter promises to produce smoother out of focus areas (bokeh), whilst maintaining crisp focus on your subject. The penalty for having the filter in the lens is that some light is lost at faster apertures. Another penalty is increased cost, with this lens being priced at around £1000, give or take a few pennies.

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD Handling and Features

As is typical for Fujifilm's high-end lenses, the lens barrel is constructed from a combination of metal and high-quality plastics, which has resulted in robust build. It is lightweight for a lens with such a fast maximum aperture, weighing 405g. As a result, it compliments the Fujifilm X-T1 used for testing perfectly.

Focusing is performed internally, so the lens does not extend. As a result, the 62mm filter thread does not rotate, making it perfect for use with polarising and graduated filters. To aid the use of fast apertures in bright sunlight, Fuji also include an ND8 neutral density filter with the lens, so that the shallow depth of field effect from the fast maximum aperture can be used in a wider variety of lighting conditions. A deep circular hood is provided, which attaches to the bayonet around the front of the lens. The manual focusing ring is well damped, making fine adjustments a pleasure to apply.

To compliment the retro styling of Fuji's X-series cameras, this 56mm lens has  a manual aperture ring for selecting your desired setting in a more traditional way. This aperture ring has each full stop marked, but has click stops for each intermediate 1/3 stop setting, and an 'A' setting for automatic operation. As well as the actual aperture setting, the lens also has light transmission values, taking the APD filter into account, marked in red on the aperture ring. This will be especially useful if using an external light meter, or calculating flash exposures. The aperture ring only requires a light touch to move through the aperture range, which is great for making quick adjustments, but care is required when changing lenses, as the aperture ring is easily moved.

Auto focus is quick, and precise, only hunting a little to confirm focus. The lens focuses accurately at wide apertures to make them useful, so long as appropriate care is taken to give the focusing system time to settle.

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD Performance

At maximum aperture, sharpness in the centre of the frame is outstanding and clarity towards the edges falls just short of good levels. This won't pose too much of an issue for portraiture, or for other photographic disciplines that require high sharpness in the centre of the frame.

As the lens is stopped down, sharpness levels increase across the frame, with outstanding sharpness being achieved from edge to edge from f/5.6. 

MTF
 

How to read our charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Fujifilm X-T1 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are so well controlled, that Imatest barely picked up any fringing at all. This extremely low level of CA should be virtually impossible to spot, even in harsh crops from the edges of the frame, or in large reproductions.

CA
 

How to read our charts

Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimise the problem, hence they usually cost more.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Fujifilm X-T1 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the edges of the frame is typical for a wide aperture lens, with the corners being 2.3 stops darker than the image centre at f/1.2. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down to f/5.6 or beyond.

Imatest was only able to detect a level of 0.0352% pincushion distortion. For all intents and purposes this extremely low level of distortion can be considered negligible. 

Fujifilm XF 56mm APD | 1/170 sec | f/1.2 | 56.0 mm | ISO 200

Fujifilm XF 56mm Not APD | 1/340 sec | f/1.2 | 56.0 mm | ISO 200

With, or without, the deep circular hood attached, this lens is very resistant to flare, even in harsh backlit situations. Contrast levels remain good when shooting into the light.

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD Sample Photos

Value For Money

This 56mm APD lens from Fuji costs around £1000, which is a 33% premium over the standard 56mm f/1.2, which costs around £750. Whether the APD filter will represent good value to you, will depend on a number of factors, so it isn't as clear cut as you may think to choose between the two lenses.

There are currently no comparable lenses available for Fuji X-series cameras. Canon's 85mm f/1.2 is probably the best-known medium telephoto with a maximum aperture of f/1.2 and that costs around £1500!

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD Verdict

This lens is a fine addition to the X-series lens line up. It is incredibly sharp, whether you're shooting with the aperture wide open, or not. The APD filter, which sets this lens apart from the standard 56mm f/1.2 is a really interesting addition, which truly helps to improve the appearance of out of focus areas, with no loss of sharpness where the image is in focus. The main penalty is with the loss of light transmitted through the lens. If you require fast apertures, for low light shooting, this may make the standard non-APD version the better choice for you. If however, your choice to shoot at fast apertures as a creative decision, and you're not struggling for light, then this is the lens for you. The difference in this respect will be worth the extra to those who appreciate it.

The price of £1000 seems quite reasonable when compared to alternatives produced for other camera systems, and especially if your shooting suits fast apertures as a creative decision. This is especially true, as one criticism I levelled at the standard 56mm f/1.2 was the busy appearance of out of focus areas.

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD Pros

Outstanding sharpness in the centre at maximum aperture
Outstanding sharpness across the frame when stopped down
Lightweight
Traditional design
Excellent build
APD filter improves appearance of out of focus areas

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD Cons

Slight loss of light due to APD filter makes the choice of this lens a creative decision over the standard lens

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
VERDICT

The Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD is incredibly sharp with impressive background blur.

Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R APD Specifications

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