Fujifilm 50mm f2 WR Lens Review

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The nifty fifty. The photographer’s camera bag would feel pretty empty with the absence of the venerable standard-view prime. Well, given Fuji’s APS-C crop sensor size it's more of a nifty seventy-five, but that doesn’t roll off the tongue very well. It is nifty. Probably my current favorite native fuji lens. Compact, fantastic build quality, and a superlative image quality? Nifty indeed.

Build Quality

The build quality is outstanding. In keeping with the other Fujfilm XF primes, it has a well-damped manual focusing ring (focus by wire never felt so solid) as well as a marked and clicked aperture ring. The manual focus ring feels phenomenal to use. It’s amazing to get this kind of feel in a focus-by-wire electronically controlled lens. The aperture ring is clicked in 1/3 stops and has pretty much perfect actuation. The physical quality of the rings is superb. Perfectly grippy and grooved.

The included plastic lens hood attaches with a bayonet style mount, allowing it to be flipped around for storage. Some may prefer a metal hood for a more solid build feel, but not having to worry about the lens hood getting dinged and dented and having the finish wear off are benefits and I personally prefer the plastic hood.

Ergonomics

The rubber grip texture of the focus ring and the plastic grip grooves of the aperture ring sit at the perfect level from the barrel of the lens, allowing for effortless and quick adjustments while preventing accidental adjustments. Really high marks for handling and ergonomics.

The lens is small. It’s a bit long, but it has a narrow diameter so it's skinnier than the typical 50mm prime lens. The slight bit of extra length allows the focus ring and aperture ring to be spread out a bit to avoid accidental adjustment of one or the other.

Image Quality

Image quality is where the 50mm f2.0 XF lens really shines. Razor sharp, beautiful colors that pair fantastically with the X-Trans sensors in Fujifilm cameras, and spades of micro contrast. This lens is superb for both color and black and white. Creating dynamic, dramatic images is no sweat with this little prime.

Sharpness of the lens is phenomenal from f2.0 all the way through the aperture range.

Color Rendering is vibrant. Not necessarily true to life, but still incredible.

Bokeh and out of focus rendering is pretty good. At the end of the day it’s a f2.0 camera, so the background isn’t obliterated like with the Fujifilm XF 56mm f1.2, but the bokeh is generally pleasing. It does occasionally get a little messy and busy, but in the majority of use cases its smooth and undistracting, and even when it does get busy it can be used to enhance the images.

Good

• Tack sharp, beautifully rendered image quality
• Fantastic build quality
• Has all the ergonomic characteristics that make Fuji lenses without peer among its modern peers
• The nearly perfect all-arounder prime for the fuji system

Bad

• Slightly expensive for a slower 50mm lens, but that’s about the only con for this lens

Conclusion

I have a special place in my heart for the 75mm equivalent of a 50mm lens on an APS-C sensor. It was my primary shooting setup for many years. Even with that bias I do think that the 50mm f2.0 XF lens is a must-have for anyone in the Fujifilm ecosystem given its tack sharp image quality, lovely color rendering, small, ergonomic size and function, and overall general useability. An absolute winner of a lens with almost no downsides.

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