Hi
Fujifilm recently came out with their new XF50mm f/2, and I have to report, it's one sweet lens!
Following in the tradition of the 23mm, 35mm and to some extent, the 90mm, the new XF50mm f/2 is a compact, lightweight short telephoto prime with a fast, fixed f/2 aperture, weather
sealed construction and, of course, incredibly sharp optics. And it has the "Fuji-cron" look which is drawn from the Leica Summicron lenses of old.
I'm a huge fan of the f/2 series lenses, and in my mind, they perfectly epitomize. what the X Series is all about. They blend a wonderful combination of tradition, technology and usability into sexy little lenses that not only look gorgeous
on the front of our X Series bodies, they perform with outstanding clarity and they inspired creativity of a classic lenses.
I've been using the new 50mm f/2 for about three weeks now and I can attest, it's a superb lens and a worthy addition to the line.
If the 35mm f/2 and the 90mm fell in love and had a baby, this would be it. The new 50 has
the small size and usefulness of the 35, but with the added range of a short telephoto, so it offers a decent amount of compression, especially up close. This is compounded by the fact that the 50mm f/2 is capable of focusing at very close distances.
This makes it ideal for shooting things like portraits, details, landscapes, closeups of nature and travel. It produces wonderful bokeh and gives
you that slight telephoto look without having to carry a bigger lens.
In terms of functionality, the 50mm f/2 offers a very similar look to the XF56mm f/1.2, but it's half the size, half the weight, half the price, it's weather sealed and it focuses dramatically closer and faster than the
56.
The only real tradeoff is that you lose one stop. That's hardly an issue, though. f/2 is still VERY fast, and when you combine that with the vastly improved focusing motor, you could actually shoot closeup sports with this lens.
I'll be doing a full review of the XF50mm f/2 very soon, but it's going to say a lot of the same stuff.
In short, the 50 f/2 is a sweet
little lens. If you want the short, sharp telephoto "look" of the 56, but with a little more performance in a much more compact design that's easier to carry for travel, adventures and street photography, and a MUCH more affordable price tag, then this is the one for you.
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Enjoy the article below and have a great week! Dan Bailey
dan@danbaileyphoto.com
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Looking for Decisive Moments in Your Photography |
Essentially, The Decisive Moment refers to a single fleeting moment that is captured by a photographer who was in the right place at the right time. In real life, that “decisive moment” might have gone by so fast that most of us probably didn’t see it happen, or if we did, we just saw it within the context of the rest of the unfolding
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