Fujinon XF50mm f/1.0: Meet the “Worst” Lens of the Year that Many Want and Love ;)

XF50mm f/1.0 – Worst Lens 2020?

Recently DPRTV declared the Fujinon XF50mm f/1.0 the worst lens of 2020.

Of course this generated a heated debate. And today we are going to discuss this in a dedicated post.

Now, I think we can all agree that the Fujinon XF50mmF1.0 is not the sharpest Fujinon lens. But I doubt anyone would seriously expect that from an f/1.0 lens.

I think Jonas Rask described this lens best, when he wrote:

The images coming from XF50mm f/1 R WR has those exact same undefinable traits that makes me love my XF35mm f/1.4 so much. The sharpness that is sharp, yet not overly sharp. A flattering kind of sharpness that seems more rounded, organic and less digital/clinical.

[…]You know that “magic” that everyone is referring to when talking about the old XF35mm f/1.4? […] The focus on making a character lens instead of a “perfect” lens. And that is EXACTLY what the XF50mm f/1 R WR is. A lens full of character, but not a perfect optical creation.

But being not the sharpest, does not mean that it is unusable soft at f/1.0.

On the contrary, many other reviewers praise it for its sharpness all over the frame already at f/1.0.

Let’s Look More at the Worst Lens of the Year

Now also ivanjoshualoh joined the discussion, with his article “Meet the Worst Lens of 2020“. He shows samples taken at f/1.0, and quite frankly, for being at f/1.0, I think that they look totally fine. You can see one of his samples at 200% magnifications in this instagram post and you can check out his full article here.

In the B&H Explora Top 10 Mirrorless lenses list for 2020, the Fujinon XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR grabs the second spot right after the Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM. Read the full list here.

Another one comes from abiggercamera, who also took at look at his XF50mmF1.0 and shared his thoughts in this post.

Last but not least, the first customer reviews at AmazonUS and BHphoto here are also pretty positive.

What is Happening?

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DPRTV Best and Worst Camera Gear 2020: Love for Fujifilm X-S10, Fun for X100V and Worst Lens XF50mmF1.0, but…

 

DPReview TV has now published its Best and Worst gear episode for 2020.

They drink hard this year… congratz to Chris and Jordan for being able to go through all the video! Have fun watching it.

Down below the results:

Best lens

  1. Sony 12-24mm F2.8 GM
  2. Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART
  3. Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8
  4. Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8

Best hybrid camera

  1. Sony a7S III
  2. Panasonic S5
  3. Fujifilm X-T4
    Straight out of camera, the best video image

Best stills camera

  1. Canon EOS R5
  2. Fujifilm X-S10
    most of makes X-T4 great in a small price
  3. Nikon Z5

Most Fun Stills Camera / Honorable Mention

Best trend of 2020

  1. Year of Telephoto
    When mirrorless started, they wanted to make small lenses, keep the package small. Now companies are releasing more telephoto lenses like 70-200 for mirrorless.

Worst trend of 2020

  1. Overheating

Worst lens

  1. Fujifilm XF50mm f/1.0
    it’s soft

But… at this point I’ll share a few articles articles, where the XF50mm f/1.0 is actually hugely praised for its sharpness. No idea why there is such a massive discrepancy.

Worst camera

  1. Panasonic G100

The Fuji Gear in the list

Fujinon XF50mmF1.0 vs Viltrox 56mmF1.4 vs XF56mmF1.2 vs XF50mmF2.0 and More XF50mmF1.0 Reviews

The shipping of the Fujinon XF50mmF1.0 takes longer than expected due to an absolutely overwhelming demand. And in case you are one of those waiting, here is another roundup that will make your waiting even harder ;).

Blog Posts

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Cameralabs Fujinon XF50mmF1.0 Review: Tremendous Details at f/1.0 from Center to Corner, Attractive Bokeh, Simply Gorgeous

 

Cameralabs posted its XF50mmF1.0 review, and it’s just another stellar feedback for the XF50mmF1.0 after the ones we already posted in the past and we link for your convenience again down below.

Also, if you don’t have time to go through the 20 minutes review right now, you can read the summary I provide down below.

Earlier on FujiRumors

  • read here – XF 50mm f/1.0 Easily the Sharpest Lens I Have Ever Tested at Apertures Brighter than f/1.2
  • read here – Top Tier Performance, Impressive Chromatic Aberration Performance… Magical!

Review Summary Below

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Fujinon XF 50mmF1.0 Review by Christopher Frost: “Easily the Sharpest Lens I Have Ever Tested at Apertures Brighter than f/1.2”

Christopher Frost has published his review about the brand new Fujinon XF50mmF1.0.

I will provide written summary below for those of you guys, who are in a hurry and don’t have the time to watch the video right now.

Full Frame Equivalency

  • The dimensions of the XF50mmF1.0 are very similar to the ones of the Full Frame Sony GM 85mmF1.4
  • the advantage of the Fujifilm optic is that the max. aperture of f/1.0 will mean that an enormous light intensity is hitting your camera sensor, leaving you with much faster shutter speeds than all other lenses
  • f/1.0 is twice as bright as f/1.4 and 66% brighter than f/1.2, so it really gives you a substantial advantage.
  • The XF50mmF1.0 is a dream lens not only for bokeh, but also for shooting indoors and in darker situations. It could be an incredible lens for wedding photography or video work.

Build Quality and Autofocus

  • build quality more or less second to none. Fantastic and professional feeling
  • lens is big and heavy
  • metallic and solid feeling
  • well weather sealed
  • aperture ring a bit too easy to change away from f/1.0
  • metallic focus ring turns extremely smoothly, but the way it works with the focus motor is pretty jerky, so using it is not the smoothest experience
  • very little focus breathing
  • internal microphone picks up sound of the focus motor
  • autofocus on X-T3 with firmware 3.00 (old firmware): autofocus works OK but is a bit unsure of itself hunting around a bit
  • autofocus on X-T3 with firmware 3.00 (new firmware): huge change. Focus is reasonably quickly and confidently even at f/1.0
  • DC AF motor is noisy

Image Quality

Sharpness

  • usually such fast lenses almost never have great image quality wide open
  • f/1.0: high resolution but low contrast. A little bit of purple fringing in high contrast edges. But he is really impressed by the great amount of detail being captured at f/1.0. You can add extra contrast in post. Sharpness remains all across the frame, but the far corner see some softness. But ever other lens he has tested at f/1.0 was significantly softer than the XF50mmF1.0
  • f/1.4: a lot more contrast in the center and reduced fringing
  • f/2.0: perfect image quality in the middle a little more detail in the corner
  • f/2.8 and beyond we can see excellent image quality in the corners, although not quite as perfect as the middle of the image
  • f/11 and f/16 image quality will soften again due to diffraction
  • OVERALL: Easily the sharpest lens he has ever tested at apertures brighter than f/1.2. It captures a very impressive amount of detail at f/1.0. For more contast stop down at f/1.4. For very sharp corners stop down at f/4. But at f/1.0 the lens is already sharp, which is very exciting to see

Distortion + Close up image quality + Flare

  • at f/1.0 just a little bit of pincushion distortion and vignetting is surprisingly moderate. He was expecting much more vignetting
  • af f/1.4 corners brighten a bit
  • at f/2 corners brighten a lot more
  • at f/1.0 close up quality is a bit softer than at normal distances, but still pretty usable. Stop down to see gradual improvements
  • despite the extreme nature of the lens, Fujifilm did fairly well to control flare, with flaring reduced to just a little green point when a bright light hits directly the image

Bokeh + LoCA

  • he really likes the look of it. Smooth, clean and all around gorgeous
  • if you really want to nitpick, then you could say it has slight cat eye shaped balls in the corners with very slight green outline
  • background looks wonderful
  • Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration is a bit noticable from f/1.0 to f/2.0. More or less all gone at f/2.8

Conclusions

  • the experience of using this lens was “out of this world”
  • it’s so cool to shoot at f/1.0 with autofocus
  • not a perfect lens, but unique, very powerful, decently sharp at f/1.0 and renders images with beatiful bokeh
  • $1,500 may be expensive, but Fujifilm achievement with this lens has matched the ambitions
  • he certainly recommends this lens.

This is basically another very positive review, after the one of ePhotozine, which we will link again down below.

  • read here – ePhotozine Fujinon XF50mm f/1.0 Review: “Top Tier Performance, Impressive Chromatic Aberration Performance… Magical!”

Fujinon XF50mmF1.0 Pre-Orders