Hardware

Published on September 3rd, 2020 | by Adrian Gunning

FUJIFILM heralds in a new age of portrait photography with the FUJINON XF50mmF1.0 R WR Lens

FUJIFILM Australia Pty Ltd is pleased to announce the launch of the FUJINON XF50mmF1.0 R WR Lens (hereafter “XF50mmF1.0 R WR”), the world’s first autofocus lens with a maximum aperture of F1.0, designed for mirrorless cameras. This is the 35th interchangeable lens for X Series digital cameras, delivering exceptional image quality using FUJIFILM’s unparalleled colour reproduction technology.

The XF50mmF1.0 R WR is an ultra-fast mid-telephoto prime lens with a focal length of 50mm (equivalent to 76mm in the 35mm film format) and a maximum aperture of F1.0. As FUJIFILM’s fastest interchangeable lens to date, it features a large-diameter design delivering incomparable resolving power and beautiful bokeh effects. The lens can also deliver edge-to-edge sharpness, showing versatility in the way it produces images.

The inclusion of a DC autofocus motor into the XF50mmF1.0 R WR allows for quick and accurate autofocus when images are captured at the maximum F1.0 aperture. With an extremely shallow depth of field, the lens also utilises the X Series cameras’ Face / Eye AF function to achieve sharp focus. This is especially important when capturing portraits, which is something that is quite difficult to achieve when focusing manually.

For times when manual focus is required, such as during video-recording, the manual focus ring provides 120 degrees of rotation to allow for precise, enhanced control and quick travel through the focus range to infinity. Lastly, despite being a large-diameter F1.0 lens, its weight, size and weather-sealing make it a practical choice for any professional photographer.

Key features of the XF50mmF1.0 R WR include:

(1) Achieve an incredibly shallow depth of field

The XF50mmF1.0 R WR consists of 12 lens elements in nine groups, including one aspherical element and two ED elements to achieve optimum control of spherical aberration. Used at or near its maximum aperture of F1.0, the XF50mmF1.0 R WR can produce an astonishingly shallow depth of field. Its precisely engineered, rounded diaphragm produces large, smooth bokeh in a professional fashion, allowing users to create clean portraits with almost true-to-life quality and edge-to-edge sharpness. Users can take advantage of this new feature to exclusively focus on the subject’s eyes, making captivating close-up character studies. The lens is not just for portraits. Take it out onto the street or into a lifestyle session and users can turn cluttered locations into clean backdrops with unrivaled subject separation.

(2) Be ready to make images more easily in low-light conditions

The large maximum aperture on the XF50mmF1.0 R WR means there are more options when it comes to capturing images in low-light conditions. At night, or in darkened interiors, the XF50mmF1.0 R WR offers the widest aperture on an XF Lens to date, allowing more light to be brought into an image. The XF50mmF1.0 R WR also easily achieves fast shutter speeds that freeze movement and keep ISO settings lower for detail-rich results. Alternatively, users can combine high ISO settings with the F1.0 aperture for incredible versatility and apply this to other low-light situations like astrophotography.

(3) World’s first F1.0 autofocus lens for mirrorless cameras

As the world’s first autofocus F1.0 lens made for any mirrorless system, including full-frame cameras, the XF50mmF1.0 R WR brings more light to the sensor than any previous XF lens. This makes it possible for the autofocus to operate at -7EV luminance level. The previous limit of -6EV luminance level is achieved using lenses with a maximum aperture of F1.4. X Series users now have fast and precise low-light autofocus, even when used in near-darkness. With the added benefits of on-sensor Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF), Face/ Eye AF and a powerful DC motor, precise and fast autofocus at shallow depths of field is now a possibility.

(4) Precise focus for those critical moments

To make the most of its extremely shallow depth of field, focusing must be precise. As a result, the XF50mmF1.0 R WR has a focus ring eight times more accurate than any previous XF lens. This makes it possible to change the focus from the minimum focusing distance to infinity with precision. For this, the XF50mmF1.0 R WR comes with a focus ring with 120 degrees of rotation to let users focus manually without error, as well as achieve accurate focus when using the X Series camera’s Focus Peaking and Focus Assist modes. The 120 degrees rotation also makes autofocus movements notably effortless and precise, while the lens’s engineering is designed to minimise focus shift effects while capturing images.

(5) Engineered to keep the images coming

With fast shutter speeds and a large aperture of F1.0, the XF50mmF1.0 R WR is a lens that enables users to take amazing pictures almost anywhere. Measuring 103.5mm (4.07 inches) long and weighing 845 grams (1.86 pounds), the lens is compact and portable. Like all other weather-resistant XF lenses, it is sealed in 11 locations to protect it from moisture and dust, as well as being capable of use in temperatures down to -10°C (14°F). When attached to a similarly specified, weather-resistant X Series mirrorless digital camera body, the XF50mmF1.0 R WR allows users to create unique images in the toughest environments.

*Users are advised to update their camera’s firmware to the latest version in order to allow colour shading correction at the angle of incidence for F1.0.

Product name, release date and price

Product name Release date Recommended retail price (inc. GST)
FUJINON Lens

XF50mmF1.0 R WR

Late September, 2020 $2,799


About the Author

agun@impulsegamer.com'

Adrian lives in Melbourne Australia and has a huge passion for gaming, technology and pop culture. He recently finished his a Bachelor of Journalism and is currently focusing on games journalism. When not writing and playing video games, Adrian can be found in Comics 'R' Us debating the pros of the DC Universe and cons of the Marvel Universe.



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