Fujifilm Fujinon XF56mmF1.2 R WR review

We have had a chance to try out Fujifilm's new 56mm f/1.2 portrait lens – in the lab and on location

Fujifilm XF56mmF1.2 R WR
(Image: © Digital Camera World)

Digital Camera World Verdict

With the X-mount camera system now being 10 years old, Fujifilm has been steadily updating some of its older lenses - and now it is the turn for a complete redesign of the 2014-vintage XF56mmF1.2 R - which has been a popular portrait lens, thanks to is focal length, and wide maximum aperture. The new Fujifilm XF56mmF1.2 R WR updates the prime in almost every department - improving resolution, bokeh, and adding weatherproofing. We got to try the lens out for a couple of hours shooting professional models at Fujikina in New York - and we think the amazing results it delivers wide open speak for themselves. But now we have been able to run the lens through our series of lab tests to see just how good this lens is optically

Pros

  • +

    11-blade iris gives beautiful bokeh

  • +

    Weatherproofing

  • +

    Close focusing down to 0.5m

Cons

  • -

    No image stabilization

  • -

    Minimum aperture of f/16

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The new Fujifilm XF56mmF1.2 R WR brings a significant number of improvements to the eight-year-old XF56mmF1.2 R - which has been a must-have lens for portrait photographers, looking for shallow depth of field and background bokeh. The ultra-fast prime offers an equivalent focal length to the best 85mm lenses on full-frame cameras (thanks to the 1.5x crop-factor of the X-Series of cameras)

The Fujifilm XF56mmF1.2 R WR is now weatherproofed – and the resolution has been improved to take advantage of the newest X-Trans sensors on Fujifilm cameras. It is one of 20 lenses approved by Fujifilm for use with the new 40-megapixel X-H2 - which was announced alongside this lens at the New York X-Summit. It is the fourth pro-grade f/1.4 prime lens that has been updated with the X-H2 in mind - the others being the XF18mm f/1.4, the XF23mm f/1.4, and XF33mm f/1.4.

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Chris George

Chris George has worked on Digital Camera World since its launch in 2017. He has been writing about photography, mobile phones, video making and technology for over 30 years – and has edited numerous magazines including PhotoPlus, N-Photo, Digital Camera, Video Camera, and Professional Photography. 

His first serious camera was the iconic Olympus OM10, with which he won the title of Young Photographer of the Year - long before the advent of autofocus and memory cards. Today he uses a Nikon D800, a Fujifilm X-T1, a Sony A7, and his iPhone 15 Pro Max.

He has written about technology for countless publications and websites including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Dorling Kindersley, What Cellphone, T3 and Techradar.