2014 got off to hell of a start with a super fun fashion shoot, as well as the opportunity to play with the brand new Fuji 56mm f/1.2 lens. Before I get into the gear, as I'm sure many of the readers of this post are curious about the new lens, let's kick things off with a behind the scenes video of what went down:
And, as promised in the video, more photos from the shoot:
I also want to throw out a huge thank you to the team that I worked with on this project. Without their talents, none of this would have been possible:
Model: Parmida Sarabi
Hair & Makeup: Mallory McGowan
Styling: Odessa Bennett & NRT Fashions
BTS Video: Ryan HK
Assistant: Jeremy Fokkens
{ GEAR TALK }
Let me preface this by saying that I am not a "gear tester". I do not take gear out of my normal shooting habits to see where it succeeds and where it fails. If I'm interested in a piece of gear, I take it out on a legit shoot, and I use it to create the images I have inside my head. If it works well for me, then I keep it, and if it doesn't, then I don't. I don't have any interest in how gear reacts outside of that realm, so if you're wondering how anything works when shooting sports or anything else with tracking focus, or shooting in really low light, etc, I'm probably not going to be the guy that can answer your questions. I also have no idea what camera you should buy. So, with that out of the way, here we go.
The Fuji 56mm f/1.2 (85mm equivalent) has quite possibly been the most anticipated lens for portrait photographers using the X system, and now that it is finally here, I can honestly say that it is beautiful. For this shoot I was using a pre-production model, so I'm not going to get into any kind of detailed review because reviewing something that hasn't made it into full production yet is a bit silly, but I will elaborate on the things that I mentioned in the video.
Focus Speed - In the situation I was shooting in, the 56mm f/1.2 focused very quickly. It did tend to hunt a little before snapping into focus when the model was backlit against the windows, but being that this IS a pre-production lens, I'm not reading to much into it. Aside from that, in every other area we shot in the lens snapped into focus instantly and focused right where I wanted it to, making beautifully sharp images. {SIDE NOTE} I had a chance to chat with Fuji on the phone after writing this review, and they've said the lens will actually focus faster than what I experienced with the pre-production version, which would make it lighting quick. I can't verify this until I try a full production model, but that's what they are saying.
Sharpness - It's a Fuji prime lens, if you've used any of their primes, you already know they are sharp as hell. If you haven't, well, they are sharp as hell. Every shot in this post, with the exception of the final image, was shot between f/1.2 and f/1.8. The final image was shot at f/5.6 because I wanted to kill any ambient light in the room and use only my strobes.
Bokeh (out of focus areas) - The background and foreground blur on this lens is awesome, and being able to make your subject pop from the background and foreground even when shooting full body is what makes a lens like this so sought after. If you go in tight for a head shot, the background just melts away.
Overall Feel - It's not large and heavy like we've come to expect from companies like Canon and Nikon when mounting an equivalent lens to their DSLR's. From a size perspective its comparable to the Fuji 23mm f/1.4, and shares the exact same barrel size (62mm). Shooting it on the XE-2 it had a good balance and felt comfortable in my hands, but when I mount it on my X-Pro1 with the optional hand grip attached it feels like it's truly at home, they are the perfect fit for one another.
Conclusion - Being a portrait shooter, this lens is a great fit for me, and does everything I want it to in a much smaller footprint than my Nikon D800 + 85mm f/1.4G. I will definitely be adding it to my camera bag as soon as it becomes available.
As always, if you have any questions or comments about the shoot or the gear, feel free to sound off in the comments below. Thanks for reading.
Cheers
-Nate