Bright and beautiful

Ask Fujifilm users what their favourite lens is and you’re likely to get a variety of different answers. Ask the same question to users of X-series cameras who have a love for portraiture, reportage or candid photography and there’s one lens that’ll be mentioned time and time again. If you haven’t already guessed, the lens I’m referring to is the stunning XF 56mm F1.2 R. Less than half the size of many 85mm primes for full frame and lightweight at just over 400g, it’s often the first lens to be pulled from X-series photographers’ camera bags. It’s hard to describe, but it’s strangely addictive to use. Yes it lacks weather-sealing and its autofocus is pretty slow, yet the utterly gorgeous bokeh and ludicrous sharpness at wide apertures make up for this. Needless to say, it’s my all-time favourite Fujifilm lens.

When Fujifilm announced it was developing a 33mm F1.0 lens with autofocus in 2018, it briefly caught my attention before I dismissed its 50mm equivalent focal length as too wide for my work and its weight (all 1,300g of it) too cumbersome. If only