I’m focusing here on the Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR prime lens. Despite its focal length and speed, this isn’t a traditional nifty-fifty lens. For one thing, it’s quite big and heavy. For another, it has premium pricing.
I go into much more detail in my hands-on review. Here, I’m focusing on posting an expanded selection of sample images I’ve shot with it. These were all taken on the new Fujifilm X-T5.
Lenses this fast are rare. It’s even rarer to find one with autofocus. And it’s sensibly priced with an MSRP of $1499 (well, at least compared to some others).
The most obvious use for this lens is probably portraiture. On the APS-C sensors of Fujifilm’s X-series cameras, the 50mm becomes the equivalent view of a 76mm focal length on a full-frame sensor. And that’s right around the sweet spot for traditional portraiture focal lengths. And with the unusually fast ƒ/1.0 maximum aperture, there’s ample opportunity for milking bokeh effects.
But that’s not what I was interested in using it for. 1 I wanted to see how well it worked as a general-purpose travel lens, making good use of the very fast maximum aperture and selective focus. And that’s reflected in the shots below.
These were all shot on an X-T5, and they were all shot hand-held. One of the things I’ve enjoyed about this lens is that, combined with the high-ISO performance of the X-T5, it extends the possibilities of night shooting. Turning the dark into actual scenes isn’t remarkable when you’re using a tripod or other fixed mount, but it’s really nice being able to do that when shooting hand-held. And with a very fast maximum aperture of ƒ/1.0, it gives you notably more room to work.
The images below were all originally shot in RAW. They’ve been lightly processed in Lightroom, but what I haven’t done is apply any post-processing optical fixes to things like chromatic aberration or vignetting. Those are things I would normally do as part of my usual processing workflow, but the point here is to test the lens, and I didn’t want to distort that with editing fixes.
Most of these are shot towards the wide-open end of apertures. My intent here is not to provide encyclopedic lab tests throughout the aperture range—there are other places where you can get those. Instead, I wanted to try it out in real-world shooting conditions.
Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR Prime Lens Example Photos
You can click on each image for a full-size version for a closer look.
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Even when pointing the lens directly at a bright light source, such as the sun in this shot, I found no major problems with flaring. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. A shot like this would normally be done with a tripod and a smaller aperture. But even in these quite dark conditions, and combined with the X-T5’s in-camera optical image stabilization, I was able to get this handheld. What I was most surprised about is how sharp it is across the frame. It’s not unusual for ultra-fast lenses like this to suffer from a lot of softness when shooting wide open. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.1. Taken handheld. Yes, there’s technically some flaring here, but in this case, I quite like it. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. I also took some variations on this with the focus on the Washington Monument in the background, just seeing how well it could pick out subjects deep in the frame. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Again, I was just looking at how smoothly the focus dropped off. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. The lighting in this interior is darker than it looks in this shot. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Again, the lighting was darker than it looks. This was well before sunrise–you can even see the faint red lights at the top of the Washington Monument (to prevent planes not seeing it at night). The lighting on the cherry blossoms in the foreground was just from some nearby ambient street lighting. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Another shot taken well before sunrise. I was impressed with how sharp the details of the Jefferson Memorial facade are across the frame. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.8. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. I’ve included this and the shot below as visual examples of how ƒ/1.0 lets you pick out subjects in the foreground. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 8.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. The golden light here is natural–it’s a fleeting phenomenon that happens on certain days of the year just moments after sunrise when the sunrise is lined up with the way the Lincoln Memorial is facing. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Looking for sharpness and chromatic aberration. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. This shot is less about the subject in the middle (which is where the focus is) than it is the high-contrast bars in the out-of-focus areas across the top of the frame. Those are magnets for chromatic aberration. There is some here, but it’s far more manageable than some other lenses, and I haven’t tried to fix it in post with this shot. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 2.5. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Just thought this was a fun experiment with the selective focus and seeing how smoothly it drops off as you go deeper into the scene. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.8. Taken handheld. The small rivets and joins are good markers for judging sharpness across the frame. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.3. Taken handheld. I was still able to use a shutter speed fast enough to (mostly) freeze the action here, even though it was in motion. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.1. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.8. Taken handheld. A little flaring here, but nothing unexpected or egregious. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Some clear vignetting here, but it’s gentle. And I’m quite partial to some lens vignetting. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.1. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.3. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.6. Taken handheld. This was taken while it was quite dark. The white spots in the background are stars. There’s nothing remarkable about that with a tripod-mounted shot, but this was handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 2.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 2.8. Taken handheld. Again, the seams and textures are good for looking at distortion and sharpness across the frame. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Another where I could get a fast-enough shutter speed to freeze the action even in very low light. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 1.0. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Photo taken with a Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR lens on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera at an aperture of ƒ / 7.1. Taken handheld. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Fujifilm XF 50mm ƒ/1.0 R WR Lens Price & Availability
Fujifilm has set an MSRP for this lens at $1499.95.
I have actually taken some portrait shots with it, but not ones I can share here.[↩]
David Coleman
I'm a professional freelance travel photographer based in Washington DC. Seven continents, up mountains, underwater, and a bunch of places in between. My images have appeared in numerous publications, and you can check out some of my travel photography here. More »
