14 DAY TRIAL // The Fujinon XF56mm f/1.2 R has been rumored for quite a while, and a few European websites have already listed the lens as available for pre-order since the last months of 2013.
Today, Japanese camera and optics manufacturer Fujifilm officially announced the Fujinon XF56mm f/1.2 R lens as part of its lineup for this year's CES show.
The new lens is clearly aimed at portrait photographers who want to get astonishing results and beautiful bokeh without compromising image quality. As the company puts it, the new XF56mm lens “surpasses picture quality of full-frame equivalents” and offers X-series interchangeable-lens camera users the perfect tool for portrait and low light artistic photoshoots.
What makes Fujinon XF56mm f/1.2 R so appealing is its fast maximum aperture of f/1.2 and a 35mm equivalent focal length of 85mm, which makes it perfect for beautiful portrait shots. Moreover, the lens is half the size of an equivalent full-frame optic and comes with an aperture ring as well as a solid metal construction.
In terms of optical construction, the lens features 11 elements in 8 groups including two ED (extra low-dispersion) elements, one double-sided aspherical glass, and four elements with a convex surface facing the subject that will significantly reduce chromatic and spherical aberrations.
Furthermore, all lens surfaces feature the company's proprietary HT-EBC coating to reduce flare and ghosting, while at the same time offering support for Fujifilm's Lens Modulation Optimizer technology. The lens is expected to ship starting February at a price of $999.95 / €736.
In addition to that, Fujifilm also published an updated X-mount lens roadmap, which now includes five new lenses, which brings the total number of optics for X-mount cameras to seventeen.
Among the new lenses we can find an extended-range zoom, the XF 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 R OIS as well as two fast zooms, the XF16-55mm f/2.8 R OIS, and XF50-140mm f/2.8 R OIS. Besides these lenses, the company is also planning to release at the end of 2014/early 2015 a new super telephoto zoom lens as well as a high speed wide-angle prime optic.
