lxmike
M2 fan.
Hi, this week heralds the arrival of my first Grandchild, he is due in three days time, apart from my analogue kit I have fallen in love again with my Fuji kit, (X100, x-e1, x-pro1, 28/2 and 35/1,4). My question is this, I want to add a lens for portraiture, I am toying between the original xf 60/2.4 or the xf 50/2r. Any advice, musing etc most welcome.
raid
Dad Photographer
I use the 50mm lenses most often for portraits. I do not own a 60mm lens, Mike. I would pick the lens that you like the most here.
lxmike
M2 fan.
Thanks for taking time out to reply Raid, how do you find the 50/2?
raid
Dad Photographer
I should have clarified that I do not own your specific 50/2 as I don't own a Fuji outfit. I use the Rigid Summicron or the Zeiss Jena 5cm 2 most often as my "50/2" lenses.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
By our fourth child I figured it out.
Macro lens with around 100 mm is the best with newborn. Together with IS or IBIS.
Pros are often using 70-200 2.8 IS lens as well.
You don't want to be too close, but head is small, plus, not all of newborn are kin on flash.
So, 60 2.4 is close to it. But no IS(IBIS) is going to hunt you down.
I recommend FUJIFILM XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro Lens instead.
Macro lens with around 100 mm is the best with newborn. Together with IS or IBIS.
Pros are often using 70-200 2.8 IS lens as well.
You don't want to be too close, but head is small, plus, not all of newborn are kin on flash.
So, 60 2.4 is close to it. But no IS(IBIS) is going to hunt you down.
I recommend FUJIFILM XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro Lens instead.
drew.saunders
Well-known
I have both the Fuji 60/2.4 macro and the 50/2. The AF on the 60 is very slow, slower than the 35/1.4 (which I also have). It works fine for reasonably still subjects, but it probably can't keep up with toddlers. The 50/2 does focus quite close (MFD of 39cm according to the Fuji website), and has a much faster AF, so it might work for smaller people. Fuji lists a magnification of 0.15x, which works out to be about a 10x15cm subject size. That's pretty small for a non-macro lens. Fuji's specs: https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/lenses/xf50mmf2-r-wr/specifications/
The 80/2.8 macro would potentially be ideal, but $$$$!
The 80/2.8 macro would potentially be ideal, but $$$$!
Do you prefer 75mm or 90mm? Do you need macro? Do you need weather sealing? Those are the questions.
50mm = faster af, WR, no macro
60mm = macro but 1:2, no WR and slower AF
I kept the 50mm and sold the 60mm. By the way, the Sigma 56mm 1.4 is coming to Fuji X in April.
50mm = faster af, WR, no macro
60mm = macro but 1:2, no WR and slower AF
I kept the 50mm and sold the 60mm. By the way, the Sigma 56mm 1.4 is coming to Fuji X in April.
lxmike
M2 fan.
the Sigma sounds very interesting
lxmike
M2 fan.
Your a lucky man I would kill for a rigid Summicron to go on my M2
lxmike
M2 fan.
I would love the 80mm but the rice is a killer
lxmike
M2 fan.
must ad mit the 50mm is tempting
lxmike
M2 fan.
Thanks everyone for all the replies, food for thought, as ever the members of this forum are amazing both by offering time to reply and by sharing their knowledge
raid
Dad Photographer
I am glad that you got some useful feedback here.
oldwino
Well-known
When I shot with Fuji, I really liked the 50/2 a lot. It was my favorite of the "fujicrons".
I did try out the Sigma 56/1.4 in the L-mount version, and I found the focus underwhelming.
I've never tried the 60 macro, but as others have mentioned, it is an older lens and may not be as responsive as the newer lenses.
I did try out the Sigma 56/1.4 in the L-mount version, and I found the focus underwhelming.
I've never tried the 60 macro, but as others have mentioned, it is an older lens and may not be as responsive as the newer lenses.
Evergreen States
Pierre Saget (they/them)
If those are your two choices get the 50mm ƒ/2.
I used the 60mm ƒ/2.4 on an X-Pro1 for years. While generally speaking the autofocus isn't as bad as people make it out to be, under low interior lighting, the autofocus struggles and struggles hard. Especially when trying to lock on to human faces such as eyes, indoors the camera will struggle to get enough light to detect contrast. You will end up with a lot of back focused pictures. Or you may try to take the shot only to find the lens spends 10 seconds hunting before giving up. You can manually focus, which is what I often did but with the dim and low-rez EVF of the X-Pro1 it isn't much fun. The lens is far better paired with newer sensors such as that of the X-Pro3, where it really comes into its own due to the advanced phase and contrast detection, better EVF panel and focus limiter. That said, I've never regretted getting it over the 56 ƒ/1.2 or any of the new short telephoto lenses that followed. I've made many pictures I'm proud of with it, especially paired with the X-Pro1. The combo is certainly doable, but your use case runs up against every single weakness that lens has. If you're relying on it to get once-in-a-lifetime pictures of your grandson, you will regret it.
To be clear, I've never used the 50mm ƒ/2. But I have used the 23mm ƒ/2 and 35mm ƒ/2 Fuji lenses on my X-Pro1. The performance improvement over the original lenses is significant, and the haptics so much more solid. Tests I've seen show the 50mm is the sharpest of the three. Buy with confidence.
I used the 60mm ƒ/2.4 on an X-Pro1 for years. While generally speaking the autofocus isn't as bad as people make it out to be, under low interior lighting, the autofocus struggles and struggles hard. Especially when trying to lock on to human faces such as eyes, indoors the camera will struggle to get enough light to detect contrast. You will end up with a lot of back focused pictures. Or you may try to take the shot only to find the lens spends 10 seconds hunting before giving up. You can manually focus, which is what I often did but with the dim and low-rez EVF of the X-Pro1 it isn't much fun. The lens is far better paired with newer sensors such as that of the X-Pro3, where it really comes into its own due to the advanced phase and contrast detection, better EVF panel and focus limiter. That said, I've never regretted getting it over the 56 ƒ/1.2 or any of the new short telephoto lenses that followed. I've made many pictures I'm proud of with it, especially paired with the X-Pro1. The combo is certainly doable, but your use case runs up against every single weakness that lens has. If you're relying on it to get once-in-a-lifetime pictures of your grandson, you will regret it.
To be clear, I've never used the 50mm ƒ/2. But I have used the 23mm ƒ/2 and 35mm ƒ/2 Fuji lenses on my X-Pro1. The performance improvement over the original lenses is significant, and the haptics so much more solid. Tests I've seen show the 50mm is the sharpest of the three. Buy with confidence.
Dogman
Mentor
My experience is that the 50mm is too short and the 60mm is too goofy with AF.
The 50/2 is one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used, especially when using Raw and processing in Iridient X-Transformer. But at equivalent 75mm it's just not long enough for my preferences. The 60/2.4 was the only Fuji lens I ever truly despised. And when I say "despised", I truly disliked that lens. It was good--it was excellent, really--with image quality but the AF was slow, hunted and generally drove me up the wall. It was beyond frustrating. The focal length was more favorable to me than the 50mm but I would have preferred a 70mm (105mm equivalent) to either of those lenses.
If I had to choose between the two, I would go for the 50/2 and crop the image a bit to simulate a longer lens.
The 50/2 is one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used, especially when using Raw and processing in Iridient X-Transformer. But at equivalent 75mm it's just not long enough for my preferences. The 60/2.4 was the only Fuji lens I ever truly despised. And when I say "despised", I truly disliked that lens. It was good--it was excellent, really--with image quality but the AF was slow, hunted and generally drove me up the wall. It was beyond frustrating. The focal length was more favorable to me than the 50mm but I would have preferred a 70mm (105mm equivalent) to either of those lenses.
If I had to choose between the two, I would go for the 50/2 and crop the image a bit to simulate a longer lens.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
Do you have true FujiFilm TTL flash with articulated head to bounce and balance the light properly?
Wide apertures, low iso cameras and no IS are not going to cut it well for newborn without plenty of light.
lxmike
M2 fan.
Once again many thanks everyone, I must admit I also toyed with the 56mm option too