Chasing bokeh: Fuji 50/2

Background taming.

I have both the Fuji 50 f2 and 56 f1.4. The 50 is in my Pro2 bag as the 56 has been moved to my H1 bag since it is a much better balanced by the H1. However, I have used the 56 on the Pro2 often and will probably do it again.

My take on Boken relative to these two lenses is I find the 50 f2 a bit "sterile." It is a good value lens but. It will work fine on the Pro2 since it won't be used all that often on the street. It is light and it is about half the price of the 56.

As far the 56. It is a special lens. It is one of those lenses that one just can't part with. The scene below - the back ground was a absolute mess. The big bold tropical print on the chair to all the shinny stuff in the kitchen behind Dan (faucet, toaster). The lighting was somewhat harsh coming from the front to the scene which cause direct reflections off the bright stuff in the kitchen. It was shot at 1/60s at f1.2, ISO320. Why I love this lens is it tamed the gnarly background with ease. The second benefit was I was able to shoot at ISO 320 on this scene. The resulting file was actually very easy to edit - which I find for the case of most of the 56 f1.2 files.

This is another shot with the 56. Again on the Pro2 at 1/8000s f4 at ISO200. I didn't have an ND filter handy and I didn't want to shoot above 1/8000s or I would have probably shot at f2. But even at f4 this lens nicely smooths out the background which is cluttered with people and frames the woman as she gets he money together for her next bet. There is enough detail in the background to tell you it is at the race track.

Here is one with my 50 f2 at 1/80s at f2 and ISO 250.  It struggles to handle softening out the bright reflections in the back ground.  The shelf if further away from the focal point here than the faucet and toaster were from Dan's head but still they could be rendered better and softer - particularly the specular reflections.  It is not a bad rendering but it is not a great rendering.  The focal distance between the focal point is similar on this shot and the shot of Dan above.

The 50 is a nice lens but the rendering seems somewhat "hard." Some have mentioned the world "sterile." I do know I have had to spend more time on the 50 files to get them to match my vision for the scene and often times I've given up and will need to go back later. On this image I actually spent time with masking out the upper right corner and the right side and applying some Gaussian blur to try to further soften the background.

The 50 is a good lens and it is a great value for the price. For a "need me every once in awhile" option in the Pro2 bag it fits the bill. Would I pay twice as much for the 50 f2 than the current cost? Not likely. Would I pay twice the cost of the 50 for the 56 f1.2 absolutely.