When I started photography, fast glass was something almost unobtainable. Voigtlander released a Leica M mount  $1000 F1.1 “Nokton”, and that was about as entry-level as it got. For 0.95 the only affordable option was the Canon TV “Dream” lens, which was priced in the multiple of thousands. I made the decision early on that I wanted to stay native X-Mount which (at the time) meant the 56mm F1.2. Sure, there are a fair few vintage 1.2’s I could have adapted, but I felt that they just didn’t compete with the 56mm. They were no faster, manual focus and who knows what condition you would find one in. With eyes on the prize, it wasn’t long before I found myself the proud owner of my first super-fast piece of glass. Fast forward to 2024, and not only has the price of the 56mm plummeted on the used market, but new challengers’ approach that bring us closer to that mythical F0.95 of my dreams, without that dream cost.

For our digital friends, I want to explain that by fast I mean it in the sense that a larger aperture allows faster shutter speeds, hence the nomenclature “fast glass”, and it has very little to do with autofocus speeds. Good thing too considering sub F1 you aren’t going to find any auto-focus lenses. Once you get past that fairly standard F1.4 you will inherently come across some drawbacks, and no lens is immune from this. However, a lens’ imperfection can be outweighed by its strengths. Horses for courses and all that. Let’s carry this on and see what exactly do we sacrifice and what do we gain as we get nearer and nearer to that mythical negative number.

 

The baseline of what to expect from a fast X-Mount lens is going to be the original fast Fujinon. It’s a lens I have had for a long time, since the X-T3 (I could never justify it to myself for the X-Pro2, it always felt rather unbalanced), and it’s one that, aside from my personal work, comes in very handy for weddings and events where you just want to demolish that busy background. But where does it fit into my personal workflow? I thought that the extra light would come in very handy during night shoots, and although it certainly does, the autofocus performance at night is not stellar, and we know that those electronic focus motors are just no match for a physical helicoid. So far, not so good? Not so much. As I said, these are just things you need to expect when a lens has to push around those big beautiful elements, and it is still my go-to for night shooting, especially in Bangkok where the roads and pavements are massive,  fairly empty at night, and a little extra reach is welcome.

 

The 56mm has a trick up its sleeve that saves it from being a one-trick portrait pony and that is the focal length. For some reason, there is a certain magic that seems to happen between 50 and 60mm. Pentax’s Takumar 55mm, Zeiss’ Biotar 58mm (later produced by the U.S.S.R as the Helios 44), Tomioka’s  55mm, Minolta’s 58mm and now the Fujinon 56mm. These lenses all have a way of making anything in front of them look amazing. Today, the original 56mm is still a very special lens, and will continue to be.

You can see a whole set of images with the 56mm F1.2 in my article I am a Documentarian

CONTINUE READING…

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