I love this "flaw" of the 50/3.5; the veiling flare around very bright highlights is still there at f/8 and has never bothered me. Actually, I sometimes remove the hood to make it stronger when the sun is just outside the frame. It looks "old" in a true sort of way, and it doesn't seem to lower overall contrast.
The background is visibly out of focus if you view the image at 100%, which probably makes it "worse" than if it was in focus. One of those images where I'd expect f/5.6 to give enough DOF on 24x36, but f/8 isn't enough on GFX for some reason.
Finally broke down and bought the GF 30/3.5. I've had an itch for a wider lens than the 45 and tried adapting two old shift lenses with so-so results. The most compelling alternative was to get a Pentax-A 645 35/3.5 and a shift adapter, until I realized that it would be significantly larger and heavier than the GF 30, and I really want (and often need) small lenses. 30 mm is wider than I usually want, but OTOH I can use that to avoid converging lines by simply pointing the camera straight and crop out the unwanted part.
I've only shot a few images yet but I'm not too impressed with the performance. It's sharp and uniform across the frame but there is visible LaCA and a bit less "bite" than with the other GF lenses. Bokeh is quite busy unless you shoot close, where it's really nice.
All in all this lens is the first GF lens that is more on par with the better FF lenses instead of pure magic, which isn't bad of course. It will wipe the floor with most cheaper alternatives still.
I think I will be happy with it, but will most likely use the GF 50 a lot more.
molson wrote:
I took the 50R and 50mm f3.5 out for some exercise the other day. Still trying to talk myself out of selling it...
.... I got a 100S+80 which I adore, but I can't get to sell the 50R+50 yet. I know it will be superseded soon. However I prefer the SOOC output of the 50R to that of my 100S. This is the problem with Fuji cameras. The first gen has the best colors but slow AF. Seen this with X100, XPro1 and now the 50R I regret selling my x100 and XPro1...
.... I got a 100S+80 which I adore, but I can't get to sell the 50R+50 yet. I know it will be superseded soon. However I prefer the SOOC output of the 50R to that of my 100S. This is the problem with Fuji cameras. The first gen has the best colors but slow AF. Seen this with X100, XPro1 and now the 50R 
I regret selling my x100 and XPro1...
