Maybe this is why I convinced myself I like the 45's rendering more. I also shoot some false colour infrared and the 55mm is terrible in IR.
Rand47 wrote:
I have both lenses. If I were forced to choose, I'd keep the 45.
Get this, the 55 is a "better" lens.
I'd keep the 45. It's light, has a comfortable angle of view (more or less a 35mm f/2 in ff terms). It is VERY sharp, corner to corner. It balances on the GFX bodies well. It feels "friendly" and nimble - how's that for subjective? It's a bargain on the used market in "new" condition.
The 55 is a tank. If you need really thin selective focus, it's worth dragging around like an albatross around your neck (or back). It renders beautifully. It does not balance well on the GFX bodies (but that's true of most of the GF lenses). I don't like it very much. It doesn't feel "friendly" and is definitely not nimble.
I did a very quick A/B selfie shoot today, just to show the difference in angle of view and background separation at a bit of distance. The camera was (obviously) on a tripod and was not moved between the shots, but if I could frame as I wanted in both cases, I'd step a bit closer with the 45.
As you can see, the 55 gives a lot more background blur. But is it "better"? I don't think so. It's very smooth in the middle but gets quite harsh very soon towards the borders. Which makes it more obvious that it's not uniform.
The 45 is not smooth, but it gives a low contrast background blur that has the same size CoC all the way to the corners. It looks more "3D" to me, despite (or thanks to?) the deeper DOF.
The 45 also gives a bit cooler colors (same WB for both), and also better color separation if you look closely. I've been aware of this but haven't realized what it was until now. There are simply more different color nuances, for some reason.
On the other hand, the 55 is sharper at f/1.7 than the 45 is at f/2.8, which is astonishing.
Edit: For some reason images sometimes are compressed to death on the forum. They look waaaay sharper before I upload them. I don't understand why this only happens sometimes. Completely random.
Edit 2: Also, the 55 is an absolute PITA to try to focus manually. It "jumps" in increments that are much too big for good accuracy and the focusing ring is way too "loose". I don't understand why, because the 45 is almost as good as a pure manual focus lens, and it's much older and cheaper. WTF Fuji?
GFX50S IIGF55mmF1.7 R WR lens55mmf/1.71/200s100 ISO0.0 EV
GFX50S IIFujifilm Fujinon GF45mm F2.8 R WR lens45mmf/2.81/80s100 ISO0.0 EV
That's a nice demo @Makten Your observations and the additional points @Rand47 raised are the reasons I sold the 55 and kept the 45, as much as I would have wanted a bright f/1.7 lens for the dark Canadian winters.
I've posted many of these before, but given the relevance to this discussion here are some images taken with the 45/2.8. IMHO it's capable of (yes) impressive "3D" rendering.
