Fujinon-EX 90/5.6

Reviews

1. 

   16:9 – December 11, 2023

   Image quality and physical properties very similar to the 75mm and 105mm Fujinon EX plasmats, with the following exceptions: at all distances the 90mm has a slightly wider image circle and improves on the corner performance of the 75mm. Overall, it is slightly sharper than the 105mm – which places the 90mm in something of a focal length sweet spot. However, at its maximum aperture of f5.6 – unlike the 75mm f4.5 – its diaphragm remains stopped down. Actually, this lens is a 105/4.5 (or thereabouts), but Fujifilm regulated out the possibility of opening the lens fully, in favour of improved performance. Given the useable nature of f4.5 on the shorter and smaller 75/4.5, this seems an odd decision.

   As a taking lens, this does diminish its appeal, in that bokeh balls (or OOF PSF if you prefer) are inescapably hexagonal at all apertures – unlike the 75/4.5. However in other respects the bokeh is vice-free: there’s no nisen highlighting or onion rings, and defocused highlights are smoothly blended rather than outlined and layered. In most respects the longer EX Fujinons are uniformly fine: among the sharpest of their kind and not too strictly optimised for close-range magnification: they can effectively be used at portrait distance. Traces of CA are noted (unusually, for enlarger lenses) but the EBC coatings are superb, endowing them with contrast and colour rendition properties comparable to modern optics – although they render with lower contrast, which again makes them effective for portraiture. Sunstars are excellent, too.

   Coverage of 35mm is effortless, and the image circle is large enough to allow tilt and shift movements on the Fujifilm GFX – a camera on which they seem especially ‘at home.’