When I bought my first DSLR in 2012, I bundled it with a super cheap 50mm 1.8 lens  – justly dubbed a ‘nifty fifty’. Well, in my hands the 50 didn’t feel so nifty. It felt boring, flat and entirely un-special. And it took me years to figure out that I was the problem. I sold that 50mm after a couple months of frustrated photo taking, and moved onto what I thought was a real lens – something like a 70-300 f/6.3, which resulted in me taking boring photos of birds in my yard for a couple years. 13 years later, and I’ll comfortably and happily shoot whole portrait sessions, and 96.5% of a wedding day, at 50mm, and walk away with a set of images that I adore. 

Turns out, 50mm makes you work. It makes you think. It’s relentless in its desire to have a very clear subject, and thrives when there’s a bit of foreground and some interesting context in the background. Rely on the bokeh wide open, and you simply have a boring photo with. Without a bit of effort, 50mm falls flat. 

But, as they say (here in New Zealand) – do the mahi, get the treats. 

With an interesting subject, nice light, a bit of foreground and background action, 50mm brings a scene to life. It’s field of view inherently cuts out a much wider scene, and allows you to dial into what’s happening in this specific spot, at this specific moment. It’s simple, effective, and allows you to be close enough to the action to anticipate a moment, but far enough away to stay out of the way unnoticed. 

Focal length (and why 55 on GFX is way better than 50 on full frame)

Now, the elephant in the room. The real nerds here will know 55mm on a GFX sensor roughly translates to a 43mm field of view, acknowledging the math gets weird when we consider the GFX’s stockier aspect ratio. Is 43mm 50mm? Of course not. But, I think they can achieve very similar results when shot in the same way – but the 55mm 1.7 affords me an added benefit of flexibility that I never anticipated. 

You see, as I shot two bodies and two lenses for almost all of my wedding work, I fell into a pattern. Portrait orientation images on a 50mm, and landscape orientation on a wider angle (20, 24, 28mm). It meant I could capture my establishing wides, and then zero in on my subjects with ease. But, with the GF 55mm, that added effective width on the wider sensor allows me to comfortably shoot both – nailing wider scenes in landscape, flipping to portrait orientation and taking a step or two in to capture more pointed moments. It’s simple, effective, and I love it. 

Autofocus

Let’s be real – you’re not shooting GFX for blazing fast autofocus. Or at least, you should very quickly change your expectations. Autofocus on the 55mm 1.7 is fine and functional, but far from phenomenal. It’s quick enough for most of my work (aside from dancefloor jams, but I’d shoot an ultrawide then anyway) and dependable enough for me to shoot key moments (first kiss, etc.) on it without a backup. Do I miss in higher paced environments? Sure. But when I can anticipate a much faster pace, I simply use a camera geared for it. My kit now is segmented by niche, and it’s working great for me.

It’s worth noting I shoot it almost exclusively wide open at 1.7, which I’m sure doesn’t help. I’ve used the GF 30mm, 45mm, 50mm, 63mm, 80mm, and 110mm, and all are faster to focus (and track) bar the 80mm.  

TLDR: Good enough for me, but I’d love a bit more pep.

Sharpness

This will be a short section – this lens is stupidly sharp, but in all the right ways. It’s not a clinical sharpness as such, where there’s too much going on. It’s sharp where you want it, and buttery soft in out of focus areas.

The secret sauce

There’s no doubt this lens is special. Theres a not-quite-qualitative “medium format” look that exists when you combine specific lenses on larger-than-35mm sensors, and in certain scenarios, you absolutely get that feeling here. It’s a combination of the stockier 3:4 aspect ratio, the wide-but-not-too-wide field of view, and a razor thin depth of field. Together, you get this uncanny effect that completely separates your subject from the background – a real 3D pop that is hard, if not entirely impossible to recreate on smaller sensors.

Is the effect worth the price tag? That’s a question only you can answer. For me, it was an easy yes.