I am a professional wedding and portrait photographer. I shoot both traditional, posed portraits and candid, photojournalistic-style shots. I've shot Canon digital for the last 10 years, using everything from the 10D to the 6D and a whole bunch of full-frame and APS-C and APS-H models in between. Of course, through all those bodies, the glass is the biggest reason I stuck with Canon, eventually narrowing my main focal lengths to a few primes and a couple of key zooms.
85mm (full frame) is my favorite focal length, along with 35mm for the wider end.

I began with the classic, seemingly best-bang-for-your-buck Canon 85mm 1.8. It was reasonably sharp at 1.8 (usually) and sharpening up nicely by 2.8. The only thing was, it had horrendous chromatic aberrations (purple fringing) that made post-processing that much longer and more tedious. Enter the Sigma 85mm 1.4 at @ 2.5 time the cost of the Canon. A much better lens in terms of sharpness and color/contrast, as at 1.6, it was as good as anything out there, BUT I had to go through 4 copies to get one that didn't mis-focus (even with AF adjustment) or have some other mechanical issue. In a nutshell, not reliable enough for wedding work. So, I eventually caved and dropped the big bucks on the venerable Canon 85mm 1.2L II, otherwise known as the king of kings in the dreamy, bokeh-laden land of fast lenses. Now, the word "fast," as you've likely heard, merely describes it's light-gathering ability, because when defining it's focusing speed, this is an entirely ironic word. It's dog slow, it hunts. When you nail it, it's superb, but between the fact that it costs as much as a new 6D body AND a 85mm 1.8 and the fact that it weighs a lot (a detail that initially seems sexy, until you have to carry it around mounted on a 1DS MK III for 10 hours,) it gets old fast.

A couple of years back, I bought a Fuji X10, for a few reasons. I love the retro styling with so much manual control and I began to see some very nice tones from the camera, and I loved the direction the company was going in with the X100, but I couldn't justify the price for a fixed lens camera at the time, as I was still a full-time Canon shooter who had $10,000 invested in equipment and it didn't leave much flexibility for play money. Of course, the X10 was also a point and shoot with a tiny sensor, but the whole Fuji model is so well-thought-out and consistent, I was able to get an idea of the direction they were going in.

Last year, I finally got my hands on an X100. I loved it, to a degree. It was wonderful to hold, to shoot with. It was unobtrusive and didn't scare anyone. But the lens was only good, not great. 35mm is my bread and butter length and I'd grown quite accustomed to the insanely gorgeous, sharp at 1.4 images my Sigma 35mm 1.4 ART lens had been giving me, and in the end, the Fuji, limited in it's single focal length attached to what looked to be a very promising sensor, wasn't going to take the place of that lens. So, it went back up for sale.
Then, I got a hold of an X-E1 with the 18-55, which as many have attested, is a fantastic kit lens, BUT the AF was slow and hunting in low light. I still began to see the promise of the system and loved the images I was getting with this one, but it was before the firmware updates. Then, I got an X-Pro 1 with a 35mm 1.4 and it really started to become a contender, the whole system that is. The lens was nice, the images were nice, the AF was still slow, but as I looked at the Fuji lens roadmap and saw what was coming, I began to think, "I may eventually be able to move from Canon," which is a thought I did not have lightly.
Still, I went through all of last season with my full Canon gear, shooting a few shots at one wedding with the X-E1 and few at another with an Olympus OM-D EM-1 (which was quickly discarded as the glass to sensor size is never going to work for my style.) As this season approached, I began to dread two details- 1) Having to hunt with the heavy 85mm 1.2 and 2) Having to not only lug around all that heavy Canon gear, but also try to get close, candid shots without someone recoiling at the sight of a gigantic camera near them. So, I began to voraciously read up on the XT-1 and the 56mm 1.2 and the 23mm 1.4, as well as the firmware updates of the XE-1. It all began to really look good, as in really good. I rented and XT-1 and a 23mm 1.4. I am not lying when I say that within a few hours, I was taking pictures of my 5D MK II, my 6D and my Canon glass and putting it on Ebay. Rash? Perhaps, but as soon as I dumped those 23mm 1.4 shots into Lightroom and saw that they were tack-sharp and the dynamic range was insane, that did it. I had read enough reviews from enough trusted sources to know that the 56mm 1.2 would be the 23mm's equivalent, and, to now make a very long story short and hopefully relevant, I can say I know as the truth that this is indeed the case. I have been using the XT-1 with the 23mm and 56mm and the XE-1 with the 14mm 2.8 and 55-200mm for the better part of a month now and after having just shot an engagement shoot with ALL FUJI gear for my first time ever, I am here to say that I have 100% faith in this system. Not only that, but I prefer the images I am getting from this system vs. the Canon.

The 56 is what the 85mm 1.8 would be if it were sharp wide open and without chromatic issues. That may not seem to you that it's worth a thousand dollars, but to me, it is.
I rarely shot the 85MM 1.2 at 1.2, though when I did, I loved it, and so I cannot lie that I will miss that in the tiniest way, BUT the way that the RAF files come from this camera (not to mention the jpegs and did I really just say that?) is one thing that Canon cannot do.
The 56 is solid, it's fast, it's built as beautifully as any lens I've ever owned. It's small and non-threatening. It has a close focusing distance as well, so if you really want that up close portrait where everything but the eyes or the lips is thrown into a dreamy background, this will deliver that in spades.

This lens (along with the 23mm 1.4) made it possible for me to switch, confidently, to an entirely new system with a smaller sensor, so while the price may intimidate some people, for me, it's a bargain.

everyone knows the lens is sharp. I will just go over the cons. this lens is not very light but still balances well with xe2.

nobody mentions about the focus speed on this lens. it's not as fast as the 35mm f2 lens. it will hunt a little but but speed is still ok if you are not shooting baby or toddler who doesn't follow instructions yet.

why do u I still give a 5 star? the image render from the lens is outstanding. super razor sharp and it pops. if you can work with the limitation of the lens, well worth the money.

WOW!! This lens makes the FUJI Xt-2! I can't say enough good things about this lens. The images it creates are absolutely drop dead stunning. For build quality it's got a nice balanced weight to it but still easy enough to hand hold. To me the motor is almost silent, and the focus and aperture rings are smooth as silk. I'm not going into pixel peeping specifics as that's what other pro sites are for. That being said: In my own personal opinion If I could only have once lens this would be it without a doubt. Yes it's costly but worth every penny (and normally I would never say that about a camera lens) Others have said it hunts for focus but that was not my experience at all. I easily nailed 95 percent of the first 1250 photos taken ( which involved 4 year olds playing soccer and my daughter flying on a swing set. For photo reference see my previous first impressions on the Xt-2 both photos are straight out of the camera totally unedited and in JPEG

This is my second favorite Fuji lens. First favorite is the 16mm. The only reasons this isn't the first:
* Not WR.
* Long minimum focusing distance (16mm is practically a macro)
* .... uhhhh that's it.

We've all seen how perfect this is at portraits and model shoots. Want some next level magic? Slap a 3x ND filter on the business end and try some street photography with it. I know! The purists will tell you that there is no such thing as street photography with a lens this long. But just open that aperture all the way up, use an ND filter, and *try it*. Game changer.

Everyone in the Fuji community drools over this lens but after I used it over a single weekend to photograph a couple of Christenings back to back I wound up returning it. The lens hunts too much on my X-T1. I also use the 35mm f1.4, and the 18-55 and those worked great in the same environment! I was very surprised. I really wanted to keep the lens but couldn't justify the price. And here I thought the 35mm 1.4 used to hunt... HA! Try this one. In describing the shooting environment it was a very well lit church. Skylights, beautiful window light, on auto ISO I was shooting at a high ISO of only 640 and some images as low as 320. F2.0 to F2.5 I wound up switching to the 35mm, and the 18-55 to wrap up the shoots.

This is one of my favorite lenses in the Fuji X system. It's on my camera about 50-60% of the time. The other lens I use is the 35mm. What more can I say about this lens that hasn't been said? I love the sharpness, even wide open. I love the bokeh.

I even love the weight. Yes, it's a huge beast. But it's not that huge. I think it balances well on my Fuji X-T1.

It focuses fast and it gives one of the best IQ I've seen on a fuji system. I just wished the focusing distance was closer. But it's okay. I have the slow 60mm for that.

I recently switched from Canon 5d Mark iii and all Canon gear lenses (mostly L lenses) and this lens... I wasn't even into 85mm equivalent range. But this lens is so amazing. It's probably my favorite Fuji lens. So sharp, wonderful bokeh. I just love it.

This lens offers a great image quality that remembers me of film. It doesn’t have that excessive sharpness that gives away you’re looking a digital file. If your use this lens and do a good color grading, you can think that the image was taken with a film camera. The focusing is appropiate to the end of this lens, that is, portrait. Highly recommended