To be honest, I'm not really qualified to give any kind of super technical review of any equipment, especially a lens. There are lots of articles online discussing the important technical aspects of this lens -- and each article that I've found has been decidedly positive. Indeed, the lens is very high quality and feels every bit worthy of its high price tag. It's heavy, in a good way, with all metal parts and an overall premium feel. It feels good and substantial in the hand. I wouldn't want to walk around with this all day, however. But the idea that it somehow doesn't "fit" the philosophy of a compact mirror-less system is silly -- the equivalent lens on DSLR is much heavier. So, it's still compact by relative standards.
To be perfectly honest, I've never been a big fan of any kind of zoom lens, strongly preferring primes instead. But I wanted this lens for some particular purposes that could not be accomplished by my current crop of primes. I needed to get closer to my kids! I needed the extra reach when shooting my girls during their various activities including sports, musical theater, etc. I figured it would be great for candids, too. Yes, I purchased the lens primarily for documenting the most important thing in the world: my two girls.
Literally, first image snapped with 50-140mm. 1/80s, f/2.8, 140mm, ISO 5000, 0.33 eV
After a month with the lens, it's performed beyond expectations both in terms of it's intended purpose (kids!) and also for some unexpected other uses, as described below. I thought the 56mm f1.2 was the sharpest, highest quality lens in the Fuji line-up, but this has surpassed it -- and that's especially impressive given that it's a zoom. Overall, if you are thinking about this lens my advice is "go for it." Yes, it's expensive. But, it's still a great value given the positives. Here are some examples:
The modern breakfast. I was able to sneak this from a nice distance. 1/80s, f/2.8, 140mm. ISO 320
Quick "grab" shot. 1/500s, f/2.8, 140mm. ISO 200
Really, the reason I bought it. My older daughter starring in Peter Pan. 1/80s, f/2.8, 140mm. ISO 800
I was able to get nice and close to my little star. 1/80s, f/2.8, 140mm. ISO 800
While the primary motivation for purchasing the lens was to get closer to the kiddos, I decided to challenge myself by photographing a subject that I love, The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Normally, I'd shoot this subject with a more "traditional" focal length, e.g., the very excellent 23mm f1.4. But, I thought I'd try with the 50-140mm which I knew would give me some great DOF and subject compression, which I thought could be kind of interesting.
The zoom lens let me get up nice and close to these wonderful chairs. What looks like sun beams are really reflections in the window that I used to press up against to get the shot. 1/80s, f/7.1, 87mm. ISO 3200.
Below is a gallery of some of my favorite shots of the beautiful WDCH while exploring DOF and subject compression:
Finally, some images to show the bokeh of the lens.
1/80s, f/2.8, 140mm.
1/80s, f/2.8, 140mm.
By the way, please be sure to check out www.tomen.de/blog or http://www.scoop.it/t/fuji-x-pro1 for more on the great line-up from Fuji.