How many versions of Fujinon 50mm 1.4 are there?

[bruzzo]

I've been wondering about this for quite some time but didn't bother too much on it until my friends have noticed the physical appearance too and were asking me about the difference.

To my knowledge, there are three versions:

1. Non-EBC Fujinon 50/1.4 which looks like this:


2. EBC Fujinon 50/1.4 with grid focus ring like this:


3. EBC Fujinon 50/1.4 with rectangular dot like focus ring like this:

Another angle with the EBC description showing that it does have EBC coating:


Main confusion obviously is 2 and 3. What's the difference between them besides the physical appearance? Do they optically have the same design? I've read on the internet that version 2 is in M42 mount or Fujica-X mount (http://allphotolenses.com/lenses/item/c_411.html), where as for version 3, I've seen it in M42 mount and AI mount (http://www.flickr.com/photos/astroman-photo/7228848110/) .

Any clues? Thanks.

[mo]

Have you seen the Fujinon 1.8/55 thread?.My 1.8/55 looks like it belongs with the first 1.4/50 in styling.

http://forum.mflenses.com/fujinon-55mm-f1-8-t55667.html

[Arkku]

[Arkku]

[TAo2]

[Arkku]

[fermy]

Btw, are those Fujinon X-mount lenses any good? I am especially curious about 50mm f1.2 as I probably wouldn't start a new mount for 50mm f1.6 or f1.9 lens.

[Arkku]

[gewa13]

Bruzzo, I think the version 2 belongs to the newer Fujica ST801 and version 3 to older St 801. Look here http://www.thecamerasite.net/01_SLR_Cameras/Pages/fujica-ST-801.htm.

I have version 3, which came to me with older version of Fujica St801.

Here is a 1,4 EBC Fujinon Fujica St901: http://www.collection-appareils.fr/x/html/page_standard.php?id_appareil=10227.

[Bille]

[Fujinonuser]

I agree with Bille that the Fujinon 1.2 and the Porst 1.2 are identical except for the branding. Variations in optical performance may result from more generous production tolerances.

Fuji addressed the lower-level consumer market after the oil price crisis of 1972, according to the official Fuji history published in Japanese. Apart from slower prime lenses with fewer glass elements, many other lens designs were sold both in a multi-coated and in a single- or double-coated version. Please remember that EBC simply refers to the special process whereby the coatings were applied. By the use of electron beams, minerals like zirconium with a condiderably higher melting point could be applied. The coloring not only reflects the number of coatings applied, but also results from the interplay between the particular sort or rather mixture of glass and the density of the peculiar mineral used.

The single-coated lenses, which are usually very sharp, have merits in their own right. At that time, there was no "automatic white balance" control as we know it from DSLR cameras. Indoor shots at available light would turn out yellowish lacking contrast on film, but less so with single-coated Fujinon lenses. Also, deep shadows in bright sunlight would be lightened up with those lenses.

In most situations, you will see no difference between an EBC (= multicoated) and non-EBC (= single-coated) Fujinon lens. If you shoot test series with a Kodak color strip, then it will become clear that the EBC lenses will turn out more color detail, shades and nuances.

I have seen more EBC 1.4 lenses with very weak multi-coating than strongly colored 1.4 Fujinons. The same holds true for some EBC 1.8 / 55mm as well as some 100mm and 2.5 / 135mm EBC lenses that seem to have only one or two coatings (usually orange or golden and bluish). Those are not the worst lenses, optically speaking, if you know what you are looking for. They are outstanding performers with respect to shadows and available light. I have always felt that good Fujinon lenses outperformed their competitors due to the glass used rather than due to their superior multi-coating. But the competitors offered more varieties of lenses than Fuji.

[Arkku]

[Fujinonuser]

[Arkku]

[Bille]

EBC on the right, non-EBC on the left

[iangreenhalgh1]

I had a non-EBC 1.6/50 X-Fujinon and it wasn't good, but I also had the larger, earlier 1.6/55 and that was very good. The 50 was so bad I suspect I had a lemon, it had really rotten CA correction at larger apertures and didn't get sharp until f4. The 55 was sharper at 1.6 than the 50 was at f4. I had the 1.9/50 and 2.2/55 X-Fujinons too, both were good lenses, not among the better 50s but competent, the 1.6/55 was better than both. The 1.6/55 felt much better built than the others, I had occasion to take apart a 1.9 and a 2.2 and they are really plastic and cheaply constructed. I suspect the 1.6/55 was indicative of the quality of the M42 Fujinons and the others were inferior due to cost cutting.

[Fujinonuser]

@Arkku
According to Fuji's own history, EBC coating was first applied to their movie-camera lenses in 1971 so that a light transmission of about 99.8 % would insure that the actual light transmission almost equals the geometrically calculated aperture openings, the aperture opening of "1.0" equalling 100% light transmission. As you state, the best coating will be invisible. The visibility of coatings depends on several reasons: color of ambient light, smoothness of glass surface, mixture of glass sorts, minerals applied, number and density of coatings and perhaps more. I also agree with you that non-EBC lenses after 1971 may show several coatings, as some EBC lenses seem to lack many coatings, notably the wide-angle and the fast lenses. Due to the number of glass elements used in a super-wide angle lens, the image rendered may tend to warmer colors. It is the high art of lens constructors to find the best compromise between glass sorts and lens coatings that may also act as filters.

@iangreenhalgh1
I have compared an EBC Fujinon 1.6 / 50mm lens to a Rikenon 1.7 / 50mm lens that externally looks quite similar and was allegedly built by Cosina. The Fujinon had a better gradation and better definition in the highlights and shadow areas than the more contrasty Rikenon. I cannot confirm your experience of sharpness lacking in the apertures between 1.6 and 4. Perhaps you had a lemon. Plastics may change in the course of three decades, isn't it?

[Arkku]

[Bille]

[Arkku]

[aoleg]

[Bille]

[Bille]

[aoleg]

[Arkku]