Zenitar 50/1.2

[Lucio]

Hi Folks! Any info about this lens? I'd like to try it out but it seems that the only way is to buy it on eBay from Russia and I can't find any review about it online...

[Teemō]

It looks like a good lens but it is only for APS-C.

It's cheaper directly from their website:
F-Mount: https://www.moscowphoto.net/lenses/lens-mc-zenitar-n-oks-1250mm-f1250mm-nikon-built-in-f-mount-brand-new
EOS-Mount: https://www.moscowphoto.net/lenses/zenitar/lens-mc-zenitar-f1250mm-for-canon-eos-bayonet-brand-new

[Lucio]

Thank you for the link Teemō, it's actually the same price I found on eBay.
Anyways, it looks like a good lens to me too, I wonder why it's so hard to find any review online... I think I'll order one and test it and if it's actually good I'll post an in-depth review. I just hope I won't end up in a Samyang-like Odissey to get a properly aligned copy!

[Teemō]

Ah, well it was a bit cheaper in price and shipping for me, compared to their Ebay store. It looks a lot better than the Chinese glass currently available.

[Focusthrow]

[visualopsins]

For aps-c sensor. 18x24mm

[Anatol_M]

There is a review (of cause, it's in Russian) http://radojuva.com/2015/12/zenitar-s-canon-50-1-2/
The site is great, BTW, you can find in there reviews on things like Zenitar ME1 and MC Volna-8H 1.2/52

[Lucio]

Thank you very much Anatol_M! I just ordered the lens, let's see if I'm lucky...

[kansalliskalaCafe]

[Anatol_M]

[Lucio]

It took quite a bit but I finally put my hands on this lens. Optically, considering its price, it's amazing.

IMAGE QUALITY:
The whole frame has decent sharpness straight from WO, with minimal coma flare and just a tad of ghosting in high contrast areas. Resolution and contrast reach very good levels by f/2.
Field curvature is quite high. The aspherical element present in the first version was probably useful... I don't find this to be a huge drawback on a 50mm designed for APS-C sensors, but it's good to know that you need to stop down at least to f/2.8 to get a decently flat field of focus.
Lateral CA is low for such a lens and by f/2 it's already hard to spot it even under the most extreme lighting conditions.
Longitudinal CA at the widest apertures is high, but average for this kind of lens.
Flare resistance is not bad, but also nothing to write home about. Above f/2, if there's a strong light source in the frame, you can get a ring shaped white flare and the overall contrast lowers a bit more than at the narrower apertures.
Vignetting is obviously visible WO, but already negligible by f/2.
Distorsion is definitely higher than you would expect from a 50mm (again, there use to be an aspherical element in this lens...) I tested wide angles that performed way better in this field, but considering what you'll use this lens for, I would say that's not a major issue.
Residual spherical aberration (aka "focus shift") is minimal.
Coma is quite visible at the edges of the frame up to f/2, but, again, average for a fast 50mm.
Out of focus rendition is as smooth as it gets and that's true at every distance/iris setting, both in front and behind the focus plan. Focus transitions are buttery smooth too. Highlight discs are perfectly clean, with no outlining at all, but at the edges of the frame, between f/1.2 and f/1.8, they get "cut", they lose their rounded shape because of mechanical vignetting. The 9 curved blades iris does a good job in always keeping the hole rounded. Between f/1.2 and f/1.4, you can get that "swirly" effect that many people rave about.
Color rendition is on the cool side. Coatings give the lenses a magentish tint that shows up evidently in backlight situations.
Performaces get worse at the shortest and longest focus distances.

BUILD QUALITY
Where this lens fails miserably, at least if you plan to use it for moving pictures, is in the build quality department.
The iris ring has no play and positively locks in position, but it only has full stops.
The focus throw is very good, but the focus ring is stiff, uneven, and it turns loosely for about 1mm every time you change the focusing direction. Also, when you reach the MFD, it kinda gets stuck and you need to apply an excessive amount of strength to make it turn again. To make things worse, the focusing elicoids have some play and the frame "wiggles" whenever you change the focusing direction. I also noticed that is useless to mark the focus distances on the follow focus, because the lens constantly changes the relation between the focus ring and the focus distances; and unfortunately that's not only because of that 1mm play, the discrepancies are costantly changing and totally unpredictable.
Long story short, from a build quality perspective, this lens is cheap toy.

IN CONCLUSION
I think that for a photographer this 50/1.2 is a great option, possibly the best one, if you don't care about AF or FF coverage.
On the other hand, If you're working with video, this lens may be totally useless, depending on the kind of videos you shoot and the kind of equipment you use.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised, with such a low build quality, if most of these lenses come out of the factory with some serious optical and/or mechanical defect.