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Fujinon 55mm f1.8
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:37 pm    Post subject: Fujinon 55mm f1.8 Reply with quote
This lens has been my favorite of late. It is not labelled EBC, I don't know if there is a difference in coating or Fuji simply stopped writing EBC at some point like Canon did with SSC.

Its strongest suit are colors and contrast, it does not need any PP right out of the camera. It could be my best color balanced lens for portraiture. Keep in mind that all portraits below are in difficult light or rather lack of it, so the ISO is high, the shutter speed is low and the aperture is large. Even in the outdoor shots, where the light appears to be decent, it's still North German winter light Wink The first one is on NEX, the rest are on E-PL1.


#1 NEX, ISO 1000, wide open

#2 EPL-1, ISO 2500, wide open. At this ISO E-PL1 files are normally unusable

#3 EPL-1, ISO 2000

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8 f2.8

#9 f2.8

#10 f2.8


PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nice serie. Good fujica lens, similar to pentax M42, I guess.

Very good colors, natural ones.


PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 10:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
sonyrokkor wrote:
Nice serie. Very good colors, natural ones.


+1 , clarity is very pleasant, much more better than with most lenses what I did try. Lovely kid as well.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 12:22 am    Post subject: Re: Fujinon 55mm f1.8 Reply with quote
fermy wrote:
This lens has been my favorite of late. It is not labelled EBC, I don't know if there is a difference in coating or Fuji simply stopped writing EBC at some point like Canon did with SSC.


Can you show a picture of the lens itself? I have never seen the “new style” (rubber focusing grip) version of this lens without EBC, but if yours looks like that I would guess that it could indeed be EBC but just not written. There is also a pre-EBC version of this lens, it has a metal focusing ring and silver-coloured aperture ring.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
sonyrokkor and Attila, thanks for the comments and compliments.

Arkku, the lens looks like regular EBC model (for example the one shown here http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladenla/sets/72157622914243923/), but doesn't have EBC inscription. I'll post the pic tomorrow.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
From memory this is what mine looks like.
http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/fuji-photo-film-co-fujinon-55mm-f-1-8.html


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yep, that's the one. Here's mine


#1

#2


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks like there is something on the edge of the focus ring in the botom right corner.


I have hardly used mine yet, other than some quick tests to be sure it wasn't a dud, and to see how itt handles low light with bright lights in frame.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's just some lint, I've also noticed it when uploaded the photo, it wiped right off. That's what you get when shooting lenses with Kiron macro, if you don't wipe the lens, it looks as if it came right out of dumpster Laughing


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have an earlier version of this with M42 thread and a metal focus ring.
I also have on similar to yours, same coloured f stops and depth of field scale marks but f2.2 The focus ring is plastic and has lots of cracks in it. I think the rubber grip is holding it together. In fact there was one for sale on ebay last week, described as optically perfect but the focus ring had gone a stage further and was in pieces. It seems the plastic used is almost "bio-degradable" and yours might be showing signs of this.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ok so maybe it isn't degrading yet but I suggest that you be gentle with it.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Braddanman wrote:
I have an earlier version of this with M42 thread and a metal focus ring.
I also have on similar to yours, same coloured f stops and depth of field scale marks but f2.2 The focus ring is plastic and has lots of cracks in it. I think the rubber grip is holding it together. In fact there was one for sale on ebay last week, described as optically perfect but the focus ring had gone a stage further and was in pieces. It seems the plastic used is almost "bio-degradable" and yours might be showing signs of this.


The focus ring on my lens is full metal with a rubber grip. It is not going to disintegrate (the ring, not the grip) in the next 500 years, I am reasonably sure of that Wink


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The lens with "EBC" is something warmish than the other without the EBC in the front ring.

AFAIK that is the result of the different coating, no more.

Both w/o are good lenses.

In the fujinon line, I have only two doubts, the IQ of the 1,8/35 and the 2,5/135.

But all the 50/55 mm lenses are OK.


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Why do you doubt 35 and 135mm Fujinons?


PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The 35, because, like the 2,5/135, are old design. The F 1,8/35 is no easy to make sharp at wide open at that era.

The 2,5/135 is similar to the v.1 of the S.T/SMC takumar in M42, and we know that the v.2 is better.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have both the 35mm f/1.9 and 135mm f/2.5 EBC Fujinons…

The 35mm is indeed not as good at comparable apertures as the 35mm f/2.8 EBC Fujinon, and it has quite “busy” and swirly bokeh. However, in the context of its speed and age I don't think it's a bad lens, and it can produce an interesting effect (partly due to the swirly bokeh). On an absolute scale it does not compete with modern fast 35mm lenses (e.g., the wonderful Super-EBC Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4). I think the biggest problem with it is that it is very hard to find at a decent price; it took me several years before I finally got one at a price I was willing to pay. So, in M42 the f/2.8 and f/3.5 Fujinons are a better pick.

Meanwhile I think the 135mm f/2.5 Fujinon is a good lens. I had two copies (until exchanged one of them for another lens with a forum member) and both were consistently good enough that I never worried that lack of lens performance would ruin photos. (Also, I find the bokeh more pleasant than the Takumar equivalent, even though the later Takumar version may be sharper—personally I'd pick the Fujinon for this reason.) Here's a straight out of the camera example wide open and handheld, in-camera sharpening set to 0. (The camera is a 16MPix APS-C.)

Last edited by Arkku on Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:41 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
sonyrokkor wrote:
The lens with "EBC" is something warmish than the other without the EBC in the front ring.

AFAIK that is the result of the different coating, no more.


There are actually (at least) four different versions of the 55mm f/1.8 Fujinon in M42 mount:

• non-EBC with metal focusing ring and silver-coloured aperture ring
• EBC with “segmented” rubber focusing ring (knobs are in stripes) and black aperture ring – otherwise same build as before
• EBC with the uniformly knobby rubber focusing ring – looking carefully, this version actually has slightly different size and build than the previous two
• same as the later EBC version, but without EBC text

My guess would be that the latest version might actually be EBC but they've just stopped putting the EBC text on the lens, while the first two versions (both non-EBC and old-style EBC) could be slightly different designs. Not so sure about the design differences with the f/1.8, though, but the same pattern is found with the 50mm f/1.4 Fujinon, and there the two first styles (both non-EBC and EBC) are actually radioactive while the newer two styles (both EBC and non-EBC) are not.

Since the disappearing EBC text from lenses is also seen in the X-mount Fujinons, I think they might just have stopped using the text once multicoating had become commonplace.

But this is just a guess, and an alternative explanation might be that they made cheaper non-EBC versions during the last years of the line-up. The coatings still look different than those of the early non-EBC versions, so (even if this option is true) these lenses are probably still multi-coated, just not the full EBC process (which had more layers, I think, than any other system at the time). However, considering the existence of the 55mm f/1.6 and f/2.2 lenses, it would seem strange to me to simultaneously offer these budget alternatives and cheaper versions of the f/1.4 and f/1.8 lenses.

Last edited by Arkku on Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:43 am; edited 3 times in total


PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have an all black later finish non-ebc 1.4/50 in m42, and it looks and performs exactly the same as the ebc one (no accurate testing, though).
So I second arkku's guess.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks Arkku, very informative and formative.


PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ah have two 1.8/55mm lenses...

On the left, the EBC version


#1

#2


Although they're constructed differently and the non-EBC looks larger, they are the same length and the barrel width of the non-EBC is only around 1mm wider.

#3


All these Fujinon lenses are multi-coated. The non-EBC with its characteristic gold/amber/bronze colouring and the EBC version showing a palette of complementary colours. EBC coatings vary with different lenses.

According tae Fuji - " the key elements are coated with eleven layers in EBC lenses"

#4

#5


#6


#7 is the EBC . It has a much wider aperture ring , set closer to the camera body than the non-EBC. The DoF scale is on a separate, metal band which overlaps the focus ring/distance scale.

The non- EBC is the opposite, in that the focus ring/distance scale overlaps the DoF scale printed on the barrel. this model also has a much narrower aperture ring, set a few mms further out from the camera body.

#7

#8


My EBC lens s/n begins 887xxx ( on the filter ring), the non EBC - 543XXX (on the lens barrel).

They're the best lenses ah own...

Cool

Last edited by TAo2 on Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:19 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
TAo2 wrote:

On the left, the EBC version


That is indeed the first (rarer) EBC version. There exists another version with the EBC text, but it looks identical to the “non-EBC” you have except for the EBC text. And then there is the earlier non-EBC version which looks completely different than any of these.


PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's difficult to beleave that fuji should made a mistake when mark the lens.

I said that because the IR mark and the infinite one are in different places in both lenses.

So, they can be lenses with different formulations, that is, different lenses, anyways.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
My Fujinon 1.8/55 all metal no A/M switch,I think by memory I have only used this on a film camera.
#1

#2

#3
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