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50mm f/1.4

Ricoh announces two new near-identical Pentax 50mm f/1.4 lenses

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Ricoh has announced two new 50mm f/1.4 lenses for Pentax K mount DSLRs. The two lenses are the HD PENTAX-FA 50mm F1.4 and smc PENTAX-FA 50mm F1.4 Classic. Although the two lenses share identical specs and appear very similar to each other, Pentax swears they are two different lenses, each with a “uniquely distinct design concept”.

The two new lenses are based on the legacy smc PENTAX-FA 50mm F1.4 lens released in 1991. This lens was chosen due to what Ricoh describes as its “distinctive image rendition at open and larger apertures” and its popularity amongst Pentax shooters.

Sony officially announces the FE 50mm F/1.4 G Master lens

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After relatively few leaks, Sony has now officially announced the new Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 G Master lens. It comes hot on the heels of Sigma’s recently announced 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens, but at significantly higher price. This cost over the Sigma might be a tough pill for some Sony shooters to swallow.

Sony’s new lens features an 11-blade aperture that opens up to a wide f/1.4 and stops down all the way to f/22. Two XD linear AF motors with internal focus ensure quick silent focusing. It has a dust and moisture-resistant construction, with Nano AR II and Fluorine coatings for maximum image clarity as well as to help raindrops fall off that front element.

First image leaks of Sony’s new 50mm f/1.4 GM – Announcement expected next week

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It appears Sigma’s not the only one with a 50mm f/1.4 announcement this month. In fact, they’re not even the only ones announcing one for Sony E mount cameras. It looks like Sony’s getting ready to announce one, too. It’s the new Sony 50mm f/1.4 GM and the latest rumours suggest it’s coming on February 21st.

Despite an announcement being a little over a week away, though, a photo of the new lens has leaked. Of course, it has. They always do these days. There aren’t many specs about the new lens yet, although there are a few, and there are some new ones we can see from the image itself.

Sigma’s 50mm f/1.4 DG DN is the first Art series lens to contain their new HLA focus motor

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After much rumour and leaking, Sigma has now officially announced the new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens for mirrorless cameras. Coming specifically for Sony E and Leica L mounts, the new lens sees a complete redesign over the old 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art series lens for DSLRs. Like its DSLR predecessor, it’s designed for full-frame cameras, and boasts “outstanding edge-to-edge imaging performance”.

It’s also the first lens in Sigma’s Art series of lenses to sport Sigma’s new High-response Linear Actuator (HLA) autofocus motor. This system was first introduced in the recently released 60-600mm DG DN OS Sports lens and allows the 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art to achieve “swift and silent autofocus” for both stills and video.

First photo leaks of Sigma’s 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens ahead of next week’s Sigma Stage announcements

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There have been rumours about Sigma releasing a 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens for mirrorless cameras for a little while. A couple of weeks ago, we saw some of the specs leak and now, thanks to Sony Alpha Rumors, we have our first photo of the lens showing what it’ll actually look like. It’s a significant design change from the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art for DSLRs, showing quite a different exterior.

The interior is also different, with a new optical formula with more elements in more groups. Sigma has also announced a Sigma Stage Online event for February 7th, with a description talking about discovering new products. So an announcement for something is definitely imminent. Could it be the new 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens?

First photo leaks of Sigma’s upcoming 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art for mirrorless

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The first image has leaked of Sigma’s upcoming 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens for mirrorless cameras. Along with last week’s leaked specs, it looks like we could be getting very close to an official announcement. The older Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art for DLSRs has been a regular fixture in the bags of many photographers over the years. Photographers who’ve been begging for Sigma to update it for mirrorless systems.

It looks like this probably won’t be the lens that Sigma uses to expand into the Nikon Z space, as the rumours only suggest the usual Leica L and Sony E mounts so far, but it’s nice to see the lens finally appearing. But now we can see that it appears to have an actual aperture ring which shows a range of f/1.4 down to f/16. Whether or not it’s clicked or stepless, we’ll have to wait and see.

Specs leak for Sigma’s upcoming 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens for mirrorless cameras

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The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art has been a staple among the gear collections of many photographers since its release back in 2014. It’s no accident, either. It’s an excellent lens offering fantastic results. But today, it has one big flaw. It’s designed for DSLRs and not mirrorless cameras. Sure, you can use adapters, and there is an E-Mount version, but it’s still just basically the DSLR lens with an adapter bolted onto the end.

It looks like Sigma’s looking to finally replace this lens, however, with a 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens designed specifically for mirrorless cameras. Naturally, this means Sony E and Leica L mounts. As is often the way, a few specs of the new lens have leaked in advance of an official announcement, but there’s no word yet on whether this lens will be the first of Sigma’s rumoured expansion into Z mount.

TTArtisan’s low-budget full-frame 50mm f/1.4 Tilt lens sports MOD 0.8 gears for video shooters

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The low-budget lenses seem to be coming through thick and fast right now in the lead-up to Christmas. The latest is the TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 Tilt lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras. This manual focus lens is available for Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sony E, Leica L and the APS-C format Fuji X mount cameras.

The tilt feature of the usual tilt-shift lens is what allows you to adjust your plane of focus. This can be very handy for keeping off-axis subjects in focus but it’s also used quite commonly for creating that miniature effect with landscapes and city shots. And that’s what this lens provides with a nice, bright and shallow f/1.4 aperture depth of field.

It took 20 hours to cut this SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens in half and it’s a thing of sheer beauty

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Some might look at these images from photographer and lens enthusiast Hispan, and call him a monster, but I look at them and just see the marvel and beauty of engineering that is the legendary SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens. It’s a classic amongst both photographers and filmmakers and lets you produce some fantastic imagery.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), this particular SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 was no longer usable for its intended purpose. So, Hispan decided to cut it in half to see exactly how it all goes together and show how the various internal parts all slot together. Cutting something in half is relatively easy, but cutting something with this many parts in half perfectly… Not so much.

Samyang celebrates its 50th anniversary with an updated AF 50mm F1.4 FE II

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Samyang has today announced the release of its newest autofocus lens, the Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II. It’s an update to the first autofocus lens Samyang ever produced. So, this will be what Samyang meant by “RE:BORN of the 1st” in its teaser a few weeks ago.

According to the press release, The Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II is the smallest and lightest amongst large aperture 50mm lenses with the Sony FE mount, coming in at 88.9mm long and weighing 420g. It features a faster and quieter autofocus system with linear stepper motors and has a 9-blade aperture for smooth bokeh.

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