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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.

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

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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Panasonic unveils three new 50mm, 70-200mm and 24-105mm lenses for L mount full frame mirrorless

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A couple of new cameras isn’t the only thing Panasonic announced today. Along with the official announcement for the Panasonic Lumix S1 and S1R full frame mirrorless cameras, comes three new Panasonic L mount lenses. There’s the Panasonic S PRO 50mm f/1.4, the Panasonic S PRO 70-200mm f/4 OIS and the Panasonic S 24-105mm f/4 Macro OIS.

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The Pentax FA* 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW lens finally ships in July and will cost $1,199

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Yes, that’s right Pentax shooters. The wait is almost over. The Pentax FA* 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW lens you’ve all been coveting is finally being released. Pentax says that this is the first new lens which follows a new set of standards for their top-of-the-line Star series lenses. New standards that will, they claim, help to minimise aberrations and deliver the highest possible image quality.

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Yongnuo’s new 50mm f/1.4 lens keeps up with Canon at less than 2/3rds the price

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Yongnuo has been coming pretty thick and fast with lenses over the last couple of years. Sure, they’re generally copies of somebody else’s lens, but they’re cheap and, for the most part, seem to perform fairly well considering the price. Announced last month, the Yongnuo 50mm f/1.4, though, looks to be of their own design.

The first review of the new lens has now been posted to YouTube by Christopher Frost, and it appears to be pretty favourable. It not only keeps up, for the most part, with Canon’s 65% more expensive 50mm f/1.4 USM, but it even seems to beat it in some aspects.

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Tokina announces Opera 50mm f/1.4 “Top Premium” full frame lens for Nikon and Canon

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As WPPI2018 comes to an end, CP+2018 fires up, which means yet more new gear announcements. First off the block is Tokina with their new Opera 50mm f/1.4 FF (full frame) lens for Nikon and Canon DSLRs. The new Opera series of lenses is designed to be a “top premium” line of full frame lenses for high-end DSLRs.

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Sigma announces NINE new native Sony E-Mount Art series lenses

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As if Sigma hadn’t given us enough today. With new 70mm f/2.8 Macro and 105mm f/1.4 Art series lenses, we were already pretty excited. But Sigma also have an extra gift for Sony shooters. Both of the two new lenses today, as well as nine of their popular Art series full frame lenses are being released with a native Sony E-Mount.

A native Sony mount offers advantages over simply using the Canon mount version with the Sigma MC-11 adapter. Such as compatibility with Sony’s continuous (AF-C) and high speed autofocus. And you’ll likely see some Eye-AF improvements, too. Very handy if you’ve been eyeing up that new Sony A7III.

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Sony finally unleash full frame 50mm f/1.4 lens and 70-200mm f/2.8 pricing

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It’s been a long time coming for Sony shooters, but they now have an official fast standard lens available with the newly announced Sony Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA. No longer do you need to mess around with metabones adapters and put up with limited autofocus capabilities, at least, not if you want a 50mm f/1.4.

Similar in construction to the FE 35mm f/1.4, the 50mm is weather sealed, and uses Sony’s Super Sonic Wave Motor for fast and near-silent autofocus. The aperture ring can also be “declicked”, if desired for video shooters.

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Samyang muscle their way into the autofocus market with two new 50mm f/1.4 and 14mm f/2.8 lenses

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In a press release today, Samyang Optics (also sold under the names Rokinon and Bower) have announced two new lenses designed for Sony full frame mirrorless cameras, marking their debut into the autofocus lens market.

Having thus far limited themselves to manual focus lenses, today brings us the Samyang 50mm f/1.4 AS IF UMCAF and Samyang 14mm f/2.8 UMCAF autofocus lenses, offering both “standard” and very wide angle views.

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