Skip to main content

The ‘fastest lens in the world’ is bringing an f/0.95 aperture to more mounts

The ultra-bright f/0.95 50mm lens from Meyer Optik-Gorlitz is getting a refresh. This time, more photographers will be able to use what the company claims is the fastest lens in the world. On Tuesday, March 28, Meyer Optik launched pre-orders for the Nocturnus 50/f0.95 III with an updated design and mounts for Fujifilm X and Leica M along with the previously available Sony E mount.

The lens’ crazy-bright f/0.95 aperture is created through a 15 blade iris made from steel. The company says that despite that wide aperture, the lens offers a high degree of sharpness when focused. That mix, according to the company, creates “dream-like bokeh” with unique colors and shapes. The wide aperture makes the lens particularly helpful in low light, Meyer Optik said.

Photographers will have to nab that focus inside a narrow depth of field with a fully manual lens. That focus ring operates quietly, however, alongside the quiet clickless aperture ring. The aperture ranges from that bright f/0.95 to an f/11 at the narrowest, while the 50mm-focal length captures a 45-degree angle of view. Designed with 10 elements in seven groups, a 19.6-inch minimum focusing distance, and a 67mm-filter size round off the rest of the lens’ specifications.

The company has also brought the 2016 second-generation lens up to the current standards at the company while enhancing the lens’ exterior design. Like other Meyer Optik lenses, the third generation Nocturnus will also be made in Germany. With that high-end construction including those steel aperture blades, the lens weighs around 28 ounces.

While the design sees a handful of tweaks over the previous lens, the company is bringing that lens to more photographers with two additional mount options. Previously available for Sony full- frame bodies, the third generation will also offer a Fujifilm X and a Leica M mount. (The Lecia M mount requires focusing with the live view because of a lack of rangefinder coupling support.)

The German lens company relaunched in 2014 to bring vintage-inspired lenses to modern camera mounts. Like the Somnium lens launched in February, Meyer Optik is taking their own pre-orders rather than running a Kickstarter campaign like earlier lenses. At retail, the lens is expected to list for $2,999. Pre-order sales are available for $1,799 but that price is limited to another 100 orders. The lens is expected to begin shipping in August.

Editors' Recommendations

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
This DSLR and mirrorless lens make photos feel like a painting
meyer optik somnium ii 85mm announced foto objektiv stehend wh

Meyer Optik

Do you like photo-paint apps like Prisma, but prefer shooting with a camera that doesn’t fit in your pocket? Meyer Optik Gorlitz is continuing to revive vintage lenses by revisiting a lens that gives photos a painter-like look. The Meyer Optik Gorlitz Somnium II 85mm f/1.5 is currently funding through an early pre-order program that cuts the expected list price in half.

Read more
Meyer Optik Primoplan 75 II lens brings more versatility to popular vintage remake
meyer optik primoplan 75 ii indiegogo primoplan75ii

Using vintage lenses on digital camera bodies recreates some of that film aesthetic without giving up the benefits of digital — and the revived classic company Meyer Optik has another vintage favorite up its sleeves. The Meyer Optik Primoplan 75 II is the German-designed lens company’s second rendition of a classic 75mm lens known for creamy bokeh, but brings the lens to more mounts and cuts down the minimum focusing range for even more ability to fill the frame.

The P75 II contains many of the same features photographers loved about the first modern remake. The lens uses a maximum f/1.9 aperture combined with 14 aperture blades to bring back the original 1930s lens’ characteristic bokeh. The lens, Meyer Optik says, was known for the dream-like bokeh along with a smooth transition from the sharpness of the subject to the softness of the background, a characteristic that continues in the P75 II. Altering the distance between the subject and the camera or between the subject and the background allows the photographer to control the look of the bokeh from a smooth round shape to a more swirling effect.

Read more
Meet the Lytro Immerge 2.0, a 95-lens VR camera that could soon shoot in 10K
meet the lytro immerge 2 0 3

Lytro moved from creating consumer cameras with post focus to the first professional light field camera in 2015 — and now that camera is getting upgraded to version 2.0. Lytro recently shared the Immerge 2.0, a giant camera that you’ll probably never actually see in person — but a camera that many VR fans will likely see some high-end content from in the future.

The Immerge was the first VR camera capable of capturing live Six Degrees of Freedom — in VR speak, that means when the Immerge is behind that video, you can move forward, backward, up, down, left and right within that video, creating true VR rather than just a 360 video you can watch from one fixed position. The original Immerge uses 95 light field cameras that capture the angle and direction of the light in order to create that 3D scene.

Read more