Super sexy Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f0.95

I haven’t owned or used any Mitakon lenses, but their new Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 looks like a pretty sexy prospect. Up until now the only full frame lens that came close to f/0.95 is the legendary Canon 50mm f1.0 which is why the a 5omm f/0.95 lens for $899 looks so attractive. The question is, do you really need F/0.95?

Personally the first thing that came to mind was “I want this lens!”, but after I got that out of my system my brain began to kick in. It seems to me that a lens like this will pick up two types of buyers. The first would probably be someone who is looking for their first very “fast 50” at a somewhat “reasonable price” (not that $899 is extremely affordable). After all a 5omm f/0.95 lens for $899 is still around $400 to $500 less than the Sony Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.4 and $100 less than the Sigma 50mm f1.4.

Second is the person who irrationally wants an f/0.95 full frame lens. I have no real need for a lens with that wide of an aperture and for filmmaking even f1.4 can be very hard to use with a moving subject, but my immediate rebuttal to that is “But it’s f0.95!”.

If you look at the sample images on Mitkon’s site and check out one of the first reviews of the 5omm f/0.95 lens it looks a bit soft wide open the images have more of a vintage lens look. Still, if you don’t have a fast fifty and you’re moving to the Sony a7s the Mitakon is supposed to start shipping at the beginning of July. Your $899 will get you on the preorder list, but I think I’ll wait and see how well my Canon 50mm f1.2 works out on the a7s before I start buying any Sony mount lenses.

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