Greetings fellow time travelers,
I think this belongs here, came up again in a PM this evening.
I found this way back, when I was still waiting for the Chronos to arrive and researching native lenses:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/142138567245?orig_cvip=true
It's an f/0.7 C-Mount 50mm lens by Fujinon.
IIRC that's very close to the "practical" limit. It was too expensive to just "shop and test" it..
It "could" have been incompatible (I heard about some c-mount lenses lenses which won't work on the Chronos, don't remember the specifics. Protrusion issue into the camera body? See image 5 for example..).
AND notice the lovely "-TV" tag. Would've been too risky
(It may have been vastly overprized as well.)
Here's some explanation why you won't find much faster lenses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ZXfviMBFE
And this was just a marketing stunt without actually producing anything usable:
https://petapixel.com/2013/08/06/carl-zeiss-super-q-gigantar-40mm-f0-33-the-fastest-lens-ever-made/
All the best
Martin
I own a Set of Schneider-Kreuznach Xenons, 17mm, 25mm and 50mm
All of them are quite fast and have a f/0.95 Aperture and are native C-Mount.
The 17mm is built for 2/3", but almost covers the Nikon1 Sensor. It also prodtrudes extremely far into the Camera Body, and i had to do some extreme Modifications to my Nikon J5 to make it fit.
The 25mm ist for 1" but mostly covers MFT.
The 50mm is not exactly known for what Format it is built, but covers FullFrame with some Modifications.
I would realy recommend, if anyone want to buy such a Lens, to do some proper Research about those old Lenses and the Images they produce and maybe try them on Location when buying if that is possible.
Because some (or even most) of those old, extreme fast Lenses can produce quite some funky Results you might not like.
I realy like the Look those Lenses make, but that is up to personal taste.
That said, i also keep a set of more modern, (not quite as) fast Lenses for every Focal Length, in case i need Images with a "Cleaner" Look or for realy difficult Light situations, if i dont want Flares and all that stuff.
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Also keep in Mind:
f/0,7 is just one full Stop more Light than f/0,95. And f0,95 is again just one full Stop faster than f/1,4.
That means your 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 is plenty of a fast Lens for its commonly cheap price.
You can get something like a SMC-M PK 50mm f/1.7 for like 20€ or even less, if you spend some time searching the internet.
That is a realy sharp and reasonably fast Lens.
And compared to the Prices for your average f/0,95 (or faster) Lens that is just no Question what to get, unless you realy know what for and why you would need those Ultra-Fast Lenses.
Mostly it is just easyer to add Light to whatever you are filming.
Or just use Sunlight +maybe Reflectors & Diffusors, if that is a Option.
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Depends on what you want capture, it may realy be possible you find yourself someday in a situation, where you cant just add Light and also cant use other camera settings for technical (or other) Reasons, like Framerate and Distance or the scale of your Shot.
Even then those Lenses Wide open can completely "destroy" your image in terms of contrast and so on.
So you will find yourself sometimes maybe even stopping those down slightly to like f/1.4 or f/2 (or even further) if you want to use it for someting else than cinematic images. Technical Imaging for example.
And then you could just use any other Lens as fast as f/1.4 or f/2
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I have to say those Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon Lenses are Realy sharp, even wide open. Maybe some of the sharpest 0,95´s you will get, especialy considering the Age of those.
BUT they loose a Lot of Contrast when wide open, make Flares and quirky bokeh, and some other stuff. And i REALY like that.
Not all of those old superfast Lenses are Sharp Wide open!!! So at least get some high Quality Test images or references of People, that used those Same Lenses you want to buy.
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And i have to say, i allready find that 50mm f/0,95 Lens Stupid Hard to focus, because of how shallow the Focal plane is.
I never got into the joy of playing with faster glass (that had a proper Mount and could focus to infinity) yet, but i would be realy curios, what it would be like to use & focus those even Faster Lenses.
I am realy used to manual Focusing, but that Lens may be the Hardest one to properly Focus, out of those that i own.
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SUMMARY: Know what you are doing if you buy Lenses like this, because Stuff is expensive.