Fujifilm Fujinon 5cm f/1.2

Fujifilm Fujinon 50mm f/1.2

Fuji Photo Film's entry into the postwar Japanese "speed race" produced one of the rarest ultra-fast rangefinder lenses of its era. Released in 1954, the Fujinon 50mm f/1.2 is usually grouped with three other landmark designs as the "Big Four" of Japanese fast normal lenses: the Zunow 50mm f/1.1, Nippon Kogaku's Nikkor 50mm f/1.1, and the Konishiroku Hexanon 60mm f/1.2 [2]. The Zunow 50mm f/1.1 of 1953 had briefly held the title of the fastest Leica-mount lens, and the Fujinon and Hexanon answered it the following year [2]. Production was very limited, with collector accounts citing roughly 800 examples made in Leica screw mount and only about 50 in the Nikon S rangefinder mount, which is the main reason surviving examples now trade at exceptionally high prices [1][2].

The optical design is credited to Fuji's Ryoichi Doi and traces back to his earlier Solinon 5cm f/1.5, a Sonnar-type formula patented in 1948 [1]. Doi reportedly pushed the Sonnar layout toward higher speed, passing through a nine-element prototype before settling on the eight-element production design, which uses new low-refractive-index, high-dispersion glass intended to suppress flare and hold contrast wide open [1]. The lens is built in Leica screw mount (LTM/M39) and is not rangefinder coupled in the M-mount sense recorded by LeicaLensList, so close-distance accuracy depends on the host body's coupling. Reviewers describe a relatively compact barrel for such a fast aperture, solid metal construction, crisp aperture detents, and smooth focusing; the click-stopped aperture ring carries an f/1.6 marking rather than the more usual f/1.8, and the spacing of the stops recalls older cine lenses [2]. On a modern body, a loaded Leica with the lens mounted weighs close to one kilogram, and the unit is slightly front heavy [2].

Documented variants are defined mainly by mount: the common LTM version and the much scarcer Nikon S rangefinder version, with the design also associated with Contax-type rangefinder fittings of the period [1]. Published descriptions of the construction are not fully consistent: at least one collector source lists a twelve-bladed diaphragm and a four-group layout, which differs from the values recorded by LeicaLensList; the verified specifications (ten blades, six groups, eight elements) should be treated as authoritative [2].

Optical qualities

Rendering First-hand reports of this lens are scarce because so few exist, so any rendering summary should be read as limited. The eight-element Sonnar-derived design with selected low-dispersion glass was engineered to keep flare down and contrast up at full aperture [1]. In practical use on both film and a high-resolution digital body, one reviewer described the results as sharp yet soft-edged and "painterly," with thin, crisp lines, comparing the character to 1960s Zeiss Planars rather than to a clinical modern lens [2]. These are individual impressions rather than measured data, and behavior at the extreme corners, flare resistance against modern light sources, and sample-to-sample variation are not well documented.

History

Development and Launch The lens was a product of the speed competition that drove several Japanese optical makers in the early 1950s, with the German optical industry as the implicit benchmark [1][2]. Fuji's design grew out of Doi's Sonnar-type work of the late 1940s and reached the market in 1954, alongside the Konishiroku Hexanon 60mm f/1.2 and shortly after the Zunow 50mm f/1.1 [1][2]. Contemporary accounts suggest the Fujinon's "new generation glass" and more practical handling were viewed as advantages over the awkwardly shaped Zunow [2].

Special editions No widely documented factory special editions are recorded beyond the differing rangefinder mounts; the principal distinction collectors track is between the LTM version and the far rarer Nikon S version [1].

Collector Notes This is a low-production, high-value lens, and a late-1950s price list shows it then selling for about US$299.50, with present-day asking prices reported well into five figures because so few were made [1]. Given that scarcity, buyers should verify mount type, optical condition, and originality carefully, and be aware that published specifications for blade count and group arrangement vary between sources [1][2].

Sources

• [1] Crafting Pixels. Superfast lenses – the Fujinon 5cm f/1.2. https://pixelcraft.photo.blog/2023/09/12/superfast-lenses-the-fujinon-5cm-f-1-2/
• [2] Japan Camera Hunter (Michael Nguyen). Camera Geekery: Fujinon 50mm f1.2 LTM. https://www.japancamerahunter.com/2020/07/camera-geekery-fujinon-50mm-f1-2-ltm/