Can this be true?

Mainecoonmaniac · May 30, 2012

A Nikon lens faster than f/1.2? Here's a patent for an F/0.7 lens.

http://translate.google.com/transla...1&u=http://egami.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2012-05-28

BrianShaw · May 30, 2012

I've never heard of one, but I can tell you one thing about patents: just because a patent exists does not mean that a working example was built... and certainly does not mean that an available product ever resulted.

E. von Hoegh · May 30, 2012

Jeez guys. I thought everyone knew about this. http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm

And this. http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/f-095.htm

Mustafa Umut Sarac · May 30, 2012

An APUG member designed an f.0.9 lens. Its easy with computers.

BrianShaw · May 30, 2012

E. von Hoegh said:
Jeez guys. I thought everyone knew about this.

Apparently not.

CGW · May 30, 2012

SLR Magic HyperPrime lenses are already here.

E. von Hoegh · May 30, 2012

BrianShaw said:
Apparently not.

Silly me.

zsas · May 30, 2012

The +/- range between in and out of focus would be a few centimeters! Wasn't there some kind of military lens f 0.8 from back in the day that someone shot and he/she noted that the eye was in focus but eyelashes were complete blur. I will have to dig up the post, think I saved it in my "fast lens" bookmark folder...

LJSLATER · May 30, 2012

This lens appears to be designed for the Nikon 1 mirrorless cameras. Even if I shot digital, I don't think I'd buy into Nikon's mirrorless system; it bears too much of a resemblence to the old Pronea APS system

EKDobbs · May 30, 2012

Michael R 1974 said:
Zeiss made a special f0.7 lens which Stanley Kubrick adapted for use in the filming of Barry Lyndon so that he could film by available candle light.

I saw that in his documentary. That sucker was huge.

Photo Engineer · May 30, 2012

IIRC, Nikon had an f0.9 lens that they sold in the 60s. It was not very good and was very very expensive. Again IIRC.

PE

j-dogg · May 30, 2012

Kowa had an f0.66 medical purpose lens, there's a photo of it somewhere.

I rented out the infamous Canon 50mm f1.0L many moons ago, at 3200 I could walk around at night and handhold just about any shot, at the expense of very reduced image quality, needless to say the 50 1.2L was a massive improvement.

Newt_on_Swings · May 31, 2012

E. von Hoegh said:
Jeez guys. I thought everyone knew about this. http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm

Great read, I love these side stories, especially first hand accounts. Quite an engineering feat.

dnjl · May 31, 2012

Michael R 1974 said:
Zeiss made a special f0.7 lens which Stanley Kubrick adapted for use in the filming of Barry Lyndon so that he could film by available candle light.

Kubrick also pushed the entire film one stop (not just the candlelight scenes) to maintain a consistent look. The man was crazy, but then again, Barry Lyndon features some of the most beautiful cinematography I've ever seen.

On topic, there are quite a few extremely fast X-ray lenses out there. They're not too expensive on eBay and can be adapted to virtually any mount (though without infinity focus), but IQ is generally very bad. They are special purpose lenses, certainly not suited for everyday photography.

CGW · May 31, 2012

Just in case anyone's not living in the 1970's, there are these with more on the way:

http://noktor.com/products.php

bdial · May 31, 2012

I have an 85mm f/.7 or so around here somewhere. I have no idea what it was made for, I presume it was for some sort of video system. It focuses about 10mm from the back element, so it's not too practical for the sort of cameras we like.
It's impressive to look at though, I'm sure it cost someone a lot of money when it was made. I got it in a collection of odd lenses at a photo show.

Helen B · May 31, 2012

Isn't that patent for Nikon 1 lenses - ie the little digital mirrorless thing, as already mentioned? Very small image circle, and no mirror pushing the lens away from the image plane. Despite what Ken Rockwell says (why would anybody use him as a reference?), there is a problem (challenge) created by the throat diameter in combination with the minimum possible distance between the image plane and the rear vertex (last piece of glass in the lens), so when you look at a very fast lens don't simply consider the throat diameter, but also how close it can get to the image plane. That f/0.9 Nikon was for the rangefinder, not the SLR, wasn't it?

The f/0.7 lens used for Barry Lyndon had a very small rear clearance and therefore had to be used on a modified rackover Mitchell, didn't it?

Best,
Helen

Steve Smith · May 31, 2012

BrianShaw said:
I've never heard of one, but I can tell you one thing about patents: just because a patent exists does not mean that a working example was built... and certainly does not mean that an available product ever resulted.

It doesn't even mean it's possible.

Steve.

E. von Hoegh · May 31, 2012

Photo Engineer said:
IIRC, Nikon had an f0.9 lens that they sold in the 60s. It was not very good and was very very expensive. Again IIRC.

PE

I seem to remember a Canon f:0.95, for the rangefinders IIRC.

LJSLATER · May 31, 2012

Photo Engineer said:
IIRC, Nikon had an f0.9 lens that they sold in the 60s. It was not very good and was very very expensive. Again IIRC.

PE

Dead Link Removed

I found the website above a year or two ago. I don't know how accurate the information is, but the author profiles all sorts of interesting industrial Nikkors.

Bjorn Roslett's old website http://naturfotograf.com/ has some information about a few of those lenses too.

LJSLATER · May 31, 2012

CGW said:
Just in case anyone's not living in the 1970's, there are these with more on the way:

http://noktor.com/products.php

Aren't the Noktor lenses just surveillance camera lenses for CCTV systems with different lens mounts stuck on them? They weren't designed for still photography. That doesn't mean they aren't useful or fun, but they seem over-priced to me.

Also, are any of Noktor's current offerings compatible with film cameras, or are they only for crop sensor digital cameras like the lens patent in the first post?

MattKing · May 31, 2012

Helen B said:
Isn't that patent for Nikon 1 lenses - ie the little digital mirrorless thing, as already mentioned? Very small image circle, and no mirror pushing the lens away from the image plane. Despite what Ken Rockwell says (why would anybody use him as a reference?), there is a problem (challenge) created by the throat diameter in combination with the minimum possible distance between the image plane and the rear vertex (last piece of glass in the lens), so when you look at a very fast lens don't simply consider the throat diameter, but also how close it can get to the image plane. That f/0.9 Nikon was for the rangefinder, not the SLR, wasn't it?

The f/0.7 lens used for Barry Lyndon had a very small rear clearance and therefore had to be used on a modified rackover Mitchell, didn't it?

Best,
Helen

Hi Helen - welcome back!

We've missed you!

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