50mm lenses

Are all 50mm lenses equivalent?

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So a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens, is a 50mm lens, right? Well that’s not exactly true. The focal length of a 50mm lens is always 50mm, regardless of the system it is associated with. The focal length of a lens is independent of the camera system. So a 50mm lens on an SLR will have the same focal length as a 50mm lens on a DSLR, which is the same as one on an APS-C sensor, or a medium-format sensor. What is different is how they behave in terms of angle-of-view (AOV), with respect to a particular sensor size.

Fig.1: 50mm lenses all have the same focal length

Table 1 shows the behavioural differences of 50mm lenses on various systems. For example a 50mm lens from a 35mm rangefinder camera has a (horizontal) AOV of 39.6°, whereas the AOV of an APS-C camera, is 26.6°. This is because due to crop-factors, a 50mm lens on an APS-C sensor is equivalent to a 75mm on a full-frame camera (from an AOV perspective). To get a 39.6° equivalent AOV on an APS-C camera, you need roughly a 33mm lens – but the closest lens to this is a 35mm APS-C lens (35mm×1.5≈52mm).

SystemAOV (diag)AOV (hor)Crop-factorFF equiv.
16mm cine14.5°11.7°×3.4170mm
1″ sensor18.2°14.6°×2.7135mm
Micro-Four Thirds24.5°19.6°×2.0100mm
APS-C31.7°26.6°×1.575mm
film SLR46.8°39.6°×1.050mm
film rangefinder 46.8°39.6°×1.050mm
digital SLR (full-frame)46.8°39.6°×1.050mm
digital Medium (44×33mm)57.4°47.5°×0.840mm
6×7 (72×56mm)84°67.6°×0.525mm
4×5”117°104°×0.2713.5mm
Table 1: Differences in 50mm lenses used on different systems

Note that because a 50mm lens on a Micro-Four-Thirds camera behaves like a 100mm FF lens, most manufacturers won’t sell a native 50mm MFT lens, opting instead for the 50mm FF equivalent – the 25mm. That’s because a 25mm MFT lens provides the “normal” angle-of-view, just like a 35mm APS-C lens, or a 100mm 6×7 lens. A vintage 50mm SLR lens used on an APS-C camera will behave like it was designed for APS-C, i.e. it will have a horizontal AOV of around 26.6°. The remaining 6.5° either side is just cut off because of the smaller sensor (as shown in Figure 2).

Fig.2: A visualization of what a 50mm lens sees on different sensors.

Invariably, all focal lengths are treated similarly. A 35mm is always 35mm, an 85mm is always 85mm. It’s just their behaviour, or rather their “view on life”, that changes.

Ultrafast lenses – the Noctilux 50mm f/1

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After Canon and Nikon gave up on their sub-f/1.1 lenses, there was a lull for a while. In all possibility it was likely considered that film would just get so fast there would be little need for these light behemoths. But high ISO film was only introduced in the mid to late 1970s – Fujicolor 400 (1976), Kodakcolor 400 (1977). Indeed faster films begat faster lenses.

The Leitz 50mm Noctilux f/1 for Leica M cameras appeared in 1976, designed by Walter Mandler (1922-2005) and produced by Ernst Leitz Canada. It was a successor to the earlier Noctilux f/1.2. Bob Schwalberg reviewed the lens in 1976 [1]. His observation was that it had a high optical contrast and almost no flare at f/1, “outimaging” its compatriots the Noctilux f/1.2 and the Summilux f/1.4.

The lens was manufactured for a long time, from 1976-2007. The name Noctilux, was designated for three lenses with differing apertures:

  • Leitz Noctilux 50mm f/1.2 aspherical (1966-1976).
  • Leitz/Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.0 (1976-2007).
  • Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95/50mm ASPH (2008- )

The lens was constructed using only spherical curvatures, as opposed to the f/1.2 which used two aspherical surfaces with a 6/4 design. The earlier design was likely changed because the aspherical lenses were too expensive to manufacture. The f/1 uses a modified Gauss design of seven elements in six groups with an “air-lens” between the second and third elements. The second and fifth elements were made using Noctilux 900403 glass. The 1st, 6th, and 7th elements were made with Lanthanum glass (LaK12, LaF21). The 900403 glass, developed at the Leitz Glass Laboratory had a higher zirconium oxide content giving it a refractive index of 1.9005 and a dispersion value of 40. (This glass had a melting point of 1600°C, and had to be cooled in a controlled manner over 10-12 days).

But it was no light lens. It was 63mm in diameter, and weighed about 600g. It still suffered from the one thing all ultrafast lenses suffer from – a narrow DOF (2” at 5 feet). When released it sold for US$855. They now routinely sell for C$8,000-11,000.

References:

  1. Bob Schwalberg, “50-mm Noctilux f/1: Sharpest superspeed lens yet?”, Popular Photography, 78(2), pp. 80,81,105 (1976) Dominique Guebey Jungle, “Leitz Noctilux 50mm f:1.0”

Further reading: