EBC Fujinon GX M 50mm f/5.6
Fuji Photo Film · Fuji GX680 · 1986
Also known as: EBC Fujinon GX 50mm F5.6 · EBC Fujinon GX M 50mm F5.6 · Fujinon GX 50mm f/5.6 · Fujinon GX M 50mm f/5.6 · Fuji GX680 50mm F5.6 · GX680 50mm · Fujinon GXM 50mm · EBC FUJINON GX M 50mm 1:5.6 · フジノン GX 50mm F5.6 · EBC フジノン GX M 50mm F5.6 · フジ GX680 50mm · GX680用 50mm F5.6
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EBC Fujinon GX 50mm f/5.6 (plain GX marking) | Fuji GX680 | 1986–1997 | — | — |
| EBC Fujinon GX M 50mm f/5.6 (counter chip, from 1997) | Fuji GX680 | 1997–2010 | — | — |
- Element and group count (12 in 9), closest focus 0.31 m and the φ112 mm attachment thread are from Japanese Wikipedia's Fujifilm product list, which names the lens Fujinon GX M 50mm F5.6. English Wikipedia's table agrees on 12/9 and 112 mm and adds f/5.6–45, 1,250 g, 115 × 115 × 125 mm and a list price of ¥267,000.
- The 115 × 115 × 125 mm figure is the lens on its board; the first two numbers are the square board, larger than the 101 × 107 mm of most GX lenses, so no diameter is given, and 125 mm is taken as the length. Blade count is not published.
- The ¥267,000 list price in English Wikipedia's table carries no year; it is given as a string only and not indexed. In 35mm terms the table calls it a 23mm f/2.6.
- Launch year: no source dates the 50mm itself. 1986 is the GX680 system's launch (Fujifilm; Japanese Wikipedia); English Wikipedia says nine lenses were shown at the 1987 PMA show without naming them. Danny Burk was using the 50mm in 2002.
How to tell them apart
- Widest lens of the system, on an oversized 115 × 115 mm lens board with a 112 mm front thread, where most GX lenses are 101 × 107 mm with 82 mm threads (English Wikipedia)
- No shutter-speed ring: the Seiko leaf shutter is timed by the body, and the aperture is set by a lever on the lens (English Wikipedia)
- Front ring engraved EBC FUJINON GX 50mm 1:5.6, or GX M on the 1997-and-later version
- Image circle smaller than the other GX lenses: English Wikipedia says it cannot be used with full movements, and Burk found vignetting beyond about 9 mm of shift or with heavy tilt, invisible in the finder
- Listing trap: Fuji also made GX617 and GFX lenses; a GX680 lens has the square electronic board and no shutter ring
EBC Fujinon GX 50mm f/5.6 (plain GX marking):
- Front ring reads EBC FUJINON GX 50mm 1:5.6 with no M; no exposure counter chip, so a GX680III shows no per-lens count for it
EBC Fujinon GX M 50mm f/5.6 (counter chip, from 1997):
- GX M on the front ring; carries an electronic exposure counter whose total the GX680III displays with Film Holder III (English Wikipedia)
- Same optics, barrel, 112 mm thread and lens board as the GX version; fits the GX680 and II, which ignore the counter
- EBC Fujinon GX 50mm f/5.6 (plain GX marking): The pre-1997 marking. No source dates the 50mm's own introduction; 1986 is the system's launch year and the lens appears in every later list. Works on all four bodies.
- EBC Fujinon GX M 50mm f/5.6 (counter chip, from 1997): Introduced with the GX680III in December 1997. English Wikipedia's lens table treats GX and GX M as one lens, 'GX (M)', with one set of figures; the counter is the only documented difference.
Specifications
- Construction
- 12 elements / 9 groups
- Aperture range
- f/5.6–f/45
- Shutter
- Seiko electronic leaf shutter in the lens, timed and cocked by the body: 8s–1/400, B, flash sync at all speeds
- Min. focus
- 0.31 m
- Dimensions
- 125 mm long
- Weight
- 1250 g
- Filter
- 112 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1986–2010
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- EBC multicoating
- Original price
- ¥267,000 (maker's list price; year not stated)
What reviewers say
- Danny Burk, The Luminous Landscape (blog) — In his 2002 GX680III review he calls the 50mm large and heavy, with its 112 mm filter thread, and the one lens that cannot use the full movements: it vignettes if shifted more than about 9 mm or tilted hard, and the finder does not show it. Lens quality across the system he rates as "stellar".
History
The 50mm f/5.6 is the widest lens Fuji made for the GX680, a 23mm equivalent on the 56 × 76 mm frame by English Wikipedia’s reckoning, and the most elaborate: twelve elements in nine groups, a 112 mm front thread, a 115 × 115 mm lens board larger than the system’s standard 101 × 107 mm, and 1,250 g on its board. Like every GX lens it carries a Seiko leaf shutter that the body times from 8 seconds to 1/400 and cocks after each exposure, so flash works at any speed; the photographer sets only the aperture, by a lever on the lens, from f/5.6 to f/45. It focuses on the bellows to 0.31 m.
Fujifilm’s history of the Fujinon name explains the constraint every GX lens was designed to: because the back revolves, the image circle must cover 8 × 8 cm, about eight times a 35mm frame, and keep covering it when the front standard is moved. The 50mm is the lens that does not quite manage the second part. English Wikipedia says it cannot be used with full movements, and Danny Burk, who used one on a GX680III for landscapes, found it vignetted when shifted more than about 9 mm or tilted hard, with nothing in the finder to warn him. He also notes, as he does of the 65mm, that the bellows is the limit at infinity with large movements on the wide lenses.
Two markings exist. The plain GX lens is the original; the GX M version, introduced with the GX680III in December 1997, adds an electronic exposure counter whose total the III displays through Film Holder III. Optics, barrel and board are the same, the GX M works on the earlier bodies without its counter, and the plain GX works on the III without a per-lens count. No source dates the 50mm’s own introduction, so the family is dated from the system’s launch in 1986. English Wikipedia’s list price of ¥267,000 is the highest of the fixed-focal-length GX lenses below the 500mm and carries no year.
For a buyer the points to check are the shutter and the contacts on the board, since the lens cannot fire without a working body, and the large front element for cleaning marks. The 112 mm filter size is shared by nothing else in the system; the 65 and 80 take 95 mm and most of the rest 82 mm.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a EBC Fujinon GX M 50mm f/5.6? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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