Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4

Fuji Photo Film · Fujica ST · 1970

single source, unconfirmed via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Fujinon 50mm f/1.4 · EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4 · EBC FUJINON 1:1.4 f=50mm · FUJINON 1:1.4/50 · Fujinon 50mm F1.4 M42 · Fuji EBC Fujinon 50mm f1.4 · Fujica 50mm f1.4 · フジノン 50mm F1.4 · EBC フジノン 50mm F1.4 · EBCフジノン 50mm F1.4 · EBC FUJINON 50mm F1.4 M42

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Fujinon 50mm f/1.4, single-coated, no coupling tab (ST701 era) Fujica ST 1970–1972 771xxx — a single-coated example on a Fujica ST701, photographed on Commons and recorded as radioactive —
EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4, multicoated, with coupling tab (ST801 era onward) Fujica ST 1972 — —
  1. Weight. The ST801 manual's table, as read by Wikipedia, gives 285 g for the EBC lens and the ST701 manual 245 g for the single-coated one; the scan of the ST801 table read here is too poor to confirm the last digit. Old Good Light and allphotolenses say 270 g and digitalcamaralens weighed a non-EBC lens at 272 g. 285 g is used, from the manual, and the spread is left open.
  2. Blades. Six on allphotolenses and digitalcamaralens, and mbphotox says both versions share a six-bladed diaphragm; neither manual counts them. Six is used.
  3. Length and diameter are Wikipedia's reading of the ST801 manual (63.5 × 42.9 mm); allphotolenses gives 55 mm long, which is not used.
  4. An X-mount version. camera-wiki's Fujica X lens list includes a "50mm EBC f/1.4 (7 elements in 6 groups)", but neither the Fuji AX-series brochure of 1979–80, the AX-3 manual, nor Wikipedia's X-Fujinon table lists one, and no X-Fujinon 50mm f/1.4 has been seen in a listing. No X variant is entered; the AX bodies take this lens through the Mount Adapter X-S with stopped-down automatic exposure (AX-5 manual).
  5. Price. Fuji's history pages and manuals give no lens price. The National Museum of Nature and Science's database prices the ST801 at ¥40,300 body only and ¥56,800 with the 55mm f/1.8, April 1973; Mike Eckman gives $440 for the ST801 with the f/1.4 EBC lens at the 1972 US launch and $605 for the ST901 with the f/1.4 in 1974. No separate price for the lens has been found, so none is entered.
  6. Radioactivity of the EBC lens: camera-wiki lists "early and EBC coated versions"; mbphotox, with both in hand and a counter, found only the non-EBC lens active. Left as a disagreement.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 42 mm screw thread; 49 mm filter; 0.45 m close focus; f/16 minimum; 7 elements in 6 groups on every version
  • EBC on the name ring means the 1972-on multicoated lens; no EBC and a silver aperture ring means the 1970–72 single-coated lens with thoriated glass
  • The aperture-coupling tab on the back of the aperture ring marks a lens made for the ST801 and later; its absence means either the early lens or a later one filed down for another body

Fujinon 50mm f/1.4, single-coated, no coupling tab (ST701 era):

  • Name ring reads FUJINON 1:1.4/50 with no EBC prefix; plain M42 thread with no aperture-coupling tab on the back of the aperture ring (camera-wiki: the pre-1972 lenses for the ST701 lack the tab)
  • All-metal focusing ring and a silver aperture ring on the ST701-era lenses, against the rubberised focusing ring and black aperture ring of the later ones (camera-wiki)
  • Thoriated glass: camera-wiki's list of radioactive lenses carries the Fujinon 50mm f/1.4, mbphotox measured a non-EBC example as the most active lens in a fifteen-lens collection, and the yellow cast that goes with thorium is the usual tell

EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4, multicoated, with coupling tab (ST801 era onward):

  • Name ring reads EBC FUJINON 1:1.4 f=50mm; the EBC letters are the whole test for the coating
  • A small tab on the rear edge of the aperture ring, which engages a nub on the flange of the ST801, ST901, ST705 and AZ-1 for open-aperture metering; often found filed off by a previous owner (camera-wiki, 35mmc)
  • Rubberised focusing ring and black aperture ring, some f-stops coloured for the depth-of-field scale (camera-wiki); Japanese dealers split the EBC lens further into an early type (初期ツメ / 前期型) and a late type (後期型) by barrel details, without saying what changed inside
  • 285 g, 63.5 mm across and 42.9 mm long by the ST801 manual's table, against 245 g for the single-coated lens

Serial-range notes

771xxx
The one dated example on record here: a single-coated FUJINON 1:1.4/50 on a Fujica ST701, photographed by s58y and recorded as radioactive. No serial ranges for either version have been published by Fuji or compiled by anyone consulted.

Specifications

Formula
7 elements in 6 groups on both the single-coated and the EBC lens (Fuji's ST701 and ST801 manuals)
Construction
7 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/1.4–f/16
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.45 m
Dimensions
63.5 × 42.9 mm
Weight
285 g
Filter
49 mm
Years manufactured
1970
Country
Japan
Coating
single-coated Fujinon; EBC multicoating from 1972

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
early lens fringes
Spherical aberration
soft wide open
Flare & ghosting
EBC resists flare

History

The 50mm f/1.4 was the faster of the two standard lenses Fuji offered with the Fujica ST701 when that camera appeared in July 1970, the other being the 55mm f/1.8. Seven elements in six groups, a 49mm filter, 0.45m close focus and f/16 minimum, on every version. It is an M42 screw-thread lens and fits any M42 body; from 1972 it also carries a small tab on the rear of the aperture ring that tells the Fujica ST801, ST901, ST705 and AZ-1 what aperture is set, so that those bodies meter at full aperture. That tab is the reason the Fujica lenses are their own system here rather than plain M42, and it is also the thing to check before mounting one on anything else, since it fouls bodies and adapters whose flange is wider than about 54mm.

Two versions. The first, sold from 1970, reads FUJINON 1:1.4/50, has an all-metal focusing ring and a silver aperture ring, no tab, single coating, and thoriated glass that has usually gone yellow. The second arrived with the ST801 in September 1972 and reads EBC FUJINON 1:1.4 f=50mm: Fuji’s Electron Beam Coating, eleven layers on the key elements according to the ST801 manual, a rubberised focusing ring, a black aperture ring and the coupling tab. The ST801 manual’s table gives the EBC lens 285g against 245g for the earlier one, so the barrel changed as well as the coating; the optical layout did not. Japanese dealers go on to split the EBC lens into an early and a late type by barrel detail, without saying what changed. Whether the EBC lens still has thorium in it is unsettled: camera-wiki lists both versions as radioactive, and mbphotox, measuring both, found only the older one active.

The reviewers agree on the shape of it. Wide open the lens is soft and low in contrast with visible longitudinal colour, which Jonas Rask likes and digitalcamaralens does not; it tightens by f/2 and is very sharp from f/2.8. The bokeh is the reason most of them own it. Where they part is on the coating. Old Good Light calls the EBC lens the best 50 in M42 and outstanding from f/4 to f/11. mbphotox, with both versions on the same body, found the EBC lens sharper wide open, less prone to fringing and far better into the light, and the non-EBC lens a warmer, hazier thing. Mike Eckman’s ST801 review used the EBC lens and found nothing to separate the results from any top-tier SLR of the day.

Buying one: a yellow cast through the glass is thorium, not fungus, and a few weeks under a UV lamp clears it; haze and oily blades are the usual faults. Check that the coupling tab is still there, because previous owners filed them off to fit Prakticas and adapters, and a filed lens is worth less to a Fujica owner. There is no manual stop-down switch on any M42 Fujinon, so an adapter for a digital body must hold the pin in. On an AX-series bayonet body the lens goes on through Fuji’s Mount Adapter X-S and works with stopped-down automatic exposure. camera-wiki lists an X-mount EBC 50mm f/1.4, but Fuji’s own AX brochure and AX-3 manual do not, and none has been seen for sale, so no X variant is entered here. No separate list price for the lens has been found; the ST801 sold for ¥56,800 with the 55mm f/1.8 in Japan in 1973, and for $440 with this lens in the US in 1972.

Expand Collapse

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 taken with the EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4
Fujica ST701 with the single-coated FUJINON 1:1.4/50, serial 771xxx, which the photographer records as radioactive (s58y) — s58y, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4
Fifteen thoriated lenses, the Fujinon among them, with the photographer's radiation readings in the file description (s58y) — s58y, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a EBC Fujinon 50mm f/1.4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $160 across 27 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-20 (middle half $140–$190). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 19 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-20. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Fujinon 55mm f/1.8 · Fujinon 55mm f/2.2 · Fujinon 35mm f/2.8 · EBC Fujinon Macro 55mm f/3.5 · X-Fujinon 50mm f/1.2 DM · EBC Fujinon 24mm f/2.8 · Fujinon 28mm f/3.5 · EBC Fujinon 35mm f/1.9 · X-Fujinon 50mm f/1.6 · EBC Fujinon-T 100mm f/2.8 · EBC Fujinon-T 135mm f/2.5 · EBC Fujinon-T 200mm f/4.5

Sources (25)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.