The IBELUX lens with the biggest aperture of 0.85 in the world and focal length of 40mm are initially available for Sony E mount systems.
NEW in Box.
Lens, rear lens cap, screw-on metal cap, plastic cap with snaps, built-in hood, User Manual, Pouch, Box.
Kipon announces $1,780 40mm F0.85 Ibelux lens for six APS-C mirrorless mounts
Published May 23, 2022 | Gannon Burgett
Optics manufacturer Kipon has announced an updated version of its 40mm F0.85 ultrafast prime, the Ibelux 40mm F0.85 Mark III.
This third-generation lens improves upon its predecessor with an updated optical construction that consists of ten elements in eight groups. Compared to the Ibelux 40mm F0.85 Mark II, KIPON says the Mark III version ‘has totally new coatings both inside and out’ to reduce flares and ghosting, and fixes ‘the irregular light reflection/diffusion problem’ that led to purple fringing.
The lens, which is available with mounts for Canon EOS R, Fujifilm X, Leica L, Micro Four Thirds, Nikon Z and Sony E-mount APS-C camera systems, features a 10-blade aperture diaphragm, has a minimum focusing distance of 75cm (29.5"), uses a 67mm front filter thread and has an aperture range of F0.85 through F22. Manual focus is driven by a Swiss-German mechanism and the focus ring offers 270º of rotation.
The Kipon Ibelux 40mm F0.85 Mark III is constructed of an aluminum outer barrel with a brass core and stainless steel mount. It measures 74mm (2.9") in diameter by 128mm (5") long and weighs 1,150g (2.5lbs).
Preconceptions
I try to start these articles by putting my preconceptions out there first. Every reviewer or blogger has them, they affect our opinions, and you have a right to know them. So I’m writing this introduction the day before our first copies arrive.
The HandeVision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85 is designed by IB/E Optics GmbH in Germany and manufactured by Kipon (aka Shanghai Transvision Photographic Equipment Co. Ltd). IB/E has developed a number of lenses and adapters for the Cinema world and other optics, so I figured the design would be good; probably a telecentric lens with a built-in Speedbooster-type element or group. Kipon is known as a lens adapter company, although Shanghai Transvision has also manufactured and distributed video and photo accessories. They are rumored to manufacture lenses for other brand names, so they have some lens manufacturing experience. But, I have to say, my expectations for build quality weren’t great. I expected a lot of variation between copies. I don’t know if I even had any expectations regarding image quality.
Okay, so much for what I expected. There are now five new copies sitting on my desk so let’s take a look.
Look and Feel
I can guarantee that you’ll see “built like a tank” posts all over the forums when people start handling this lens. Why? Because people say “built like a tank” when anything is really heavy, and this lens is really heavy at 2.65 pounds. (To put it in perspective, a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens weighs 2.85 pounds.) Tanks are cool and all, but I generally remind people they need an overhaul every 2,000 miles and get about 0.25 miles per gallon of fuel. I also remind people that I’ve never seen tanks used to deliver eggs – no matter how thick the armor plating is, delicate things inside are still delicate things. But definitely, this lens is built like a tank for whatever that’s worth.
The lens has a nice built-in sliding hood, which I’m always a fan of. The aperture ring moves easily and is “lightly clicked.” You can barely perceive the slight click with each stop. It’s not nearly as distinct as, for example, a Zeiss or Nikon manual aperture ring, but it’s certainly sufficient to tell by feel when you’ve changed the aperture. I kind of like it. The focusing ring is very smooth and turns with minimal resistance compared to most manual focus lenses, with clear hard stops at either end of the focus range. I kind of liked this ring, too. You will have to be careful where you place your hands on the lens when shooting, though, because an errant finger can easily move the focusing or aperture rings.
We hit our first snag at this point: one of the five lenses we received had a focus ring that popped past the infinity hard stop on the first turn. In looking at things a bit, it became apparent that the focusing ring has three tiny set screws which connect to the hard stops for the focus ring. We tightened them just a bit and all was well after that. (To some degree you can also tighten them a bit further to make the focus ring have a bit more resistance when turning.)
A Quick Geek Point
I end up knowing a lot of stuff about lenses I probably wish I didn’t. One of those things is that a lot of “specialty” lenses designed by one company and manufactured by another have absolutely no compensating or adjusting elements. The lens is assembled basically by stacking all the elements in place. If the company does any quality control, it consists of taking some shots after the lens is assembled. If it’s awful, it gets disassembled and the parts get put back in their bins with the hope they’ll match up better with other parts when they get put in another assembly. And yes, I know this first hand.
Because of inevitable manufacturing tolerances, this means some lenses are pretty good optically, some are absolutely crap optically, and buying one is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get. And whatever you get is what you got. There are no optical adjustments that can be made.
This is what I thought we might see with the Ibelux 40mm. But we did open one up, not to do a complete teardown, but just to peek inside. What we found was most reassuring – there were shims to adjust tilt and centering associated with several of the elements. That not only means the optics can be adjusted. It also means someone was checking each element as it was placed, determining if it needed to be shimmed and how much. Which means my hopes for this lens as I headed to the test bench increased exponentially. This was a real optical device assembled with some care, not a bunch of glass elements stacked together on a hope and a prayer.
By Roger Cicala (about Mark I)
KIPON Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 Mark III Overview
By B&H Photo's
Matt Cottom
Sporting one of the largest apertures available for the SONY E mount , the KIPON Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 Mark III Lens is an elegant artistic lens designed to expand your creative potential. The Ibelux features a 10 blade iris and a massive f/0.85 maximum aperture for gorgeous bokeh and excellent low-light performance. This versatile, dreamy lens can excel in a wide variety of scenarios, especially those demanding a unique look or with little available light.
Optical Performance
One of the fastest artistic lenses, the Ibelux 40mm Mark III is the product of a collaboration between KIPON founder Xiaoming Zhang and Klaus Eckerl of IB/E Optics, a German company noted for their manufacturing and mechanical design. The 10 blade diaphragm and extremely fast speed make this lens an ideal low-light performer.
● Mark III version features improved optical design that better corrects for chromatic abberrations and other visual distortions
● Enormous maximum aperture of f/0.85
● Dreamy light rendering, especially at fully open aperture, perfect for artistic applications
● Telecentric optical design produces high quality images
● Nice and creamy bokeh
Physical Design
● SONY E mount lens is designed for APS-C format cameras
● Special concave design for front element
● Highly versatile 40mm focal length (equivalent to 60mm full frame lens)
● Manual aperture ring
● Smooth and precise manual focus system
● Close focus distance of 2.5'
2013, in a beautiful border town, Passau in Bavaria state, Germany, Kipon founder Xiaoming Zhang met Klaus Eckerl in a mountain restaurant by the Danube river, reached agreement to make a world fastest artistic lens for all the photographers, at that moment, they gave the name IBELUX, which stands for a lens for extremely low light shooting, designed by IB/E OPTICS, with many years of experience for precision manufacturing and mechanic designing, after 200 days and nights sample making and testing again and again, KIPON launched first version IBELUX 40mm f0.85, this high sophisticated product called a great flutter at that time in the field.
When aperture widely open, especially for those high speed lenses, some situations usually occur like chromatic aberration, purple fringe, also under strong light environment, irregular glare easily happens when point the lens towards light source, Based on the improvement of Mark II, Mark III has made a great progress in these optic difficulties, in addition to higher resolution comparing to former versions, Ibelux mark3 comes out to be a dreamy lens for artistic creative photography.
● fastest lens in the world for cameras with APS-C Sensor
● suitable for Sony E-Mount bayonet
● optimal luminous exposure in any situation due to the lens speed of 0.85
● standard focal length of 40 mm for many different applications
● low focal depth and unique bokeh
● 100 % developed in Germany
● 10 multi-coated lenses for optimal photo results
● long lasting and extremely robust metal structure
● with integrated lens hood
