Kipon is releasing an Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 Mark III, having a posted a teaser image on its website. No specs have yet been released, but this could come as exciting news for lots of photographers.
The crop-sensor Kipon Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 Mark II is one of the fastest lenses currently available. It was released in August 2019 and featured an upgraded build quality for improved durability from the Mark I. The 40mm focal length is equivalent to 60mm in full-frame terms when shooting on an APS-C camera (64mm on Canon), while the wide aperture of f/0.85 gives an equivalent depth of field of about f/1.2.
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While specific mounts for the Mark III haven't been officially announced, the Kipon Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 Mark II was available in Canon EF-M, Fujifilm X, Micro Four Thirds (MFT), Sony E and Leica L mount. Since Fuji Rumors broke the story, it is safe to assume that the lens will appear for the X mount – however, 43Rumors posted that Kipon is no longer making MFT lenses, which is bad news for Olympus and Panasonic four thirds shooters.
As reported by Kai W (by way of a Fuji Rumors story) the Kipon Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 performs better on a Fujifilm X Trans sensor than it does on a Sony Exmor CMOS sensor. Apparently when shooting wide open with the new Kipon Ibelux 40mm you get much less chromatic aberration, better resolution and better control under strong light when shooting with a Fujifilm X mount body.
Advertised as an "artistic lens for creative photos", we can expect the out-of-focus areas to be soft and silky while the in-focus areas remain sharp. The focus fall-off should be smooth and gradual and the bokeh beautifully rounded, if sample images from Fuji Rumors are anything to go by. From the image of the Mark III, it looks very similar to the Mark II but it does perhaps have a slightly sleeker design.
The original RRP of the Kipon Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 Mark II was roughly $2,200 / £1,632 / AU$3,022 but has now dropped to almost half price at some retailers. Kipon hasn’t officially announced a release date, specs or price yet, but this information could be revealed on the Kipon website soon.
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