The Mamyia Sekor E / EF 1.4/50mm is probably the best vintage 1.4/50mm lens I'm aware of, including famous lenses such as the Canon nFD 1.4/50, the Minolta Rokkor MC 1.4/50mm and the Zeiss CY Planar 1.4/50mm. At f1.4 (wide open) is is soft, as are all other vintage 1.4/50mm lenses, but resolution across the field is already pretty good. At f2.8 it is as good as all the other lenses at f4 or f4.5, and that's pretty amazing to say the least.

Looking at published lens section from the Sekor CS 1.4/50mm and the Sekor E/EF 1.4/50mm both lenses seem to share the same optical construction. In reality, however, the EF 1.4/50mm performs much better than the previous CS 1.4/50mm, thus indicating an improved optical formula.

Like with other Mamiya Sekor E and EF lenses, the important parts of the lens barrel are made from aluminum. The focus ring as well as the aperture ring however are made from polycarbonate, and there's no rubber grip. Unlike the more common E lenses, the EF lenses have eleven (instead of ten) electric contacts at the bayonet mount, thus enabling the lens to share information about the distance between lens and object. This information is used for correct flash exposure when using the sophisticated multimode Mamiya ZE-X camera.

After fourty years, most 50 mm primes in the Mamyia Sekor E lineup have dry focusing threads. Cleaning and re-lubricating is recommended if the lenses will be used regularly. Due to the simple and clear construction of the Sekor E normal lenses this can be done quite easily. Since there's no need to dismantle the lens block, there's also no danger of de-centering the lens.

Like the other fast Sekor E primes, also the E/EF 1.4/50mm is pretty rare and difficult to find. I had bought my first sample in 1984 when Mamyia stopped manufacturing 35mmm SLR cameras, and the remaining lenses were sold off cheaply. Some years later I gave it away, but it took me nearly ten years to find a reasonably priced second sample here in Switzerland (CHF 30.--). Sometimes the lens can also found re-branded as "Revuenon", but otherwise looking identically to the Mamiya.

MAMIYA SEKOR E mm 1:                  (7 lenses /6  elements)