First Impression: Kipon Iberit 75mm f2.4

Until last evening, when my black Kipon Iberit 75mm f2.4 lens arrived, my longest lens was my Fuji XF 50mm f2 R WR. I decided I wanted something with more reach for occasional use and not wanting to pay more than a $1000 or more for even a used Fuji 80mm prime, I decided to look at MF only options. I was always curious about the Iberit lenses, which were originally sold under the Handevision name and are now sold under the Kipon name to spur obvious lackluster sales. There were zero 75mm lenses available on the used market, so I ordered a new one from B&H Photo for $299 plus sales tax and free shipping. Kipon makes four lenses, the more well known Iberlux 40mm f0.85, plus the Iberit 24mm, 35mm, and 75mm. There used to be a 50mm but apparently it has been discontinued. All of the iBerit lenses are f2.4 and have a 49mm filter thread. The lenses were designed in Germany and are made by Shanghai Transvision (Kipon) in China.

Build quality is excellent. The body is solid metal, well made with cleanly etched markings including DOF and Distance scales. The aperture ring, marked in full stops from f2.4 to f16, clicks Ito place at half stops. Both the aperture and focus rings turn smoothly. The focus ring has hard stops in the center of the infinity mark and at the front of the 0.6 meter mark. You get a plastic rear cap and a metal screw-in 49mm front cap, which seems to take forever to unscrew or screw back on. A matching hood is no longer included and is now a $50 option.

I only took a couple of hand-held test shots with my X-T2, which I had set on a recipe called Acros Punch and had red peaking enabled. The two shots shown here we both handheld but with my advance age and the weight of this all metal and glass lens, I will at least use my monopod and preferably my tripod going forward.