Data sheet: Miranda 50 mm f/1.9

Pekka Buttler, 12/2025

Specifications

The table below summarises the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured sample):

Brand:	Miranda	Lens name	1:1.9 f=5cm Auto
Focal length(s)1	50 mm	Angle-of-view2	47 °
Maximum Aperture	f/1.9	In Production	1963-1968
Lens mount (this lens)	Miranda	Mount subtype	Auto aperture but no aperture coupling
Length3	41,5 mm	Diameter4	57,3 mm
Filter ring diameter	46 mm	Weight	193 grams
Lens element count	6	Lens group count	4
Aperture blades (S/R/C)5	6 S	Focus throw	290 °
Minimum focusing distance (indicated)	43 cms	Maximum magnification (calculated )	1:7
Has manual aperture ring	YES	Has Manual focus ring	YES
Aperture mechanism type	Automatic	Aperture click stops 6	1.9–2.8-4-5.6-8-11-16

Further notes:

• Miranda was – in its heyday – an advanced Japanese camera manufacturer. You can read more about Miranda camera in the JAPB company profile on Miranda camera.
• This lens came as the kit 50 with several generations of Miranda cameras, likely starting with the Miranda F in 1963.
• Unlike previous versions of the Miranda 50/1.9 (manufactured 1958-63) this lens lacks the PAD/pod pass-through device to facilitate aperture stop-down. Instead, this lens’ aperture stop-down is handled by a lever at the base of the mount.
• In 1963 Miranda also launched the Automex series of cameras that supported open-aperture metering when used with lenses that had an arm attached to the aperture ring (that would interlink with a counterpart on the camera mount)
• Importantly, Miranda was a camera manufacturer and not a lens manufacturer. This mean that from early on, Miranda cameras came equipped with various brands of lenses, including some rather prominent manufacturers such as Kowa and Zunow.
• Lenses branded as “Miranda” or “Soligor Miranda” were not manufactured by Miranda, but were sourced from other manufacturers and branded ‘Miranda’. Most often these lenses were sourced from Miranda’s long-time partner (and later: owner) Soligor (Allied Impex Corporation). Hence, the actual manufacturer of “Miranda” lenses is most often impossible to discern with certainty.

Versions/variants

The table below summarises the development of Miranda 50 mm f/1.8 and f/1.9 lenses.
For more information on generations of Miranda lenses, see the Miranda lens compendium.

Mainline spec	Years	Generation	Recipe	MFD	Filter	Length	Diameter	Weight	Notes
50 mm f/1.9	1959–60	PAD	unknown	0,45 m	unknown	unknown	unknown	unknown	7
50 mm f/1.9	unknown	PAD	6e / 4g	0,45 m	46 mm	unknown	unknown	unknown	8
50 mm f/1.9	1960–63	MEX-REX	6e / 4g	0,43 m	46 mm	42 mm	58 mm	unknown	Soligor Miranda 9
50 mm f/1.9	1964–70	MEX-REX	6e / 4g	0,43 m	46 mm	42 mm	58 mm	unknown
50 mm f/1.9	1963–68	F-G-MAT	6e / 4g	0,43 m	46 mm	42 mm	58 mm	193 g	(this lens)
50 mm f/1.8	1970–74	MEX-REX	6e / 4g	0,43 m	46 mm	47 mm	59 mm	235 g	10
50 mm f/1.8	1968–74	F-G-MAT	6e / 4g	0,43 m	46 mm	42 mm	59 mm	203 g	[data sheet]
50 mm f/1.8	1972–74	E	6e / 4g	0,43 m	52 mm	47 mm	59 mm	235 g
50 mm f/1.8	1974–76	EC	6e / 4g	0,43 m	49 mm	43 mm	60 mm	218 g	[data sheet]
50 mm f/1.8	1974–76	DUAL	6e / 4g	0,43 m	52 mm	51 mm	unknown	226 g

Adapting

This lens cannot be used natively on any current SLR or dSLRs. To use it in its native environment, you will need a Miranda Camera film body. While this lens will mount on any Miranda camera that uses the Miranda mount, its automatic aperture stop-down will work only on Miranda bodies after the Miranda F (launched 1963).

Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable adapter. However, Miranda adapters are not as easily available as adapters for many other legacy era camera mounts, nor is there a wide variety of specialist adapters.

Using Canon FD lenses on dSLRs is a theoretical possibility. Thanks to the relatively short flange focal distance of the Miranda mount (at 41,5 mm, clearly shorter than that of any full-frame dSLR mount), any adapter will necessitate some corrective optics to achieve infinity focus.

Footnotes

1. Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
2. Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
   > 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
   70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
   50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
   40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
   20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
   10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
   5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
   < 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎
3. Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at its shortest. ↩︎
4. Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
5. S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
6. Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
7. Sold already with the Miranda B. All-silver design.   ↩︎
8. Mentioned in the Manuals for the Miranda C and D. silver and black design. Some samples sold as “Miranda” others as “Kowa Prominar-Miranda”. ↩︎
9. Mentioned in the Automex (I-II) manuals explicitly as a Soligor Miranda lens. ↩︎
10. It is possible that the 50/1.8 for the Automex/Sensorex family would have been introduced in 1966 with the Sensorex or in 1968 after the same lens was available for the (lower-end) Sensomat. However the first documented mention of the 50/1.8 for Sensorex is in the manual of the 1970 Sensorex-C. ↩︎