June 1, 2019 · photos opinion

Thoughts on the Fujian 35mm f/1.6 CCTV Lens

The photos I posted of downtown Toronto were taken using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 Camera along with a Fujian 35mm f/1.6 CCTV Lens. Although the camera is old, having been released in 2011, it still produces photos with good dynamic range at low ISOs. The most interesting aspect of this setup is the cheap CCTV lens, which I bought new for around $40 USD. This CCTV lens has an extremely large aperture, f/1.6, meaning it has shallow depth of field and beautifully large bokeh balls. It was originally designed for CCTVs with small sensors and for letting in a lot of light (good for night surveillance). Anyway, using the CCTV lens on a much larger Micro Four Thirds sensor (the DMC-GF2 sensor), creates aberrations and unintended visual effects in the image edges, which is commonly referred to as a "toy-lens" look. Personally, I enjoy the swirly bokeh effects the lens produces, and feel it provides a unique characteristic to the images. Stopping the lens down to f/8 produces some tack-sharp images (the first shot), while leaving it wide open produces creamy backgrounds (the flower). Here are some sample images for you to judge.


The images were processed in Adobe RAW, and only colour corrections were applied. The following guide was used for RAW processing: RAW Post Processing with Max Foster