SongRaw Simplifies Moonlit 50mm and 85mm f/1.2 Primes, Cuts Price
SongRaw’s Moonlit 50mm and 85mm f/1.2 Simplified Editions keep the same optics but cut about 100 grams and slash prices to $550 and $650. The tradeoff is no aperture ring and only silver trim.
For portrait and low-light shooters, SongRaw is asking a blunt question: do you want the f/1.2 look, or the premium trimmings? The company’s new Moonlit Simplified Edition primes keep the same optical design as the original 50mm f/1.2 and 85mm f/1.2, but they drop the physical aperture ring, come only in silver, and land at far lower prices, $550 for the 50mm and $650 for the 85mm.
The savings are hard to ignore. The standard Moonlit 50mm f/1.2 had been priced at $999, while the 85mm f/1.2 carried a $1,299 tag. That puts the Simplified Editions roughly 55% to 65% below the originals, a major shift in a lens class where buyers usually pay a steep premium for wide-open rendering and fast autofocus. SongRaw is clearly betting that more photographers will accept fewer external controls if the image quality stays intact.
The company showed the lenses at NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the pitch is built around restraint rather than reinvention. SongRaw says the 50mm still uses a 15-element, 10-group design with two aspherical elements, while the 85mm keeps its 18-element, 10-group formula with one aspherical element, five ED elements and multiple high-refractive elements. Both lenses retain a 13-blade aperture for smoother bokeh, along with autofocus, eye detection, subject tracking, weather sealing, aerospace-grade aluminum construction and USB-C firmware updating.
What changes in hand is the handling. SongRaw says the Simplified Editions are about 100 grams lighter than the standard versions, which should matter on long portrait sessions, weddings and travel days when a heavy fast prime starts to feel like a small brick. The loss of the aperture ring will matter to some shooters, especially those who like direct physical control on the lens barrel, but SongRaw is shifting aperture work to the camera body as part of the cost-cutting package.
Launch support begins with Sony E and Nikon Z, with L-mount versions promised later. That staggered rollout, paired with official and partner sales channels on Amazon and AliExpress, suggests SongRaw is pushing the Moonlit line toward a wider, more price-sensitive audience. The brand’s own site identifies the company as Shenzhen SongRaw Photography Equipment Co., Ltd., founded in 2023 and based in Longgang District, Shenzhen, and its download center shows recent Moonlit firmware files dated 2026-04-03, 2026-03-10 and 2026-02-07. That kind of active support makes the lower price feel less like a one-off discount and more like a deliberate move to put f/1.2 rendering within reach.
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