Sonnar of CANON S 50mm F1.5

A review and photo examples of the CANON S 50mm F1.5(L39) with the EPSON R-D1,LEICA M8,LEICA M9.

Gallery
Review
Specification and more
Reference links

Photo example

The sample photo were taken with the EPSON R-D1,LEICA M8,LEICA M9.

Review

Overview
Usability
Add info

1．Overview

The CANON 50mm F1.5 is a standard lens with an L39 screw mount that Canon released for their Barnack Leica compatible cameras. Canon calls it an S-mount.

This 50mm F1.5 is a lens designed based on the Carl Zeiss Sonnar, and this can be clearly seen by looking at the lens construction diagram in Leica Lenses of the World Part 2 (p. 44)/CANON 50mm F1.5.

There are two lens names, CANON and Serenar, but both are the same lens.

The main specifications of the lens are as follows, and detailed specifications are listed in the table.

Lens configuration: 3 groups, 7 elements
Minimum shooting distance: 1.0m
Rangefinder coupling for rangefinder cameras: 1.0m
Aperture: F1.5~16
Aperture blades: 13
Filter and hood: 40mm diameter screw-in type

2．Usability

The Canon 50mm F1.5 lens I owned was in relatively good condition, and as you can see from the sample images, it has good resolution at the focal point and a smooth, unobtrusive blur both in front of and behind the focal point.

Since the images were taken with a digital camera, almost all of the sample images were taken with the aperture fully open.

This lens is also an old lens that is over 70 years old, so many of the lenses have scratches on the lens surface and cloudiness due to balsam separation. However, mint-condition lenses are priced high for an old 50mm lens. Still, the silver shining on the mint-condition lenses makes you want to take photos.

3．Summary

In conclusion, to sum up the Canon 50mm F1.5 is a standard lens that almost reproduces the classic Sonnar. If the lens is in good condition, you can easily enjoy the Sonnar image.

Specification and Competitor

Comparing the Canon S 50mm and Carl Zeiss C SONNAR, the three elements in the rear group have almost the same shape, but while the Canon S 50mm has three elements bonded together in the middle group, the C SONNAR has two independent lenses. This is thought to be due to the need to avoid the high cost of bonding three elements together. Another factor may be that with modern coating technology, two independent lenses can perform better than past bonded lenses.

If you look at the Canon Museum, you can see that there are 16 50mm standard lenses, including those with minor changes, and the Canon L39 screw mount from the Canon S era is very diverse and interesting. In particular, the Gauss-type Canon S 50mm F1.2 was released in 1956, and the more compact Gauss-type Canon S 50mm F1.4 was released in 1957. The best of all was the super-large aperture standard lens Canon S 50mm F0.95, the last standard lens for the S lens, released in 1961 exclusively for the Canon 7, which was a groundbreaking lens at the time.

Nikon released a Sonnar-type 50mm in 1950 with an aperture of F1.4, but this lens, which was released two years later in 1952, only achieved the same brightness as the Zeiss Sonnar with an aperture of F1.5, which may have been a bit disappointing for Canon. Nikon also sold a 50mm F1.5 Sonnar-type screw-mount lens in 1949, and a photojournalist named David Douglas Duncan used it for his photography, which helped Nikon become popular in the United States, according to the reference link, David Douglas Duncan.

Items	CANON	C Sonnar
Focal length(mm)	50	50
Max aperture	1.5	1.5
Min aperture	16	16
Leaf blade	13	10
Lens Construction	7elements in 3groups	6elements in 4groups
Min distance(m)	1.0	0.9
Lens length(mm)	36	45
Max diameter(mm)	49	56
Filter Size(mm)	40	46
Weight(g)	270	250
Lens mount	L39	ZM
Release date	1952.11	2006.8
価格（定価・税別）	36,500-	¥105,000-

Reference links

Canon Museum 50mm F1.5
David Douglas Duncan
Leica lenses from around the world Part 2 (P44)/CANON 50mm F1.5・Ads by Amazon
Leica lenses from around the world Part 2 (P74)/NIKKOR S.C 50mm F1.4・Ads by Amazon

Update history

2025.6.6
2025.03.12
2024.05.27

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