CANON S 50mm F1.5(L39)
Review and photo examples of the CANON S 50mm F1.5(L39).
Table of contents
Photo example
- The sample photo were taken with the EPSON R-D1,LEICA M8,LEICA M9
Review
The 50mm F1.5 is a standard L39 screw mount lens released by Canon for its Barnack Leica compatible cameras. Canon calls it S mount.
This 50mm F1.5 is a lens designed based on Carl Zeiss Sonnar, and you can clearly see this by looking at the lens configuration diagram in the reference book Leica Lenses of the World Part 2 (P44)/CANON 50mm F1.5. There are two lens names, CANON and Serenar, but both are the same lens.
The lens I owned was in relatively good condition, and as you can see from the example, you can see that the resolution in the focused area is good and that both the front and back blur smoothly and smoothly. Since this photo was taken digitally, the aperture is mostly wide open.
Compared to the Sonnar type 50mm lens released by Nikon in 1950, which had an aperture of F1.4, this lens, released two years later in 1952, only achieved F1.5, the same brightness as the Zeiss Sonnar. Therefore, this lens may have been a bit of a disappointment for Canon. However, Canon continued to develop standard lenses, releasing F1.2 in 1956, F1.4 in 1957, and in 1961 arrived at the ultra-large aperture standard lens F0.95, the last standard lens for S lenses.
If you look at the Canon Museum, there are 16 50mm standard lenses, including improved ones, and Canon’s L39 screw mount standard lenses from the Canon S era are very diverse.
This lens is also an old lens that is over 70 years old, so there are many lenses with scratches on the lens surface and cloudiness due to balsam cuts, but the lenses that are in good condition are priced high for an old 50mm lens. If you want to enjoy Sonnar-like images, Cosina Zeiss’s C Sonnar may be sufficient. However, the beautiful silver exterior, which is in mint condition, arouses the desire to photograph.
Specification
Items | CANON | Ms-optics Sonnetar | C Sonnar | Nikkor S.C |
Focal length(mm) | 50 | ← | ← | ← |
Max aperture | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
Min aperture | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
Leaf blade | 13 | 12 | 10 | 12 |
Lens Construction | 7elements in 3groups | 5elements in 4groups | 6elements in 4groups | 7elements in 4groups |
Min distance(m) | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
Lens length(mm) | 36 | 35.7 | 45 | 39 |
Max diameter(mm) | 49 | 50 | 56 | 49 |
Filter Size(mm) | 40 | 49 | 46 | 43 |
Weight(g) | 270 | 123 | 250 | 280 |
Lens mount | L39 | M | ZM | L39 |
Release date | 1952.11 | 2022.3 | 2006.8 | 1950 |
価格(定価・税別) | 36,500- | – | ¥105,000- | – |
Reference links
- Canon Museum 50mm F1.5
- Leica lenses from around the world Part 2 (P44)/CANON 50mm F1.5・amazon affiliate link
- Leica lenses from around the world Part 2 (P74)/NIKKOR S.C 50mm F1.4・amazon affiliate link
Update history
- 2024.05.27
Affiliate links
- Amazon Affiliate Link/ Keyword=Canon Lens
- Amazon Affiliate Link/ Keyword=Old canon books
- Amazon Affiliate Link / Keyword=CANON L-Mount lens