Canon Sonnar 50mm

A review and photo examples of the CANON S 50mm F1.5(L39).

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 configuration diagram in the reference book 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 detailed specifications of the lens are listed in the table, but the main specifications are as follows.

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 lens I owned was in relatively good condition, and as you can see from the sample images, it has good resolution in the focal area and a smooth blur in both the front and back without any unpleasantness. Since I shot digitally, almost all of the sample images were taken at full aperture.

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, but lenses in slightly better condition are priced high for an old 50mm lens. If you want to enjoy the image quality of a Sonnar, the Cosina Zeiss C Sonnar may be enough. However, the beautiful silver exterior in good condition makes me want to take pictures.

3．Add Info.

Nikon released a 50mm Sonnar-type lens in 1950 with an aperture of F1.4, but this lens, released two years later in 1952, only achieved the same brightness as the Zeiss Sonnar with an F1.5 aperture, which may have been a bit disappointing for Canon. However, Canon continued to develop standard lenses, releasing F1.2 in 1956 and F1.4 in 1957, and in 1961 they arrived at the super-large aperture standard lens of F0.95, which was the last standard lens of the S lens.

Nikon also sold a 50mm F1.5 screw mount lens, and it is said that 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.

If you look at the Canon Museum, you will 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.

Specification

Items	CANON	Ms-optics Sonnetar	C Sonnar	Nikkor S.C
Focal length(mm)	50	50	50	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-	–