Canon 50mm F/1.2 LSM
Standard prime lens • Film era • Discontinued
- Announced:
- · September 1956
- Production status:
- ● Discontinued
- Country of design:
- · Japan
- Original name:
- · Canon Camera Co. CANON LENS 50mm f:1.2
- · Canon Camera Co., Inc. CANON LENS 50mm 1:1.2
- Class:
- · Ultra-fast full-frame standard prime lens
- System:
- · Canon S (LSM) (1949)
Specification
Optical design: | |
35mm full frame | |
50mm | |
F/1.2 | |
7 elements in 5 groups (Double Gauss derivative) | |
Leica screw mount | |
46.8° (35mm full frame) | |
Diaphragm mechanism: | |
Diaphragm type: | Manual |
Aperture control: | Aperture ring |
11 (eleven) | |
Focusing: | |
Coupled to the rangefinder: | Yes |
1m | |
Focusing modes: | Manual focus only |
Manual focus control: | Focusing ring |
Physical characteristics: | |
322g | |
⌀63×39mm | |
Accessories: | |
Screw-type 55mm | |
Clamp-on round vented |
Sources of data
- Canon lenses. Directions and tables (October 1956).
- Canon lenses booklet (September 1958).
- Canon lenses. The world's finest optics for photography booklet.
- Canon system of photography booklet (March 1956).
- All-new Canon 7 instruction booklet.
- Canon VI-T, VI-L instruction booklet.
- Canon products guide.
- Canon systems equipment price list by Bell & Howell (March 1969).
- Select Canon interchangeable lenses for your camera booklet (PUB. 52621) (September 1968).
- The Canon system of photography booklet (PUB. 5334) (March 1969).
- Bell & Howell / Canon. World famous 35mm photographic products booklet (March 1962).
- The Canon system of photography booklet (PUB. 5313B) (August 1968).
- Canon P Populaire booklet (PUB. C-9503) (January 1959).
- How to use Canon Populaire booklet (PUB. 5004A).
- Select Canon interchangeable lenses for your camera booklet (PUB. 5262) (November 1965).
Manufacturer description #1
The first lens faster than f:1.5, which produces a camera image of superb definition and resolution wide open. This lens even surpasses the resolving power of the already accepted leader, Canon's 50mm f:1.8. Incorporates new rare-glass elements, permitting its aberration-free performance at all stops. Another Canon revolutionary advance in "available light" photography. Spectra-coated, in lightweight mount; apertures from f:1.2 to f:22, with click stops. Focusing range 3.5 ft. to infinity.
Manufacturer description #2
Very few lenses faster that f:1.5 are able to give the photographer perfectly sharp definition. Normally, resolution and absence of vignetting must be sacrificed for speed. After several years of development, Canon produced a lens that surpassed the resolution qualities of many commercial lenses with a wide open aperture of 1:2. This remarkable lens is based on the design of the Canon 50mm f:1.8 but it has seven Gauss-type elements instead of six. The overall diameter of the lens is considerably greater than the 50mm f:1.8 which is one way of increasing the brilliance of this lens. In addition, the very new rare-earth compounds were used to give added qualities of resolution and color correction. These new high-refraction types of glass reduced aberrations almost completely, not only in the center of the lens, but to the very extremities of the field even with the lens wide open. This lens unquestionably revolutionized available-light photography.
From the editor
Standard lens for the Canon VT, VT de luxe, L1, VL, VL2, VI-T, VI-L, P, 7, 7s.
Other standard prime lenses in the Canon S (LSM) system
■Leica screw mount (10) | |||||||||
Serenar / Canon 50mm F/3.5 [II] LSM • Collapsible | M | 4 - 3 | 1.00m | S.VI | 1952 ● | ||||
Canon 50mm F/2.8 [I] LSM | M | 4 - 3 | 1.00m | S.VI | 1955 ● | ||||
Canon 50mm F/2.8 [II] LSM | M | 4 - 3 | 1.00m | ⌀40 | 1957 ● | ||||
Canon 50mm F/2.2 LSM | M | 5 - 4 | 1.00m | ⌀40 | 1961 ● | ||||
Serenar / Canon 50mm F/1.8 [I] LSM | M | 6 - 4 | 1.00m | S.VI | 1951 ● | ||||
Canon 50mm F/1.8 [II] LSM | M | 6 - 4 | 1.00m | S.VI | 1956 ● | ||||
Canon 50mm F/1.8 [III] LSM | M | 6 - 4 | 1.00m | ⌀40 | 1958 ● | ||||
Serenar / Canon 50mm F/1.5 LSM | M | 7 - 3 | 1.00m | S.VII | 1952 ● | ||||
Canon 50mm F/1.4 [I] LSM | M | 6 - 4 | 1.00m | ⌀48 | 1957 ● | ||||
Canon 50mm F/1.4 [II] LSM | M | 6 - 4 | 1.00m | ⌀48 | 1959 ● |