|
Canon EF 50mm f/1.0 L 1989-2000 One of Canon's original professional "L" series lenses made for the EOS camera system. This lens is a bit rare and was discontinued by Canon in 2000. The EF 50mm f/1.0 L lens is a special lens because it contains Two large-diameter ground and polished glass aspherical lens elements and ultra-low dispersion glass not found in the non professional Canon 50mm lenses. EF – The name of the lens mount on Canon’s EOS cameras. 50mm – Focal length, distance from rear of lens to the film plane 1.0 – f/1.0 the maximum aperture or “speed” of the lens L – The designation given to Canon’s top end professional lenses Canon made the 50mm f/1.0 to be the flagship lens to be co- |
|
Sometime ago I took my EOS 650 with the 50mm f/1.0 and my Leica M6 with latest 50mm f/2 Summicron out to the city, and shot 2 rolls of Kodak gold 100, with each photo repeated on the other camera. Since the Summicron is limited to f2, the Canon was likewise limited. For my shoot. The results were surprisingly similar. Nice sharp photos from both cameras. However 3 of the 50mm f/1.0 sots had a purple color cast from flare. I had not used a lens shade on the f/1.0. If I had used the proper lens shade would it have mattered? It certainly could not have hurt, but the fact is with so much glass sticking out on the front of this lens, there may be times flare will ruin a shot. The fact is 1.0 is a very difficult setting to use. A lot of hard work and practice must go into each good shot. It is not a lens that you can use effectively right out of the box. Most EOS photographers I fear are not willing to 'work' hard enough to get good results with this lens, and this I believe results in the bad reputation. All that being said pictures done with the 1.0 doing what it was made to do , shoot in "Available Darkness” have a special feel to them that is very unique to the lens. As I said above my observations have been from my brief encounters with this lens. I of course would be more than willing to do more through work with this special lens if someone would like to provide one… |
|
released with its EOS 1 pro camera. In doing so they became, and still are, the only SLR manufacture to offer a lens at this speed. The 50mm f/1.0 was released with much fanfare and has been constantly tested and reviewed. Being an "available light nut" the Canon EF 50mm f/1.0 has always been appealing to me. It gets a bad rap, perpetuated by those who have never used it, don’t know how to use it, or have only used it under daylight conditions. (Often causing overexposure and then blaming the lens!). Honestly, I think most people are missing the point. It is not about which 50mm lens is best, or how the pictures taken in daylight come out. It is about the fantastic possibilities available with a 1.0 lens. Let’s face it; the 1.0 is not made for your day to day stuff. It is designed to be shot wide open, handheld, in the deepest darkest corners, with your flash sitting at home where it belongs! The price tag of this lens ($2500+) has kept me from owning one, but I have been fortunate to beg and borrow one from time to time. The 50mm 1.0 really is a pretty good lens. It is however a difficult lens to use. Physically at 72mm and 2.2lbs it weighs more than most EOS cameras! If you shoot in daylight f/1.0 is nearly impossible even with 3000th shutter speed, better get a 72mm ND filter. With only inches of sharp DOF when used wide open at distances under 20ft some (or lots of) out of focus shots are par for the course. Imagine shooting candid’s of someone 10ft away at f/1.0, if your subject or even you move just 2 inches the focus will be off! So yeah it is a difficult lens to master and really requires a lot of vigilance to get consistently good results. Another critical thing to remember is to use the proper lens hood. At super wide apertures of f/1.0 the lens is very susceptible to stray lighting causing veiling flare. This alone may be the predominant reason people get “soft photos” from this lens wide open. The 50mm 1.0 lens gets a bad rap because most people do not know how to use it period. It is a fine lens, and I feel it is at least as good as Canon’s 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4. Most reviews of this lens go something like this...
|
|
ES-79II Lens Hood |
|
50mm 1.0 Block Diagram Aspherical elements 3 & 8 |