'L' for 'Legendary'? Canon 50mm f/1.0 'L' USM (1989-2002) lens review with samples
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- A review I've been waiting to make for years. Manufactured between 1989 and 2002, this legendary 'L' lens still commands legendary prices wherever it can be found. It still holds the crown as the brightest aperture autofocus lens ever made, and the brightest aperture SLR lens ever made - yet, it's always had very mixed reviews (most saying that it's rather soft - and those were reviews from the film era). Well, let's see what this copy of the lens can do, at least.
A huge thank you to Park Cameras here in the UK, for their help in loaning me a copy of this lens for a couple of weeks for testing. Check them out:
Web: www.parkcamera...
RUclips: / parkcameras
By the way - I do acknowledge that there's a chance this is not a a great copy of the lens, optically - however, it's very difficult to tell, with so few of them around.
All pictures taken by me on a Canon EOS R camera (and adaptor). By the way, I did do a little sharpness test on my old Canon 6D to make sure that Canon's EF - RF mount adaptor wasn't causing problems with image quality, and the results were what you would expect, so, nothing wrong with the adaptor.
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6:46 You won't heard a lot of times "Stop down to 1.4" :)
lol, no you won't :D
HAHA I SWEAR!
„Stop down to 1.2” sounds a lot more bad-ass 😎
@@JagaimoNeko "let's stop this baby down to f/1.0"
That's something only mirrorless and rangefinder shooters can say
I do that, as I got the f/1.2 :)
I think Canon made this lens to deliver a statement, rather than image quality.
Not many companies have the balls for that these days...
It was clearly a halo product. As you say a statement about who was the boss in lens design. And it worked since it's still considered a legendary lens nowdays. ;)
Cheers
Canon would one up Nikon after losing the previous race with only FD mount. This is Canon saying their serious and dedicated to EF.
It needed to make a statement given this image quality!
That is a fair point. Status symbol? Rich person's nifty fifty? Because you can doesn't mean you should? It is a beautiful lens, with glorious bokeh and if we were given this beast I'm sure you wouldn't refuse (you may sell it on and buy something else instead, but that's another matter).
Congrats on 200K , you are an inspiration to me
Some lenses must be remade, and this is one of them...
I don't think it's so much viable, both because of price and of limitations of the EF mount itself (look at how large the back element is, it even has a cut for the contacts!)
It could work out better if they had done just like Nikon with their Z mount, which allowed for the Noct S f0.95 due to being closer to the sensor and with a slighty larger mount
@@MatheusPratta But Canon is said to be working on an 18mm f/1.0 for the RF system now. So, they could make an RF 50mm f/1.0 if they wanted to.
Thorn Hawthorne I loved my 50mm 1.2. Sold it three years ago lol. Only to long for it today 🤦🏿♂️🤦🏻♂️
Thorn Hawthorne it sucks that there’s such a thing as a “bad copy” when you’re paying out a whole paycheck for a damn lens lol. I mean shit we should be getting legendary 1.0 50mm bokeh for that amount right?
Just buy it 😂
That rear element is INSANE! I've been lucky enough to hold one of these beasts a couple years back.
Try the 85mm 1.2L. 😊
Congrats on reaching 200k subs!
This lens image quality makes the Chinese 50mm f0.95 lenses look more appealing and they never were before... at least to me.
I really hope sigma continues their f1.2 lenses starting with their 35mm f1.2 for mirrorless.
Wow! Congrats for reaching 200k!!
Finally. I was waiting so long for your opinion on this lens. Great job keep it up. You are one of the best reviewers out there.
Amazing. I've wanted this glass forever. It seems so hard too find in great quality. I have the 1.2 and love it. But this is pretty sweet.
Always been in my list of dream lenses to own, I remember this lens from the time I was doing my ‘A’ Levels back in the day, legendary 1.0 was and still is quite and achievement from Canon 👍🏼
The best lens tests on RUclips so congrats on your success. Da iawn! Having sold many many cameras from the 70's & 80's when I was in the trade, I always made buyers aware that super fast lenses were nearly all soft lenses. No doubt modern optics will be much improved but on this topic I'm afraid to say that this old dog won't be learning any new tricks!
Alan Stanway you're right modern optics are much improved, there are lots of lenses that are extremely sharp wide open.
@@MichaelSchultzNZ yes Michael I use new lenses myself and really enjoy their performance levels
Alan, do you think if other companies started production of f1 autofocus lenses. Will this lens be bad investment? Im thinking of buying this lens for special look and value increasing purposes
@@sirpetesompra755 I doubt if this lens will ever increase in value if you sell it in future but I think it's good value and if you have a project in mind then it's worth considering
The image quality reminds me of the Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS manual focus lens - soft wide open but great at f/2 and smaller but lots of character. Perhaps this Canon EF f/1.0 is more for collectors than photographers though.
Just too much resolution for the old beast. Still, we needed that stepping stone in order to have the incredible optics we have today. Congrats on your success, great channel!
it does look that there is something wrong with this lens copy. 6:24 it does look that overall loss of quality across the whole image is uneven the right part of the whole image does look more blown out and has less contrast, looks like some haze effect there, particularly the upper corner. 6:46 interesting ghosting effect on those black stripes, actually does look like interference of a vignette effect. The center of the image looks like its not completely in focus. It could be due to short flange distance and adapters used, its 1,0f the depth of field is razor thin at this aperture the sharpest point is probably less than 2-3mm wide.
Ken Rockwell has a review of this lens on his website and he states that this lens is the sharpest "fast" 50 lens ever made, his sample images does look pretty good, although those images were taken on ~20mpx camera.
This lens renders highlights in an interesting shape.
And of course the price tag of this beast is spectacular too... I wonder how well it would compare to a canons dream lens 0,95f both of them are in the same collectible/dream like league, although dream lens does not have AF system.
Whoever is going to buy this lens is not going to for its sharpness. One must be looking for that style and look of its images. This is something very special that demands a more artistic and sophisticated approach, I believe. If I had the money for such an expensive singular piece of equipment, with maybe limited applications, I would probably buy it.
Just got my pizza from the oven and look-i-look what pops up in my feed!
Absolutely beautiful piece of glass.
It has great potential for dream like pictures with a nostalgic softness.
1989?! Wow!
I don't shoot Canon but they deserve respect.
Especially amazing that it works this great including amazing eye tracking autofocus when you put it on a modern body!!!
This lens is awesome.
Great video too Chris.
Congrats for reaching 200k :)
The onion bokeh reminds me why I never dream of owning the lens.
Focus-by-Wire.... was the reason i opted for the otus 55 instead. Nikon version with manual aperture, 100% manual.
I would like to see you test out Canon FD L lenses before Canon went to EF mount. The 85 f1.2 L, 50 f1.2 L, 24 f1.4 L...etc are still commanding steep prices and I like to see how they stack up in your testing methods.
I'd love to but there are too many new lenses coming out that I need to cover first
its pretty soft at f/1.0 and f/1.4. I would rather get "regular" f/1.4 lenses
Yeah, Canon 50mm f/1.4 is like 10x cheaper.
Please Canon, make an RF version of this beast of a lens.
They already made a f/1.2 version. What's the point of that extra half stop?
@@serioussam909 You don't know the difference between 1.2 and 1.0 do you...
@@AugmentedGravity I know the difference - it's a half stop. But RF 50mm is much sharper than this one at f/1.2. What's the point of getting this one if you have to stop down to like f/4 or more in order to get acceptable quality? You might as well buy the nifty fifty for $100.
@@serioussam909 …
"Howdy" ah thank god !
Finally something exotic and expensive. Thanks.
I review all kinds of unusual and sometimes rare lenses...
I have one of these. Got a little dust in the periphery inside but overall pretty clean. To my eye it looks quite sharp in the very limited focus plane. It’s often difficult to distinguish the difference between things being slightly out of focus versus the lens being “not sharp.” It requires quite an accurate focus (which the EOS R helps with) and placement is key.
Although to be honest, the lens has such a cool and distinctive look to it that the extra stuff doesn’t matter. You’re never going to get an entire face in focus anyways at f/1. Not to mention I can use it to shoot on Cinestill 800t in all but full darkness 😛
For any real world shooting (like low light portraiture) the falloff is quite pleasing and the look is quite unique. People really seem to like the images it produces (even without being clued in to the backstory with a long Nick monologue 😂).
I just noticed you finally hit 200k subscribers 🎊 i also see this lens sometimes on ebay & wondered about it
That's my grail lens. Once I fill few more gaps left in my collection, I'll go for it. Only photographers with lack of imagination can find this 30 year old lens designed for SLR cameras boring.
Sometimes it's better not to meet your heroes.... they might wind up performing worse than a $100 50 1.8 :)
Well if you stop them both down to somewhere between F 4 and F 5.6, then both lenses will be about the same. But yeah $130 versus $3,000. You pick what you like.
@@FinalLugiaGuardian I'd choose a razor sharp f2 lens over this mediocre performing behemoth.
I can't see too many people buying an F/1 lens to stop down like a 10x superzoom
@@FinalLugiaGuardian For $2300 you can get Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L instead - which will be better than this in every way. This lens is way overpriced.
@@serioussam909 you think anyone is gonna/bought it for value? Or for anything but to make a statement? This lens is what happens when canon tells their engineer to go overdrive, like just to make the most BS and most impressive lens, no need for any superb IQ or price
Definitely a portrait lens. It's softer than the 1.2, which is already a soft lens. I really didn't like the new 1.2 for anything but portraits, especially after using the f/1.4 35mm, which is insanely sharp and distortion free.
This images you created with this lens are exquisite.
Chris: I just wanted to congratulate you on hitting 200k subs! (still 1 of the most underrated yt channels)
Legend
Fab review - love the balanced way you do these videos- pls keep up the fab work 👍📸
yes, I have the 1.2 and I found it fascinating that it required some expertise to use. the 1.0 will have more distinct trade-offs. I wondered if Canon discontinued this lens to reduce the service calls as many users would think this lens is defective.
This lens borders on the impractical
Craziest lens ever made. Literally
Imagine this lens with a speedbooster
Neat lens. Adapting I think would be a nightmare. Since that AF chip is attached to the rear element. IMO you could buy the Kamlan F/1.1 MII and a few Sigma lenses like the 56mm F/1.4 for example. Both of which blow that lens out of the water.😉
Howdy everyone! Great review, amazing lens.
oooh, Chris got some street cred and now able to review some rare stuff. Awesome
Yeesss i was waiting for your review of that legendary lens!
Legendary lens reviewer reviews the legendary lens.
This is a legendary review
Well, no real surprises here - it's was an amazing lens back in 1989, if Canon were to bring out a modern R series it would be far far better. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Could you imagine a 50mm 1.0 R lens?! Wow!!
Omg that rear element :D
Love your reviews of these old lenses
I’m amazed this lens is even still worth anything with how sharp it is! Does anyone actually shoot it, or is it just a status thing to buy and have in the collection? No doubt it’s a crazy cool lens though
Ken Rockwell seems to love his own copy
Bring back this lens!!
Congrats for 200k subs!
Huh, I was not expecting the image quality to be that bad. It's basically unusable for anything without serious improvement on 1.4 or 1.8 where you have two lenses for fraction of the price but with way better image quality.
I guess they just made it to show that they can. Obviously 1.2 50mm L is better if someone still wants that 1.2, but in most cases that's an overkill anyway.
Good copies are much better than the one reviewed here, but hard to find.
its an amazing lens actually
Sharpness is much over-rated for artistic work.
Second. A legendary lens for sure.
Those who are second, should not declare it. First or no where.
@@Badonicus Yond's hath said on the fusty testament of the hath found'r knights of youtube.
Beautiful lens!
Did anyone noticed that the one exhibited in the canon lens museum significantly differs from your copy? Look at the lens body, focus scale window and the switch. Does it suppose to be an unannounced mk.2 or it’s just a poorly photoshoped 85mm 1:1.2, any ideas?
Thank you and congrats on 200k subs! I wanted to ask you, how long does testing the lens take you? Would you consider testing some vintage glass too? It would be amazing!
This lens works much better on Canon sensor than on Sony. I have tried it and the Sony with its fat glass in front of the sensor make it even softer and with more halo effect. On Canon 5DIII it worked much better than on my A7rII.
Totally agree with you. I have this lens, and works perfectly with my Canon 5D MarkIII.
Awesome video Chris :-) Congrats on 200K
Would love to see a "Round up" comparison of all the 50mm full frame Canon fit lenses you'd done so far. Advising which is sharpest at lowest f number, Which is sharpest at lowest f number for the price etc. You wouldnt even need to re-film with all the data you've collected over the years. I think that would be really interesting
There was acually 7 EF lenses first release by canon.
EF15mm f/2.8 Fish-eye
EF24mm f/2.8
EF28mm f/2.8
EF35mm f/2
EF50mm f/1.0L USM
EF50mm f/1.8
EF85mm f/1.2L USM
I love them all and already I have 28mm f/2.8. It's not sharper than new camera lenses, but I love it. It's razor sharp in the middle and I love the character of this lens.
If you can review them all, I would be appreciated.
This f/1.0 was not released at the beginning of the EF system - it came a couple of years later
I have seen much sharper pictures taken with the 50/1. The problem is finding a good copy. Actually, the real problem is that the price is insane for even trying to find a good one.
2:16 the bokeh ball shows the shape of electronical contact 3:20 & 3:39
indeed :)
One can only dream...
“Breathing...zoom in JUST A LITTLE”? Hahaha
I've seen far worse than that (the new Canon RF 50mm f/1.2 is worse - check out my upcoming review)
All the more why its a collector lens than a useful one. Optical designs today are much better, so better to get something like the RF 50mm f1.2 than this - a half stop less light, but vastly better sharpness.
This lens shows that aperture or sharpness if often a compromise. A lot of lenses today might seem slow, but with digital sensors fast lenses isn't as important as it was with film and sharpness is often much more important.
2:39 your calculations are right but the light measurement is different to every lens. This is why some lenses like Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM has the same amount of light coming to the sensor as Carl Zeiss Distagon T* Otus 1.4/55 ZE Canon. :)
One of the Best Lens Reviews Channel.. Love From Pakistan
What if you put this lens with a speedbooster on a mirrorless APS-C sensor?
I see no reason why it wouldn't work with a Speedbooster on an APS-C sensor. I'm quite sure it will. This is like any modern EF Canon lens.
@@JesusChristIsLord__ What is interesting is that the lens would work as having bigger aperture than f/1.0 because the speed booster concentrates the light on the aps-c.
I want this af 50mm f1 fe rumour to come true
Hi Christopher, thank you very much for another great review. Although knowing beforehand that I will never purchase this lens, I loved watching your video. I own the 85 mm 1.2 L and love it. In fact, it is (next to the Sigma 135 mm 1.4) my favourite lens that I use all the time. Do you have any idea why the 85 mm is so sharp while its smaller brother does not live up to this level?
Telephoto lenses are far simpler to design than wide angle ones (but more expensive to manufacture)
What a great lens!
EF mount with 650/600/RT was 1986/87.... slightly before this lens. However the reason I believe this lens was discontinued was due to lead content not meeting new EU regulations?
Thank you Mr Frost.
Such an incredible lens! Will you review the incredible Samyang 10mm xp f/3.5?
Sometime, yes
it's not all about image quality, this lens has character. I can see why people collect it.
The size and weight difference from 1.0 to 1.2 and 1.4 makes me feel quite ok with not having 1.0. My bad back is thankful for that choice.
Have a friend who got this lens. It was hopeless. Remember this was the film days. A ruined shot was expensive and you effectively lost the shot. He decided to use his 50mm f/1.4 instead. The 50mm f/1.0 became a very expensive paper weight. Don't know if he still has it. If so he should sell it and at least get the satisfaction of his money back..
Canon just added more elements on a double-gauss design. They pushed the limit of this type of optical construction, but only the center will get improved. Toward the edge, coma, astigmatism and image curvature will increase vastly and make it less useful.
I actually like that image quality, soft and veiled but enough resolution nevertheless. But there's no repairs for these lenses so buy with extreme caution. Better to rent.
Nice review, I hadn't heard of this particular lens before.
I have a request on future zoom lens reviews, if you're testing if a lens is parfocal please tell us. I'd been struggling a bit with lenses for DSLR video and finally learned what parfocal versus varifocal mean. It would be convenient to know if a particular lens maintains or nearly maintains its focus as one zooms, versus losing focus on the subject and having to wait for autofocus to catch up.
In the case of my own lenses, I can see why the Tokina lenses, even with their chromatic abberation problems, are popular with filmmakers. My 12-24mm f/4 appears to be parfocal, I don't seem to lose focus even on manual focus when zooming. In contrast, the Canon 18-135mm Nano-USM is varifocal, but using the zoom controller on its slow speed, the camera seems generally able to maintain autofocus on a subject even as the zoom changes. Likewise my worn Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 isn't parfocal but is nearly so, it does not struggle with maintaining focus during zooms so long as one isn't going from extreme to extreme.
Canon R plus the f1.0 50mm...nutz!
From Canons point of view, the L is for Less profit. Now Fuji is making a similar lens, will it go the same way?
Fuji is crop factor sensor, to be the same league as this lens, they would need to design 35mm 0,6f
I think the 50mm f/1.2L is a more sensible balance between character, image quality, size, weight and not least, price. In fact, I use mine more often than my Sigma ART, which clearly beats it in the sharpness department. Cool review though!
It's great. But it's actually T/1.8 if I remember correctly ☹️
Sure you’re 100% right about the balance... But this lens is not about balance at all, it’s about supremacy. Canon wanted to obliterate Nikon releasing this monster alongside with their new series, while Nikon had nothing even close. As an engineer I revere their feat, especially because there’s still NO ONE can reproduce it’s stats (i mean the AF SLR lens faster than 1:1.2)
WHAT AN ABSOLUTE UNIT.
And that price tho.
My canon 50mm EF 1.2-L is good for video recording and for portrait photography and I like it so much and I paid £490.00 for it second hand and is boxed
Wow, I have kinda always wanted one of these, but not anymore. That softness and vignetting really has reached a new level for a lens selling for 4000 with this lens. This makes me wonder how the leica noctilux and canon's 0.95 are
thank you so much for doing this. Hopefully you will get to test Canon 200mm F1.8L "The holy grail" in one of these videos as well
I'm not so desperate to cover that one, really - it only has an aperture a tiny bit wider than the newer 200/2, and the 200/2 has image stabilization and sharper image quality, too
@@christopherfrost indeed, and 200mm 2f is one heck of a beast, even looking at how sharp it is across the whole frame at 2f..
Im thinking about buying this lens to stand out and I like the fact that value increases. Do you think this has better bokeh than 85mm 1.2 RF? Im deciding between the 50mm F1 and 85mm 1.2 RF 🤔
My other question is, with technologies advancing lens will eventually get to f1.0 easily. Will this lens still hold value over time?
The problem with L lenses ( I have several ) is I can no longer appreciate any other lens! I love collecting vintage lenses ( Contax/Yashica, Asahi Super Takumar, Cosina, etc. ) however, as great as they are, they just don't come up to L lens quality. My radioactive Super Takumar 55mm 1.8 is a very hot lens, but it is not an L lens! My Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II USM Lens is so great and looks so good, I do not even need to take photos with it to show how talented I am !
It's a strange lens I guess. The lens is interesting but the bad image quality is just to much. I would like to see what Canon can make of this with a modern RF version of this. But f1.2 is probably a much nicer mix between high aperture and perfect image quality
Top man, great video. regards Si.
I think it would be incredible for some filmmaker using a ND filter adopter on eos r at f/1.0
Whoa after rewatching this one, Fuji's 50 1.0.is actually pretty good but too bad the FF equivalent, 85 1.4, doesn't exhibit bad contrast wide open
Wasn't there a rumor Yongnou was making a 50mm f/1.0? Of course with their track record, I wouldn't be holding out hope for anything decent. With the plethora of Chinese f/0.95 lenses out there maybe there's a hope someone will get wild a develop an AF version.
Funny I was thinking in my mind the other day how come they’ve never made a f1 lens. Welp
Wow I wasn't even aware Canon did a 50mm F1 good review. I'm in the UK too! Don't you get your gear from HK ? Park cameras similar prices to my local cam. e-infinity and panamoz prices are cheaper than second hand. I'm in Watford my local cam co is SRS only buy basic stuff through them like tripods batteries accessories second hand old lenses never my primary cam gear.
Chris, I hope you've got that new Sony 35mm f/1.8 lens review in the works! :-)
Sounds good :-)
I got the Canon EF 50Mm F1.2L and I am happy with it And I paid £490.00 for it second hand and is BOXED
I finally have a copy of this and am wondering if I should return it:) I knew it would have less contrast than my 1.2 but it's so soft it actually looks like a lens with haze would look. But I don't see haze. Fungus a bit but no haze. With some image processing I can make it almost match the 1.2 but I wonder, was the copy you tested like this? Do you have raws of the images you took with it posted anywhere? Thanks for all your hard work!
2023 and I'm thinking to get one