Canon 50mm f1.4 ltm questions

[Al83]

Hi All

I'm looking for a 50mm lens for my Canon P and my Sony NEX and I'm drawn toward the Canon 50mm f1.4. I'm not knowledgeable about lens types or construction so I hope my questions don't seem naive but:

Is this a good choice for a 50mm lens?
What should I be paying for a good copy?
How will this lens perform compared to a modern 50mm?
Most seem to be coming from Japan on eBay...anything to watch out for here?

Thanks

 

[Maiku]

This lens is amazing for its age. I loved all the ones I owned and sold. I wish I would have kept one that I had owned.

Check images here

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86792

There is one for sale in the RFF ads now.

Is this a good choice for a 50mm lens? (300$-400$)
What should I be paying for a good copy? (Yes)
How will this lens perform compared to a modern 50mm? (It depends on what you are looking for in a lens. You should not compare old/new lenses. Different coatings, designs etc.)
Most seem to be coming from Japan on eBay...anything to watch out for here? (Just use EMS. Fast, insured and tracking)

Thanks

Mike

 

[Scrambler]

1) Yes
2) Seems around the $300-$400 mark at the moment
3) Very well compared to a modern "kit" lens or zoom, not real hot compared to a full-dress aspherical prime.
4) Not really - that's where they were made and Japan has had a rangefinder culture to a higher degree than other countries. Japan Post EMS is great with tracking.

PS: it will be great on both the P and the NEX - the NEX shoots the centre of the lens which is the strong point of these older designs.

 

[rfaspen]

I can't add anything much to the previous responses. Do keep in mind the lens won't be like a modern 50, but wonderful for different reasons. I absolutely love mine. Get a better condition copy: up to $400, but rarely more.

 

[vytasn]

I tested my Canon 50mm 1.4 against my Leica Summicron 50mm on a Sony A7 and while the Leica is sharper from f2 - 4, from f5.6 on I could not tell the difference. So for normal day time shooting it is as good as a Leica. It is soft wide open, but that has its own desirable qualities.

 

[goamules]

Of all the Canon lenses faster than F2.8, it's the sharpest wide open. The Sonnar type 1.5 is a close second. It's the most modern looking of the 1950s-1960s Canon RF lenses. I like it a lot, compared to the 1.2 which is extremely soft wide open.

 

[Robert Lai]

It's only fault is that it is a bit bulky and heavy, but that's the price of having that f/1.4 aperture with all metal construction.

I should warn you about the early Canon rear caps. They are too shallow. If you don't religiously keep the lens at infinity with one of these caps on, you will throw off the rangefinder cam. I know from hard experience. Once I got my lens recalibrated (along with my Canon 7s), the degree of sharpness in the razor thin plane of focus at f/1.4 is amazing. But, toss the shallow rear caps into the trash.

 

[Chris Bail]

The Canon 50/1.4 LTM is a great lens. It is certainly sharper wide open than the Canon 50/1.2 at f1.4. I understand some compare it to a Pre-Asph Summilux, but having never used a Summilux, I can't say if this is accurate. I do know that it is nice and sharp in the center, wide open has very good image quality and is relatively small for it's speed.

Good luck in your search for one, and keep your eye on the classifieds here. There are currently two of them for sale here (mine included).

 

[ssmc]

The 50/1.4 Canon LTM is justifiably famous - the thread referred to above has some really excellent examples of what this lens can do.

I'm sure you'll be impressed with the build quality. Early Japanese lens coatings are pretty durable so you ought not to have too much trouble finding a pristine one. There are a couple of cosmetic variations but the optics are the same. The Kaiser "50mm" push-on lens cap is a perfect fit if you get one with an original Canon cap and don't want to lose it. You probably know this but on the NEX it will give a narrower field of view, like a ~75mm lens, due to the smaller sensor.

It definitely has some "glow" wide-open (there is plenty of detail in the plane of focus but the contrast is low). The bokeh is very smooth and well controlled, even with leaves in the background

http://www.pbase.com/smcleod965/image/148703014

By f/2 some of the glow is clearing

http://www.pbase.com/smcleod965/image/148702841

Stopped down to 5.6 it's pretty sharp

http://www.pbase.com/smcleod965/image/147495534

These were shot on a Panny G2 so the sides and corners are cropped away. However the results on 35mm film and digital look very impressive.

 

[B.Toews]

The 50/1.4 LTM is an excellent lens! It's well built, and has a fairly modern look. My copy is sharp wide-open, and as good as any of my modern SLR lenses when stopped down.

If you're interested, the two most recent posts on my blog show 30 photos from my first roll with the 50/1.4, and they include exposure details, so you can get an idea of what to expect at various apertures.

The average price currently seems to be around $350.

 

[uhoh7]

Just be sure to shine an optical light through it as soon you get it. Haze? return it.

There were many many made, so condition varies alot. It's nice on the nex, very nice on the M9.

M9:


Here it is wide open on the original Nex-5:


cost as noted above around 300ish.

what else to consider for your P and nex?

might be more money, and harder to find, but the nikkor 50/1.4 in LTM is a real "signature" lens. I think there are a few zeiss 50/1.5 (and canon).

But mabye the real heavy hitter for not much more money would be the CV 50/1.5 in LTM.

In fact (not mine) here is one you can steal for 400:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost-classifieds/showproduct.php/product/43320/title/leica-and-voigtlander-and-hasselblad-lenses/cat/2

I would prefer that to the Canon for sure.

And just for reference, since the Canon is called "the Japanese summilux", here is the real 50 lux circa 1984 on a Nex-5

I like my canon, but I never saw it perform like this on my nex...but this is a 1600USD M mount lens unusable on your P.

Let us know what you get and show us some samples in this thread! 🙂

 

[goamules]

Here's a couple with the Canon 1.4 on a Fuji X-E1:

 

[Takkun]

Some samples of it wide open, since that's generally how I judge a lens (though I'm very much a low-light photog). Note: not all of these are great photos, but ones I thought showed the lens at extremes:
http://i.imgur.com/v8X5fAt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/FBjDxX7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1lieiRz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/QW4BwII.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/a0eHuiM.jpg
Pretty soft bokeh for low-luminance backgrounds, mildly 'doughnut' looking at medium luminance, and then bright points sort of bloom, in a sense. The highlights also start to become more arc-shaped further from the center--not sure what the optical aberration is called, but it's better known as 'swirly' bokeh. Not bad, and I only catch it when I'm really looking for it, and not distracting. Very sharp, and very thin DOF wide open.

No, it's hard to compare it to a modern lens. Different looks. My other lens I could even really compare it to is the CV 35 Ultron ASPH, which is a different beast altogether.

Got mine for around $400 total from Japan. It's definitely a worthwhile lens, much better than the 1.2 version. The Serenar 1.5 is, again, an entirely different optical formula.

 

[goamules]

I heard for years that the Canon 1.4 was the best of the Canon RF 50mm lenses. I finally got a mint one. I definitely think its a great, well rounded lens. The others are good for only a few things, but if you want speed, sharpness, modern colors, nice bokeh it's a great lens. The 1.2 wide open is good for soft portraits, like a 50/1.4 Nikkor. The 1.5 has a sonnar look and colors. The 1.8 is the most like it, but they're so similar I prefer the faster speed of the 1.4

 

[goamules]

On Ektar 100.