Reviewing a Legend: The Canon 50mm f/1.0L USM Lens

In 1989, Canon introduced a truly insane lens: a 50mm f/1.0 with autofocus. The lens has become a bit of a legend in the photography world, highly sought after by many collectors even three decades later. This video takes a look at the lens and what it's like shooting with it.

Coming to you from Christopher Frost Photography, this video takes a look at the Canon 50mm f/1.0L lens. Introduced in 1989, Canon eventually discontinued the lens in 2000, allowing it to be replaced by the 50mm f/1.2L, which is of a higher optical quality and a bit more practical to use. Nonetheless, the 50mm f/1.0L remains a popular collector's piece, frequently selling on used gear forums and eBay for twice its original retail price. It is a lens I have always hoped to add to my collection at some point, but since it is focus by wire and Canon no longer services it, if that mechanism breaks, there is no way to focus the lens, even manually. Nonetheless, for Canon fans, it is a very neat and unique piece of history. Check out the video above to see the sort of images you can create with it. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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3 Comments

I think you forgot to embed the video.

Oof, thank you!

Would be interesting to shoot with... but the dof would be so shallow it would be a very specific use case and extremely difficult to get a sharp image.