Idle Question - Canon have discontinued the 50 1.0L?

[peter_bury1]

Just a quick question out of curiosity and nothing more ...

 

... I recently got back from a trip to Japan (with some great

shopping) and picked up the Canon Lens catalogue - and there was no

mention of the 50 1.0L - anyone know if Canon have canned their proof

of concept/EF Mount baby?

 

As I said in the title, I'm just curious - with no intention of ever

picking up one of these.

[bill_goldman]

I don't have any inside information about the 50/1.0L (or the 85/1.2L, for that matter) being discontinued. However, both of these lenses are long overdue for a redesign or replacement as these two lenses, along with a couple of the super-teles, are the only EF lenses which still have the original ring type USM focusing motor.

 

Personally, I would like to see Canon release a reasonably compact 50/1.2L lens based on the FD version, perhaps. Although the current 50/1.4 is a very fine lens optically, I would like to have a 50mm built to L standards. A more compact up-to-date 85/1.2L would also be welcome to round out the prime lens L lineup which now has a big gap between the 35/1.4L and 135/2L.

[paulo bizarro]

About the 85 1.2 lens. I have recently got my hands on a used one. it is a superb lens, and yes, it focuses slower than most others. But it is due to the amount of glass that has to be moved, I suppose. As for the peculiar solution to manual focus (electrical contacts), it works great, and the lens is a joy to focus manually, with a sort of gliding sensation to it.

[adam_smith7]

Yes, slow focussing of these lenses is entirely due to inertia, not

a shortcoming of USM. Perhaps they could redesign it to focus

faster, but it would make the lens even heavier, and it would have

a proportional effect on battery longevity (power consumption).

[steve_dunn2]

<p>FWIW, it still shows up on the Canon U.S. Web site's list of EF lenses (but I don't trust Canon's Web sites to be entirely up-to-date). I don't believe Canon has announced the discontinuation of this lens, but they tend to drop old EF lenses without fanfare (I don't believe they ever announced the dropping of the 100-300 f/5.6L or the 300 f/4L non-IS, for example).</p>

[ron c sunshine coast,qld,a]

Is the 85/1.2 an IF lens?If not they could speed up AF alot by redesigning internal focusing into it.

[bill_goldman]

No, the 85/1.2L (and the 50/1.0L for that matter) do not have internal or rear focusing. They use linear focusing and extend as they are focused closer. I used to have the 85/1.2L and I always had to remember to make sure it was focused at infinity before I took it off the camera body and stowed it in my camera bag as it wouldn't fit in its proscribed place otherwise. Once the lens is off the camera, the manual focus mode doesn't work as it needs power from the camera.

[ken_itoh]

Discontinuation of EF50/1.0L was formally announced in Japan.