Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Canon 100mm f/3.5

Canon · LTM · 1953 · Five-element, 5e/4g

Also known as: Canon 100mm f/3.5 · Serenar 100mm f/3.5 · Canon 100mm f3.5 · Serenar 100mm f3.5 · Canon 100/3.5 · Serenar 10cm f/3.5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Serenar / Canon 100mm f/3.5 (I), chrome LTM 1953–1958 — No figure published
Canon 100mm f/3.5 (II), black and silver LTM 1958–1960 — No figure published
Canon 100mm f/3.5 (III) LTM 1960 — No figure published
  1. Canon's own thread before 1951 was 39 mm at 24 threads per inch (1.058 mm pitch), against Leica's 26 tpi — close enough that the lenses interchange in practice, and the difference is why an early Serenar can feel tight on a Leica. The Serenar 50mm f/1.8 of late 1951 was the first Canon lens cut to the Leica pitch (Leica Copies Japan).
  2. Serenar became Canon Lens in December 1952, accessory lenses following in January 1953 (Leica Copies Japan). A lens engraved Serenar is therefore earlier than 1953; the same glass in a Canon-engraved barrel is not a different lens, and this catalog keeps both on one page as variants.
How to tell them apart (expand)

Serenar / Canon 100mm f/3.5 (I), chrome:

  • Marketed January 1953, ¥22,000 · 205 g · 34 mm filter · stops to f/22 · 15 blades
  • Chrome alloy; 34 mm filter; 205 g
  • Serenar-engraved from October 1952 for two months, then Canon Lens (Leica Copies Japan)

Canon 100mm f/3.5 (II), black and silver:

  • Marketed April 1958, ¥22,000 · 184 g · 34 mm filter · stops to f/22 · 15 blades
  • Marked in metres; 184 g — Canon's lightest 100mm

Canon 100mm f/3.5 (III):

  • Marketed March 1960, ¥17,000 · 220 g · 40 mm filter · stops to f/22 · 10 blades
  • 40 mm filter; 220 g; ¥17,000

Specifications

Formula
Five-element, 5e/4g
Designed by
Itō Hiroshi — optical design (camera-wiki)
Construction
5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Diaphragm blades
15
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
205 g
Filter
34 mm
Years manufactured
1953
Country
Japan
Original price
¥22,000 (January 1953, Canon Camera Museum; no price index for that year, so not restated in today's money)

What reviewers say

History

Itō Hiroshi’s five-element 100mm, marketed in January 1953 at ¥22,000 (Leica Copies Japan has the Serenar version from October 1952), then in black-and-silver in April 1958 at 184 grams — a record for Canon and, Mechelhoff says, “very sharp” — and in a third barrel from March 1960. It replaced the three-element f/4 and became the lens the Canon rangefinder crowd calls their secret.

Dante Stella: a tiny long-focus lens that excels across the frame at every aperture, “sharp, and highly coveted,” the alternative to a heavy 85/2.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Canon 100mm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $89 across 29 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $70–$120). Tracked since 2026-09-09, 2 days: unchanged from $89.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$89$70–$12029
2026-09-09$89$70–$12029

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 46 more listings

Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Canon 100mm f/2 · Serenar 100mm f/4 · Canon 135mm f/3.5

Sources (7)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.