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

Canon 28mm f/2.8

Canon · LTM · 1957 · Gauss type, 6e/4g

Also known as: Canon 28mm f/2.8 · Canon 28mm f2.8 · Canon 28/2.8 · Canon 2.8cm f/2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Canon 28mm f/2.8 LTM 1957 — 5,839 (Frank Mechelhoff)
  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).
How to tell them apart (expand)

Canon 28mm f/2.8:

  • Marketed June 1957, ¥33,000 · 160 g · 40 mm filter · stops to f/22 · 6 blades
  • Chrome-on-brass with an infinity lock — the last chrome Canon lens (Mechelhoff)
  • 40 mm filter; 160 g; 5,839 made (Mechelhoff)

Specifications

Formula
Gauss type, 6e/4g
Designed by
Itō Hiroshi — optical design (camera-wiki)
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
160 g
Filter
40 mm
Years manufactured
1957
Country
Japan
Original price
¥33,000 (June 1957, Canon Camera Museum) (today ¥206,000)

What reviewers say

History

The fastest 28mm of its day when it was marketed in June 1957 at ¥33,000: six elements in four groups, a Gauss type with cemented outer elements, designed by Itō Hiroshi. It replaced the 28mm f/3.5 and was, in Frank Mechelhoff’s account, the last Canon lens made in chrome-plated brass; he puts the run at 5,839.

Atanas Grozdev’s copy “100% satisfied” him on a screw-mount body — very sharp at f/8, a little vignetting wide open, a lens that “looks more like a toy” beside modern glass. Matt Osborne keeps one as his favourite on the Leica III series. It needs a 28mm finder on anything but a Canon 7.

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 28mm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, EUR: a median of €360 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half €60–€480). Tracked since 2026-09-09, 2 days: unchanged from €360.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11€360€60–€4804
2026-09-09€360€60–€4804

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

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

Related: Canon 25mm f/3.5 · Canon 28mm f/3.5

Sources (5)

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.