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

Serenar 35mm f/3.5

Canon · LTM · 1950 · Tessar-like, 4e/3g

Also known as: Serenar 35mm f/3.5 · Canon 35mm f/3.5 · Serenar 35mm f3.5 · Serenar 3.5cm f/3.5 · Canon 35/3.5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Serenar 35mm f/3.5 LTM 1950 — 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. camera-wiki lists a 'Canon 35mm f/3.5, March 1957, six elements in four groups' with no further detail, and the Canon Camera Museum has no such lens. Unresolved; not given a variant row.
How to tell them apart (expand)

Serenar 35mm f/3.5:

  • Marketed March 1950, sold overseas only · 185 g · stops to f/22
  • Chrome brass with infinity lock; 185 g; sold overseas only (museum)

Specifications

Formula
Tessar-like, 4e/3g
Designed by
Kuroki Masana — optical design (camera-wiki)
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Min. focus
1.07 m
Weight
185 g
Years manufactured
1950
Country
Japan
Original price
Sold overseas only — no yen list price (March 1950, Canon Camera Museum)

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

Canon’s first wide-angle: four elements in three groups, designed by Kuroki Masana, marketed in March 1950 and, the Canon Camera Museum says, sold overseas only — the occupation-era export lens, often engraved Made in Occupied Japan. It focuses to 1.07 m in the old Canon pitch and weighs 185 grams.

Within eighteen months it had three successors of six elements — the f/3.2, f/2.8 and, later, f/1.8 — and it is now collected as the first of the line rather than used. camera-wiki also lists a six-element Canon 35mm f/3.5 of March 1957 that the museum does not; if it existed as a separate lens it is not on this page.

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 Serenar 35mm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $50 across 15 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $10–$200). Tracked since 2026-09-09, 2 days: unchanged from $50.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$50$10–$20015
2026-09-09$50$10–$20015

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: Serenar 35mm f/3.2

Sources (3)

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.