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

Canon 50mm f/0.95

Canon · Canon 7 bayonet · 1961 · Gauss-derived, 7e/5g

Known as “Dream Lens”

Also known as: Canon 50mm f/0.95 · Canon 50mm f0.95 · Canon 50/0.95 · Dream Lens · Canon 0.95 · Canon 50mm f/0.95 TV · Canon 5cm f/0.95

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Canon 50mm f/0.95, rangefinder Canon 7 bayonet 1961–1970 — No figure published; common enough that it anchors the Canon 7's price
Canon 50mm f/0.95 TV, C-mount C-mount (television) — converted to M by dealers 1961 — No figure published
  1. The mount. The Canon 7 (1961), 7s and 7sZ carry a three-lug bayonet outside the 39 mm thread for this lens and for the Mirror Box 2. Nothing else takes it natively; Leica M conversions replace the mount and add a rangefinder cam.
  2. Canon Camera Museum: "It had the largest aperture in the world for photographic lenses available in the market at the time." Zeiss had made faster lenses for X-ray and military use; none was sold to photographers.
How to tell them apart (expand)

Canon 50mm f/0.95, rangefinder:

  • Marketed August 1961, ¥57,000 · 605 g · 72 mm filter · stops to f/16 · 10 blades
  • Three-lug external bayonet for the Canon 7, 7s and 7sZ only; the screw thread inside it is not used
  • 72 mm filter; 605 g; the rear element is cut away for the rangefinder cam

Canon 50mm f/0.95 TV, C-mount:

  • Marketed August 1961, ¥57,000 · 605 g · 72 mm filter · stops to f/16 · 10 blades
  • Marked TV; no rangefinder cutout; C-mount for broadcast cameras
  • Most now carry a dealer's Leica M conversion; converted lenses focus closer (0.65 m, BastianK)

Specifications

Formula
Gauss-derived, 7e/5g
Construction
7 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/0.95–f/16
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
605 g
Filter
72 mm
Years manufactured
1961
Country
Japan
Original price
¥57,000 (August 1961, Canon Camera Museum) (today ¥324,000)

What reviewers say

History

The Dream Lens. Marketed in August 1961 at ¥57,000 as a standard lens for the new Canon 7 — the fastest photographic lens then on sale, “four times faster than the human eye” in Canon’s own words — seven elements in five groups, 605 grams, 72 mm filter. It does not use the screw thread: it clips onto the three-lug outer bayonet that the Canon 7 carries around its Leica mount, the same bayonet the Mirror Box 2 uses, so it fits no other rangefinder without conversion. A television version without the rangefinder cutout was sold in C-mount, and most Dream Lenses on the market today are TV lenses that a dealer has converted to Leica M.

At f/0.95 it is soft, glowing, vignetting by four stops and flaring at everything; by f/4 it is crisp in the centre and never in the corners. BastianK: “either you love this lens for its glow at f/0.95, or you will hate it” — “every picture you take is either magical or garbage.” James Fox-Davies made it his one-lens choice on an M3. It is a collector’s price for a look, and the look is real.

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 taken with the Canon 50mm f/0.95
Canon 7s with the 50mm f/0.95, the body it was made for — pointnshoot, via Openverse (flickr) (BY 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Canon 50mm f/0.95
Canon 7s and 50mm f/0.95 — ishiguro, via Openverse (flickr) (BY-SA 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Canon 50mm f/0.95? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $2,300 across 24 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $2,000–$2,600). Tracked since 2026-09-09, 2 days: unchanged from $2,300.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$2,300$2,000–$2,60024
2026-09-09$2,300$2,000–$2,60024

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

Show 48 more listings

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

Related: Canon 50mm f/1.2 · Canon 50mm f/1.4

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.