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

Canon 50mm f/1.2

Canon · LTM · 1956 · Planar-derived, 7e/5g

Also known as: Canon 50mm f/1.2 · Canon 50mm f1.2 · Canon 50/1.2 · Canon 5cm f/1.2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Canon 50mm f/1.2 LTM 1956 — No figure published
  1. The 'fastest in the world' claim, repeated from klassik-cameras.de, is corrected above: Japanese sources (Nikon's own Nikkor history, MAP Camera on the Zunow) put two f/1.1 lenses ahead of it. The race is told in the story 'One tenth of a stop'.
  2. 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 50mm f/1.2:

  • Marketed September 1956, ¥60,000 · 322 g · 55 mm filter · stops to f/22 · 11 blades
  • Black and chrome; 55 mm filter; 322 g; infinity lock
  • Marked in feet or metres

Specifications

Formula
Planar-derived, 7e/5g
Designed by
Itō Hiroshi — optical design (camera-wiki)
Construction
7 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/1.2–f/22
Diaphragm blades
11
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
322 g
Filter
55 mm
Years manufactured
1956
Country
Japan
Original price
¥60,000 (September 1956, Canon Camera Museum) (today ¥386,000)

What reviewers say

History

Marketed in September 1956 at ¥60,000 — more than a body. Frank Mechelhoff calls it the fastest lens for 35mm film in the world when it appeared, and that is not right: the Zunow 5cm f/1.1 had been on sale since 1953 and Nikon’s 5cm f/1.1 since that February. It was the fastest Canon, and the fastest lens of the Planar type. Itō Hiroshi’s seven elements in five groups replaced the Sonnar-type f/1.5 at the top of the range until the f/0.95 arrived in 1961. It is a big Planar-derived lens with a 55 mm filter and, like the f/1.4 that followed, an infinity lock.

Dante Stella calls it a Zeiss Planar clone with excellent on-axis focus and soft corners, practical for night work. BastianK is blunter: “by modern standards the Canon 50mm 1.2 LTM simply isn’t a well performing lens” — soft to f/2, glowing from undercorrected spherical aberration, flaring wide open — and finds the rendering its most interesting aspect. Christopher Sarsono’s fogged example on a Canon P made the case for imperfection: “it’s soft, it’s dreamy, it glows throughout the highlights.” Balsam separation is common; check the rear group.

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 50mm f/1.2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $310 across 5 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $260–$360). Tracked since 2026-09-09, 2 days: unchanged from $310.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$310$260–$3605
2026-09-09$310$260–$3605

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 50mm f/0.95 · Canon 50mm f/1.4 · Canon 50mm f/1.5 · Hexanon 60mm f/1.2

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.