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

Serenar 50mm f/1.9

Canon · LTM · 1949 · Gauss type, 6e/4g

Also known as: Serenar 50mm f/1.9 · Canon Serenar 50mm f/1.9 · Serenar 50mm f1.9 · Serenar 5cm f/1.9 · Canon 50/1.9

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Serenar 50mm f/1.9, collapsible LTM 1949–1951 Type 3 examples mostly from about #311xx (Leica Copies Japan) 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).
How to tell them apart (expand)

Serenar 50mm f/1.9, collapsible:

  • Marketed January 1949, ¥29,500 · 230 g · 40 mm filter · stops to f/11
  • Collapsible chrome barrel with infinity lock; 40 mm filter; 230 g; 15 blades
  • Marked in millimetres — the first Canon lens to drop centimetres (Leica Copies Japan)

Specifications

Formula
Gauss type, 6e/4g
Designed by
Kuroki Masana — optical design (camera-wiki)
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/1.9–f/11
Min. focus
1.07 m
Weight
230 g
Filter
40 mm
Years manufactured
1949
Country
Japan
Original price
¥29,500 (January 1949, Canon Camera Museum; no price index for that year, so not restated in today's money)

What reviewers say

History

A recomputation of the f/2 with a fifteen-blade diaphragm and, for the first time on a Canon, a distance scale in millimetres rather than centimetres — Kuroki Masana’s design, marketed in January 1949 at ¥29,500 as the standard lens of the Canon IIB. It collapses into the body like a Summitar, which it resembles outside and not inside, and it was replaced by the rigid f/1.8 in late 1951.

Andrew Bibee’s review calls it “the perfect lens to emulate early pictorialism looks on 35mm”: sharp in the centre stopped down, soft at the edges, “painterly,” flare-prone, and at $150–200 an affordable character lens. The name Serenar comes from the moon’s Sea of Serenity.

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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 Serenar 50mm f/1.9
Canon IIB of 1949 with the collapsible Serenar 50mm f/1.9 — kevin t murray, via Openverse (flickr) (BY 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Serenar 50mm f/1.9? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $250 across 11 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $220–$390). Tracked since 2026-09-09, 2 days: unchanged from $250.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$250$220–$39011
2026-09-09$250$220–$39011

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

Show 1 more listing

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

Related: Canon 50mm f/1.8 · Serenar 50mm f/2

Sources (4)

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.