canon 50mm/f1.0 collectors item

gtc

saw one of these recently in a local camera trader magazine for about AUD$2500-out of my league but a very collectible lens that just isn't made any more-if anyone is genuinely interested let me know and i can get the details for you.no doubt it would be excellent for indoor performances and other low light situations, with a crop camera and for extreme shallow DOF work.

gus

Maybe someone in here can let me know the use of such a lens ?

The 85mm f/1.2 is way too slow on the focus for anything but portraits & i get into all sorts of trouble with my f/1.8 being too shallow.

Is it regarded as fast focusing ?

gtc

gus methinks its a manual focus greg

gus

gtc wrote:

gus methinks its a manual focus greg

hmm jewellery type shots maybe

DoctorIt

The 50/1.0 I held in my driveway once (patch had one) was no old jewelry MF relic - it was AF with a nice red L ring around it.

I asked the same question about it's use and have subsequently forgotten the answer. Pretty big chunk of glass I must say, impressive. If I had to guess, I'd say this: we all know faster is better, all the time. So my 2.8 lens is awesome, but we also know for the most part that wide open is usually not the strongest setting for any lens. So with a f/1.0, you can stop it down 2 stops to f/2.0, be in the sweet spot of the lens, and still have a crazy fast aperture.

HeldDown

I want it for theatre. Simple as that. At 20,' the DOF at f/1 is around 2' -- enough to get a human body in focus.

Bob Bell

gus wrote:

Maybe someone in here can let me know the use of such a lens ?

The 85mm f/1.2 is way too slow on the focus for anything but portraits & i get into all sorts of trouble with my f/1.8 being too shallow.

Is it regarded as fast focusing ?

Gus, the 85mm lenses were made for indoor sports, plays, etc... I used to use them for sideline football player portraits when the lighting was way to dark for 2.8 primes. The 85's are very popular with the basketball shooters. Since lenses can be used for many things, I think thats how it made it to the portrait scene.

The DoF at F1 is pretty cool but just like any lens it has many slower apertures so you can have the depth of field needed. I have seen some portraits with it and the super thin DoF almost makes it look like a soft focus center spot filter.

There is probably 1 for sale each month or two on FM. From a practical standpoint, I'm not sure how much owners of that lens use it, I always thought it was more of a collectors item.

The coolest thing about it for me is the rear glass is 36mm in diameter