Here we go again, the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L rumored to be announced next month

[SwissFrank]

the bit about getting Leica users (of which I am one) into Canon that isn’t going to happen at all because the rangefinder offers a different shooting experience to the SLR that mirrorless offers

I'm trying to understand you here but I don't!

I shot an M6 with the 35/1.4 ASPH and the 75/1.4. (Actually two M6TTL's, .58 and .85, though I never actually used batteries or the meter.)

How is the shooting experience different with a Leica than a mirrorless for you?

I can tell you for me the big difference in the 90s was that people were very natural about a Leica, never really thinking it was a real camera or that it had film in it, totally silent, you just are goofing around with the focus and some lever on the top periodically, and can be themselves in a way they aren't when you power up an EOS-1N with a non-ultrasonic AF lens on it and a big flash. But now smart phones have been around for decades and people use cameras without viewfinders constantly, and nearly everyone is taking photos all the time and people don't seem nervous or on guard about it now in the way they were 25 years ago.

And the R5 is silent, doesn't need flash, and can be driven fully manual-mode and even with MF. In fact I shot my Leica lenses on my R for 2-3 years before finally selling them to buy more RF glass.

So again, if there was a Canon version of the APO ASPH at Japanese prices and reliability, you're absolutely certain they wouldn't sell because using them on a silent body that looks different than an M body just somehow wouldn't be the same?

plus the lenses are much much smaller.

Also, I stressed this putative "street" product line be portable. And you're saying it wouldn't work because the portable lenses are not portable. How do you know the lenses that I suggest be portable won't be portable? Suddenly you seem to know more about my idea than I do :-D

 

[SwissFrank]

They could, but if most aberrations were to be corriged, the weight and the cost of such lenses would certainly be astronomical.
The Zeiss 0,7 was produced for photography, but its optical quality would no longer be considered acceptable, unless as a curiosity.

Well, I wasn't suggesting (in a comment several days ago here that I think you were NOT replying to) that Canon make an RF 50/0.7 with a 1970s optic formula and lens design. By ALL MEANS design a new one with computers, use aspherical everywhere, novel coatings and so on.

Still I'm positive that the quality wouldn't be great. But maybe it'd be EF50mm f/1.0-level? That lens had lousy IQ but they sold a bunch and they still trade for high prices.

An RF 50/0.7 needn't be easily obtainable OR sharp. It might be as rare as the 1200/5.6, but it's job is simply to give all the photogs the idea that Canon would always be pushing the boundaries farther, and that in principle such a lens was available, even if special-order or purchase-by-invitation or only for rental or even as a special loaner. The other halo lenses I'd propose are a 35/1.0, and a 135/1.0DS designed to get perfect circle highlights even deep in the corners at f/1.4, which then are turned into perfect spheres with DS. It'd be an ultimate portrait lens whose images any photog could recognize even in a 2x3" or 5x8cm size. Maybe it'd cost $15k but the front element would be "only" as big as a 400/2.8 or 600/4.

 

[SNJ Ops]

I'm trying to understand you here but I don't!

I shot an M6 with the 35/1.4 ASPH and the 75/1.4. (Actually two M6TTL's, .58 and .85, though I never actually used batteries or the meter.)

How is the shooting experience different with a Leica than a mirrorless for you?

I can tell you for me the big difference in the 90s was that people were very natural about a Leica, never really thinking it was a real camera or that it had film in it, totally silent, you just are goofing around with the focus and some lever on the top periodically, and can be themselves in a way they aren't when you power up an EOS-1N with a non-ultrasonic AF lens on it and a big flash. But now smart phones have been around for decades and people use cameras without viewfinders constantly, and nearly everyone is taking photos all the time and people don't seem nervous or on guard about it now in the way they were 25 years ago.

And the R5 is silent, doesn't need flash, and can be driven fully manual-mode and even with MF. In fact I shot my Leica lenses on my R for 2-3 years before finally selling them to buy more RF glass.

So again, if there was a Canon version of the APO ASPH at Japanese prices and reliability, you're absolutely certain they wouldn't sell because using them on a silent body that looks different than an M body just somehow wouldn't be the same?


Also, I stressed this putative "street" product line be portable. And you're saying it wouldn't work because the portable lenses are not portable. How do you know the lenses that I suggest be portable won't be portable? Suddenly you seem to know more about my idea than I do :-D

I find my M10 far more engaging than my mirrorless because the M10 has no AF and no IBIS to aid me. Also for street photography being able to see outside of the lens’ FOV means I can anticipate shots while still using the viewfinder.

Even if Canon made a MF APO lens who is the target market? It’s going to be much more expensive and most likely larger than the f1.8 primes despite having no AF and a similar aperture.
Also Canon like Sony and Nikon are systems that are used to get the job done which is why they all are packed with the latest technology. Leica is a prestige brand/system where people are happy to pay more for less technology but a more enjoyable experience (very subjective).

For street photography in particular the more compact bodies and much smaller lenses is where the M system really shines. Not to mention Leica’s GUI is the probably the best on the market alongside Hasselblad.

 

[Del Paso]

I find my M10 far more engaging than my mirrorless because the M10 has no AF and no IBIS to aid me. Also for street photography being able to see outside of the lens’ FOV means I can anticipate shots while still using the viewfinder.

Even if Canon made a MF APO lens who is the target market? It’s going to be much more expensive and most likely larger than the f1.8 primes despite having no AF and a similar aperture.
Also Canon like Sony and Nikon are systems that are used to get the job done which is why they all are packed with the latest technology. Leica is a prestige brand/system where people are happy to pay more for less technology but a more enjoyable experience (very subjective).

For street photography in particular the more compact bodies and much smaller lenses is where the M system really shines. Not to mention Leica’s GUI is the probably the best on the market alongside Hasselblad.

What is, in my opinion, not at all subjective is the extreme quality of the M lenses.
Are they worth the money? Subjectively speaking, I wouldn't hesitate to say yes. But such an answer mostly depends on one's income or maybe readiness to accept sacrifices on other goods. (As long as it isn't on food...)

 

[EOS 4 Life]

Specifically on the bit about getting Leica users (of which I am one) into Canon that isn’t going to happen at all because the rangefinder offers a different shooting experience to the SLR that mirrorless offers plus the lenses are much much smaller.

The Fuji X100 is a rangefinder.
There is no reason that Canon can't make one.
Canon made rangefinders which were basically Leica clones before they switched over to SLR.
On that note, a retro DSLR also would make sense but not a street camera.
People want stealth in their street cameras.

 

[EricN]

I find my M10 far more engaging than my mirrorless because the M10 has no AF and no IBIS to aid me. Also for street photography being able to see outside of the lens’ FOV means I can anticipate shots while still using the viewfinder.

Even if Canon made a MF APO lens who is the target market? It’s going to be much more expensive and most likely larger than the f1.8 primes despite having no AF and a similar aperture.
Also Canon like Sony and Nikon are systems that are used to get the job done which is why they all are packed with the latest technology. Leica is a prestige brand/system where people are happy to pay more for less technology but a more enjoyable experience (very subjective).

For street photography in particular the more compact bodies and much smaller lenses is where the M system really shines. Not to mention Leica’s GUI is the probably the best on the market alongside Hasselblad.

You make a good point about seeing outside the lenses field of view. What do you think about the alternative: of using a wider lens and crop?

 

[EricN]

What is, in my opinion, not at all subjective is the extreme quality of the M lenses.
Are they worth the money? Subjectively speaking, I wouldn't hesitate to say yes. But such an answer mostly depends on one's income or maybe readiness to accept sacrifices on other goods. (As long as it isn't on food...)

My fantasy is to sacrifice love and respect of family because we now live in a cardboard box, but I eat at 5 star restaurants and have the best photography equipment money can buy.

 

[Del Paso]

My fantasy is to sacrifice love and respect of family because we now live in a cardboard box, but I eat at 5 star restaurants and have the best photography equipment money can buy.

Leicas aren't safe in a cardboard box. Wrong and risky fantasy.
(I know much better fantasies ).

 

[Del Paso]

The Fuji X100 is a rangefinder.
There is no reason that Canon can't make one.
Canon made rangefinders which were basically Leica clones before they switched over to SLR.
On that note, a retro DSLR also would make sense but not a street camera.
People want stealth in their street cameras.

The Canon Leica copies are very fine cameras, first fitted with Nikon lenses, later with Canon's own.

 

[EricN]

What in the heck are you talking about?? This is my most important portrait lens! I’m an environmental portrait photographer and 35mm is perfect and I have the 1.4 and it’s not enough separation ( and yes it he extra 1/3 will
make a difference in the way that I shoot and position subject to camera and then subject to background distance). I’ve been waiting forever for the 1.2. It better happen this year.
Not everyone is a birder or landscape photographer.
I guess I’m relegated to ACR/Lightroom ai depth of field then. It works ok if you’re not trying to go from f8 to 1.2. But f2 to 1.2 looks kinda believable.

Do you know Roby?

 

[roby17269]

Do not mention a 35mm f1,2, Roby17269 might be reading!

I was and then I wasn't
Somehow CR failed to tell me about all the messages in the last 3 pages. Oh well.

I will stop hoping for a 35 1.2 only when Canon will announce a 35 1.4
Till then, my tune will not change
If that (1.4) happens, I have my little revenge plan ready

 

[roby17269]

Do you know Roby?

I do I do!
He's a great guy, wise and kind

 

[neuroanatomist]

I do I do!
He's a great guy, wise and kind

All true, but he simply reeks of desperation.

 

[EricN]

I was and then I wasn't
Somehow CR failed to tell me about all the messages in the last 3 pages. Oh well.

I will stop hoping for a 35 1.2 only when Canon will announce a 35 1.4
Till then, my tune will not change
If that (1.4) happens, I have my little revenge plan ready

I'm also not getting indications about new posts
Edit": I mean sometimes on some topics.

 

[Del Paso]

I do I do!
He's a great guy, wise and kind

I know him too.
He's the desperate fellow who writes Canon 1 email a day asking for a silly little lens no one else will ever buy.

 

[roby17269]

I know him too.
He's the desperate fellow who writes Canon 1 email a day asking for a silly little lens no one else will ever buy.

Desperate and wise and kind are not exclusive

 

[roby17269]

All true, but he simply reeks of desperation.

Same answer for you: desperation maybe, but still wise and kind

 

[roby17269]

I'm also not getting indications about new posts
Edit": I mean sometimes on some topics.

ah well, there are bigger problems in the world, such as which fast 35 L will Canon release?

 

[EricN]

I know him too.
He's the desperate fellow who writes Canon 1 email a day asking for a silly little lens no one else will ever buy.

Try 20 a day and he's been badgering the UN about it... Actually, I decide to help and visited the ACLU, but they called they police to force me to leave...

 

[roby17269]

Try 20 a day and he's been badgering the UN about it... Actually, I decide to help and visited the ACLU, but they called they police to force me to leave...

Keep fighting the good fight!

Actually, true story: yesterday I received an email from Canon asking me to participate in a survey. I thought: "now I can give them a piece of my mind!" so I clicked on the link and the page it took me to was empty with a "sorry there are no surveys for you"

Maybe Canon reads these fora and they knew what I was going to tell them?