Where are the new Canon 50mm and 85mm lenses?

JPCanonUser said:
There was a lot of activity a few years back on the rumor boards that Canon was about to release a new 50mm lens. It never happened. In my mind, Canon caught news of the new Sigma 50mm, and after seeing the quality of that lens, had to go back to the drawing board for their 50mm (or at least improve image quality in the face of a pretty amazing lens from Sigma).
Well then, it should be pretty awesome. But I hope they make a great new small 50, similar to the 35/2 IS — which is fabulous. I personally don't wish for a 50 as big as a zoom.
 
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zlatko said:
JPCanonUser said:
There was a lot of activity a few years back on the rumor boards that Canon was about to release a new 50mm lens. It never happened. In my mind, Canon caught news of the new Sigma 50mm, and after seeing the quality of that lens, had to go back to the drawing board for their 50mm (or at least improve image quality in the face of a pretty amazing lens from Sigma).
Well then, it should be pretty awesome. But I hope they make a great new small 50, similar to the 35/2 IS — which is fabulous. I personally don't wish for a 50 as big as a zoom.

Same here. And I have to think that's in order, based on the 24/28/35 IS USM's that have been released over the last few years.

50mm 1.4 IS USM the size of the 35 version please :)
 
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At Photozone de. none of the current Canon 50mm lenses get a ringing endorsement, they do say for its price the 50mm f1.8II is OK but they are not class leading optics.
Theoretically the 50mm should be one of the easiest lenses to design so its surprising Canon dont do better so given the improvements in optical design and manufacturing improvement they should be able to give us great 50mm lenses the 24 / 28 / 35mm IS show the way as does the 40mm f2.8STM lens.
 
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jeffa4444 said:
At Photozone de. none of the current Canon 50mm lenses get a ringing endorsement, they do say for its price the 50mm f1.8II is OK but they are not class leading optics.
Theoretically the 50mm should be one of the easiest lenses to design so its surprising Canon dont do better so given the improvements in optical design and manufacturing improvement they should be able to give us great 50mm lenses the 24 / 28 / 35mm IS show the way as does the 40mm f2.8STM lens.

The 50's have been made to be small light and with the double gauss design. People buy them for cheap, fast, small and light. That means they are less corrected and more about bokeh.

Sigma and Zeiss started a new, fantastic, trend with using retrofocal design that indeed improves the IQ of a fast 50 be a great deal. It's not that Canon can't do that. I will be first in line for a Canon 50 f1.4 L with the same lens design as the Zeiss and Sigma.
 
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switters said:
Unless I missed something, I didn't see any mention of a new 50mm in the announcements that will be made tomorrow. :<
Didn't CR say that the lens was mentioned but an announcement would come some time later but not at the same time as the 5Ds and 11-24.
So it seems still everything in plan.
 
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I actually think the 85mm f/1.2L II is in more need of replacement than the 50mm f/1.2L.

I adore the output of the 85mm f/1.2L II but it has some major shortcomings that make it a difficult choice for general use unlike the 50mm f/1.2L.

Reasoning:
1. 85mm f/1.2L II really needs focusing speed improvement. I understand that there is a lot of glass to move, but perhaps they should do what they did with the 50L and make the mkiii a 85mm f/1.4 if that would solve this problem. It is a bummer to use this lens at a wedding and fail miserably with even center point AI servo because it can't keep up. The 50mm f/1.2L is not a speed champ either but it is more manageable in terms of focusing speed than the 85L.

2. 85mm f/1.2L II would be nice if it had weather sealing w/ filter like the 50mm f/1.2L. With the current design I think weather sealing is simply not possible due to the way the glass is moved around.

3. 85mm f/1.2L II has been known to break more frequently than other lenses due to the fragile-ish motor that drives the front element. Again, maybe downscaling this lens to a 1.4 could solve this as well.

In summary, I'd like to see Canon do what they did with the 50mm f/1.0L > 50mm f/1.2L. The 85L is surprisingly similar to the 50mm f/1.0L, so making this sort of revamp would not be a big change. I don't think it is world ending that you can only get f/1.4 instead of f/1.2, and fixing all of the above issues will make the 85L f/1.4 III much more usable in general.

An another note, yes I know the 50mm f/1.2L has much more focus shift at MFD than the 85mm f/1.2L II. But the 50mm f/1.2L also has a much shorter MFD, if you backup to the 85L II MFD the focus shift isn't much different. Also note that the 50mm f/1.2L is sharper and has less visual anomalies than the 50mm f/1.0. Perhaps the purple/green fringing can be reduced if the 85mm III is made an f/1.4.

In summary, Canon should use the blueprint of the 50mm 1.2L to construct the 85mm f/1.4L :) - as the 50 1.0 and 85 1.2 are so similar.
 
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Maximilian said:
switters said:
Unless I missed something, I didn't see any mention of a new 50mm in the announcements that will be made tomorrow. :<
Didn't CR say that the lens was mentioned but an announcement would come some time later but not at the same time as the 5Ds and 11-24.
So it seems still everything in plan.

Yesterday's post on CR said it will be a 50/1.8 and not a 50/1.4? That is disappointing if true.
 
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switters said:
Maximilian said:
switters said:
Unless I missed something, I didn't see any mention of a new 50mm in the announcements that will be made tomorrow. :<
Didn't CR say that the lens was mentioned but an announcement would come some time later but not at the same time as the 5Ds and 11-24.
So it seems still everything in plan.

Yesterday's post on CR said it will be a 50/1.8 and not a 50/1.4? That is disappointing if true.
Yep. So I've just pulled the trigger on a 50 Art... let's see if I can live with its AF! ;)
 
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lintoni said:
switters said:
Maximilian said:
switters said:
Unless I missed something, I didn't see any mention of a new 50mm in the announcements that will be made tomorrow. :<
Didn't CR say that the lens was mentioned but an announcement would come some time later but not at the same time as the 5Ds and 11-24.
So it seems still everything in plan.

Yesterday's post on CR said it will be a 50/1.8 and not a 50/1.4? That is disappointing if true.
Yep. So I've just pulled the trigger on a 50 Art... let's see if I can live with its AF! ;)

Congrats on the new lens! Best of luck with the AF, buy the docking ;)
 
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Viggo said:
lintoni said:
switters said:
Yesterday's post on CR said it will be a 50/1.8 and not a 50/1.4? That is disappointing if true.
Yep. So I've just pulled the trigger on a 50 Art... let's see if I can live with its AF! ;)

Congrats on the new lens! Best of luck with the AF, buy the docking ;)
Thanks for the congrats and for wishing me luck! :D Yeah, the Dock is on order too...
 
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Oh well, maybe I've had a lucky escape. I'd seen an offer on Amazon marketplace for the Art at less than £550, so thought I'd take the chance. Received an e-mail today - sorry, we sold last one on Fri and the system hadn't updated. I don't think I'm going to pay £670 for one... :-\
 
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switters said:
Maximilian said:
switters said:
Unless I missed something, I didn't see any mention of a new 50mm in the announcements that will be made tomorrow. :<
Didn't CR say that the lens was mentioned but an announcement would come some time later but not at the same time as the 5Ds and 11-24.
So it seems still everything in plan.

Yesterday's post on CR said it will be a 50/1.8 and not a 50/1.4? That is disappointing if true.

I was disappointed by this too. The 50 1.4 and 85mm 1.8 deserve more urgent attention that the nifty fifty!
 
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