Leica Showcase Canon 50mm F1.8, later Black version.

Brian

Product of the Fifties
Now I know why this lens is claimed to be the sharpest of the Canon 50's in Leica Mount. It is.

The 50mm F1.8 Serenar was introduced in 1951, replaced the 50mm F1.9 Serenar. The 50/1.8 Serenar is much sharper than the older F1.9. The Black version is a new lens, even though it retains the same 1-2-2-1 6 element in 4 groups and 40mm filter size. Canon developed a new high index of refraction/ low dispersion glass that made a new generation of lens design possible. Unfortunately, the glass reacts badly to the lubricants used. Finding a later Canon lens that is free of etched glass and damaged coatings on the inner element behind the aperture can take time, effort, and money.

I got lucky.
I'll do some better tests over the next couple of weeks. I want to compare this lens with the earlier Serenar version, and with the Minolta 5cm F1.8 Leica mount lens. The latter is rare, and much pricier than the Canon.



Some first shots, rain ended late today. All wide-open test shots, focus is spot-on with my M9. I'll do some better tests over the next couple weeks. .
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I have the same 50mm f1.8 Canon lens.

Whenever I used it, I noticed that it was VERY sharp and the images looked better than some of the other highly sought after Canon lenses. I wondered if I could trust my judgement or if I happened to have a very good example.

I think Brian is right, this is a very good lens.

PS: I have been shooting with another lens which is really remarkable. This lens:


This lens is incredible, much better than the Russian "Biotars" or even the original Zeiss Jena 58mm Biotars.
 
I'd like to see a showcase thread posted for that lens- I see from the thread in "Manual lenses" that you are on a Biotar kick!

For the Canon 50/1.8, I learned that the early black lenses have 13 aperture blades, went to 11 blades, then 8 blades. Mine has 11 blades.
 
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It finally got sunny- took a walk in the neighborhood with the Canon 50/1.8 on the M9.

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All wide-open, last one is pointed into the Sun.
 
First shot wide-open, then stopped down to F4.

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Gave me a chance to use a rarely used feature- I moved the post to the 85/1.8 thread.
 
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