"New" 50mm 1.8 Mk I arrived!

Picked this one up off Ebay from a guy in Vermont. The body is in excellent shape. There's one small scuff on the front collar maybe 2mm across. That's it. The glass is pristine, not even a fleck of dust inside (which is more than can be said for our Nifty):

Nice and sharp, just the way you ordered it.

Good Luck and nice pics,


Ron

is it that much of a difference between the mk1 and mk2? seems to be about the same in terms of picture quality. Are you talking about the quality of the lens, as in how it was built?

UB0100 , Nice! January 1987, one month older than mine. There was a thread a while back looking for the oldest EF lens on POTN. You are now the leader!

Tie....

I'm waiting for one to show up towards the end of the week. Date code is UC0202.

I can only hope to get *some* sharp shots like that.

kndguy wrote in post #7776780
is it that much of a difference between the mk1 and mk2? seems to be about the same in terms of picture quality. Are you talking about the quality of the lens, as in how it was built?

Yes, I'm speaking of build quality. The lens elements and AF motor are identical to those found in the Mk II. Since I already had the Mk II, I'd never have jumped through hoops to find a good quality Mk I if I didn't have a specific need (ie infrared imaging) the Mk I was particularly suited to. The 50L and 1.4 both are reputed to have IR hotspots, otherwise I'd have looked more closely at them.

Having had it for two whole days now, I have to say the Mk I is a real pleasure to shoot with. Build quality makes a big difference. I have to wonder if Canon isn't missing out on a sales opportunity by not making a Mark III version of this lens. Again, keep the optics the same, but upgrade the AF with USM and include the distance scale. That'd create a useful low-light, high-quality 50mm slotted in between the 1.4 and the Nifty in price and performance. I'd buy one if it were available!

dekalbSTEEL wrote in post #7777004
UB0100 , Nice! January 1987, one month older than mine. There was a thread a while back looking for the oldest EF lens on POTN. You are now the leader!

Coolness! I had no idea! *puffs chest out*

Hey congrats on your 'new' lens! I have both the mki and the mkii too!

jblaschke wrote in post #7778577
Yes, I'm speaking of build quality. The lens elements and AF motor are identical to those found in the Mk II. Since I already had the Mk II, I'd never have jumped through hoops to find a good quality Mk I if I didn't have a specific need (ie infrared imaging) the Mk I was particularly suited to. The 50L and 1.4 both are reputed to have IR hotspots, otherwise I'd have looked more closely at them.

Having had it for two whole days now, I have to say the Mk I is a real pleasure to shoot with. Build quality makes a big difference. I have to wonder if Canon isn't missing out on a sales opportunity by not making a Mark III version of this lens. Again, keep the optics the same, but upgrade the AF with USM and include the distance scale. That'd create a useful low-light, high-quality 50mm slotted in between the 1.4 and the Nifty in price and performance. I'd buy one if it were available!

Actually, the AF motor is not the same. The Mk I has an AFD drive, the Mk II has a micromotor. This is why the Mk I makes more of a buzzing noise than the Mk II when focusing. AFD drives are almost indestructible, compared to micromotors, so that is a nice extra.

Congrats on your "new" lens, however. I like it better than the new version too, for similar reasons.

Kind regards, Wim

wimg wrote in post #7780108
Actually, the AF motor is not the same. The Mk I has an AFD drive, the Mk II has a micromotor. This is why the Mk I makes more of a buzzing noise than the Mk II when focusing. AFD drives are almost indestructible, compared to micromotors, so that is a nice extra.

Thanks for the info, Wim. Good to know. I still think Canon could make a killing with a Mark III version using USM and not cut into Mark II sales much, if at all...

jblaschke wrote in post #7780990
Thanks for the info, Wim. Good to know. I still think Canon could make a killing with a Mark III version using USM and not cut into Mark II sales much, if at all...

I agree .

A Mk III being a Mk I with ring USM at 175 to 200 euros (the Mk II being about 110 euros over here) would be great, if you'd ask me .

Of course, I wouldn't mind if they did similar things to the 35 F/2, 28 F/2.8, and 24 F/2.8. And maybe an upgrade to the 20 F/2.8, although that certainly isn't worse than my old SMC Pentax 20 F/4 .

Kind regards, Wim

wimg wrote in post #7780108
Actually, the AF motor is not the same. The Mk I has an AFD drive, the Mk II has a micromotor. This is why the Mk I makes more of a buzzing noise than the Mk II when focusing. AFD drives are almost indestructible, compared to micromotors, so that is a nice extra.

But it's not FTM, right? He mentioned turning the MF ring while in AF mode; is it not possible to damage AFD drives in this way?

Brett wrote in post #7782639
But it's not FTM, right? He mentioned turning the MF ring while in AF mode; is it not possible to damage AFD drives in this way?

It's not full time manual--the MF ring just spins freely when AF is engaged. Switch to MF and you've got traction. I assume other Mk 1s are like this, but I've never heard of it before. Maybe mine's just weird!

No, that's how AFD works. In AF the focus ring is disengaged and spins freely.