Is a new "dream lens" 50mm 0.95 probably coming next year?

robblackett wrote:

gimp_dad wrote:

Shiranai wrote:

I know you have your fortune telling crystal ball somewhere in the attic...
But what do you think is the probability that a Canon will bring a revision of their so called "dream lens" 50mm f/0.95 again?
We got Nikon's roadmap and their 58mm f/0.95 is planned for next year. Do you think Canon will counter that move with the "dream lens" or do you think the 50mm 1.2 already covers that base?

Canon’s Lack of attention to good quality 50mm lens design has been the biggest tragedy in an otherwise golden decade and a half of outstanding lenses. In a great year they will come out with 3 or 4 all new high end lenses. Wasting one of those slots on another high end 50mm lens rather than building out a more broad portfolio would be an even bigger tragedy.

I'm not sure it quite qualifies as a "tragedy" does it? The 50mm lens as a focal length went out of fashion big time, largely due to zooms replacing it as the standard lens supplied with many cameras. As a result many manufacturers found them very difficult to sell unless they were very cheap, so there wasn't that much incentive to design new versions. Of course there was a fairly consistent but small demand for very fast optics like the 50/1.2 but those only ever sold in limited numbers.

It's also not a focal length that is of much interest to many pros (of course there will be exceptions to that so if you are one that is please don't get upset), so there wasn't even the incentive to design one for that market.

Perhaps now there has been a resurgence of interest in this focal length among certain types of photographer, so things may change.

Tragedy is my opinion. And I'm sticking by it.

That said, I agree it is only one tool in the arsenal but it has been missing from Canon and not missing from Nikon, Sigma, Tamron (actually 45), Sony, Zeiss. I'm sure each of these lenses sells a lot more copies than any of the beloved big white primes and yet all are important to the complete portfolio.

I personally find 50mm very useful for group shots or indoor group candids. It forces me to get things tighter than a 35 would. And as a long time user of both generations of 24-70/2.8L they do not (obviously) replace the 2 stop speed, depth of field or low light flexibility of a good 50mm lens.

And my main point was already that they should not over-invest in this category anyway.