In the late 1990s, my old CompuServe friend Chuck Westfall detailed for me exactly what Canon meant by its "L" designation for lenses, signified by the coveted "red ring" marking around the barrel of the lens. At the time, at least, it wasn't actually a generic designation for the company's highest quality line of lenses, which consumers widely mistook it for. Rather, it meant that the lens in question made use of one or more of a number of very specific lens technologies. (I don't remember the list now—maybe Chuck will see this and chime in.) It's just that the lenses that used those technologies tended to be more expensive, and all companies have much more freedom to make lenses better when the cost constraint—the #1 design constraint with most camera lenses—is eased. I do remember that not all of Canon's best lenses were necessarily L lenses—a case in point being the EF 50mm ƒ/1.4, which was made to Canon's highest optical standard at the time of its introduction (and it's a lovely lens) but didn't happen to include any of the technologies that would have earned it L status.
So anyway. If you happen to be one of those photographers who have always coveted the red ring of an "L" lens for all your friends to admire but were never able to afford it, there's finally a solution! Danish photographer Nicolaj Ma shows how:
The original was posted on PetaPixel, where the author gives his permission for others to "download and share" this single-panel version. Nicolaj's web page is here.
Funny....
Mike
(Thanks to Todd Bannor and Piotr Edelman)
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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
Featured Comment by Bruce Appelbaum: "Hey, I painted a red line around my neck and no longer need my contact lenses!"
I always thought my lowly, EF 35mm/2.0 punched way above its weight!
Now I know why ~ it's a steaLth lens.
;~))
Cheers! Jay
Posted by: Jay Frew | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 04:19 PM
Huh; so it's red for Canon lenses, green for CDs?
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 04:28 PM
I think the original is actually here:
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/02/09/how-to-increase-the-performance-of-your-canon-kit-lens/
Posted by: Piotr Edelman | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 04:30 PM
Didn't believe it till I saw the before and afters.
Posted by: Stan B. | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 04:32 PM
Piotr,
Fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 04:51 PM
The 194 comments following the article are funnier than the article itself. Trolls and flames, just like the good old days!
Posted by: Bruce Appelbaum | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 04:55 PM
Finally!!! A way to improve lens performance without spendng two years' salary.
Posted by: Richard Newman | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 04:58 PM
That's funny but this is funnier:
http://www.netaxs.com/~cassidy/images/equipment/leica-h/
Posted by: Paul | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 05:46 PM
The link somebody posted in that thread was even more hardcore http://parkinstyle.tistory.com/60
The aite itself showed a few amazing but scary mods to other lenses as well
http://parkinstyle.tistory.com
Posted by: Sam Iam | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 06:42 PM
I like what he who must not named says. 'L' stands for Expensive as hel'L'.
Posted by: KeithB | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 06:52 PM
Hahaha very amused by all the comments and the links-thanks everyone!
Posted by: fred | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 09:22 PM
You may similarly improve the image quality of Contax mount Zeiss lenses by painting over the letters AE and replacing them with MM (and country of origin from Japan to Germany).
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick Perez | Friday, 10 February 2012 at 09:38 PM
This could get interesting. Take an ordinary Nikon of ancient age, paint a vertical red stripe on the right side grip..Voila a camera worth more by looks alone.
Or maybe paint a Nikkor 70-200 zoom with a white speckled paint so it blends in with all the other Canon zoom shooters at the game!
Sort of PhotoShop for the mind.
Posted by: Bryce Lee | Saturday, 11 February 2012 at 01:29 AM
To me the point of this is ; if you think you have great equipment.. you will put more effort to take a better picture and put more effort in post processing too. It is the photographer that make the difference.
Love it !
Posted by: Charla Mason | Saturday, 11 February 2012 at 09:41 AM
Hmmm. My EF 50mm 1.4 was one of the more disappointing primes I owned. More so since 50mm is my favourite focal length. My personal, one word description would be "boring"
Gordon
Posted by: Gordon Cahill | Saturday, 11 February 2012 at 06:58 PM