Canon L1, L2 and L3
Canon · LTM mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1957
Also known as: Canon L1 · Canon L-1 · Canon L2 · Canon L-2 · Canon L3 · Canon L-3 · Canon L 1 · Canon L 2 · Canon L 3
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L2 | LTM | 1957–1958 | — | No figure published |
| L1 | LTM | 1957–1958 | — | About 8,200 — 8,000 chrome and 200 black (camera-wiki) |
| L3 | LTM | 1957–1958 | — | No figure published |
How to tell them apart
- Lever on top, no trigger underneath, no self-timer lever on the front: that is an L
- L1: crank rewind and 1/1000; L2 and L3: pop-up knob and 1/500; L3: a covered sync socket
L2:
- Marketed March 1957, 67,000 yen (w/50mm f/1.8) 56,000 yen (w/50mm f/2.8) · 530 g · 143 × 76 × 34 mm
- Lever wind on top; 1/500; no self-timer; FP-sync only; pop-up rewind knob; 530 g body
L1:
- Marketed May 1957, 87,000 yen (w/50mm f/1.2), 48,000 yen (body) · 915 g · 145 × 76 × 34 mm
- Lever wind; 1/1000; FP, M-F and X; rewind crank; parallax pin; no self-timer; cloth curtains early, stainless later
- Japan's first Good Design Award, with the Canon 8T cine camera (museum)
L3:
- Marketed November 1957, 48,000 yen (w/50mm f/2.8), 32,000 yen (body)
- L2 with no flash sync at all — the terminal hole covered; ¥32,000 body
Specifications
- Format
- 24×36mm on 35mm film
- Finder
- Combined coincidence rangefinder and reversed-Galilean viewfinder with a rotating three-position magnifier — with the shoe's parallax pin
- Shutter
- Horizontal cloth focal-plane, two dials · T, 1–1/30 and X, B, 1/60–1/1000 (L1); 1–1/15 and B, 1/30–1/500 (L2, L3) · flash sync FP, M-F and X (L1); FP only (L2); none (L3) · no self-timer
- Film advance
- Single-stroke lever on top
- Back
- Hinged, swings open
- Meter
- None
- Weight
- 915 g
- Dimensions
- 145 × 76 × 34 mm
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- 67,000 yen (w/50mm f/1.8) 56,000 yen (w/50mm f/2.8) (March 1957, Canon Camera Museum) (today ¥419,000)
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The L is the VT with a film-advance lever on the top plate — L for lever — and no self-timer, which left the body clean enough to win the first Good Design Award the Ministry of International Trade and Industry ever gave a camera. The L2 came first, in March 1957, with a 1/500 shutter and bulb sync only; the L1 in May at ¥48,000 body, with 1/1000, full sync, a rewind crank and the parallax pin; the L3 in November as an L2 with no flash at all, at ¥32,000. camera-wiki counts about 8,200 L1s, two hundred of them black.
Early L1s have cloth curtains; later ones the thin stainless-steel curtains the museum says were introduced against pinholes burned by the sun — the metal shutter the VL, VI, P and 7 all carry.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Photographs
Live listings
Asking price, USD: a median of $200 across 14 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $170–$280). Tracked since 2026-09-09, 9 days: up 4% from $190.
By day
| Date | Median | Middle half | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-19 | $200 | $170–$280 | 14 |
| 2026-10-18 | $200 | $160–$280 | 16 |
| 2026-10-17 | $200 | $160–$280 | 16 |
| 2026-10-16 | $200 | $160–$280 | 15 |
| 2026-10-15 | $240 | $170–$280 | 17 |
| 2026-09-21 | $190 | $130–$240 | 16 |
| 2026-09-18 | $200 | $170–$240 | 17 |
| 2026-09-11 | $200 | $170–$250 | 17 |
| 2026-09-09 | $190 | $150–$240 | 19 |
Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.
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- Canon L1 Rangefinder + 50mm f1.4 NEAR MINT 35MM
Show 3 more listings
Listings updated 2026-10-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.