White Lenses
The white lens barrels of L-series telephoto and super telephoto lenses make them easy to spot. Professional lenses often have to work in the blazing summer sun, so white is a good colour for them. The FD600mm f/4.5 S.S.C. and the FD800mm f/5.6 S.S.C. were the first SLR lenses with a white surface, which kept heat from building up inside the lens barrel. They came out in 1976. Over the years, the "white barrel" lens has come to represent the high quality of Canon lenses, and photographers and videographers all over the world know what it means. There is a type of lens called the white-barrel lens that has become more popular since EF lenses came out.
People really like white-barrel lenses because they can express a lot of emotion and have a fast autofocus system that can catch even the fastest moving things, like the thrill of motor sports. At any major sporting event, the fact that most of the lenses in the press pack are white barrel lenses shows that the L-series lenses can capture every moving moment. Imaging is a form of art that is always changing, and as digital technology has improved, so have expectations for how well lenses should work. The letter "L" stands for a standard in imaging performance. It means a high-quality professional tool that can meet the strictest needs of professionals and help them do their work at the cutting edge of their field. But this number is just one more stop along the way. For Canon, the search for the best lens quality never ends.