Canon A1 - Best Lenses?

My apologies for the above post, the Tokina lenses will only work on a less than full frame camera. One good reason for me to buy the Canon L lenses instead, havent decided yet. I already have my eye on the 5D, or another 20D body.

Hi Mike and everyone,

 

I have quite a few fd lenses on the shelf 55mm 1.2 ssc asph, 35mm ssc and 35mm chrome nose, 24mm ssc and some other zooms etc but the one lens that really blew me away the first time I used it was my very old 50mm 1.4 chrome nose. I bought this a few years back after using a 50mm FDn 1.8 and the difference was really noticeable. There may have been a fault that made the 50mm 1.8 look a little sift - I'm not sure - but the 50mm 1.4 is just super sharp.

 

Best regards

 

Dave Thrower

www.redshift-photography.co.uk

I prefer FDn 4/300 L SSC and FD 2/35 SSC lenses. Unless one have`t tried them using heavy tripod, mirror locked up and cable release it`s impossible to know how good those lenses actually are.

Couple things that need straightening out. You CAN mount FD lenses on digital camera bodies. I own the 50mm 1.4 and the 85mm 1.2L. I use a Canon EOS 300D...the Digital Rebel. You mount these lenses by using an adapter which can be bought, usually for less than $40. As for lenses that I can't live without.....my collection is small. Just those two as far as FD's go. But, the 85mm is my baby. I picked it up for $625 because there is a surface coating scuff on the lense. It looks like it may have been scuffed by fabric and the scuff doesn't affect the photos at all. Normally this FD lense still goes for at least $800-$1000. I agree with previous statements of the lense being heavy. It is almost heavier than my camera combined with any other lense I own. But, the pay off is that this lense is absolutely the best I have ever touched to date. When I compare my other lenses for sharpness it is as though I've been shooting through a difraction filter. A lot of people laughed at me when I said I was going to try mounting FD lenses on my digital camera but, I am the one who is laughing now. Even the professional photographers that I meet up with at sporting events are always checking out my camera to try and figure out which lense I am using because there is no electronic focus lense that looks like it. The 50mm 1.4 is a nice lense too. I also got this lense rather cheap. At one tenth the price of the electronic focus version I will gladly do the focusing myself. It's a gorgeous lense to use and sharp, although not as much as the 85mm.

hello to all you Canon FD fans from France,

 

although this thread seems rather old, here's my "two cents' worth":

 

first of all the negatives: I have a 135mm 2.5FD which can be most kindly described as a

"soft focus" lens. only acceptable sharpness at about f8. instant David Hamilton or nearly

so.

 

the 35-105mm f3.5 zoom had a nice polyvalent focal range, but had visible barrel and pin

cushion distorsion at the extremes. sold it. sharpness was pretty good.

 

the positives:

 

I agree with everybody about the 80-200mmL zoom: it does beautifully.

the 1.4 is marginally better than the 1.8 generally in the 50mm standards, especially in the

larger apertures.

using the macros as prime lenses is not a bad idea, especially for the 100mm and 200mm,

but a 50mm1.4 and 80-200mmL seems already like a fantastic combo for all-around work

(eventually complemented by a 28mm2.8)

 

also have a 20mm, 35mm 2.0 and 2.8, and 85mm 1.8. the only non-Canon is a Kiron

70-210 zoom.

 

for FD/EOS adapters, I was warned that that you have to have one with a compensation

lens, as the mounting flange is at a different distance from the film in FD and EOS

cameras.

 

and, GOD, keep that A-1; it's still as beautiful a piece of camera, as the day I bought it,

although I agree that the T-90 (which I have) is ultimately the better body.

Richard,

 

If you can't get a sharp image from the 135/2.5 FD until f/8 then the lens needs to be serviced. For portraits I would rather use a 100/2.8 FD SSC but from f/4 down the 135/2.5 is sharp and has very nice out of focus rendition (bokeh).