55mm lenses for new F1 any recommendation?

Hello everyone,

 

this is my first post. I have a new F1 Canon with a nice 35mm f2.8, i would like to add a 55mm (i find 50mm too close to 35mm), I wanted to be sure to get a lens which is compatible with the camera, especially if i want the aperture priority working properly. So, is the 55mm f.1.2 FL compatible and working with aperture priority or I have to find some newer version? If i need a newer version can you please recommend which one (since there is the aspherical, the non aspherical with silver ring and the non aspherical all black)?

Welcome to photo.net.

 

Well, the FL lenses do not have meter coupling, which was introduced with the FD lenses. So there would be no full aperture metering, just stop-down.

 

I did briefly have an FL F/1.2 lens some years ago. I think it was 58mm rather than 55. It wasn't a particularly good lens if I recall correctly, especially at short distances.

Hi.

As said by John previously FL lenses will work with F-1 camera but with some hassle .

Canon has made FD 55mm lenses , f/1.2 very decent ones, even non AL version however they are very big and heavy.

Tricky, the 55/1.2 FD Aspherical would be ideal but is rare and stratospherically priced. I have owned the plain Jane non-Asph. version but, unfortunately, found it to be big, heavy and not really better than the 50/1.4 with 1.2 being a bit too glowy.

Thank you guys, I guess I will take a 50mm 1.4 because is 1/10th of price of the 55mm and I am sure will work with all automatisms.

The 50mm f/1.4 is probably the best "nifty fifty". Actually the FD version of the "real", lower aperture,

 

nifty-50 is even cheaper and is also very good.

The 50mm f/1.4 is probably the best "nifty fifty". Actually the FD version of the "real", lower aperture,

 

nifty-50 is even cheaper and is also very good.

Sorry but i don't understand, what is "nifty"?

Nifty is an old fashioned English word meaning fast or quick. "Nifty Fifty" is just a rhyming nickname for certain types of 50mm lens. Another similar rhyming nickname is "Plastic Fantastic", a lightly built plastic bodied lens with surprisingly good image quality.

Thank you for the explanation... I will go for the nifty fifty/plastic fantastic 50mm 1.4 then, i really need a faster lens becasue for my kind of pictures 400 iso is not enough with a f2.8.

I don't see a definition meaning fast/quick:

 

Definition of NIFTY

I don't see a definition meaning fast/quick:

 

Well, It seems to be a somewhat informal and flexible word in meaning, and at least in the UK it's not heard a lot these days. Perhaps usages are different in other countries. I always assumed it meant quick and efficient. Here's a definition which includes the phrase "quick and skilful".

 

LINK --- NIFTY (adjective) definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary

 

As Humpty Dumpty said, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean".

Edited December 24, 2020 by John Seaman

As Humpty Dumpty said, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean".

 

Well. I don't know about Humpty Dumpty, but

 

in Henry Fielding’s 1749 The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:

 

“When I mention religion,” declares Parson Thwackum, “I mean the Christian religion; and not only the Christian religion, but the Protestant religion; and not only the Protestant religion, but the Church of England.”

I don't know about Humpty Dumpty

 

It didn't end well for him, I'm afraid.

The FD 50 f1.4 is not a nifty fifty. That would be the FDn 50 f1.8 or the EF 50 f1.8. The f1.4 are/were too pricey to be considered nifty. To me nifty means simple yet efficient and relatively inexpensive. The early FD breechlock lenses are never plastic fantastics either.

The later Canon 50/1.4 FL and FD 50/1.4 SC and SSC have the same optical formula. I picked up the FL 50/1.4 for $30 and converted it to RF coupled M-Mount. Focus shift due to spherical aberration is lower than the Leica Summilux of that period. Nifty- seems like a very good adjective for this lens.

The 50/1.4 SSC is first-rate, just not as easy to make a rangefinder coupling for it as the FL. The 50/1.4 SSC and 50/1.4 SC chrome-nose, mine were inexpensive. The SSC came on a Canon EF for $35.

 

The Pop Photo 1976 test of Canon lenses.

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Brian