pil_joo

Apparently, you can twist the hood only without forcing the mount.

Check this site.

http://photonotes.org/reviews/zenitar-fisheye/

Hi there,

A few things.

1. there is no perfect portrait lens or technique. you can take wonderful portraits with 50mm. Try this. Don't use flashes. Get ISO 400 film. Get plenty of light in the room. You can probably get 1/60sec and f1.4~2.8. Close in to fill in the frame with your kid, maybe chest to head. Take the shot (holding steady if your speed is 1/30). Experiment and see what you like.

2. $290 at local dealer is kind of expected. they need to pay for rent for their shop and also try to get some profit, right? Only problem is that you can probably get one on eBay for the price the dealer pays when he buys his. But he is saving you time to search, compare, bid and ship and all that. Plus he probably will give you some guarantee which won't always be offered on eBay. Although all that doesn't prevent me from buying things on eBay, you shouldn't think he's trying to rip you off. (And probably he's expecting you to bargain it down.)

3. Unless you make money out of your photography and make enlargements larger than 8x10 frequently, any prime (fixed focal length lens) from any company, as long as it works on your camera, will do for portraits. More important thing is training your eyes. Remember that famous photographers of yesteryears probably worked with a lens worse than your 50mm f/1.4. On top of that you can probably take one or two steps forward to make your 50mm lens a 80mm lens :) To me the difference in perspective between 50 and 80 is not enough to justify the purchase. (and I just started paying back my college loan) If you really want a telephoto prime, I would go for 100mm or 135mm that will complement your system better. And I agree that actually 24mm or 28mm would be a better direction to take.

Miscellaneous thoughts: If you buy a flash buy the one with flexing head so that you can shoot it to the ceiling. It will make a very natural illumination. Never shoot your flash at the person except for three cases: 1. you like that flat white look with dark background, 2. you like scaring people, and 3. (serious) you are actually doing "fill-flash". And I don't have any scientific study to back up my argument, but I wouldn't shoot a flash at my baby if I had one. I don't even like shooting it at adults. Anyway I have a Vivitar 285 but I seldom use it.

Miscellaneous thoughts 2: Don't listen to people who think getting this or that lens will make you a better photographer. I tend to like fast primes (f/2~f/1.4) because I hate using flashes. But most primes work pretty well. People are obssessed with sharpness and stuff maybe because that's something easy to measure (and to buy). But good photo comes from good eyes.

Where in Canada?

Canon repair centre is in Montreal but I don't think they will repair

an FD camera. But they might do a T90 though. If not try

AFC Camera Service 1015 Beaver-Hall, Suite 100 Montreal, 514-397-9505

Canon will refer you to this place anyway if they don't want do it

themselves. I had a repair done on 135mm f/2 lens. I had no problem

except that it was very expensive. Service looks good.

GP

Flashes with one contact should work with T-70 even though dedicated

features won't be there. If it didn't then there must be some problem

with the circuitry either on the camera or the flash. Didn't it fire

at all?

For dedicated features get A or T series flashes from canon (like

244, 277 or 299T). By the way they stopped making it long time ago.

-Pil

Besides, you can almost always find manuals online for any cameras

that have been popular in the past. Try www.google.com if you haven't.

which one? Canon produced tons of 35mm cameras.. (In fact I think

apart from digital ones and very early cameras in late 40's, Canon

only made 35mm cameras.)

try

www.kjsl.com/canon-fd

There is a link to a guy who posted bunch of manuals for A-series (FD

system) cameras.

From what I heard, some Walmarts carry those black sponge material

in 'craft' sections.

Some of them have self-adhesive on one side which makes the job a

whole lot easier. It sounds like an easy but messy job.

Search for "favorite classics" website where they offer all kinds of

hints about fixing old cameras.

In my opinion from using different lenses from different companies of

different time period, all prime lenses are very good. I bet you

won't be able to tell the difference between two prime lenses of same

focal length only by looking at the photos.

Moreover, I believe that optical formula have not changed between

these two versions.

"Older Version: FD 28mm f2.0 S.S.C & FD 28mm f2.8 S.S.C- [...] Both

lenses essentially remain optically unchanged other than cosmetic

changes, when they were 'upgraded to the FDn types. " (from

Photography in Malaysia website)

So all that said, I think it's a bit of too much effort spent in

trying to find which version is better. If you have to be picky, I

would choose later version since it has better coating and probably

is more plenty. (I have this version and I tell you, your images

won't disappoint you.)

Also another factor to consider is filter size of other lenses you

have. Newer versions mostly come in 52mm but the old in 55mm. So it

will help to save investment of filters (if you use them at all) to

stay on one side.

<p>

This is just my personal opinion but I think people spend too much

time in trying to find out which lens is the best. Given small

difference in the performance of prime lenses from major companies,

we should strive more for quality of our eyes than that of our

cameras to improve our photographic images. Other than that it all

comes down to economics. (i.e. which is cheaper? - unless you are

rich enough not to care..)

For the price go to Ebay.com and search the completed items.

It shows some strong oily rainbow flare against strong light source in

the view finder. I'll try running a roll through.

If I decide to clean, should I do it as soon as possible or can I

wait?

Thank you!

Hi.

I just got a 135mm f2 from Ebay.

I am quite excited to get this legendary lens except that i found a little oily patch of about 5mm long an about 2mm wide (Average) oily trace on one edge of inner element.

I am perplexed because I didn't notice it when I opened the package but in a matter few hours it was there. It's so obvious (that oily rainbow kind of reflection) that I wonder I could've not seen it if it was there when I opened it.

<p>

Anyway my question is (assuming that this is relatively new occurence)

1. whether how much it will affect the performance (diameter is 72mm)

2. whether I could trust a local repairman to clean it and mount it back properly or I should trust Canon repair centre. (Or could I do it if I have proper equipment?) - Does it require precision to mount elements properly on a barrell?

3. should I clean it right away or would it be equally easy to remove it later.

<p>

I found inner elements a bit dusty so it could benefit from a clean-up but i wonder whether I should do it now and whether dismantling a lens could affect its performance.

<p>

Thanks!!

sometimes aperture only closes down to the aperture you shot last

time. Try releasing shutter at smaller aperture.

Why are we getting these ads? I thought this was discussion forum for

FD systems not selling ad bulletin for those who are giving up FD

system for EOS (not that I am condenming this act itself but it's

just that this forum doesn't seem to exist for that end.)

Maybe moderators should do something about this.

Thanks!

I just tried with my AE1-P on Program mode with 50mm/f1.4.

It does go down to 1.4 even though it is hesitant to go below 2.8. I

think the logic reduces speed first then aperture if it's not enough.

Hi.

In view of exorbitant FD hood price (due to discontinued production probably?) I was wondering whether same size of EOS lens hood would work with FD lenses. Or is there any way to slightly modify them and use them?

<p>

Thanks!

Hi.

Using a drugstore lab for quick travel shots I noticed quite a bit of chromatic aberration (red separation out of white usually) with my 35-105mm/3.5.

But when I look at scans from my slides using same lens, I don't see any. And I always hear everyone saying how good is their 35-105mm/3.5.

<p>

So is it possible that one lab can produce more chromatic aberration than others? Did any one found excessive chromatic aberration with 35-105mm/3.5? Or could it be that with some films it can produce more?

<p>

Thank you.

Hello.

There are several zoom lenses that offer 'macro' capabilities which allow the user to get closer to the object than the normal setting.

My question is, "how different is 'macro' from the normal range from the mechanical point of view?"

It seems like that "macro" on these lenses simply lets you rotate focus ring (or zoom ring) further so that you go beyond the minimum focus distance and nothing more. Then why wouldn't the manufacturers mark the lenses to just have that much normal range?

For example my lense has 1.5-oo normal range and probably something like 0.6-1.5 macro range at the widest angle. Then why can't they specify it as just 0.6-oo if there is no special distinction between "normal" and "macro" in terms of mechanical construction?

<p>

Thanks!

Hi.

I know that A1 with any AE mode the metering will be more or less accurate because the metering is done in half stop stepping. For example with shutter priority set at 1/500 one can have usual f-stops like 2.8 and 4 but can also have half stop in between like 3.5. (Maybe its actual metering might even be more continuous so it can have f-stops like 3.1 and 5.24 or whatever, I am not sure about this.)

<p>

But with AE-1 Programme like mine, you can only see discreet f-stops in the scale of one full stop like 1.4, 2.8, 4, 5.6, ... Now say you choose a shutter speed and actual metering is between 2.8 and 4, what does it do? Does it choose 3.5? Or does it choose either 2.8 or 4 depending how close they are to either one (thus over/underexposing by half stop)?

I'd like to try some slide films but I am afraid that half stop exposure error will be present everywhere. Does anybody have experience using slide films in AE-1P?

I just got a 35-105mm/f3.5.

I see four redlines where the depth of field scale usually is. The vendor told me that actually it's for infrared film focus.

Can I use these somehow to guess depth of field? Or otherwise how can I find out the depth of field other than stopping down?

Sigma, Tamron, Tokina and Vivitar still make various range of prime

and zoom lenses for FD mount.

Their quality is, as far as I know, worse than original Canon even

though they are cheaper than second Canon ones.

For example, 28-70mm lens is sold for $129 (and this is a fast lens

of f2.8-4 or something)

But hoow much worse is it? Actually I'd like to know that. Is there

any one who can tell how worse it is?

I have used Vivitar 550FD which is fully dedicated flash unit for A-series camera (at least for my AE-1P). It sets aperture and shutter speed. I guess other Canon made dedicated flashes do the same thing.

My question is whether you can override these autosetting without losing 'auto' mode. For example use a shutter speed longer than 1/60 to record the rest of the scene. (I belive that just by putting a manual aperture instead of 'A' you can override aperture.)

Another question is whether you can play with strobe intensity with other flash units like Vivitar 283 for fill-flash,etc and still use 'auto' function. (I saw a little knob looking thing on top of which the sensor is mounted.)