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Best Canon FD Glass?


JimmyD
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I love to shoot with legacy glass on my A7RII.  Thus far it has been Leica (50 2, 135 4), Zeiss (85 4), Minolta (50 1.2, 58 1.2, 85 2), Nikon (20 2.8, 28 2.8, 50 1.2, 105 f2.5) and Olympus (24 2.8, 135 3.5) lenses.  I recently got my hands on a beautiful Canon FD 85mm f/1.2 and it is superb.

 

What are others favorite Canon FD glass?

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  • 2 weeks later...

nFD 14mm f/2.8L

Hard to not get you feet in the shot, but gives awesome results! A bit heavy and a bit harder to find.

 

nFD 20mm f/2.8

Fantastic wide-angle not just for landscapes. Very sharp and great close-focussing capability.

 

nFD 35mm f/2

I like this one better than the old FD 35/2 concave, because it is smaller and lighter

 

nFD 50mm f/1.4

Overall better than the 50/1.2L and the 55/1.2 Aspherical. The best 50mm FD lens.

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The FD 85mm f1.2 is an outstanding lens, as long as you can get good to the wide open. It's just a razor. If you like that sort of thing.

 

 

+1

 

The FD 85L is probably the pinnacle of the line. Back in the day it was a miracle of optical engineering and it literally killed the C/Y system. 

That was Canon's golden age, when they were the game changers rather than the highly conservative company they are today.

 

I have one and although it's a 35-odd year old lens, it still delivers impressive IQ. 

Impossible not to love, if you like the Canon look. 

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Thanks everyone.  The FD 85mm f/1.2 L has proven to be simply stunning.  Ridiculously sharp wide open (big trick is nailing focus with the razor thin depth of field) and beautiful bokeh.  The FD 50mm f/1.4, as others have noted, is the best FD 50mm and a screaming value.  After lots of searching I also found a FD 24mm f/1.4 L.  Stopped down it is no better than several other 24mm lenses I have used, but the images you can get at 1.4 - 2.0 are unique at this focal length; like it a lot.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have most of FD glasses, only the best one, including FD 300mm f/2.8 L, 300mm f/2.8 SSC Fluorite, 85/1.2 L, 85/1.2 SSC Aspherical, 50/1.2 L, 24/2, 35/2 chrome nose, 100/2, 80-200mm f/4 L and my favorites are the 85/1.2 SSC Aspherical, and then the FD 300mm f/2.8 L, and 80-200 L, they're superb and can compete with modern lenses.
But I suspect that the FD 200mm f/1.8 will take the first place, only if I can get it. I have EF 200/1.8 L and it lives up to the hype, the best lens Canon ever made.

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Lots of good suggestions above.

Personally, I love the100mm f2 for being super-sharp, and quite nimble. Like the rendering overall, but absolutely love it in black and white.

Also, albeit not the "best", the vanilla 200mm F2.8 is still incredibly good value for such a long and bright lens. I suspect for many people this lens would suffice as a great introduction to longer focal lengths.

 

I have the C/Y 85 f1.4 which I also like a lot, but I often find that I prefer the size and rendering of the FD 100mm unless I absolutely need a razor thin depth of field and to me that says alot.

 

Also, with the Techart adapter, all FD can now be made autofocus.

From  my own experience, It works perfect for the 100mm, and resonably well for the 200mm.

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I have and love the FD 85L for doing bokeh panoramas. I used to use the FD 135/2 which had better IQ but the lens was longer, heavier and required way more images to stitch so I mostly use the 85 tgese days. I highly recommend the 135/2 if you can find one though, love the built in hood too!

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Sorry, maybe I am missing something but exactly what combination of adapters do you use to get autofocus on FD lenses. Many thanks in advance for your help.

 

"Also, with the Techart adapter, all FD can now be made autofocus.

From  my own experience, It works perfect for the 100mm, and resonably well for the 200mm."

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Sorry, maybe I am missing something but exactly what combination of adapters do you use to get autofocus on FD lenses. Many thanks in advance for your help.

 

"Also, with the Techart adapter, all FD can now be made autofocus.

From  my own experience, It works perfect for the 100mm, and resonably well for the 200mm."

This one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leicaist-Canon-FD-Lens-to-Leica-M-LM-Adapter-for-M9-M8-M7-M6-for-TECHART-LM-EA7-/162203345191

or get FD - Leica M adapter from TechartPro when you order the AF adapter.

Or, you can get any FD - Leica M adapter (cheaper than the one they modified to fit TechartPro) and use a key file to modify it. I did that way and the adapter works well now.

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