I'm trying to buy some lenses for my new f1. I usually use canon and sigma for my eos collection but I have heard that when the fd mount was being made that there were some quality control issues. I'm going to pickup the 85mm 1.2L regardless but I'm looking at building up this system like my other formats. Any suggestions on good canon fd lenses?

Thanks,
Magoo

Hi magoo. Been a while since you posted, eh?

Congrats on the F1. Great camera. The FD lenses had two mounting systems, the original breech lock, and the updated one.

The early mount had a silver metal twisting ring that tighened the lens to the camera body. Over time (or depending on how hard you tightened it) the lens might be a slightly different distance from the body, and this created possible focal length and focus problems.

The updated mount (introduced with the F1n) addressed these issues, and to my knowledge nicely corrected them. It is a much quicker and more consistently secure mount.

I used multiple bodies of both the original F1 and the F1n, (the latter for a much longer period of time), and never had a single problem with any of my FD lens mounts.

The 85mm f/1.2 you mention is the jewel of the series, but my day-in day-out workhorse was the 35mm f/2. Arguably their sharpest lens, I used it in place of the normal 50mm.

The medium to super wides are also all good...

Thanks for the reply, I would like to get the 35 too. It has been a while since posting. I was taking a hiatus, not enought time, Now I am getting the dark room fired back up, doing portraits again and bitten by the bug again. hope to be on the boards again soon...

Thanks!!!

Mike.

Sounds like you and Steve might have similar photographic interests. I never had an F1, but I had a couple of A1s. The lens that impressed me the most was - I think - a 35-105mm f/3.5 zoom. Optically it was excellent and the range was very nice. It's probably a great deal now, too. I checked the reviews and it's not listed. But if you check the archived primes lens reviews there are a bunch of FD lenses listed: http://www.photographyreview.com/cat/lenses/35mm-primes/PLR_3111_0crx.aspx

May I ask why you're going back to the F1? I'm not judging. Just curious. Because I think the EOS cameras are great and there's no reason you can't focus manually with them. If it's a film thing, same question. Why go all the way back to the F1? Why not an EOS 1 or a 1N?

well, I just like cameras. I normally use an eos 3 and an elan 7e with all my zoom and prime lenses but I love manual cameras. I use my new f1 for special occasions and when I just feel like using it. It's in mint condition, I got a deal on it and I treat it like a baby, not a scratch on it. I have a mamiya c33 from 1969 that I still use once in a while, when doing family portraits and pictures of friends kids I like to use my Mamiya rb67. My favorite lens has to be the 150mm soft focus lens. It don't matter how much you photoshop a picture there is just something special about the soft focus that comes with it. My new toy is an old Cambo 4x5 sf. I have a compur shutter that needs to be rebuilt and another lens comming in the mail. Can't wait to put that negative in the enlarger to have a little fun. I guess I just appreciate how manual cameras take a little more effort to work and how reliable they are. don't have to worry about going through alot of batteries, no memory cards, no eye focus just the feel of a mechanical machine. And the reason I still like film? I like to be surprised and it keeps me on my toes. When I am deciding a shot I sit and really think about it then we see if I'm correct. If it's not exposed correctly its my own fault, and I learn from my mistake. Plus when working with black and white I just love working in the darkroom. Burning, dodging it's all manual. Maybe someday when I turn 30 in a few years I may change my mind but right now, I like to be different and do things the hard way :)

Mike.

Magoo-
I respect all of your answers. And I agree that well-built old manual cameras have a really nice feel. And manual focus lenses do feel much better than even the best AF lenses.

Sometimes I miss the darkroom. There is magic with the chemicals and enlarger. It's beautiful watching a big, rich, black and white print come up in the developer tray. And it's also magic to come back and see how the dried print came out. I even miss the smell of the chemicals. But I don't miss the constant exposure to chemicals. But I worked in labs for years so my exposure was pretty heavy. And in the end, the control of digital offers me better final quality. But I understand how you feel about film and the darkroom.

Please post reviews for all your old equipment. I want us to have lots of reviews for the classic stuff, too. Everything you have, including the Mamiya, should be listed in the reviews.

Congrats on the new purchase. If you're interested, I've posted an FD 70-210 f/4 (I misposted it as 70-200 which I think is an older lens) http://classifieds.mtbr.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.pl?db=Photo&website=PhotographyReview&language=&session_key=&search_and_display_db_button=on&results_format=long&db_id=1954&query=retrieval. It zooms and focuses with same ring. I've taken great macro pics with this lens.

I found a website recently that I haven't spent a lot of time on but it seemed to have a lot of information on the FD lenses if you haven't found it already.

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/index.htm

Have fun!