Canon FD 85mm f/1.2 L Lens

yummy, what a lens. canon have always taken a back seat to nikon in film cameras and lenses. sadly, that perception is undeserved. since their rangefinder days, canon have consistantly pushed the edge in lens design. who would have thought working film photographers would be paying $1,000.00 plus for the 50mm 0.95 rangefinder canon lens, in today's market. or the 50mm 1:1.2 - 2 incredible performers.

and so, how do you beat nikon's 85mm f1:1.4? simple with an 85mm f1:1.2. and what a lens it is! within those absolute laws of optics, this lens is a marvelous performer. i like it for portraiture and photo journalism, especially at the widest apertures. is it sharp edge to edge? no, but then you're not ever gonna notice that. what you will notice is the amazing available dark results this lens can pull off! it ain't small, though and you can forget any thoughts of balance when the camera's around your neck.

now for the bad news. this lens stands as a lasting rebuke to canon who have abandoned the fd mount and abandoned film cameras all together! it is amazing that canon was unable to learn the lesson from their rangefinder manufacturing days. those cameras are still used on a daily basis by working photographers all over the world. and, like their fd slrs, you don't abandon a successful photographic instrument.

another thing to consider- do you invest hard earned dollars in af lenses, knowing the life of that particular design is 7-10 years? meanwhile the mf lenses keep going on and on and on, 20, 34, 50 years and longer. not to mention the sloppy optical fittings in those lenses which will not stand the test of time and professional use. don't believe me? just look at the parts and repair lists of af lenses in ebay!

so, let's get back to the subject. this lens is a great hidden bargain. find one, buy it, get a ftbn, ae1, a1, f1, f1n, f1N camera body and experience 35mm joy!!
have at it, camera groovies!

When I painfully downsized my film camera collection to only a few cameras and lenses this Canon FD 85mm 1.2 L lens was on top of the list as a keeper. Why? No other lens I have ever owned in the last 30 years can produce the images this one produces, that includes the 85mm 1.8 version which did not make the cut.

The image quality I am talking about comes from shooting at close distances to the subject shooting at f1.2. The depth of field is so small that extreme care must be taken to get both eyes sharp. The focus roll off from the sharp portion of the image is very smooth and results in magical portraits, esp. those of children. This short depth of field gives the image a three dimensional appearance and backgrounds melt away, and those image attributes sets it apart from other portrait lenses, including medium format lenses that I used.

If you get this lens be sure to test the focusing accuracy of your Canon camera body when used with this lens. I found two of my F-1n camera bodies were off by an inch or two at 3 and 4 feet camera to subject distances. I discovered this only after losing some important portraits. One F-1n was sent in for service to fix the problem, but after $250 in repairs, it still had errors equal to the other (mint) F-1n body. So as you might have guess those two cameras did not make the cut.

An ideal way to use this lens is with a camera with a motor drive. Why? While shooting the subject fire away at 3 to 5 fps and move the camera in and out from the subject a little to vary the focusing plane. You will find this an interesting technique and faster than manually focusing the lens while allowing you to keep your attention on your subject's expression. This will also help reduce the side effects of a back focusing camera body (like my two F-1n bodies), should you decide not to test your camera focusing accuracy or cannot get it fixed. If you are lucky you will get one out of ten shots as a prize winning image.

Now I own a couple of Canon AF EOS camera (film) bodies, which raises the question, "Why not buy a new EF 85mm 1.2 lens for $1700 to $1900?". Are you kidding? While they can produce the same or even better images, the cost is to high for me. Also in most cases I read that the focusing is so slow with those lenses (type I and type II) that professionals often manually focus the lens. At which point why pay for a auto focus lens?

Only one reason comes to mind, if you are shooting using a digital full frame camera, and that is a good reason. The cost of shooting digitally at that point is on the order of $3000 and upward. So unless you are making a good income (with money to burn) and or are a working professional photographer you might want to consider the Canon FD 85mm 1.2 L lens with a T-90 camera body combination instead, to create the magical portraits only this lens can produce.

Best of luck to you.

d2f


But if you are watching your wallet these days and don't have money to burn yet love photography, and don't mind using film, and want to make magical portraits that cannot be matched by a Nikon or other lens, you should seriously consider getting this lens.

Not to mention this lens seems to retains it's value, which says something about it's quality and being in demand over the last decade. So if you get one and decide to sell it later you will not lose 90% of it's value like other film based gear.