Looking for fairly cheap and usable old zooms for my 7D

[Jose A. Garcia]

Hi all,

Ever since I got my 7D, I started using my L series 24-105 F4 from Canon and while it's an awesome lens and I use it for almost everything I do, I'd like to try other lenses.

About 3 years ago I had the wonderful experience of shooting a tv show with old Canon FD primes and a 35mm adapter. They had everything one could ask for. They were quite sharp, really fast (F1.4 and F2.8) and extremely cheap (I bought them off Keh Camera in "EX" condition for about $50 each). I loved the organic feeling they added to everything I shot with them, but unfortunately, due to heavy work and age, two of them are unusable now and the third doesn't give the image it used to anymore.

I was planning on getting another set of 3-4 old FD primes to test them with the 7D and be able to get that organic feeling again, but before I do, I'd like to know if there're better options out there. Something like a fairly wide range old zoom that's fast enough, sharp enough and maybe around the $300-500 range...

I'm not asking for something in particular because I don't know if there's a single zoom (or a very limited number of them) people normally recommend. One of those models for old cameras which aren't used anymore and for some reason, they're easily found and cheap. I guess I'm just asking for too much, but hey, those FD primes were truly awesome and I spent less than $200 on all of them.

Thanks a lot!

[David W. Jones]

Canon FD mount lenses can not be used on a Canon EF mount camera without an optical adapter.

[Samuel H]

... which kills image quality

check lens mount compatibility chart here: http://www.similaar.com/foto/lensmount/lensmount.html

and in any case: (some) vintage primes are great, vintage zooms not so much (for zooms and wide angle primes, which are very complex lenses, computer design has helped a lot)

edit: and while I'm at it... check also lots of vintage lenses tested here:
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/lenstestsa.html
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/bokehtests.html

[Seven8 Media]

Zooms...I can't stand them. You have to really push in to get DOF and the arpeture is pretty crappy unless you're dropping 3k on a 100-300 2.8...

We shoot music clips a lot of the time...all we use is a simple 50mm 1.8. Cost us 130 bucks. Priceless. Now we have 2 Canon cams on shoots...both running the same lens. We hardly ever change lenses at all. Night shoots look INSANE!

[Jose A. Garcia]

Yes, I knew about the adapter. That's one of the reasons FD lenses are so cheap, because they can't be used on modern EOS cams without it. I already have the adapter.

About the image quality... I've seen a couple of videos and even some podcasts explaining the "problem", which is that glowy "dreamy" image, right? Most of the videos say just by stopping down to 2 or 2.8 (still quite fast) the dreamy look goes away.

I still don't know though. I'll have to think about it.

Thanks for the comments!

[homestar_kevin]

You also effectively lose a stop just to the adapter itself.

So you'd be stopping down a lot.

It's really just not worth the hassle

There are tons of older primes out there, all still very very cheap, that you can adapter easier without losing anything.


Pentax, Nikkors, Zuikos, Contax, Mamiya Sekor, etc.

[xenogears]

I recommend you the Nikon glass, the Nikon to EOS adapters can have focus confirmation.