How much better is nikon compared to canon fd?

rawfa

rawfa

Veteran
Hi,

From what I read everywhere, nikon is the lens to have. So, I was wondering how much better they are when compared to canon fd. Because i just ordered an M2 with a Canon Fd mount and I still can change...which would imply me to sell my canon fd lenses (18-28mm f3.5, 28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8, 85mm f18., 28-80mm f3.5, 70-200 f4.5). If these lenses work well with the M2 then I'm set, but if there's a massive difference in quality compared to nikon then I would consider selling them to buy nikons.

Any thoughts & experiences with these lenses?
 
I would say stick with your FD set. So long as you have managed to enable your manual aperture, I think your set.

I shot with the FX1 and SGpro r2 last week, with my set of FD's:

24mm F2
28mm F1.8
50mm F1.4
85mm F1.8

I will be posting up the footage tomorrow night if your interested.
 
They are only better because of the completely manual aperture. The glass is basically a wash.
 
I am a big fan of Canon and have used them for years side by side with guys using Nikon and Nikor lenses. The glass is as good or better in the Canon lenses. Some of the Canon lenses were made more for the consumer market than for pros and have lighter components that may wear out faster. Not much of an issue since those lenses are cheap and easy to replace.
 
mlimbolimbo said:
Some of the Canon lenses were made more for the consumer market than for pros and have lighter components that may wear out faster.
Click to expand...

This is my experience with Canon lenses as well. If you buy the cheaper ones they'll be just that: cheap. I'm not a fan of the lenses that Canon uses in their prosumer video cameras. The GL-2 and XL-2 have problematic lenses. But just talking about the 35mm lenses, most of the Canon ones are just fine. I'd keep your set, rather than starting over. Personally I'm a Nikon guy, but I think Canon generally makes a good lens. Just stay away from their prosumer video lenses and you're fine. :D
 
Canon and Nikon are roughly the same... It is a constant fight for brands just like amd and pentium... Nikon and Canon consumer lenses have about the same crappy optics, and nikor and canon L glass is where it gets a little technical. Some lenses on both ends are better, but only the super anal retentive photographers will argue witch is better, because both are good optics. All of those lenses you have are primes, and you are not gonna notice a difference if you switch to nikon... The problem lies in the aperature which is pushed open by that small rod that sticks out. It is designed so that you see a wide open image even if you are shooting f22. Then when you click the shutter that rod moves re-activating the iris when exposing.

You can see what I mean by taking the lens off the mount and looking inside. Notice how you can change the iris and see it move, now push the rod to the left or the right (cant remmber) and notice how the iris opens back up. Release and iris closes back to its set f-stop.

This can be fixed simply by cutting off the rod so it doesnt de-activate the iris, this is fine if you are only using the lenses for your adapter. If you are using them for photography they are still useable but whe you look through the viewfinder and change the iris you will visually see the light drop by stops...
 
I would look at my options first...Do some google searches and find out what some of these fd guys on here are doing...

That being said, it is the simplest way of doing it. All I know is that the little rod that sticks out is what controls the iris... I have a lens that that rod broke and now it works like that on the slr. I can only comment on optics and Canon has just as nice of optics as Nikon does, it is a lense to lense basis as to which one is better.

Also when I commented before about your lenses I was looking at Wayne's list on accident. Your prime lenses are good and your 18-28 is a not so common lens, but I would look at upgrading to a faster 28-80 and a better telephoto. Fd mounts are getting cheaper by the day on ebay. Watch out though and find auctions with good pics posted of the inside of the lens. I have made that mistake and have bought a couple of lenses with fungus...
 
Yes cut it down so that when you mount it onto the adapter that rod wont shift to the left or right (cant remember). This keeps it from activating the iris lock used for composition and then when you click the shutter it snaps the rod back releasing the iris to close at whatever stop you have it set on.
 
Another option would be to dremel a small groove in the mount on the adapter so that when you attach the lens it doesnt activate the rod...

I'm just thinking, none of this is in actual practice... Someone on these forums has to use fd on their adapters.
 
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