getting my first Canon FD lens - which one?

Z

zm15

Well-known member
I'm looking at either the 28mm 2.8 or the 50mm 1.8 lenses.

I do mostly stuff around the house with the family, interviews, and documentary style filming.

I'm shooting on the GH2.

As i'm brand new to this, any recommendations between these two? Or others?
 
I have both of those, great lenses. I guess it depends on what you need -- a medium "everything" lens (as I think the 28 becomes with the 4/3 sensor), or a good portrait lens. On a fullframe 28 is wide and 50 is medium, of course...
 
My apologies, I should have clarified, I don't have a GH camera just yet (seriously looking at the GH2, just waiting to find one in stock!!), but I have a set of FD primes from the glory days of the 35mm adapter craze, and loved those two lenses, along with the 85 1.8. As far as adapters, I plan on getting the Novoflex. A bit on the pricey side, but I've heard it's the best.
 
zm15 said:
I'm looking at either the 28mm 2.8 or the 50mm 1.8 lenses.

I do mostly stuff around the house with the family, interviews, and documentary style filming.

I'm shooting on the GH2.

As i'm brand new to this, any recommendations between these two? Or others?
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If you go for the 50mm, try and find the 1.4 version. Much better.
 
It's more like .6666r of a stop.

Stops are 5.6 - 4 - 2.8 - 2 - 1.4 - 1 with each stop doubling the amount of light. Yes doubling!

So between f2 and f1.4 is .6 and between f1.8 and f1.4 is .4, so it's approx. 2/3 of a stop, hence 0.6666r

Anyway, often there are differences between lenses that cannot be attributed to their speed. In this case, I think the f1.8 will be fine for your needs. The f1.4 version is better, but not on a "bang for bucks" scale.
 
Lucas Adamson said:
It's more like .6666r of a stop.

Stops are 5.6 - 4 - 2.8 - 2 - 1.4 - 1 with each stop doubling the amount of light. Yes doubling!

So between f2 and f1.4 is .6 and between f1.8 and f1.4 is .4, so it's approx. 2/3 of a stop, hence 0.6666r

Anyway, often there are differences between lenses that cannot be attributed to their speed. In this case, I think the f1.8 will be fine for your needs. The f1.4 version is better, but not on a "bang for bucks" scale.
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Awesome, thanks for the explanation!
 
The 50mm 1.4 lens is great and quite inexpensive. Although you will find it a bit on the long side.
If you are occasionally shooting indoors you may find a 35mm f2.0 lens more flexible, while still delivering a shallow dof, and then a 24 f 2.0 (not necessarily Canon, you can look for Kiron or Komine made Vivitar) could be your "normal" lens.
 
If I were strictly buying Canon FDs for my GH2 then I would save up and go with the L series lenses (24mm f1.4, 50mm f1.2 and 85mm f1.2). They are all really fast, sharp, create great color contrast, have amazing low light performance and very nice bokeh.

Since I do no have that kinda money I would suggest this for a good all around first lens...

Canon FD 24mm f2 - This lens considered by many to be better than the Canon FD 24mm F1.4 L series that is 3x the $$$. It isn't quite as fast, but f2 is still pretty decent in lower light settings. I would DEFINITELY get this over the 20mm f2.8. Although the 20mm F2.8 can be found for cheaper around $150, the 20mm can be found on Ebay for around $300 and is well worth the extra money.


P.S. Got to Photo.net and read in the Canon FD section of there forum for further opinions on lenses. Also, the 50mm F1.4 is a great inexpensive lens but is kinda long due to 1.9x crop, so be aware it's not a great all around lens like it would be on a 5D
 
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I own a canon fd 50mm 1.8mm that I bought for 5€. Althought mine is hard to manipulate(a bit injured) at F1.8 it gives some smooth result.
But go to F2.8 or more and you'll get better shape for your shots.
 
JerryB said:
If I were strictly buying Canon FDs for my GH2 then I would save up and go with the L series lenses (24mm f1.4, 50mm f1.2 and 85mm f1.2). They are all really fast, sharp, create great color contrast, have amazing low light performance and very nice bokeh.

Since I do no have that kinda money I would suggest this for a good all around first lens...

Canon FD 24mm f2 - This lens considered by many to be better than the Canon FD 24mm F1.4 L series that is 3x the $$$. It isn't quite as fast, but f2 is still pretty decent in lower light settings. I would DEFINITELY get this over the 20mm f2.8. Although the 20mm F2.8 can be found for cheaper around $150, the 20mm can be found on Ebay for around $300 and is well worth the extra money.


P.S. Got to Photo.net and read in the Canon FD section of there forum for further opinions on lenses. Also, the 50mm F1.4 is a great inexpensive lens but is kinda long due to 1.9x crop, so be aware it's not a great all around lens like it would be on a 5D
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I have been thinking about this lately. Probably better to spen your cash on the 20 1.7 pancake than a wide FD lens. If you can get a 28mm or something for chump change than go for it but I dunno about spending major cash on the FD mount. Just get the panny lens if you are going to spend $300 and it will auto focus as well.
 
tommy what major cash for fd mount? I got my mount for like 20$ or less on ebay.

but i agree with you the image quality on pancake is generally much better than most equivalent FD's. pancakes a really good lens and much faster than any FD of that focal length to my knowledge. 28mm FD comes in 2.0 and 2.8 I think? pancake is 1.7 f stop
 
Homunculus said:
tommy what major cash for fd mount? I got my mount for like 20$ or less on ebay.

but i agree with you the image quality on pancake is generally much better than most equivalent FD's. pancakes a really good lens and much faster than any FD of that focal length to my knowledge. 28mm FD comes in 2.0 and 2.8 I think? pancake is 1.7 f stop
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I just meant for a "FD mount" lens. Makes sense to go with the m4/3 or a maybe a Nikon if you are spending the cash since it would be an easy mount on a nikon camera or just a cheap adapter to cannon Eos. I have a bunch of FD's but I think twice about laying down lots of cash on new ones. If you grab something cheap thats cool. But if you are investing in old glass nikon seems like it makes the most sense to me.
 
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I have Zeiss lenses and they are quite extraordinary. That's why Arri film camera rental houses so often use them.

If you're going for cheap, bargain lenses, Canon FD is the way to go - cheap 50 f1.8, 24 f2 etc. but the more expensive Canon FDs are very very expensive, and you might as well get Zeiss C/Y mount lenses for that money. They are the Shizzle Dizzle, Yo!

Also, yes the Panny 20mm f1.7 is a better buy for most than a really expensive old fast(ish) manual wide like 24/f2.
 
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