GH2 GH2: FD Devotees?

H

Heartfelt

Well-known member
I began with a 14-140 and a 20mm 1.7. Fun.

Seeing the talk about vintage glass, i picked up a 50mm Canon FD 1.4. Took a while to get used to it but when I did, I enjoyed the results. so, i just picked up a couple more FD's and am contemplating an all out commitment to FD glass as my standard. I think it has a distinctive look and that makes it fun for me. (I am an audio guy first and in that field, API and NEVE are everything. I have avoided both and chosen to go a Daking/Trident route... quality, different, distinctive.)

Have any of you gone down this path? Why did you and what have you appreciated about the journey?



As a balance, for my day job, I typically rent Zeiss and Nikon for shoots. I think it looks great.
 
I currently solely use Canon FD lenses wit my GH2, I have the 50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/2.8, 17mm f/4, and 35-105mm f/3.5. I like them because they are manual aperture, focus, and have some nice weight to them. They are pretty tough as well, about a month ago I was doing a running steadicam shot with the Hague MMC and the gimbal busted and the camera went lens first into asphalt and both still works fine thankfully.

The 50mm f/1.4 i have which is the older version of FD with the silver ring is the sharpest of the bunch and has nice contrast if you stop down about 2 stops or more.
 
I tend to stick with the lumix lenses and knock down the sharpness in post. I have a few FDs that I really don't use because of their softness -- I suppose it's just an aesthetic choice...
 
I started off with a bunch of FD's because they're inexpensive and easy to find. They're an awesome way to get started on a low budget. But they can often end up being a little too soft, hazy or both. I went through a couple different 50mm FD's before I found one that wasn't hazy. Although, I picked them up for $24-$40 a piece, so no huge loss.

After using the Olympus 45mm 1.8 I was too spoiled though. The higher end Olympus and Panasonic lenses are crystal clear, bright and sharp wide open. Not to mention the added bonus of autofocus and image stabilization (in some cases).
 
I think FDs are great to have around for certain projects. The softer vintage look can be especially nice for weddings, for example. It's nice to fill in your focal length gaps with these cheaper lenses too - and then take your time upgrading until a deal pops up. I acquired a Vivitar 70-210mm FD mount for about $60 and barely used it for anything. Then I got a job that required some macro butterfly footage and it suddenly earned it's keep (many times over). So in general, just great to have some lenses like this on hand since they are so easy to acquire.
 
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I've been buying up cheap manual focus lenses, and have a fair set of FD lenses. They are not as sharp or contrasty as my Panasonic 20mm 1.7 and 14mm 2.5's.... but there's a certain "vintage look" the lenses give.

As jmw said, they can be very useful when the need arises. My favorite FD's are the 80-200 L f4, the 300 L f4, and the 55 1.2.

If I was shooting a narrative short (or a feature film) where I have time to set up a shot, I'd probably use MF lenses.

For event work (parties, interviews, riots etc) I'd stick to the Panasonic lenses for their handling speed.
 
Ha! HEARTFELT-

Those are the exact same three lenses I bought and in the same order! I am extremely impressed by the range of looks I can get with these 3 lenses...and at such a reasonable cost - I love 'em. Although I must admit I almost always add a Tiffen Black Diffusion filter to the 20mm 1.7.
 
I love my FD 35-105 F3.5....but don't use it anymore. The olympus and Panny lens selection and fast speed is too good to stick with vintage.
 
FD 50mm 1.4 and FD 24mm 2.8. I also have the Lumix 20mm 1.7, and the kit 14-40. To me, the Lumix lenses look like a video camera image (a very nice video camera, that is), while the FD offers a much more natural blend of colors. The difference between them is night and day. The big stumbling block for me is that I shoot indoors a lot, and my 24mm is often a bit too slow, and the 50 is too tight due to crop factor.

That said, I love them both. Cheap glass like this was one of the big draws of the GH2 for me, and I have no regrets.


PS - On a side note, I went with an Empirical Labs Distressor and RME preamps.
 
Big FD fan - great glass for weddings
200mm 2.8
100mm 2.0
85mm 1.2L - awesome!
50mm 1.2L
35mm 2.0
24mm 2.0

I have some canon & vivitar Zooms but I keep coming back to the FD's - just love the look
 
DPStewart said:
Ha! HEARTFELT-
Although I must admit I almost always add a Tiffen Black Diffusion filter to the 20mm 1.7.
Click to expand...

DP,

Which Tiffen Black Diffusion do you use. On someone's tip (here on this site) I ordered the Tiffen Black Diffusion #3. I haven't had a chance to test it on the GH3 yet, on the GH2 I was using Cinema Color Style with most settings -2 and found that filter did knock down the oversharpend look on closeups of faces, but skin tones were going a bit greyish until I brought saturation up to about 0 and contrast up to 0 also.

Then it looked a lot better, I still had the muted colors and the look of OK dynamic range but also skin tones lost the greyish look and came alive as the right kind of diffusion can do. I also started playing with the Cokin diffusion filters I had left over from the late 1970's and the 1980's (my portrait/wedding/commercial studio days. I had 5 of them, all either #1 or #2 but the actual diffusion varied enough that what I had was a set of 5 graduated strengths ranging from very subtle to "don't even try to focus through this one" (can't find that one).

Testing I did with the GH2 and the Lumix 20mm showed I could use them to the same effects I used to get with Mamiya RB67 and Hasselblads.

There are ways to shoot soft even with the way sharp Lumix and Oly lenses. I have the 14, 20, 25mm Pan/Leica, the Olympus 45mm, and a few Lumix zoom and one Olympus zoom. I'm basically a sharpness nut unless the subject needs softer treatment so the Lumix and Oly lenses have spoiled me.

Again, which Black Diffusion filter do you use on the 20?
 
tired said:
Big FD fan - great glass for weddings
200mm 2.8
100mm 2.0
85mm 1.2L - awesome!
50mm 1.2L
35mm 2.0
24mm 2.0

I have some canon & vivitar Zooms but I keep coming back to the FD's - just love the look
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I am considering. Can you tell me anything more about your journey there?
 
FD glass does look great albeit slightly softer and can flare easier. Sadly I don't get to use it much anymore.

Also recently started playing with Nikon D series glass. Still full manual but more modern glass which tends to be sharper and not flare as much. Still has a 35mm look to it just not as vintage. Only tried one lens so far. It was a tamron 28-300 zoom. Very slow but has an amazing look that sits somewhere between vintage FD glass and M4/3 glass. Nice thing about the lens is it doesn't weigh much more or isn't really any larger than the Lumix 14-140 lens. Have not tried any primes yet but there is a nice Nikon 50mm f1.8 D lens that is supposed to work well and is still fairly cheap.

The main problem with FD lenses is of course the crop factor. It is rather hard to find fast lenses wider than 24mm. That makes a good "normal lens on M4/3 but getting wider than that is very hard. There are a couple of 20mm's but they are slower. By the way there is 24mm f1.4 FD lens out there somewhere. From what I understand it is a great lens. Last one I saw was very expensive. Should be a darn good lens if you can find one. Still not very wide if you need a wide shot however but still could be a very solid standard lens.
 
malibudutchie said:
I love my FD 35-105 F3.5....but don't use it anymore. The olympus and Panny lens selection and fast speed is too good to stick with vintage.
Click to expand...

You know, I owned 2 of these (first one had focus problems), and I never really ended up liking it much. Not sure what it was exactly, maybe the weight of it, maybe the images didn't impress me enough. I do like putting it on the camera with a big rubber lens hood to intimidate my subjects though. ;)
 
I love my FD glass, as stated above, the 55mm f 1.2 is a sweet lens. I suggest looking at the Kiron 24mm, 28mm f 2.0. Both are sharper and faster than my canon lenses with the same focal length. Make sure to check for a sticky iris with old kiron, or vivitar glass, they used a grease that broke down in time, which caused sticky apertures. I recently purchased some old pentax lenses which are also really nice. Might be worth looking into. Thanks Dingo for the fd-m43rds adapter link, been looking for a good one that won't break the bank.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
DP,

Which Tiffen Black Diffusion do you use. On someone's tip (here on this site) I ordered the Tiffen Black Diffusion #3. I haven't had a chance to test it on the GH3 yet, on the GH2 I was using Cinema Color Style with most settings -2 and found that filter did knock down the oversharpend look on closeups of faces, but skin tones were going a bit greyish until I brought saturation up to about 0 and contrast up to 0 also.

Then it looked a lot better, I still had the muted colors and the look of OK dynamic range but also skin tones lost the greyish look and came alive as the right kind of diffusion can do. I also started playing with the Cokin diffusion filters I had left over from the late 1970's and the 1980's (my portrait/wedding/commercial studio days. I had 5 of them, all either #1 or #2 but the actual diffusion varied enough that what I had was a set of 5 graduated strengths ranging from very subtle to "don't even try to focus through this one" (can't find that one).

Testing I did with the GH2 and the Lumix 20mm showed I could use them to the same effects I used to get with Mamiya RB67 and Hasselblads.

There are ways to shoot soft even with the way sharp Lumix and Oly lenses. I have the 14, 20, 25mm Pan/Leica, the Olympus 45mm, and a few Lumix zoom and one Olympus zoom. I'm basically a sharpness nut unless the subject needs softer treatment so the Lumix and Oly lenses have spoiled me.

Again, which Black Diffusion filter do you use on the 20?
Click to expand...

Yup - the Black Diffusion 3.
My results have been the same - the 20mm is a REALLY sharp lens on the GH2 and adding the BD3 has given me some seriously nice results. I quickly found the same thing you did - the saturation and contrast need to be up at 0 usually.
 
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