I tried the Canon FD 35-70mm this year, and sold it back to the second hand dealer. I discovered that unless you are shooting stills, zoom lenses are not optimised for video. The DOF and bokeh effects are different from fixed primes, so at 35mm for instance, if you put a fixed lens and a zoom side by side, obviously the images will not be 100% the same.
What's your purpose of trying out the zoom? Why not try a fixed 35mm, and a 85mm? And in between you have 40mm, 50mm, 55mm lenses to play with?
How much did you have to pay for the lens? If it's below $150, then no worries. See it as a useful tool that allows you flexibility on the run. Like stonebat says, shoot event coverage, or news gathering.
What will you be using the lens for? For sure, you can still use it for video. Pls dun get me wrong. Any FD lens imho is by far sharper than alot of the plastic lenses they put out there for sale these days. But if you are into nice images, dramatic kind of stuff, then you'd need time to find the right piece of glass to give you the effect you want: nice bokeh, dof etc.
@kazuo i end up payng CLP 85000, wich is like USD 160, i will be using it for stop motion animations, and shootings on the fly
but :), well let see.. it hasn´t arrive yet, i hope that is not that far of my 50mm 1.4, because i didn´t know that the look of a zoom lens differs from a prime
Just picked up a cheap (£30!!) Vivatar Series 1 35-85mm 1:2.8 'Auto Variable Focussing' which seems great for an A-B style focus setup. Anyone else tried / used this lens? Seems fab. For me my current fav FD lens is my Canon FD 55mm 1:1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical -Ive got the Oly Zuiko 50mm and 55mm 1.2's but the FD just seems to have the edge. Plus, its widely reknown as one of the best lenses in its class of all time.
well it has arrived, i would never buy a zoom again if i´m buying from a non local area, the mechanical parts are quite defficient in my unit
but in the optics side, it is in good state, i kind of like it, looks oldish, it is different than the prime i have, but it has like a photographic look (specially with the nostalgic setting) instead of a cinematic look (i seriously don´t know if anyone would understand that statement, but :) ), i´ll keep it, it´s a pretty big and heavy lens
i only regret to have paid that much, probably not the best buy, softer at higher focals, sharper as it gets wide
the pics are in-camera jpeg from a video (look at the name to know what it is)
hahah you say that kiewslowski should have used this lens, hahah that makes me :D
hahah
ouh!, and i manage to get a parcial refund, because the seller didn´t state correctly the mechanical defectiveness, so i end up paying U$120, wich is better :)
and is better, because i also just make a deep clean of the lens and improve the smoothness :)
Do you have other FD lenses that do fit? I may ask because it sounds like either you've received the wrong adapter, or you're not doing something right.
When you say it doesn't fit, do you mean it won't couple at all, or it will couple but not twist into a locked position?
The others FD lenses fit fine, but on the AT-X TOKINA 24-40mm /2.8 FD mount it slightly couples, but the adapter is sticking out a bit; there's no way to fit the adapter and lock it into position.
I made a small and quick comparison between the 45mm f1.8 Oly and the FD 55mm 1.2 ssc aspherical.
At 1.2 the FD 55mm lens glows and is unsharp. Stopped down one click (I think it's F 1.4 or F1.6) the FD 55mm comes to live, it has nice sharpness in the centre, actually it is sharper then the 45mm @ 1.8..... In the corners the 45mm Oly wins Stopped down to f2.8 both lenses are very sharp in the centre but the Oly has a slight edge. In the corners the Oly is sharper. Stopped down further to f5.6 it's the same story Oly is slightly sharper in the centre and sharper on the far corners, although the FD 55mm sharpened up a bit in the far corners... At f16 there's almost no difference.
I have a set of FD lenses (85mm 1.8, 50mm 1.4, 17mm 4) adapt with ciecio7. Here happens SOMETHING STRANGE: Sometime I could change the aperture directly in the lens ring, sometime it still remains on the maximum aperture. It seems that if I put the lens on the old Canon T90 body an then on the adapter i will be able to change the aperture. If i put the lens another time to the adapter it will not still works. Any suggestions? I would be happy to could everytime control exposere on the lens ring..
Put your C7 adapter on your GH2. Now . . . place the lens up to the adapter, with the lens's red dot matching up with the LEFTMOST dot on the C7 adapter (as viewed from above when standing behind the camera). Next, rotate the lens to match dots with the ONTHER dot on the adapter, keeping the lens snug up to the adapter. The lens should seat down onto the adapter at this point. Finally, turn the FT lock ring (or the lens if a "new" FD lens).
There is a spring-loaded aperture control lever on the back of every FD lens. this MUST be caught and pulled back by the protrusions on the inside of your C7 adapter. Otherwise, you will not have aperture control. It may sound complex but it really is very easy. I just wanted to be sure you got detailed instructions. Try it a few times and you'll understand.