![[Lens Review] Canon FD 50mm f1.4](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.jerfareza.camera%2Ffeatured-images%2F7814-canon-fd-50mm-f1.4.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Being mostly a Nikon user, I was highly ecstatic when I received a legendary Canon F1 film camera paired with an FD 50mm f1.4 lens from a friend. After using the combo for more than a year, it’s time to judge the lens.
The photos used in this review were taken using 50mm with either that Canon F1 or a digital camera, Sony A7ii, via an adapter. Can you guess which is which?
Build and Handling
Let’s get the numbers and measurements first:
- The lens has 7 elements in 6 groups
- Weight: 305 grams
- Filter size: 55 mm
- Minimum focus distance: 0.45 m
- Aperture: 8 blades, f1.4 to f16 in half stops
Manufactured in the 70s, Canon FD 50mm f1.4 is a manual-only lens. The build is incredibly solid, made of metal all the way. This results in the lens being quite heavy for its smallish size, though when paired with a body, the weight aids in balancing the camera. My copy of the lens came with a metal hood BS-55, which, unfortunately, is a little bit lax around the tightening.
I want to praise the focus ring especially. The smooth and precise focus ring helps to nail the focus in many situations, such as shooting fast-moving objects during the panning shot of a taxi or the fast-paced festival photo below.
Image Quality
From what I gather from other people’s reviews on FD 50mm’s image quality, the consensus is pretty favorable. After using it personally, I tend to concur with the general opinion.
Being an f1.4 lens, it’s a definite bokeh machine. Wide open, it renders the background completely into a blur, as you can see in the photos below. Some people might not like the ‘busy’ rendering and prefer a more creamy result, but I like it.
Nevertheless, it sometimes exhibits softness in the center, especially in harsh daylight. But stopping it a little to f1.8 or f2 solves the issue by a margin. By f5.6 it’s sharp as a tack. For street photography, though, I tend to stop down until f8.
Also, the lens shows its age when used with a full-frame digital camera. It doesn’t produce results as sharp as I wanted. I feel like it shines best when paired with a film camera instead. However, I would add that this flaw gives this lens a certain charming character that is not present in modern, sharp lenses.
One thing to note is that I own the first, older version of the lens, not the second one with SSC coating, contributing to this perceived less-than-stellar performance on digital. On film, this fault is not too noticeable.
More in this series…
- [Lens Review] Industar 50mm f3.5
- [Lens Review] Helios 44-2 58mm f2
- [Lens Review] Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-D
- [Lens Review] Super Takumar 35mm f/3.5
Final Verdict
Score: 7/10
For me, it’s an above-average lens. Almost 80% of the time, I took photos with the Canon F1 body with this FD 50mm f1.4 lens attached (the other 20% was taken with another Canon lens that I own, FD 28mm).
If you’re a vintage lens lover and want to adapt the lens to digital, I think you might like Pentax Takumar 50mm f1.4 or the quirky Helios 44-2 58mm f2 better over this Canon lens, character-wise and weight-wise.
Overall, you will still enjoy using Canon FD 50mm for its character. Given its relatively cheap pricing (around $60-70), it’s pretty worthwhile to invest in this lens. Give it a try yourself!
