Vintage Lens Review | Canon 35mm F2.8 FD Mount

A concise review, after a few months (20+ sample images )

Author Note: Discover why I highly recommend these vintage lenses for your collection! This review series focuses not on technical specs, but on the lens’ unique character, quirks, and my personal experiences with each.

Logic behind purchase:

Initially the lens was bought with a “CLA’d but non-functioning” Canon AT-1 in the hopes that the film camera was failing due to a user error, alas there was a deeper magnet/coil problem that I’ll get around to dealing with later. I also wanted the lens too so I was happy to get it, although the adverstiement miscorrectly identified it as an F2 variant not the F2.8. I’m not a huge fan of 35mm lenses on full frame formats (gasp, blasphemy I know) but adore them on crop sensors like my Leica CL, which was its intended home.

Impressions:

The focus is exceptionally easy to nail, and even though the lens really sharpens up at f4, the wide open f2.8 results are often perfectly fine. I think something that really seems to help this is the softer focus fall-off that happens at all usable apertures (f2.8-f8). Getting your shot in focus is easy but even if you miss it a bit the focus doesn’t necessarily dive off a…