Mackinaw
Think Different
Canon F-1 (original) with FD 50/1.4. APX 100.
Jim B.

Jim B.
Uncle Bill
Well-known
From last Summer in Port Stanley Ontario with a Canon F-1N from the mid 1980s and a FD 28 f2 SSC lens with ORWO UN 54 black and white film.
Scan-140823-0011 by Bill Smith, on Flickr
Bastien Bros by Bill Smith, on Flickr


Uncle Bill
Well-known
Also with the Canon F-1N last Summer at the University of Toronto St. George Campus, this time with a 28 f2.8 FD lens and Ilford HP5 400.
University College by Bill Smith, on Flickr

Denverdad
Established
Understand why you like it Jeff, spectacular
Thanks!
Wow, you are probably going to get a dozen different answers to that question! Fortunately, there were quite a few excellent lenses in the FD lineup, with fans for all of them as the many suggestions in this thread (where a similar question was asked) will attest. You should know that the "L" designation was used to denote Canon's top-of-the-line or "special" FD lenses, and most of those are in fact stellar, as are a few "non-L" lenses too. Personally I would have a hard time picking just one lens, but if push comes to shove I think my nominee for "world beater" as you call it would be the new FD 300mm f/2.8L.Canon FD users: what are the star lenses of that line? Now that we can slap any old lenses that we want on our mirrorless wonders, I have been playing with (and loving) Konica's lens line. Man, what underrated glass! But I would love to pick the brains of the Canon-scenti. If you could buy one world-beating Canon FD lens, what would it be?
Wulfthari
Well-known
F-1N AE, FD50 mm f1.4, Portra 160:

Alberti
Well-known
jeff, excellent, could not surpass you with my M240 I'm afraid.
I kept my Canon macros and sold the 50mm 1.4 even though the lens renders more beautiful than the german counterpart :roll eyes: . I'll dig up a picture through an adapter. Promised. But it will be hard to get that saturated pitch you have.
I kept my Canon macros and sold the 50mm 1.4 even though the lens renders more beautiful than the german counterpart :roll eyes: . I'll dig up a picture through an adapter. Promised. But it will be hard to get that saturated pitch you have.
raytoei@gmail.com
Veteran
Canon Pellix with 55f1.2 FD
Ektachrome cross processed in C41.
Ektachrome cross processed in C41.

dogberryjr
[Pithy phrase]
If you could buy one world-beating Canon FD lens, what would it be?
Canon FD 55mm 1.2 AL. Scarce as hen's teeth, but what a lens! The 50mm 1.2 L is patterned off the 55mm AL, and is said to be just as good, but I've never used it myself. One thing the 55mm AL has over the 50mm L: Radioactivity!
Fraser
Well-known
Just bought a t90 on the big auction site, I remember when I was a teenager looking at them in camera shops thinking that is such a futuristic camera with all that technology and so expensive. £25 it cost me not bad!
15fbpica1andt90_01 by f4saregreat!, on Flickr

shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
Great topic! Before switching to medium format film about 6 years ago, my Canon FD gear served me quite well. In fact FD has always had a special place in my heart, having received an A-1 and two lenses as my first "real" camera kit as a present when I was a young teenager. Although I have since sold off my FD bodies (the original A-1 and two T90's), I continue to enjoy and use many great FD lenses, thanks to adapters which allow using them with today's mirrorless digital cameras. Among my favorite images made fully with FD gear is this one:
Crystal Mill near Marble Colorado, from 2009 (Canon T90, 24mm f/2.0, Velvia 50)
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Jeff
Great subject, composition, and man, you nailed the exposure!
FD 24mm f/2 eh? That's a rare glass.
airfrogusmc
Veteran
Sold off almost all of my Canon FD gear last year. Served me well for decades.
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Best,
-Tim
Nice, I had an 85 1.2 aspherical and still have a 55 1.2 aspherical.
Some stuff I still have.



A few things shot with them.
New F-1 and 24L

55 1.2 aspherical

85 1.2 aspherical

55 1.2 asph

Kodachrome 25 professional 85 1.2asph

24L kodachrome 25 pro

GarageBoy
Well-known
All you guys with New F1s- is the AE prism worth it?
sailor
Well-known
My shed padlock, taken on Agfa Precisa 100 slide film using my Canon T90 and 50mm f1.4 lens.
Padlock by Elmer Duck, on Flickr

airfrogusmc
Veteran
All you guys with New F1s- is the AE prism worth it?
I never shoot auto so I never bought one.
Wulfthari
Well-known
All you guys with New F1s- is the AE prism worth it?
Yes, AE priority works great, the only remark is that it's not lightened like the normal scale, I mean if you don't put the dial on A the finder is like the one with the eye level, vertical scale, and there is the night light, for some reasons they didn't implement the same function with the horizontal scale.
It's hard to find tough, I had to buy a second body for it, BTW both F-1N AE and F-1 Old are coming back this week, and I'm happy!
Two AE shots:


Two eye leve shots:


kermaier
Well-known
My RFF avatar 
Canon F-1N, FDn 85mm f/1.2L, Fuji NPS

Canon F-1N, FDn 85mm f/1.2L, Fuji NPS
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