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Trying Canon FD 300/5.6 prime
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PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 1:14 am    Post subject: Trying Canon FD 300/5.6 prime Reply with quote
I have had this lens for a while but the weather has been so bad I could not give it a proper workout. It has two failures; needs a lot of light & the focus is very sensitive. I believe there were 4 variants & this is the third with 55mm filter ring. Here are some examples from it all of which are highly cropped:


1.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v35/RonEvers/?action=view&current=P1060032sm.jpg


2.




3.




4.




5.




taken with a Panasonic G1


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 3:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wow, very nice. I wish I could find a variety of birds that hold still long enough for shots like yours.

So you mentioned 4 versions and that yours is the third? Does yours have a New FD mount? Internal focusing?

True, f/5.6 is on the slow side for a 300mm, but it makes for easier CA correction, so that lens is probably very well corrected and thus quite sharp as a result. Sure looks sharp from the photos.

Besides with the Panny G-1, it's cropped to a 600mm isn't it? So that makes it a 600mm f/5.6, which is not too shabby at all.


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 11:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:

So you mentioned 4 versions and that yours is the third? Does yours have a New FD mount? Internal focusing?


I do not know the answer to your question but maybe you can tell from these pics.







PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 5:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yours is the 300mm f/5.6 SSC breechlock model. The fourth version was probably the New FD model -- the one with the mount that doesn't use the locking ring.

Yours was a premium lens in its day -- which would have been mid-to-late 1970s. I just looked up Canon lens date codes and yours was made in March of 1977.

I'm curious how yours differs from the first and second versions.

Last edited by cooltouch on Sun May 22, 2011 10:05 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
Yours is the 300mm f/5.6 SSC breechlock model. The fourth version was probably the New FD model -- the one with the mount that doesn't use the locking ring.

Yours was a premium lens in its day -- which would have been mid-to-late 1970. I just looked up Canon lens date codes and yours was made in March of 1977.

I'm curious how yours differs from the first and second versions.



I gleaned my info from this site:

http://web.mit.edu/dennis/www/canon/fd-lens-info.html

The first version was a heavy sucker with a tripod mount. The forth as you will see in the link was called "new" & the lightest of the four.

Since my photo does not show the serial # how did you determine the date of production?


I got this lens off eBay for under 50 US$ including shipping. The only true fault I find is that it has a sticky spot in the focus.


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 8:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks like a great lens! I always wondered how this would perform on digital Smile Lack of CA looks great, or did you pp it?


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 8:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ManualFocus-G wrote:
Looks like a great lens! I always wondered how this would perform on digital Smile Lack of CA looks great, or did you pp it?


I made no adjustments for CA, the truth is, I do not know how. Embarassed


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
revers wrote:
ManualFocus-G wrote:
Looks like a great lens! I always wondered how this would perform on digital Smile Lack of CA looks great, or did you pp it?


I made no adjustments for CA, the truth is, I do not know how. Embarassed


Laughing Laughing Laughing

Great news! BTW your shots are excellent, I really like the squirrel pic Smile


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 9:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
revers wrote:
cooltouch wrote:
....
Yours was a premium lens in its day -- which would have been mid-to-late 1970. I just looked up Canon lens date codes and yours was made in March of 1977.

I'm curious how yours differs from the first and second versions.




Since my photo does not show the serial # how did you determine the date of production?


You can see the Code on the rear of the lens? You can decrypt the code..


UR0902 for example means:
Manufactured in Utsunomiya/Japan on September 2003

With the following instruction you can decrypt Canon Code :

1. letter means which factory did produce the lens -look chapter A-
2. letter means year of manufacturing -encrypted in alphabetic letters- -look chapter B-
3. and 4. position shows month of production - look chapter C-
5. and 6. position of code is a canon internal - look chapter D


Chapter A (1. Position of code)


The first letter, "U", indicates that the lens was made in Canon's Utsunomiya, Japan factory. Prior to 1986, this letter is moved to the last position of the date code.

U = Utsunomiya, Japan
F = Fukushima, Japan
O = Oita, Japan


Chapter B (2. Position)


The second letter, "R", is a year code that indicates the year of manufacture. Canon increments this letter each year starting with A in 1986 and prior to that, A in 1960 without the leading factory code. Here is a table to make things simple:

A = 1986, 1960 (A and following letter have two meanings.. 1960 or 1986, modern lenses are 1986 ff produced)
B = 1987, 1961
C = 1988, 1962
D = 1989, 1963
E = 1990, 1964
F = 1991, 1965
G = 1992, 1966
H = 1993, 1967
I = 1994, 1968
J = 1995, 1969
K = 1996, 1970
L = 1997, 1971
M = 1998, 1972
N = 1999, 1973
O = 2000, 1974
P = 2001, 1975
Q = 2002, 1976
R = 2003, 1977
S = 2004, 1978
T = 2005, 1979
U = 2006, 1980
V = 2007, 1981
W = 2008, 1982
X = 2009, 1983
Y = 2010, 1984
Z = 2011, 1985


* assumption of continuation being made for future years.
Abschnitt C (3. and 4. Position)


The first two numbers, "09", is the month number the lens was manufactured in. Month 02 is February, month 11 = November. The leading zero of the month code is sometimes omitted.
01 = Jan.
02 = Feb.
03 = Mar.
04 = Apr.
05 = May
06 = Jun.
07 = Jul.
08 = Aug.
09 = Sept.
10 = Oct.
11 = Nov.
12 = Dec.

Chapter D (5. and 6. position)

The next two numbers, "02", are meaningless in determining how old a Canon lens is. This is a Canon internal code (that is occasionally omitted).

So the code of your lens showing in your picture R702 means..

missing first factory-code in first position , but the code for the year is present and R= 1977, followed by the month of production = 02

IMHO this code encryption means, your lens was produced in february 1977..



Last edited by hinnerker on Sun May 22, 2011 5:24 am; edited 5 times in total


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Actually, Hinnerker, you left out a year in your listing: 1971. So R does indeed stand for 1977. Not all lenses had the code indicated for the place of manufacture, and not all lenses listed the month of manufacture with two digits, but they stuck to using two digits for their internal code. Thus I stand by my interpretation: March of 1977.


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2011 9:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
Actually, Hinnerker, you left out a year in your listing: 1971. So R does indeed stand for 1977. Not all lenses had the code indicated for the place of manufacture, and not all lenses listed the month of manufacture with two digits, but they stuck to using two digits for their internal code. Thus I stand by my interpretation: March of 1977.


You are right, missing 1971 is the problem, i havent seen.
Will correct the listing..

Cheers
Henry


PostPosted: Sun May 22, 2011 12:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, thanks guys, for the revelation.

So it is a modern lens, built three years after we built our house. Wink


PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 7:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
revers wrote:
ManualFocus-G wrote:
Looks like a great lens! I always wondered how this would perform on digital Smile Lack of CA looks great, or did you pp it?


I made no adjustments for CA, the truth is, I do not know how. Embarassed


That is an excellent result then. I've used a lot of Canon FD breech-lock lenses from the same era with mixed results for CA. I love the way Canons render colors and bokeh but bad CA on a digital camera drives me crazy. I needed a long lens when I was still in the Panasonic GH1 system and I finally found a Canon 300mm F4 L in the FDn version, that was a fantastic lens but yours looks just as good. Nice work.
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