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Canon FD 85mm 1.8 SSC
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PostPosted: Sun May 17, 2015 6:30 am    Post subject: Canon FD 85mm 1.8 SSC Reply with quote
I recently bought this lens as a alternative to my Samyang 85 1.4 because I needed 85mm with different type of bokeh - not so blurry one. I think the lens is quite nice performer. Very sharp and contrasty with nice vivid colors. I converted it from FD to EOS to be able to use it with all my adapters and almost all of the shots I made are with LTII.

Here some examples.

DSC02319 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr

DSC02349 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr

DSC01176 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr

DSC04765c18 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr

It also keeps nice contrast and colors even shot towards the sun.

DSC01214 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr

it is not the perfect bokeh for my taste but not that bad either.

DSC01184 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr


PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
nice shots. Like the last one.


PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 1:44 pm    Post subject: Re: My Canon FD 85mm 1.8 SSC Reply with quote
simbon4o wrote:
I recently bought this lens as a alternative to my Samyang 85 1.4 because I needed 85mm with different type of bokeh - not so blurry one. I think the lens is quite nice performer. Very sharp and contrasty with nice vivid colors. I converted it from FD to EOS to be able to use it with all my adapters and almost all of the shots I made are with LTII.

DSC01176 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr


I like this one.

Congrats - I've been looking for an 85mm for a while now. Someday...


PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 4:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Great shots!! Your pictures tempting me to get one.

I am a big fan of Samyang however I often carry Pentax K85 f1.8 just because of the size. Posted a similar comparison here http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/289532-k85-1-8-vs-samyang-85-1-4-ff-comparision.html


PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 7:15 pm    Post subject: Re: My Canon FD 85mm 1.8 SSC Reply with quote
AstroZon wrote:

I like this one..


Me too - it is perfect for my taste of bokeh. With smooth drawing, not complete blur.


PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is a great lens , I had in past. Nice samples as well!


PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Unfortunately I had to sell this lens. But I bought a nice replacement... FDn 85mm 1.2 L Smile.

Here one more shot with the 1.8
DSC01869 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr


PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Laughing Laughing Laughing Congrats!! I am envy Laughing


PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Very nice. I have the nFD version of this lens. It doesn't have the blow-out bokeh of faster 85s, but it still provides a very nice 3D effect.


PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 8:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It was a nice lightweight and very sharp lens. With very good contrast and colors... but as you said - not as fast and directly compared to the 1.2 ... the difference for me was greater than the price difference and I jumped Smile


PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Really nice work. Hoping to see some samples of the Canon FD 1.2 at this focal length. A FL I have a serious lack of options. I currently have the Rolleinar 85 2.8, and the pancolar 85 1.8. Both are nice but I am used to so many more options at most FL's (well except super wide, there I only have the super tak 24 and a recently purchased sigma 18 3.5, labelled spiratone). The quest continues!

WARNING, OFF TOPIC:
My recent endeavors in the optics arena revolve around binoculars. I at one point picked up a pair of CZJ dletrintems in 8 x 30. Just on a whim. I was pleasantly surprised. They were clearer than my 90's vintage tasco. Despite having much earlier coatings. I'm guessing based on style they date from the late 50' to early 70's The wife and I are heading to Africa on game view safaris, she laid dibs on the deltrintems. We went down to the local Cabelas to see what the new offerings were. Looked at Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, Leopold, the Deltrintems were lighter and nearly as sharp as any of them, Swarovski at 10 times the price were just NOT that much better. I did notice a bit more flare in the deltrintems likely due to the limited coatings available. I have been buying vintage bins to select a good pair then I will archive the rest or sell them off. I was telling the wife for the price of these "decent" Nikons I could buy 3 pair of deltrintemquality and they will only go up in value while the Nikon will go down. Sometimes the new technology is just not as good as the"classic" era stuff.


PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jamaeolus wrote:


WARNING, OFF TOPIC:
My recent endeavors in the optics arena revolve around binoculars. I at one point picked up a pair of CZJ dletrintems in 8 x 30. Just on a whim. I was pleasantly surprised. They were clearer than my 90's vintage tasco. Despite having much earlier coatings. I'm guessing based on style they date from the late 50' to early 70's The wife and I are heading to Africa on game view safaris, she laid dibs on the deltrintems. We went down to the local Cabelas to see what the new offerings were. Looked at Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, Leopold, the Deltrintems were lighter and nearly as sharp as any of them, Swarovski at 10 times the price were just NOT that much better. I did notice a bit more flare in the deltrintems likely due to the limited coatings available. I have been buying vintage bins to select a good pair then I will archive the rest or sell them off. I was telling the wife for the price of these "decent" Nikons I could buy 3 pair of deltrintemquality and they will only go up in value while the Nikon will go down. Sometimes the new technology is just not as good as the"classic" era stuff.


Few, if any, roof prism types will equal the better porro models, specification for specification. But if you think the Deltrintems are good, give yourself a real treat and look for the 1950s/60s West German Zeiss 8x 30 porro (the one with the 'tele'objectives and the 6-element eyepieces) Or the older Nikon 8x 30 porro from the 1960s/70s. Or the Kern 8x 30 Armee model from the same period. They might need cleaning after all those years but that's easily done. All the East German binocs have a'warm' tint - these three will give you a much more neutral image. Maybe we should have a binocular thread - Very Happy


PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 12:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
The only weakness I've ever seen from my SSC 85/1.8 was slight CA in high contrast back light situations.


PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 2:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
simbon4o wrote:
Unfortunately I had to sell this lens. But I bought a nice replacement... FDn 85mm 1.2 L Smile.

Here one more shot with the 1.8
DSC01869 by Simeon Kolev, on Flickr


Beautiful! and even the last cat picture as so much dimentional depth.
How do you like MF with the nFD 85 1.2? Is it hard to focus because such shallow Dof?


PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 3:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Not really any harder with the A7 series cameras vs. other lenses, with a DSLR and its OVF, yeah much harder.


PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 2:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Exactly Smile that's why I bought A7r as a second EVF camera. It is a joy to focus with it but the nex 6(my other camera) is not bad either. As a cheap camera for manual focus from sony - nex 6 is still the best one! A6000 is not that good because sony made it with smaller EVF.


PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wonderful portrait!! Like 1 small Like 1 small Like 1 small


PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
simbon4o wrote:
Exactly Smile that's why I bought A7r as a second EVF camera. It is a joy to focus with it but the nex 6(my other camera) is not bad either. As a cheap camera for manual focus from sony - nex 6 is still the best one! A6000 is not that good because sony made it with smaller EVF.


Since you have owned (or own) both FL 1.8 and FD 1.2, would you say that you gained as much as the difference in value by going 1.8 to 1.2? Do you often shoot at higher that 1.8? These questions may sound silly, but i am trying to convince myself out of buying fd 1.2 (since I already have FL 85 1.8 and Konica 85 1.8 in addition to Fujifilm XF 56 1.2, which on my X-T1 is somewhat close to FD 1.2.....


PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
starlights wrote:
simbon4o wrote:
Exactly Smile that's why I bought A7r as a second EVF camera. It is a joy to focus with it but the nex 6(my other camera) is not bad either. As a cheap camera for manual focus from sony - nex 6 is still the best one! A6000 is not that good because sony made it with smaller EVF.


Since you have owned (or own) both FL 1.8 and FD 1.2, would you say that you gained as much as the difference in value by going 1.8 to 1.2? Do you often shoot at higher that 1.8? These questions may sound silly, but i am trying to convince myself out of buying fd 1.2 (since I already have FL 85 1.8 and Konica 85 1.8 in addition to Fujifilm XF 56 1.2, which on my X-T1 is somewhat close to FD 1.2.....


I am not sure that you are looking at the lenses from the right direction Smile. I see that you are counting the speed of the lenses but for me it doesn't matter at all. The most important thing for me is the character of the defocus or as it is known - the bokeh. Second - my 1.8 FD was the SSC, there are some differences(more contrast and sharpness). About shooting wider than 1.8 - always. If I have 1.2 lens it is because of shooting with it at 1.2, there is no point of closing it. 56 1.2 on X-T1 is more like 85 1.8 on full frame sensor in terms of defocus. In general - it is always nice to have 85 1.2 Smile if you like more defocus and the character of the bokeh produced by this exact model. From my experience the Canon FDn 85 1.2 is interesting on full frame sensor or with LT II adapter on crop. Otherwise - I like my samyang 85 1.4 better. On crop sensor the canon is not that interesting.


PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
simbon4o wrote:
starlights wrote:
simbon4o wrote:
Exactly Smile that's why I bought A7r as a second EVF camera. It is a joy to focus with it but the nex 6(my other camera) is not bad either. As a cheap camera for manual focus from sony - nex 6 is still the best one! A6000 is not that good because sony made it with smaller EVF.


Since you have owned (or own) both FL 1.8 and FD 1.2, would you say that you gained as much as the difference in value by going 1.8 to 1.2? Do you often shoot at higher that 1.8? These questions may sound silly, but i am trying to convince myself out of buying fd 1.2 (since I already have FL 85 1.8 and Konica 85 1.8 in addition to Fujifilm XF 56 1.2, which on my X-T1 is somewhat close to FD 1.2.....


I am not sure that you are looking at the lenses from the right direction Smile. I see that you are counting the speed of the lenses but for me it doesn't matter at all. The most important thing for me is the character of the defocus or as it is known - the bokeh. Second - my 1.8 FD was the SSC, there are some differences(more contrast and sharpness). About shooting wider than 1.8 - always. If I have 1.2 lens it is because of shooting with it at 1.2, there is no point of closing it. 56 1.2 on X-T1 is more like 85 1.8 on full frame sensor in terms of defocus. In general - it is always nice to have 85 1.2 Smile if you like more defocus and the character of the bokeh produced by this exact model. From my experience the Canon FDn 85 1.2 is interesting on full frame sensor or with LT II adapter on crop. Otherwise - I like my samyang 85 1.4 better. On crop sensor the canon is not that interesting.


Thanks! you are right - perhaps I did not ask the [right] questions in the right manner. They are different lenses, their rendering and character will be different. Contrast and sharpness, to some extent can be handled by post processing. And since I use X-T1, I am not sure I if I should get FD 85/1.2 or not. In terms of bokeh, I lean towards soft (smooth) yet recognizable background to make an environmental connection (like in your last cat photo above). Thanks for your time to patiently answer my somewhat silly questions. Smile

Love your images btw.

Talking of rendering btw - here is one with a Vivitar 135 - love the character and rendering of this lens:https://www.flickr.com/photos/sanjaynayar/21314141580


PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 5:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
starlights wrote:
simbon4o wrote:
Exactly Smile that's why I bought A7r as a second EVF camera. It is a joy to focus with it but the nex 6(my other camera) is not bad either. As a cheap camera for manual focus from sony - nex 6 is still the best one! A6000 is not that good because sony made it with smaller EVF.


Since you have owned (or own) both FL 1.8 and FD 1.2, would you say that you gained as much as the difference in value by going 1.8 to 1.2? Do you often shoot at higher that 1.8? These questions may sound silly, but i am trying to convince myself out of buying fd 1.2 (since I already have FL 85 1.8 and Konica 85 1.8 in addition to Fujifilm XF 56 1.2, which on my X-T1 is somewhat close to FD 1.2.....


The 85/1.2 can do things other lenses just can't do, at the very least, not to the degree that it can, I've used the EF 85/1.2LII on extension tubes to capture some very interesting shots of some very tiny flowers, I can't think of any other lens that could produce a similar image.
This first shot had a brick wall/planter 10cm behind it



PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nice ones (but I can do such with a few other lenses too - projection ones especially)! Wink


PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


Test Shot of My SON With Canon FD SSC 85mm f1.8 Lens.

Seems to be Very Sharp,


PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
simbon4o wrote:
. . . If I have 1.2 lens it is because of shooting with it at 1.2, there is no point of closing it. 56 1.2 on X-T1 is more like 85 1.8 on full frame sensor in terms of defocus. In general - it is always nice to have 85 1.2 Smile if you like more defocus and the character of the bokeh produced by this exact model. From my experience the Canon FDn 85 1.2 is interesting on full frame sensor or with LT II adapter on crop. Otherwise - I like my samyang 85 1.4 better. On crop sensor the canon is not that interesting.


I'm in agreement for the most part. I too enjoy shooting with my 85/1.2 wide open -- I mean, what's the point in having the speed (and the extra bulk) if I don't use it? I disagree about its usefulness on a crop-sensor camera, however. Look at the pics I took below with my crop-sensor EOS and NEX. The bokeh are so blown, I dunno how they could get blown any further.

Those photos taken with the EOS remind me of a word to the wise -- when you shoot with the 85/1.2 wide open you have to be a very disciplined shooter, especially when taking pics of a subject at a close distance. After focusing on my subject I pay close attention to my own body movements. Even the smallest movement -- especially in a back-and-forth motion -- can result in loss of focus. So I have to make sure I'm not moving at all when I use that lens. I find that it's harder than I thought it would be, especially when I'm standing and holding the camera/lens without any support.

I actually bought my 85mm f/1.2 SSC Aspherical -- the first Canon 85/1.2 made, and still considered to be the best by many -- before I bought my nFD 85/1.8. The 85/1.8 was part of an outfit I bought from a guy for a pittance. I sold off much of the outfit, but kept a few of the lenses, including the 85/1.8. I didn't need it, in the strictest sense, since I already owned the 85/1.2, but I just thought it was such a cute little lump of glass and metal that I couldn't part with it. Bought it a couple years ago, but I've only used it maybe once or twice.

What I should do, which I haven't done yet, is compare these two lenses to each other.

Prior to my purchase of a NEX 7, I was able to use my 85/1.2 only with my Canon FD cameras or with my EOS using a glassless adapter. So far I've only shot slides with it using my FD cameras, but the results have been excellent.

Here's a pic of the FD 85mm f/1.2 SSC Aspherical:


Some pics taken with my Canon F-1 and Kodak Elite Chrome 100 film:

At a Civil War reenactment in Galveston, Texas. I may have stopped it down slightly for this shot.


Here's a pic I've posted here before, but it does a good job showing just how narrow the depth of focus is. I was standing maybe four feet from this guy when I took the shot. Point of focus was the letters on the lens. Canon F-1, Kodak Elite Chrome 100, lens set wide open at f/1.2:


This image I used my Canon XS DSLR with an FD-EOS glassless adapter (thus, close focus only). The camera was set to ISO 100 and the lens was set wide open:


Want to talk about narrow depth of field when shooting with this lens wide open? Check out this pic. Same setup as above. That critter on the rose is mostly slightly out of focus -- except for one of his antennae. Why did I focus on an antenna instead of its eye? I dunno . . . maybe I did, and I moved.:


Here's a 100% crop of the above image, which shows just how narrow the depth of field is with the 85/1.2 at close range:


Here's a shot taken with my NEX 7 and the FD 85/1.2 Aspherical. The idea behind it was to show what background bokeh looks like when I focus on a subject at the lens's closest focusing distance when it is set wide open. That white blob in the background is my house. Subject was the side of our storage barn. I chose it because of its texture, which illustrates that, even when wide open, the lens has good resolving power:


Of the literally dozens of lenses in my collection, the FD 85mm f/1.2 SSC Aspherical is my favorite.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 6:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I got the 85/1.8 S.S.C. in good condition as well. Here are a few shots with the Lens Turbo II focal reducer on a6000.:

DSC01488 by Chih-Mao Chen, on Flickr

DSC01497 by Chih-Mao Chen, on Flickr

DSC01518 by Chih-Mao Chen, on Flickr

DSC01251 by Chih-Mao Chen, on Flickr

There is some green-yellowish lateral chromatic aberration which I find very annoying, and it is quite hazy wide-open at f/1.8. However, stopping down a half-stop to f/2.3 greatly improves the sharpness, and from f/2.8 it is razor sharp at the center. The bokeh is quite good as well with its 8-blade diaphragm. Stopping down to f/8 produces good corners as well so you can use it for cropped landscape shots as well.

DSC01479 by Chih-Mao Chen, on Flickr
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