Jump to content

Got one - Canon FL 19mm 3.5 R - 1960's manual lens.


M Carter
 Share

Recommended Posts

Scored a mint condition FL for $160 or so. Famous back in the day for low distortion; got it mounted on my NX1. It's a big sucker, but I found a focus ring to fit it.

fl1.thumb.jpg.c9ad0d684f99b6d7bff6efff06

So on the NX sensor it's more like a 28mm or so; but yeah, it's pretty flat and sharp enough. A little bowing at the sides, but the left side was inches from the glass...

canon_2.thumb.jpg.6b97d5d94bdd4d42ab5208

Overall a very flat field...

canon1.thumb.jpg.5c0e52f0324316951f912f6

And pretty flares, too:

canon_flare.thumb.jpg.911e26c203608e7c0e

I could see this being nice for interiors where you don't want the fisheye look. Can't wait to try it sometime...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs

Scored a mint condition FL for $160 or so. Famous back in the day for low distortion; got it mounted on my NX1. It's a big sucker, but I found a focus ring to fit it.

fl1.thumb.jpg.c9ad0d684f99b6d7bff6efff06

So on the NX sensor it's more like a 28mm or so; but yeah, it's pretty flat and sharp enough. A little bowing at the sides, but the left side was inches from the glass...

canon_2.thumb.jpg.6b97d5d94bdd4d42ab5208

Overall a very flat field...

canon1.thumb.jpg.5c0e52f0324316951f912f6

And pretty flares, too:

canon_flare.thumb.jpg.911e26c203608e7c0e

I could see this being nice for interiors where you don't want the fisheye look. Can't wait to try it sometime...

That's a great price for that lens!!! Looks like you got a nice sample too. It really softens up that NX1 sensor nicely. 

I have a small set of FL lenses, I actually like their character more than the FDs. My favorite one being the 35mm f/3.5... I have the older model with the rubber focus grip. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not gonna lie, i dont really see the point of using such a unique FF ultra wide on a apsc camera.

My reasons to check it out -

I shoot B&W stills and have a well equipped darkroom and print often, and I have a fair amount of retro film gear; one day I stumbled across an FD/FL lens adapter for the NX1. Though I mostly shoot mamiya 6x7 for film, I have several awesome, retro 35 bodies (my Minolta HiMatic is a killer camera and I love just looking at the thing) including a couple Canon FTQL bodies, and in the FL series, the 35 2.5 and the 50 1.8  - so I grabbed the $20 adapter.

I have only two really wide lenses - the NX1 16-50 kit zoom and a Nikkor 18-35 3.5 zoom; the NX kit is really handy and looks nice wide open at 16mm and it's great for lightweight steadicam/handheld stuff (great AF and OIS), but it's a pretty "sterile" lens; the Nikkor isn't really 'special' in any way either and has bad mustache distortion. Some variants of the Nikkor 20mm 2.8 aren't great performers so I've yet to get one and have been researching wide glass like crazy. Researching which FLs are keepers, I found the 19mm and many reports of it being remarkably flat-field for such a wide lens. But they tend to go for $400 and up for the "R" (retrofocus) version - I just got lucky on this one.

Sensor size just makes me need a wide even more; this is functionally a 28mm or so and I really like APS-C best; beyond the value of the price, I like how it works with my glass and the way I shoot.

The Samyang lenses are hit and miss quality wise, and have a lot of distortion - for half the price of a Samyang (true, it was a lucky break) I've got a nice, low-distortion problem-solver lens. There are some for $400 and $600 on eBay this week, but at that price, I doubt I'd have gone for it. Hopefully I'll have something come up (big corporate glass interior, manufacturing facility?) where I can put it through its paces.

I tend to shoot more in the 60mm - 200mm range, so I may try to get an FL 85mm and do a music vid or something using just FLs; I haven't done any real footage testing with them on the NX1, but I'd like to compare to my Nikkors; I'm shooting at 2.8 much more now with the NX, the slight drop in contrast the Nikkors do wide open looks great with that sensor, so I really want to get a model and run some side by side tests; I like the idea of having a full kit of FL primes for a couple hundred bucks - if the image is worth it. So far without serious testing, it seems they have a cool way of rendering colors with a boost to the greens and blues in the shadows, so could be nice for some projects.

To each their own... though once I got that lens on my radar, I really wanted one...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • EOSHD Pro Color 5 for All Sony cameras
    EOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
    EOSHD Dynamic Range Enhancer for H.264/H.265
×
×
  • Create New...