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Favorite lenses FD 24 1.4L


noone
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I have had this lens for ages.   Not something I have used a real lot but I do love it and think I am going to use it as the only lens I use for a few weeks.

Mine does not have a build date mark (that I can find anyway) and is a battered old copy externally but nothing wrong with the glass.

A small lens for the speed.    Is actually usable in a pinch for landscape infinity shots though much better stopped down or close in.  

Has a large hand ground front aspheric element.

 

On Sony it also works great as a super fast 2x zoom for jpegs and video.

Well worth getting if you can get one at a decent price (there are some that are at collectors prices on Ebay).

Just snaps walking around.   wide open and 5.6 at distance.   Close in at 1.4 and again at 2x clearzoom.     I took a photo of a friend I met that i would love to post but do not think she would appreciate it. Will have to find a nice stranger to shoot and post as well as video from it.

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Great shots!!!

As you know, I have the FD 50mm 1.2 L and it is one of the best 50mm lenses I have ever used. Even wide open it is pretty damn sharp. I'd love the 24mm but the prices on them are just obscene. I guess the endless comparisons between the aspherical S.S.C FD lenses and the K-35 lenses, combined with the low supply of on the used market, have inflated the price.

If you think the nFD versions are expensive... look at what people are asking for the earlier S.S.C models that the K-35s are rumored to be modeled after.

The question is... how long can 30-50 year old lenses command such high prices?

 

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Yeah the prices of some are just plain silly.     There is a bit of myth/legend about the first FD 24 1.4 though.     I guess they probably did not make too many of them and while optically the same (I think) the first version has an extra blade  so i guess many of those are really for collectors now.   

 Then there is the fact that no one else made a 24 1.4 for a very long time (even now there are not that many....just the 2 FD versions, the 2 EF Canon versions, 1 Nikon, 1 Sigma and 1 leica (edit and the new Sony) and maybe one or two others at most and most of them have come in the last 10 to 15 years or so).     I really did love the 50 1.2 L but I like the Sony Zeiss 55 1.8 even more though I still regret selling the FD 50 L.     

I wish my 85 did not have the dissolving bearings thing too and I think the three lens set of FD Ls 24/50/85 is pretty special still and differs from any other legacy lens set in all having those large hand ground aspheric elements.     A few more from the 24 (the first stopped down a fraction, the second wide open as is the third)

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I love the 3rd one. Are those frame grabs or stills? There's something about the original a7s color that I like. It screams indie film to me.

I didn't know that about the older version having more aperture blades... interesting. 

I desperately want a 24mm 1.4 lens and the only one that makes sense for me is the Samyang/Rokinon. I already have the Canon 28mm 1.8 which someone will have to pry out of my cold, dead hands. The Sigma gets good reviews but then I'd feel compelled to buy the Sigma 50mm... which I don't need... especially since I adore the Samyang 50mm so the 24mm could make the perfect two lens set for me. I just can't  seem to find one for the right price.

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Stills.     I am looking for something to shoot video with this.     As I said, it is all I am going to use for the next few weeks (well maybe my late dads Fuji superzoom if a battery turns up for it soon).      I love the original A7s , my all time favourite camera.     AWB is off though something I did not pay as much attention to as I should have with my first one.    I may have been wrong about the two 24s having different number of blades (I could have sworn I saw that recently).

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6 hours ago, mercer said:

Great shots!!!

As you know, I have the FD 50mm 1.2 L and it is one of the best 50mm lenses I have ever used. Even wide open it is pretty damn sharp. I'd love the 24mm but the prices on them are just obscene. I guess the endless comparisons between the aspherical S.S.C FD lenses and the K-35 lenses, combined with the low supply of on the used market, have inflated the price.

If you think the nFD versions are expensive... look at what people are asking for the earlier S.S.C models that the K-35s are rumored to be modeled after.

The question is... how long can 30-50 year old lenses command such high prices?

 

if i knew how to collapse the market believe me i would 😁  A canon fd 24mm 2.8 ssc can be had for under $200 au then the 24mm 1.4 start at $2000 - 4000 crazy insane 🙄

you guys know if there is there much difference between the the 50mm f1.2 and the 58mm f1.2  apart from 8mm ?

there is one on ebay reasonably priced at the moment i could be tempted to get it. Now that i have said that someone will probably jump on it 🙄

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7 hours ago, noone said:

Stills.     I am looking for something to shoot video with this.     As I said, it is all I am going to use for the next few weeks (well maybe my late dads Fuji superzoom if a battery turns up for it soon).      I love the original A7s , my all time favourite camera.     AWB is off though something I did not pay as much attention to as I should have with my first one.    I may have been wrong about the two 24s having different number of blades (I could have sworn I saw that recently).

Stills on a 12mp camera... you have some nerve. Lol. It just goes to show you that the stills MP war and the video resolution war isn't really that important. I've had a couple Sony cameras and the AWB was never really that accurate. The presets were much more accurate. You shoot concerts, right? Have you thought about doing a music video? That 24mm and the a7s probably sees in the dark... it definitely opens up some creative opportunities. I imagine you can get a decent image just using the dashboard lights in a car?

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5 hours ago, leslie said:

you guys know if there is there much difference between the the 50mm f1.2 and the 58mm f1.2  apart from 8mm ?

Remember that the FD lenses we're discussing have aspherical lenses in them. So there is a nFD 50mm 1.2 without an aspherical element and then there's the nFD 50mm 1.2 L with an aspherical element. The non-L lens isn't supposed to be anything special and it's probably no better than the FD 50mm 1.4... the 1.4 is a great lens. 

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8 hours ago, mercer said:

Stills on a 12mp camera... you have some nerve. Lol. It just goes to show you that the stills MP war and the video resolution war isn't really that important. I've had a couple Sony cameras and the AWB was never really that accurate. The presets were much more accurate. You shoot concerts, right? Have you thought about doing a music video? That 24mm and the a7s probably sees in the dark... it definitely opens up some creative opportunities. I imagine you can get a decent image just using the dashboard lights in a car?

Yes, I probably will use it to video a song or two.     I have not been shooting concerts often for ages since my first A7s broke but my family got me a new one recently for my birthday so I have been doing the odd show.     I am getting old now and some of my favourite venues  and festivals have closed/ceased too so just the odd show for friends and bands I like now and maybe some Blues club events.     It actually DOES see in the dark or at least as close too as is possible I think ( there has to be SOME light somewhere but that can just be an LED on an appliance and certainly far better than my eyes can see).

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On 2/9/2020 at 7:32 PM, mercer said:

Remember that the FD lenses we're discussing have aspherical lenses in them. So there is a nFD 50mm 1.2 without an aspherical element and then there's the nFD 50mm 1.2 L with an aspherical element. The non-L lens isn't supposed to be anything special and it's probably no better than the FD 50mm 1.4... the 1.4 is a great lens. 

your talking about the 50mm 1.2L piqued my interest i remember a guy using a fd 50mm 1.2L for wedding photos he uses the flare to surround the couple, looks quite nice to me i had to check and it seems like the 50mm 1.2L is the way to go. He also likes the 50mm Summilux ASPH which is well out of my price range. I may well have come up with another reason for the  a low light beast going to do some tests tomorrow. If i can get  close to what i want to do i'll have two reasons to start saving :)

by the way whats the filter size on the 50mm 12L ?... thanks

https://www.slrlounge.com/real-lens-flare-right-way/

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9 hours ago, leslie said:

your talking about the 50mm 1.2L piqued my interest i remember a guy using a fd 50mm 1.2L for wedding photos he uses the flare to surround the couple, looks quite nice to me i had to check and it seems like the 50mm 1.2L is the way to go. He also likes the 50mm Summilux ASPH which is well out of my price range. I may well have come up with another reason for the  a low light beast going to do some tests tomorrow. If i can get  close to what i want to do i'll have two reasons to start saving :)

by the way whats the filter size on the 50mm 12L ?... thanks

https://www.slrlounge.com/real-lens-flare-right-way/

I've read that article before and if you like flares, I know why you posted it. He has some beautiful examples.

In his article, he seems to be using the EF version of the 50mm 1.2 L. I have the FD version. I haven't tested it for flares, but now I'm gonna.

The filter thread on the FD 50mm 1.2 L is 52mm. I think the EF version might be 72mm, but that's just a guess from memory.

Helios 58mm f/2 is kinda the King of Flares, so that may be another good lens for you.

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On 2/9/2020 at 8:50 AM, noone said:

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driving back from melbourne. i found a park with a war plane in it. I remember the plane being on its wheels and about 50 meters from the main road pretty much behind where you are standing. I dont think the park was that big either and i remember the plane being bigger. I did take turn around and stopped to take a few photos but cant seem to find them at the moment. More towns should have planes or attractions, breaks up the monotony of a long drive. Probably should put a pie shop across the road from the attraction as well.

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  • 1 year later...

This is just nuts!

From time to time I look up the prices of the old FD 24 1.4 L on Ebay.

It is now at the point they go for $4000 plus (Australian) even for ones that seem to be in worse condition than mine (mine looks a bit ratty but the glass is fine).

For that kind of money I could get a used A7Riv or Hasselblad digital camera or a  Canon !DC ETC ETC.

Wonder when the bubble will burst?

 

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9 hours ago, leslie said:

@noone you ever try the lens for flares ?

Not really.

Flares are not something I use really.

If I thin about something, I will see what it is like (otherwise I might just try a torch in front of it for both photos and video.

I did put that very lame had held video (not stabilized) using it on You tube a few years ago that is still there and there is a street sweeper headlight (was using it as a zoom with clearzoom at 1.4 FF)  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9jGaVRPrBM

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On 4/18/2021 at 2:57 PM, noone said:

Wonder when the bubble will burst?

It probably won't.

It might slow down when phones get better, but even then people won't want to sell for much lower than they paid.  Housing bubbles burst because people buy them on finance and are forced to sell because they can't make repayments, that doesn't happen with vintage lenses.

Think about it this way - digital cameras aren't getting any more analog looking and both cameras and lenses are getting more and more perfect so people will increasingly look to the past for 'character'.  India and China and parts of Africa are growing their middle classes by millions of people a year, and they will get better access to online shopping and eBay.  and lastly, lenses don't last forever and wear out or get broken.

So..  increasing demand + decreasing numbers available + no additional supply = prices go up

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9 hours ago, leslie said:

ah i was more interested in how it flares in the sun. Its no big deal. Cant really afford an L series anyway lol 

I would probably need something like a 18 stop ND filter for that first!

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