Canon FD 50mm f/1.4

Classic 35mm SLR lens. I used in many situation, best for portraits.

Good sharpnes and contrast, even on corners. True colours. Slight distorsion.

Heavy.

Zuiko 1,4/50mm

I got my 50mm 1.4 FD mount along with a 28mm FD and a 100mm FD as a package deal which "happened" to include a beautiful Canon T90 Camera. I have used the 50mm and found it to be a very, very good lens. Even with snapshot film such as Kodak Gold 200, image quality is noticeable. Despite the age of the lenses, all of them look and function like new. Just turning the focus on the 50mm sends the message: "I am a well-made piece of machinery." Attached to a nice piece of equipment like the T90, they are STILL an excellent piece of performance equipment in a digital era. The whole thing cost me a song on Ebay.

Smooth. Well-made.

None.

Minolta 50mm, Fujica 50-55mm, Olympus 50mm. Canon EF 50mm 1.8.

in my humble opinon the best 50 mm lens ever made(together with the leica summicron and the nikon ais japan made version short barrel) this one rules and i am so astonished from the prints i get from this true classic and pearl! wau buy it

sharp sharp and sharp good blur good bokeh good good colour ..oh my god

nope

all

nope

Mine is the later version of the 50mm f/1.4, but I once owned the earlier S.S.C Breechlock version which I found to be one of the heaviest lenses I have ever owned. The later version I own now is much less bulkier, plus the focusing is not as stiff and it looks and handles much better than the old version too. Of course, if you can afford it, buy an f/1.4 instead of an f/1.8 (or even the faster f/1.2), it will be money very well spent. I feel that every photographer should own a good standard prime lens such as this f/1.4, even though people disregard it as too short for portraiture and too long for landscapes, there is certainly a strong element of truth in that but most of the people who say this tend to use zoom lenses and the optics are inferior to any prime lens. The zoom lenses that are of any discernable quality cost immense sums of money and are only suited to professional sports or press photographers who can afford them. I believe it is the lens which makes the camera, so I can live without zoom lenses. I stick to using primes, such as my 50mm f/1.4.

Optics. Weight. Handling. Looks. Price. Arguably better than the faster f/1.2 version and certainly an improvement over the earlier f/1.4 breechlock version.

If there were any I would list them here, but there are none.

50mm f/1.4 S.S.C Breechlock, 50mm f/1.8, 70-210mm f/4, 28mm f/2.8.

None.

My 50mm standard lens came with my EF camera reviewed in the camera section. This review is about old breech lock FD lenses in general, since other lenses in the FD line are sorely lacking on this site. Every FD lens I owned was a winner in the optical quality and build quality departments. I owned the 28mm, 50mm, 85mm, 135mm, and 200mm focal lengths. I will not repeat what others have said about the 50mm f1.4. My next most used lens was the 200mm f4 SSC which was surprisingly compact for an FD lens, almost rivaling the Zuiko 200mm f4. The 28mm f2.8 SC was the economy wideangle, but the performance was anything but. The 28mm, 50mm, and 200mm made an excellent traveling trio that could take 90% of any photos you would ever want to take in general photography. I used the 50mm and 200mm with a cheap 2X Vivitar teleconverter that wasn''t up to Canon standards. It allowed the 50mm to become a 100mm that filled the gap between it and the 200mm, as well as allowing a 400mm for great sunset photos when paired with the 200mm. It softened the 50mm and made it into a good 100mm portrait lens that hid minor skin flaws better than the razor sharp 100mm f2.8 would have done. Used FD lenses are a bargain on eBay. I once used Nikkor lenses professionally in the navy, but my personal gear was Canon because the FD lenses sacrificed center sharpness for better sharpness at the edges which resulted in a more even image, which I preferred. I am giving these lenses a 4 star rating due to my personal prejudice that almost all 35mm gear is overly big and heavy compared to Olympus/Zuiko. Otherwise, they deserve a 5 star rating if you like your lenses big and heavy for personal reasons. A Minnesota dairy farmer with fists the size of hams will appreciate the Canon/FD combo and never notice the extra weight. For us more frail folks, Maitani invented the OM System.

Optical quality and build quality beyond reproach. You can beat the hell out of these lenses and expect them to keep working and putting out excellent quality images. Big, tough lenses for big, tough people and rugged use.

Too big and heavy for my tastes. I eventually sold all my FD lenses after Canon decided to cheapen their lenses for the new AF crap. The Zuiko lenses I now own are just as good in the optical quality and build quality departments, with a considerable load taken off my shoulders.

Zuiko 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 100mm, 135mm, 200mm, 65-200mm zoom, and more on the way. Several sizes of Nikkor lenses, but not nearly as many as Zuiko.

No FD lens I owned ever broke, so I cannot say. If one ever does, I expect it will be your fault, not the lens.