Impressions about the Canon FD 55m f1.2 S.C.C

Hey guys,

today things are going to be a bit more technical than usual. I am going to talk about camera gear. And more precisely about a lens I just bought: the Canon FD 55mm f1.2 S.C.C.

Canon lens you said? I thought you used a sony camera?

Yes, that's right, i am not crazy. As I said in my post about mirrorless camera as a good choice for aspiring photographers, you can adapt any kind of lens to these cameras. Which makes them kind of universal.

So why did I buy this specific lens?

Well I have been reading a lot of good reviews of the newly released Fuji 56mm f1.2. Apparently portrait photographers around the world are loosing their mind over it.

The problem is: i don't own (yet?) a fuji camera and the lens costs 1000$!

So i started looking for alternatives. Since it is going to be mainly a portrait lens (roughly 85mm f1.8 equivalent) i did not care about the autofocus abilities. I looked on ebay and food this lens:

It had everything I wanted, f1.2 for crazy bokeh (background blur) and the adapter for my camera was about 9$!

total price of the package 209$, hard to beat that.

209$, it must be a piece of crap lens for this price?

That's the cool thing, no it is not. This lens is more than 30 years old, that's why it is cheap. But that does not remove any quality from it. The build feels very solid with an all metal construction. My only thing to say is that it is actually pretty heavy. But the more i use it the more I like the weight. It feels very solid.

So, that's all nice and technical but what can it do?

Well because it is a f1.2, even on a cropped sensor, you get a really shallow depth of field. Which is nice for really dreamy photos and portraits

here are a few examples:

See, the area in focus is really thin... and that what's make this lens so cool... and sometimes hard to work with. Focusing properly  definitely requires some skills, but after a while you get the gist of it and everything becomes pure photographic happiness!

I am not gettin too much into technical details so yes the lens is a bit softer at f1.2 and has some chromatic aberration when wide open. However for the price you can beat that. And you can correct most of the defects in 2min in post.

So for me it's an ideal companion for someone who likes portraiture or beautiful soft backgrounds!

Jeremy

The gear I use

Hey guys,

today I am going to talk a bit about the various gear I use to take my pictures. In later posts I am actually going to write reviews of the different pieces of equipment you can find in my photography bag. 

I started getting interested in photography like many people when I purchased my first DSLR. It was a Canon Rebel T1i (500d or KissX3). I bought this one in Japan along with the 18-55mm and 55-250mm kit lenses. I did not know anything about taking pictures I knew a just wanted to have more beautiful images than my compact camera could offer.

Canon 15-85mm

I shot with this camera for about 3 years. After a while I bought a Canon 15-85mm which was a really nice lense to have, I almost used it exclusively. I learned and failed with it and after a lot of tutorial watching/reading (thanks Scott Kelby and his gang, Trey Ratcliff and other big names in educational photography) I got to a point where I felt limited by my gear.  

Sony Nex-6 with 16-50mm lens

This year I moved to the Sony NEX system and bought a Sony NEX-6. Even though I had a nice small DSLR I always found an excuse not to bring it with me because it was too big and to heavy to carry. And it was just a Rebel camera!  So when it was time to upgrade, I looked a all the options in my budget, from Nikon d600 to Canon 7d, Micro Four Thirds and NEX cameras. I even took test shots side by side with various cameras to see which ones I liked best. I finally made the decision to go with Sony and honestly I am really happy with it so far (but more on that in a review later). 

Sigma lens pack for NEX

Since I moved from Canon to Sony it meant I had to sell all my previous equipment to get new stuff. I went with the kit lens 16-50 and quickly bought the 2 sigma 19mm and 30mm since I was doing low light photography for a Cabaret troup here in LA. I got these nifty amazing little babies for only 199$ as a pack!

Sony 18-200mm E-mount

My latest acquisition is the 18-200, a perfect walk around cameras whichs offers me the flexibility that i require when hiking and searching for beautiful landscapes.

0.43x and 2.2x adapters for Sony 18-200mm

Since the 18-200 is neither wide angle nor really long telephoto, I recently purchased 0.43x and a 2,2x converters, I haven't received them yet but I will be posting a review very soon. 

Stay tuned for in depth impressions of the NEX stuff!

Jeremy