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Photo Forum / General Photo Topics / General Topics / May 2008Do all Canon FD lenses fit the A1?
I am trying to buy a lens for my old Canon A1 and not sure if I can just buy any Canon FD lens. Could someone confirm, will any Canon FD lens fit my Canon A1? I was about to buy a Canon 50mm f1.4 FD lens from ebay, but the seller seems to think it could be a different fitting. Graham > I am trying to buy a lens for my old Canon A1 and not sure if I can just buy > any Canon FD lens. Could someone confirm, will any Canon FD lens fit my > Canon A1? I was about to buy a Canon 50mm f1.4 FD lens from ebay, but the > seller seems to think it could be a different fitting. > > Graham AFAIK, any FD lens will work on an A-1 or an AE-1. However, there were two types of mounts, a screw type and a bayonet type. Both work. The screw type has a silver collar that is rotated to lock the lens on. On he bayonet type the whole lens twists and locks. The screw type is frequently seen on third party lenses. I used to have several. I don't know when it was changed on the Canon lenses, but all the ones I owned were bayonet type. AFAIK, the key is the FD designation.  SignatureRobert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883 bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac] rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office] >> I am trying to buy a lens for my old Canon A1 and not sure if I can just >> buy [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > AFAIK, the key is the FD designation. Many thanks for the clear and concise reply. What you have said checks out with the two lenses I have had for years. One is a Canon 35-70 zoom with the bayonet mount and the other a 300mm telephoto with the silver collar design you described. Many thanks for clearing this up for me. I now know what to look for with more confidence. I was going to buy the f 1.4 Canon 50mm FD lens for £45 as I've always wanted a really bright, fast lens having had the dark f3.5 - 4.5 35-70mm zoom all these years. I suppose I could go for a f 1.8, but tempted to get the 1.4. I am no expert in photography, but at least in theory I understand the f1.4 is more than just a marginal amount brighter than the 1.8. However, in practice I don't know if it will really make much difference (IE allowing me to use fast shutter speed to prevent camera shake blurring in low light). As I said I am very much an amateur, but dabbled for many, many years. Regards Graham > more confidence. I was going to buy the f 1.4 Canon 50mm FD lens for £45 as > I've always wanted a really bright, fast lens having had the dark f3.5 - 4.5 > 35-70mm zoom all these years. I suppose I could go for a f 1.8, but tempted > to get the 1.4. I am no expert in photography, but at least in theory I > understand the f1.4 is more than just a marginal amount brighter than the > 1.8. I had a 1.4 and a 1.8 50mm. The 1.4 was noticeably faster, but digital seems to handle really low light better. I also had a 1.8 85mm which was a marvelous portrait lens. Unfortunately, I sold all my Canon stuff a couple of months ago or would have offered them to you. I don't remember the conversion but it looks like you are paying close to $100 for this lens. You can get it a lot cheaper. You shouldn't be able to, but you can! SignatureRobert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883 bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac] rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office] <snip> > Many thanks for the clear and concise reply. What you have said checks out > with the two lenses I have had for years. One is a Canon 35-70 zoom with the [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > blurring in low light). As I said I am very much an amateur, but dabbled for > many, many years. I used to have 50mm f1.8 came with Canon body, 50mm F1.4 macro and 50mm f1.2 and several long zoom FD lens. And because the price dropped so low I decided to give the whole gear to a friend of mine who lives in a poor country. Few years ago while looked for newer EOS mount lens on eBay, I ran into some old FD lens and I think £45 is too much for the FD 50mm f1.4 lens (may be even with body). snip > Many thanks for the clear and concise reply. What you have said checks out > with the two lenses I have had for years. One is a Canon 35-70 zoom with [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > camera shake blurring in low light). As I said I am very much an amateur, > but dabbled for many, many years. The f/1.4 is marginally better than the f/1.8, but sometimes that fractional stop is all you need. All other things being equal, if you can afford the f/1.4, buy it. Or you could save your pennies (pence?) for an f/1.2. For more info about your camera and the lens options once available, check up the Canon Museum at http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/index.html >I am trying to buy a lens for my old Canon A1 and not sure if I can just >buy any Canon FD lens. Could someone confirm, will any Canon FD lens fit my >Canon A1? I was about to buy a Canon 50mm f1.4 FD lens from ebay, but the >seller seems to think it could be a different fitting. > > Graham The Canon FD mount lenses will fit the Canon A-1 (born April 1978). The earlier FL mount lenses will also fit, but you will not have certain automatic functions. The FD lenses have two pins on the back: the one at the bottom (6 o'clock position) stops down the lens for shooting. The one at 9 o'clock position tells the camera what f/stop has been selected for metering purposes. The older FL mount lenses do not have this pin. The Canon FX camera did not do through the lens metering, so it didn't care what f/stop was selected. The later FTql metered through the lens, but you had to manually stop down using a lever beside the lens to get a meter reading. The FD lenses will fit and work just fine on the older cameras that were designed for FL lenses. The second pin is simply ignored. The original FL lenses and the early FD lenses were breech-lock-bayonet lenses. The mounting is a three tab bayonet, with a separate ring (breech-lock) that rotated to engage the tabs. Users complained that three hands were required to change a lens, one to hold the camera, one to hold the lens, and one to turn the ring. Since many users didn't have three hands, Canon made the breechlock a stationary part of the lens-- you rotated the entire lens to mount it. These lenses are also compatible with both older FL and newer FD mount cameras. The short answer is "the seller is wrong, buy the lens." |
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