Victoria the Land Rover

WEIGHT.

Heavy metal.

The mechanical FD lens feels beautiful in hand, sharing similar vibes than a classic Land Rover. The rigidity of the metal provides a reliable and solid feeling.

But oh man... it helps realise that the plastic integration in photography as not primarily to reduce costs, but above all to reduce weight.

Indeed, at 350g, the rather tiny FD 50mm lens makes the continuous handling of the camera in shooting position quite painful. The wrist does feel the unbalance between the modern plastic body and the forward-positioned metal overhang, lengthened further by the 1cm depth FD/EF adapter. The left hand will fast learn to move from body grasp to the typical old fashion way, holding the lens itself.

GLOW EFFECT.

Halo? Halo !

Modern lenses not only have stabilization and quick autofocus, but spherical correction: they use advanced coatings and aspherical glass to eliminate the glow for crisp contrast.

Older lenses suffer from heavy spherical aberration and internal reflections when wide open. An older FD lens returns a glow light when shooting at wide-open aperture (such as f/1.2, f/1.4, or f/1.8).

The reason is simply that when the aperture blades are open wide, light rays passing through the outer edges of the lens bend differently than rays passing through the center, creating a dreamy halo or soft aura around bright highlights.

Can be seen as artistic... or catastrophic. To avoid that, closing the aperture slightly blocks the outer edges of the glass where those optical flaws occur. This action is called to Stop Down. Moving from f/1.4 to f/28 sharpens the image by removing the hazy glow while still keeping a blurred background. A vintage 50mm lenses hit its peak sharpness around f/4 or f/5.6. Another way to eliminate the glow effect is to try "focus magnification", as explained below. Finally, attach a lens hood. Older lenses lack modern anti-reflective coatings, causing stray light to bounce inside the barrel. Lens hood helps to block side glare.

FOCUS.

Easy target.

If you cannot ensure a precise focus, no way you can obtain any sharp picture!

The manual focus of a FD lens is natural and easy.

It is actually made easier using a modern EOS body. Not just because it allows to use the LiveView screen but because the smaller and blurry Viewfinder of older cameras make the precise focus difficult to assess. A razor-thin depth of field at f/1.4 makes it easy to miss focus, which might look like lens softness.

Enable "focus magnification" on your EOS camera screen to nail focus (left).

GLASS GRAIN.

Dust bust.

The "grain" is maybe the main reason why to use an older lens.

Once on a PC monitor, zooming to the max pixelization reveals a clear difference in the fine texture. A modern lens provides regular and plain pixelization, while the vintage glass returns a natural "grain" which clearly dates the lens.

Apparently invisible to the eye, but actually responsible for this unexplainable vintage touch rendering.

CONCLUSION.

Learning by doing

All in all, none of the above is a major disadvantage compared to modern lenses.

I would advise trying this setup to anybody willing to understand the physics behind quality photography. By physically adjusting both the focus and the aperture, I have learnt in a few days more than in years using a full digital kit. This is important because using a DSLR adds value when you stop using the fully automatic mode. Not to feel fancy or sophisticated, but to actually deliver better pictures.

Yes, it does make a difference. Yes, learning by using a vintage lens helps you understand the needed notions to get there.

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