1. INTRODUCTION

I love vintage manual focus lenses. I'm actually in the process of writing a three part article just about vintage lenses. They are cheap, they work excellently, and they're built better than their modern equivalents. In short, they are one of the best investments into photography gear you can make. My most recent purchase is a Canon 50mm f3.5 Macro lens for the old FD mount, and this is my review using it with Fujifilm cameras.

2. HOW'D I GET THIS LENS?

This is the absolute best part about vintage lenses. I bought this lens as a package deal with a working Canon FTB SLR camera. The FTB even has a working meter with a working battery in it and is in absolutely pristine condition. I'll be writing up a review on this little beauty as well later.

The lens was literally thrown in with the sale of the camera and all for the tiny sum of $50. $50 for a working vintage SLR full frame camera and a 50mm macro lens! You can not beat that.

The 50mm is a weird looking little lens, as most macro lenses are. It has a tiny little front element sunk way deep down in the lens barrel. I have a ton of old FD Canon glass so I decided to throw on one of my adapters and take it out for a test drive in the wood nearby my house.

3. WHAT DO I LIKE?

One of the things I love about macro lenses in general and this lens specifically, is the way it makes you look at the world. Normally, if I'm hiking in the woods, my eyes are looking around for larger animals or a landscape scene that looks nice.

With a macro lens, you're looking at every blade of grass, every leaf, every bug and tiny animal on the ground. You really feel like a giant peering into this tiny overlooked world beneath the surface of what you're used to looking at. Deep huh? What I mean is that, Macro lenses make you take your time and look at the world differently. I genuinely recommend taking out only a macro lens on your next photo walk.

Other than that, the lens appears to be very sharp, even wide open. The range of f3.5-32 is very usable in a wide variety of circumstances. The focus is smooth and relatively easy to focus and it is a relatively small lens, even with the addition of the metal adapter ring.

The field of view on the crop sensor Fuji cameras is roughly 75mm, which is actually a little better and more usable than the 50mm full frame field of view. It means you don't have to get quite so close to your subject, which, if you're taking pictures of insects, can mean the difference between getting the shot and not.

4. WHAT DO I DISLIKE?

This is nothing specific to this lens, but rather a difficulty when using any type of macro lens. At the maximum aperture of 3.5, the depth of field is incredibly shallow. This means that even breathing throws your focus off drastically. It can be really difficult to get proper focus on a subject that's on the ground without getting down in the dirt with it for a stable shooting platform.

The trick I've used to get a good shot is to simply set the focus and then spray and pray as you push the camera in and pull it out. I've found that this technique works most of the time to get a good shot that's in focus and framed up properly.

5. CONCLUSION & SAMPLES

In conclusion, I think this lens is a wonderful value for money. Considering I got this lens for around $25, I don't think you can beat it. I know I've already said this, but macro lenses are so much fun to use. It's this window into the tiny little world all around you and it really make you see things differently. This lens in an indispensable bit of glass that will probably find a permanent home in my camera bag.

I'm going to do another blog post where I test this lens up against the Fujifilm 60mm 2.4 to see which lens reigns supreme as my favorite macro glass to date. Stay tuned for that blog post, which will be coming soon.

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