I know this story will be hard to believe, but while birding on Sportsman road last week on Galveston Island, a local policeman stopped me to chat about photography. Seems he and his wife are photographers. He mentioned that they were Nikon shooter and that someone gave him an 800mm F5.6 Canon lens some time ago, and he said that he didn't need the lens. He said he would give it to me if I wanted it. We shared information and he left. A short time later he shows up with the lens, and said he didn't live too far. Sure enough it is a Canon 800, but it looks kinda old. (In great condition though) He also said that there is a broken knob but that adjustments could still be made.
Would appreciate any information about this lens. *Age *can it be used on a digital SLR? etc.
Will try to attach a couple of images.
Glad my spouse was with me because he would have never believed this story
What you have is an older FD lens, which was a great lens in its day (and really, really, expensive). The FD lenses were what predated the Canon's EOS autofocus lenses. In other words, it is a manual focus lens.
When Canon created its autofocus system, it changed the mount of the lenses so the FD lenses are directly incompatible with your EOS camera.
All is not lost though, as several companies made adapters that would allow the FD lenses to be used on an EOS mount, which is what I am guessing those black tubes are. These adapters came in one of two flavors - the first was a thin, glorified extension tube where you lost focus at infinity.
The second type of adapter, which I am guess is what you have, had a lens in the tube which allowed focus at infinity but also acted like a short teleconverter. IF that is the case, you got an unbelieveably good deal here. See if you Canon will mount on the lens and the adapters. If they do, you will have an 800mm + any factors for adapters and cropped sensor cameras.
Value of the lens???? I've seen 600 mm FD lenses selling for $1,400 to $1,800, when they come on the market. This is a far rarer lens, but with low demand. With the adapters, probably under $3,000, but I've never seen one for sale. It is in really great shape for its age.
Some more info: prices I am seeing as between 1,100 British pounds and $3,000 and everything in between. Minimum focussing distance of 46 feet, which isn't all that great for birds. Maximum magnification at that distance is 0.06x, which is a region about 16" x 24".
Nice gift! I don't know if you're interested in shooting film, but you could purchase any one of the Canon film cameras listed below for a song...
FT-b, FT-bn, A-1, F-1. I'd suggest the A-1, or the F-1. All are manual focus, and have only center-weighted metering. The F-1 was Canon's flagship SLR in the 70's and 80's.
The older FD lenses are very tough and will take a beating. They were also some of the sharpest lenses around for their time.
Discussion
7 repliesWould appreciate any information about this lens. *Age *can it be used on a digital SLR? etc.
Will try to attach a couple of images.
Glad my spouse was with me because he would have never believed this story
When Canon created its autofocus system, it changed the mount of the lenses so the FD lenses are directly incompatible with your EOS camera.
All is not lost though, as several companies made adapters that would allow the FD lenses to be used on an EOS mount, which is what I am guessing those black tubes are. These adapters came in one of two flavors - the first was a thin, glorified extension tube where you lost focus at infinity.
The second type of adapter, which I am guess is what you have, had a lens in the tube which allowed focus at infinity but also acted like a short teleconverter. IF that is the case, you got an unbelieveably good deal here. See if you Canon will mount on the lens and the adapters. If they do, you will have an 800mm + any factors for adapters and cropped sensor cameras.
Value of the lens???? I've seen 600 mm FD lenses selling for $1,400 to $1,800, when they come on the market. This is a far rarer lens, but with low demand. With the adapters, probably under $3,000, but I've never seen one for sale. It is in really great shape for its age.
Nice gift! I don't know if you're interested in shooting film, but you could purchase any one of the Canon film cameras listed below for a song...
FT-b, FT-bn, A-1, F-1. I'd suggest the A-1, or the F-1. All are manual focus, and have only center-weighted metering. The F-1 was Canon's flagship SLR in the 70's and 80's.
The older FD lenses are very tough and will take a beating. They were also some of the sharpest lenses around for their time.
--P
I am glad he was with you. Something for nothing!!!