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The Canon FD 28mm F2.8 is an
extremely affordable lens that you can
grab for less than $100. Canon has made
several versions of this lens since this
one came out, recently releasing the
brand-new Canon EF 28mm F2.8
IS USM. This one comes with a few more
bells and whistles as well as a much
higher price tag. So, which one is best
for you. Let's take a look.
(Music)
I must admit that
I wasn't too excited to try the
Canon FD 28mm F2.8. The build
quality made it feel cheap since this
lens was made almost entirely from
plastic. That had me concerned about both
its durability and optical quality.
I was surprised then that the focus pull
was smooth, the aperture ring operates
with relative ease, and nothing wiggles
on the outer shell. The Canon EF 28mm
F2.8 IS USM had me a bit
perplexed as well. Since it was a brand
new lens, I expected the build quality to
be much better despite the fact that it
was made mostly from plastic parts. While
the automatic focus may work
extraordinarily well, that feature didn't
concern me much since I prefer working
with manual focus lenses and the manual
ring leaves a lot to be desired. There
are no hard stops on either end and it's
not very smooth making it hard to create
a pleasing focus pull while shooting
video. Standing them up next to each
other it's clear to see that the Canon
FD has a much smaller footprint than the
Canon EF. It's also much lighter weighing
in at nearly half the weight as the EF
version. In fact, the 28mm Canon FD
is the second lightest FDn lens that you
can buy. This is probably due to the fact
that the Canon EF has a lot more
underneath the hood than the FD. The 'IS'
in its name stands for 'Image
Stabilization,' which is an awesome
feature for people who like to shoot
handheld. The 'USM' stands for 'UltraSonic
Motor,' which is a fancy term to describe
the speed, accuracy, and noise of the
autofocus feature on this lens. Another
important thing to note is that the FD
is completely manual which requires a
simple passive adapter for about $13.
The EF lens is not fully manual
and uses an electronic connection to
adjust the aperture. This means that you
will need to buy a far more expensive
active adapter that allows your camera
to adjust the aperture. Both lenses are not
super-sharp wide open but it seems like
the Canon EF seems to beat the FD on
this by a smidge.
However, at every other stop the Canon FD
appears to be sharper and render color
quality better than the Canon EF. This
was extremely surprising to me since the
FD is about a quarter of the price.
The bokeh however, is a different story.
On the FD, it looks busier than on the EF
and seems to be a little more
distracting. This makes sense since the
Canon EF was built with seven aperture
blades as opposed to the FD's five
blades. If you plan to use this lens
primarily to shoot wide shots, then I
can't see why bokeh would be much of an
issue. Personally, I love the FD 28mm
because it packs a lot of
punch at such an affordable price.
The EF 28mm may be a great lens
for photography, but it seems overpriced
compared to the FD. Click on the links
provided to learn more about these
lenses. Product links are included in the
description below. And as always feel
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tutorials from yours truly.
Thanks for watching!