2015
Canon nFD 24 f2.8- The closer you get, the better
I had one just like this on an AE-1 and really enjoyed shooting with it. However, living in and traveling through tropical areas took its toll and the lens succumbed to a bad case of fungus. So, since I was looking for an affordable wide angle for an upcoming trip to Vietnam, I thought I'd give the nFD 24 f2.8 a second try, this time on digital.
The Canon nFD 24/2.8 specs:
Build Quality/Handling (very good/very good)
The build quality is typical nFD, which means you get more plastic than metal making the lens pretty light. There is a nice, wide, rubberized focus ring that gives good grip and makes manual focusing a breeze. As is the case with all nFD lenses I've tried, the aperture ring experience isn't great, but is adequate. One redeeming quality is that it has half-stop clicks, which is a nice feature on FD lenses.
The nFD 24 f2.8 is well balanced on the A7s and the whole package remains fairly compact. My copy has slightly stiff focusing and about 1mm of play in the focus ring (a common issue with nFD lenses). These don't really effect the shooting experience much and I enjoy having this lens on my camera.
Image Quality (excellent for close ups; decent for landscapes)
Sharpness is very good even wide open for subjects which are close to medium distances away. At infinity focus, however, the lens (or at least my copy) doesn't quite reach the same level of sharpness. I would say that it's sharpest (at infinity) at about f8, but even then it's nothing to rave about.
The Canon nFD 24/2.8 specs:
- 10 elements in 9 groups
- Weight - 240 grams
- Length - 43mm (68 mm with adapter)
- Filter size - 52 mm
- Min. focus distance - 0.3 m
- Aperture - 6 blades, f2.8 to f22 in half stops
Build Quality/Handling (very good/very good)
The build quality is typical nFD, which means you get more plastic than metal making the lens pretty light. There is a nice, wide, rubberized focus ring that gives good grip and makes manual focusing a breeze. As is the case with all nFD lenses I've tried, the aperture ring experience isn't great, but is adequate. One redeeming quality is that it has half-stop clicks, which is a nice feature on FD lenses.
The nFD 24 f2.8 is well balanced on the A7s and the whole package remains fairly compact. My copy has slightly stiff focusing and about 1mm of play in the focus ring (a common issue with nFD lenses). These don't really effect the shooting experience much and I enjoy having this lens on my camera.
Image Quality (excellent for close ups; decent for landscapes)
Sharpness is very good even wide open for subjects which are close to medium distances away. At infinity focus, however, the lens (or at least my copy) doesn't quite reach the same level of sharpness. I would say that it's sharpest (at infinity) at about f8, but even then it's nothing to rave about.
f2.8/ISO 2000
100% crop
f2.8/ISO 100
100% crop
f2.8/ISO 100
f5.6/ISO 100
f2.8 - 100% crop
f5.6 - 100% crop
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f2.8/ISO 800
100% crop
f2.8/ISO 100
100% crop
f4/ISO 100
f8/ISO 100
f4 - 100% crop
f8 - 100% crop
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To my eyes even the f8 crop above (though clearly sharper than the others and sharp enough for general use) is lacking critical sharpness. I tried the lens with a couple different adapters with similar results, so I don't think that it's an adapter issue. Is lateral CA the culprit here? Perhaps I'm expecting too much from a 12mp sensor?
*Update*
The above shots were taken before I got the Sony a6000 and the Metabones adapter. I realize now that some of my cheap adapters did not reach infinity. So, was it an adapter issue? Here are a couple of samples with the a6000.
*Update*
The above shots were taken before I got the Sony a6000 and the Metabones adapter. I realize now that some of my cheap adapters did not reach infinity. So, was it an adapter issue? Here are a couple of samples with the a6000.
100% crop from lower centre and lower right edge @ f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8
Centre performance looks quite good at f5.6 and f8. It's actually decent at f2.8, too. The edges, however, don't improve all that much. Also, we're talking edges on an APS-C sensor, here. I doubt this lens would resolve enough corner detail on a high-megapixel full-frame sensor. Still, it appears to do better than on the shots with the A7s, but the distance here is not quite infinity. The shot below shows how it does at true infinity with the a6000 and the Metabones adapter.
f8/ISO 100 - Expand to view 100% centre crop
Looks alright, but I'd be interested to see how it does on the A7Rii.
The FD 24 has visible vignetting wide open, which improves quite a bit stopped down and basically disappears by f5.6.
The FD 24 has visible vignetting wide open, which improves quite a bit stopped down and basically disappears by f5.6.
f2.8/ISO 100
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f5.6/ISO 100
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Since the minimum focus distance is only 30 cm, it's pretty easy to throw the background out of focus. The bokeh isn't the smoothest I've seen but it has an interesting, almost plastic-like quality... I'm not sure how to describe it actually, so I'll just let the pictures below do the talking. In any case, I like it!
f2.8/ISO 100
f2.8/ISO 100
f2.8/ISO 100
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f2.8/ISO 100
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There's a bit of CA visible but I've not found it to be an issue in real-world use. There's also wavy barrel distortion apparent in some photos, which is difficult to correct. However, I don't usually feel the need to correct it. The examples below show the distortion you can expect from this lens.
That doorframe was actually straight
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Barrel-shaped walls
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f5.6/ISO 1000
f4/ISO 1000
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f5.6/ISO 10000
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Finally, I'm once again impressed with Canon's SSC coating and how effectively it controls flare. Sure, the lens shows some minor ghosting in extreme situations. However, there seems to be little loss of contrast with the light source directly in the frame or just outside the angle of view. This is great performance especially when compared to some of the other vintage lenses I have such as the Konica AR 40 f1.8, for example.
Conclusion
The Canon nFD 24 f2.8 is almost a great wide angle lens. It's contrasty, has fairly low CA, shows very good flare resistance and is sharp, unless you're shooting at infinity. Its distortion isn't terrible either. Add to this its compact size and weight and mix in the attractive price (currently going for about $100) and you got yourself a winner. Certainly, its only real shortcoming (some softness at infinity?) is not enough to keep it out of my camera bag and I'll be hanging on to this one for a while. It's worth noting that at its current price this lens is quite a bit cheaper than most similar lenses from other manufacturers. I'm not sure, however, how it compares to the Olympuses, Minoltas, Pentaxes, and other 24s of the 70s and 80s as I haven't shot with any of them yet. In the end, I'm pretty happy with the quality of shots I get with this lens, especially if the subject isn't too far away.
Check out the Motion Studies section to see some video footage recorded with the lens.
Related reviews
Sample Images
The Canon nFD 24 f2.8 is almost a great wide angle lens. It's contrasty, has fairly low CA, shows very good flare resistance and is sharp, unless you're shooting at infinity. Its distortion isn't terrible either. Add to this its compact size and weight and mix in the attractive price (currently going for about $100) and you got yourself a winner. Certainly, its only real shortcoming (some softness at infinity?) is not enough to keep it out of my camera bag and I'll be hanging on to this one for a while. It's worth noting that at its current price this lens is quite a bit cheaper than most similar lenses from other manufacturers. I'm not sure, however, how it compares to the Olympuses, Minoltas, Pentaxes, and other 24s of the 70s and 80s as I haven't shot with any of them yet. In the end, I'm pretty happy with the quality of shots I get with this lens, especially if the subject isn't too far away.
Check out the Motion Studies section to see some video footage recorded with the lens.
Related reviews
Sample Images
