Canon FL 58mm f1.2 - Some Notes

Dillon and I went for a relatively long (about 30K) bike ride today along the DVP and all the way to the end of the Taylor Creek Trail.  It was fun but lots of people as today's weather is amazingly nice.  Brought along the "finally" EOS-converted Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with me.  This lens was a failed attempt to convert to EOS, long ago when EVIL cameras were not yet on the market.  So it has been sitting idle and last night I went ahead and filed the FL mount down until it's short enough to focal to infinity on the 1D Mark III.  It's a cruel job, but works OK.  Now it works on my Canon as well as the NEX/M43 cameras.

Cruel conversion -- The lens was JB Welded to a Rollei QBM-EOS mount.

The FL 58mm f1.2 was the first f1.2 lens Canon made for its reflex cameras.  It works on Canon FL as well as FD bodies, and now Digital.  Compared to the FD 55mm f1.2 S.S.C and the Canon nFD 50mm f1.2, this 58mm f1.2 lens is softer at f1.2, which is expected.  It would have been a failure if the next generation lens is worse than the lens it replaced.  There is a bit of blooming and purple fringing wide open, again expected for a lens this age and class. One stop down makes a huge difference, both in terms of sharpness and bokeh.  I find the bokeh more pleasing with the 55mm f1.2 SSC and the nFD 50mm f1.2 than this lens.

Wild flowers near Taylor Creek -- NEX-5N & Canon FL 58mm f1.2 @ f1.2. Click for larger.

I am sure this lens was not designed to take pictures at f1.2 in the middle of the day, which was what I did.  In low light situations, it should perform better.  So far, I didn't do much testing with this lens.  The corner performance is not yet known.

Dillon. He did wear a helmet but took it off for the picture -- NEX-5N & Canon FL 58mm f1.2. @ f1.2.

Yours Truly. Picture taken by Dillon -- NEX-5N & Canon FL 58mm f1.2 @ f2.8.