If you’re wondering which Canon 50mm lens to buy for a film camera that’s simple – The FD Mount 50mm f1.4 for around $95 as shown above:
Why get this one?
Well you have a couple of options when looking at canon film cameras – there’s the 50mm f1.4, 50mm f1.8, 50mm f1.2 and 50mm f1.2L (though there are other options, a bit more complicated and more expensive). Canon film cameras take FD mount lenses, these have since been updated to EF on their digital cameras. This means that you cannot simply switch FD and EF mount lenses between cameras.
To kick off, the f1.2 and f1.2L are awesome lenses. There is absolutely doubt about that, but they come at a price – you’ll be looking at spending around $250 minimum to pick one of these up and more likely it will be around the $400 mark. Unless you’re a pro shooting in super low-light scenes all the times, I’d save that money to spend on buying more film.
For what the average film photographer wants to do the 50mm f1.8 and 50mm f1.4 work wonders. I reckon the 50mm f1.4 is worth the extra dosh, it’s that bit faster which really makes a difference for the price point between the two.
If You’re Not Sure With Which Canon 50mm Lens To Buy – Try An Adaptor And Use Your EF lenses.
If you’re looking at getting creative and putting a few EF mount lenses on your film camera, they make mount adaptors which you can get from here and they are these really cool little things that let you go from FD to EF mounts on your camera and are also quite reasonably priced – you’ll be looking at around $20 to pick these up. They look something like this:
Really worth the investment if you’ve got the Canon digital camera as well. Then you can use lenses interchangeably between the two! I hope this article has helped you to decide which Canon 50mm lens to buy. Now get out there and shoot!
#keepfilmalive