Canon FD 24mm 1:2.8 Ultrawide Lens Review

Canon FD 24mm 1:2.8 is an ultra-wide¹ lens for vintage Canon SLRs like the Canon AE-1 Program. It’s very sharp, renders nice bokeh, does the job, and it can still be found for less than $100.

In this review: Specifications. Ultra-wide alternatives for FD mounts. Lens in use: ergonomics. Build quality. Image quality. Background separation/bokeh with an ultra-wide 𝒇2.8 lens. Mounting on digital cameras. Where to buy your Canon FD 24mm 1:2.8 lens. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

¹ — 24mm lenses are included in the “ultra-wide” category according to Nikon: “Ultra-wide angle usually refers to a lens with a full frame focal length of 24mm or less.” Other definitions may exclude this focal length, defining ultra-wides as shorter than 24mm. In any case, this lens appears to be on the edge of/just fitting this definition.

Specifications.

The new 24mm FD is fairly light, weighing around 240g/8.5oz and reasonably compact, extending 47mm (just under 2”) from the mount. It accepts 52mm filters.

The lens’ closest focusing distance is 30cm/1’, and its aperture range is 𝒇2.8-22. It has six blades and uses ten elements in nine groups. Its diagonal angle of view is 84°.

Ultra-wide alternatives for FD mounts.

This review features Canon’s latest version of this lens, nFD. You can identify it by the lack of red S.C. and S.S.C. markings or a “silver nose” (an uncoated metal ring in the front).

The Canon nFD 24mm 𝒇2.8 lens is notably lighter than its earlier versions and has a more complicated formula. This version was introduced in 1979.

Earlier Canon FD 24mm 𝒇2.8 lenses used nine elements in eight groups (instead of nFD’s ten in nine groups). The earliest “silver nose” FD was introduced in 1971 and weighed a hefty 410g/14.5oz. This lens did not have an S.S.C. coating formula, and its aperture blades closed at 𝒇16 instead of nFD’s 𝒇22. The middle 24mm lens with red S.S.C. markings was introduced in 1973 and had the same features as nFD aside from the smallest aperture and the breech-lock mechanism.

I explained S.S.C. coatings and breech-lock mechanism in my earlier Canon FD lens reviews. Essentially, S.S.C. is Canon’s best lens coating that reduces flares significantly — as you’ll notice is the case with this lens. nFD uses S.S.C. despite not having it advertised on the front. Breech-lock is Canon’s early lens mounting system that requires you to rotate the ring at the base of the lens to fix it in place; nFD lenses use a more modern bayonet mounting system that locks when you twist the lens a couple of degrees until click. Both are equally compatible with the FD mounts.

I like the subtle bokeh on wide-angle lenses with relatively slow apertures. Minolta TC-1 uses an 𝒇3.5 28mm lens, and it’s glorious. But if you’re set on getting more light on film or larger bokeh balls, you may want to consider the 24mm Canon FD 1:1.4 or the 24mm Canon FD 1:2.

The 𝒇1.2 sells for about $300~500 (as of this writing) and 𝒇1.4 is $3,000+.

Lens in use: ergonomics.

The 24mm nFD is one of the best Canon FD-mount lenses I’ve handled so far. There are no tricks to operating; it works exactly as expected. My version has all dials rotating perfectly smoothly with no signs of age.

The aperture clicks feel a little strong, but that’s not really an issue. I appreciate the DOF calculator at the top of the lens that can be used to zone-focus. Zone focusing lets you skip using the viewfinder guides and get your shots quickly, faster than autofocus.

The focus ring throw is about 90°, which feels right with this focal length. It’s neither stiff nor too loose, giving me hope that Canon grease inside this lens can easily last twenty or more years without needing any service.

I appreciate the bayonet locking mechanism on this lens, though breech-lock is also fine. It’s always easier to have multiple cameras than to switch lenses anyway.

Build quality.

This 24mm FD is well-built. The lens appears to be made of a mix of metal and plastic components. They all fit nicely together and work smoothly for their age — better than many other 45-plus-year-old lenses I tried.

In hand, this lens feels like a modern one — only with manual settings. It looks good, too, though fancy gear collectors will know it’s not a thousand-dollar lens. But just because the lens isn’t made from fancy materials doesn’t mean it can’t produce incredibly sharp images with great character.

Image quality.

This 24mm Canon FD lens is very impressive. There are virtually no chromatic aberrations or other issues commonly present on glass of this age and focal length.

You may notice some stretching in the corners, especially if you’re close to your subject. in my experience, that mattered very little.

But this lens’ best property is its resistance to flaring and consistent medium-high contrast across the frame. I shot it directly at the sun and with the sun at various degrees in an attempt to bounce the light off the glass. Yet the flares appeared to be exceptionally well-controlled. Seems like no matter where you point this FD, you’ll get a fairly clean, unobstructed image.

When closed down, the aperture blades produce a slight but noticeable starburst effect, as you can see in the image above. Meanwhile, the rest of the scene is consistently rendered sharp. While the films I’ve tested this FD on aren’t exactly fine-grained, I feel it’s still plain to see that there are no issues with getting a very crisp image with this glass.

Given that it’s just $100 and easy to find, I am very impressed.

See my attempts to get the lens to flare:

Background separation/bokeh with an ultra-wide 𝒇2.8 lens.

Because this 24mm FD can focus as close as 30cm/1’, it makes it pretty easy to render bokeh on film. While not as expressive as that of my favourite (original) Voigtländer Ultron 2.0, it’s fairly soft, and I’d say enough for a sufficient background separation.

The bokeh on this lens does not swirl, but it does stretch out in the corners:

Mounting on digital cameras.

FD lenses are easy to adapt onto digital bodies. There are over 1,000 results on eBay for them and plenty in other shops, too. You can find your Canon FD lens adapter here.

Numbers to keep in mind are the FD lens’ flange distance: 42mm and 24×36mm (full-frame) image circle. It’ll work with most mirrorless cameras, but it won’t work with the modern Canon EF mounts.

Where to buy your Canon FD 24mm 1:2.8 lens.

These lenses are easy to find and cheap to buy. I saw them sell for well under $100, with the best-looking copies costing around $250. I’d easily buy another one of those lenses if it broke or got misplaced. It’s my favourite FD-mount lens so far.

❤ By the way: Please consider making your Canon FD 24mm 1:2.8 lens purchase using this link so that this website may get a small percentage of that sale — at no extra charge for you — thanks!