12th May 2013

CANON

I tested my Canon FD 200mm f4 lens on my Canon AE1-P.

It’s a really nice combination and the Canon is a joy to use. The F4 lens is a little dark, but manageable in bright light.

NIKON

I tested it against my Nikon F80 135mm f2.8 AIS, below.

The combination is also a joy. The battery operated film advancement can be an advantage over the Canon’s thumb film advancement. The Nikon lens is bright and easy to focus. If you’re not sure you have correct focus, you can glance to the bottom left of the view finder to check the small green light has come on.

I used Ilford FP4+ film in both cameras and printed in Kentmore VC Lustre paper. Which by the way, develops in 15 seconds and doesn’t really change after 45 seconds. So if you want to work quickly, with near Ilford VC results, then it’s a great paper.

Both portraits are grainy. I’m still not happy I can’t get “sharp film” images. Maybe its the FP4+ or the low light conditions. Next time I’ll try a flash to capture the sharpness.

I copied the head shots on my smartphone camera, so they are not the best quality, but OK for this exercise. I have a Canon printer/scanner, so might use that next time.

When I look at the real prints they look good enough to “sell” as a commissioned work. I can’t say which is the better print quality between a 1980′s fully manual Canon, or a 1990′s electronic Nikon (shot on manual).

I used my Polaris light meter for available light.

I believe both lens had great reviews when they were released, so maybe there is no real difference, and they are both quality glass.

The only niggle is that unlike the Nikon AIS lens which will fit on a brand new Nikon camera and still give excellent results, albeit a manual focus lens, the Canon lens will NOT fit on a new Canon camera. A shame really.