According to Google’s AI search, Canon never made a 200mm f/1.8 lens! I must have been dreaming, because not only does this lens exist, it is one of the most amazing portrait lenses I have ever used! The Ultimate Vintage Portrait Lens sounds like good book title, so let’s dive deeper into that story.
Chapter 1 Portraits with the Ultimate Lens
Nataly and I met in Kaukauna on a beautiful late Summer evening. I brought two lenses to test out this evening – the 200mm and my new Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.2. More on this lens Here. I used my Canon R5 camera body for the session and a FD to RF adaptor to mount the lens.According to Google’s AI search Canon never made a 200mm f/1.8 lens! I must have been dreaming, because not only does this lens exist we also did portraits with the Canon FD 200mm f/1.8. Portraits with a mythical lens sounds like good book title so let’s dive deeper into that story.
The set above were all taken at f/1.8 (wide open). I was about 30 feet away. The 200mm requires some distance for portraits! These photos really tell the story of the lens. Narrow focus depth – but sharp as can be in that field. Nataly just pops in these pictures. The colors are amazing and the background is creamy and smooth.
Chapter 2 Manual Focusing
The 200mm FD lens is a bit challenging to use. It is completely manual – manual focus and manual aperture control. There is no communication between the camera and the lens so the camera was used in full manual mode. I used the lens mostly wide open, at f/1.8, with a few shots stopped down for comparison. It was a bit of a challenge focusing at f/1.8 because the dept of field is so very tiny. However, I did manage to get around 2/3 of the shots in acceptable focus so not as hard as I feared.
Here is a photo at f/1.8 which shows the narrow depth of field. You can see the depth of focus is about an inch – her eyes are in focus but her eyelids and nose are not! The full length photo on the left also shows the amazing bokeh in the background. The trees and rocks are so creamy and smooth.
Chapter 3 What About Stopping Down?
We did a few tests at higher / more closed apertures. It must be remembered the point of carrying around a massive f/1.8 lens is to take photos at f/1.8. Be that as it may.. here is a comparison of f/1.8 and f/8. The depth of field difference is massive with the f/8 having a lot of the background in focus. Of course the f/8 photo also has a lot more noise in it because we had to use a very high ISO speed to compensate for the 4 stop lower light transmission to the sensor.
Aperture f/1.8
Aperture f/8
This set was done at f/2.8. So just a bit stopped down to increase the depth of field. So more of Nataly is in focus at the tradeoff of a less smooth background. I think it is still very pleasing and makes extremely nice portraits.. certainly it is easier to focus!
Chapter 4 On The Boardwalk
Our last set of photos were taken on the boardwalk along the river. It was getting dark but that didn’t matter to the f/1.8 lens with its massive element. We did use a bit of fill light for this shot (off camera softbox) just to bring out her eyes. To me, this portrait is nearly perfect! All the portrait are at the bottom of this page…
Chapter 5 Canon FD 200mm f/1.8… for the Techie
Big, massive, huge and heavy is a good summary of this lens. Here are some of the gory details from Canon..
| Marketed | November 1989 |
| Original Price | 513,000 yen |
| Lens Construction (group) | 9 |
| Lens Construction (element) | 11 |
| No. of Diaphragm Blades | 8 |
| Minimum Aperture | 22 |
| Closest Focusing Distance (m) | 2.5 |
| Maximum Magnification (x) | 0.09 |
| Filter Diameter (mm) | 48 Drop-in |
| Maximum Diameter x Length (mm) | 130 x 208 |
| Weight (g) | 2,800 |
Note the weight – 2800g – which is over 6 pounds! Not really a lens I would want to carry around all day.
There is no lens cap but it comes with a protective vinyl cloth lens cover. It also has a very nice hard case. The lens hood is fitting for this lens as it is also massive. The deep lens hood gives lots of protection for the front element so maybe a lens cap is not necessary.
Here is a view from the back of the lens. Even the image through the lens is amazing! At the 4 O’clock position you can see the metal tab which is the aperture control level. FD cameras have a mechanism to control the aperture so you can focus wide open and capture with the aperture closed to the set point.
Enjoy all our pictures of this amazing lens!
Chapter 6 All The Portraits
Enjoy the full set of portraits! If you liked this review and want to be part of our next Vintage Lens Adventure, then Contact Me and lets find a way to work together!
