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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Monstro + Canon FD Lenses + Sigma FF

Brian Bradley

Brian Bradley

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I'm an Epic-Weapon owner and for my next project. I'm shooting on a Monstro. I own a set of Canon FD's and since they're full frame. I know they'll cover the Monstro without cropping. Does anyone have any projects that they can share? I'd really love to see how the FD's look on the Monstro. Since our budget is tight if I don't go FD's then I'll need to go with Sigma FF Primes. I've seen the video that Phill created with Sigma's. Does anyone else have something shot on the Sigma's too that they can share?

Thanks in advance
 
This was shot by I believe Bjorn Benckert, a member of this forum on Monstro and FD's. It was one of the reasons I originally purchased FD's as the image quality is awesome for price and they cover full frame.

 
I haven't worked with Sigma Art lenses as of yet, save for toying around with my Sigma 18-35 that I won from a contest (gotta get the 50-100 to go with it!), but every time I've played around with them at conventions like NAB or in stores, they always get a "Woooow!" from me!

With Canon FDs, I've got almost a full set, lot of lucky finds in various places, and I want to get them rehoused at some point if I can afford to keep them around. So far, like many lens sets, I've found some winners and duds across the set, no real losers honestly, and I could definitely see using them as an alternative to my Rokinon Cine DS and Nikon lenses. K35 lenses are very close to them from everything I've read, haven't toyed with too many K35s personally, so you should feel confident in seeing K35 demo reels and examples as counting towards your research.

I would say they have an overall smoothness compared to my other lenses, plenty sharp enough and visually balanced and corrected at each focal length, really well matched across the line, and, unless they are rehoused, very small and light. Overall, I like the extra sparkle of my Nikons and solid cinematic tone of the Rokinon Cine DS lenses but if I needed something a bit majestic, I'd load up the Canon FDs for the job for sure.
 
Here is a quite rough and sloppy lens test where we tested among other things some sigmas next to some FD´s, not the most scientific of tests and done on komodo but I think you will see some differences between the sigmas and FD´s in there even though it's not FF.

https://vimeo.com/523040287
 
Interesting!
Question to Björn, were the FD's all L glass?
Keen now to pick up a set of these for myself.
Cheers!
 

This video will answer most of your questions...

L series are the later versions and are more closer to EF glass but with lower contrast IMO. SSC are the earlier versions of FD lenses and are more solid metal construction and have the more sought after SSC coating and glass chemistry that is closer to K35 lenses from the same era. The 50mm/1.4 ssc is a real winner IMO (personally own) and can be found very cheap and is very close to the performance and in some scenarios actually outperforms the much more expensive 55/1.2 SSC or 50/1.2 L series versions. There are some comparison videos out there on YouTube if you look around between the different versions. There are also comparisons between FD glass and Leica R's which are quite similar despite their vast difference in price. The aspherical FD's 24/55/85 1.2's go for pretty extreme prices as there is much more awareness for FD lenses nowadays and these specific lenses are being picked up by rental houses for rehousing as a cine-set or to match k35 glass since focal lengths were limited. If you don't mind using a Canon FD mount on the RED you can assemble a used set of SSC lenses very cheaply and it will essentially give you the same look as a set of K35's. Or you can always have them modified by Simmod or Duclos which is the route I went.

PatrickWebb said:
Interesting!
Question to Björn, were the FD's all L glass?
Keen now to pick up a set of these for myself.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
 
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Andrew Reese said:

This video will answer most of your questions...

L series are the later versions and are more closer to EF glass but with lower contrast IMO. SSC are the earlier versions of FD lenses and are more solid metal construction and have the more sought after SSC coating and glass chemistry that is closer to K35 lenses from the same era. The 50mm/1.4 ssc is a real winner IMO (personally own) and can be found very cheap and is very close to the performance and in some scenarios actually outperforms the much more expensive 55/1.2 SSC or 50/1.2 L series versions. There are some comparison videos out there on YouTube if you look around between the different versions. There are also comparisons between FD glass and Leica R's which are quite similar despite their vast difference in price. The aspherical FD's 24/55/85 1.2's go for pretty extreme prices as there is much more awareness for FD lenses nowadays and these specific lenses are being picked up by rental houses for rehousing as a cine-set or to match k35 glass since focal lengths were limited. If you don't mind using a Canon FD mount on the RED you can assemble a used set of SSC lenses very cheaply and it will essentially give you the same look as a set of K35's. Or you can always have them modified by Simmod or Duclos which is the route I went.
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks for this. I did a quick scout online and some of those lenses are pretty damn expensive now! I guess this is a major reason why. Anyway, I would love to see how the mod looks, have you got a reference, of if you can be bothered taking a photo of you lenses to share?

Cheers!
 
The mod is pretty simple. Just check out Simmod's or Duclos website. I went with simmod for the following:

Ed Mika - EF Mount Conversion
https://www.simmodlens.com/product-page/ed-mika-fd-ef-conversion-kit

80mm Step-Up Ring:
https://www.simmodlens.com/product-page/80mm-front-ring

Focus Gears:
https://www.simmodlens.com/followfocusgears

EF Rear Cap:
https://www.simmodlens.com/product-page/end-cap-ef-mount

80mm Front Cap:
https://www.simmodlens.com/product-page/cine-slip-on-cap-80mm-od-85mm-od-95mm-od-114mm-od

These are not the pretties of pics but here are a few I was able to take quick with my cell phone today before I ran out the door and an old pic I had on my phone from a past shoot.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QRFmtPoSHyjVZbbISnuj-RjyCQABjFGB?usp=sharing
 
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I've been collecting FD glass for three years now, so many great lenses throughout the range... I've gotten some particularly great results from the Angenieux 35-70, tilt shift 35, chrome nose 35, 50mm macro, 135 F2 and the 300mm F4. Hard to go wrong with the SSC and L lenses period, I've heard great things about the minolta rokkors as well. The only lenses in the FD line to avoid imo are the FL (pre-FD mount) and some of the early zoom designs.
 
Here, two of the same 55mm lens. One just got a focus gear and front ring 80mm adapter. The other is a full rehouse made by Eastern enterprise in Tokyo, along with the rehousing they also replace the iris and improve the the close focus range. This lens can focus on things that actually are inside the lens barrel.

Eastern Enterprise FDs. by Björn Benckert, on Flickr


I htink these are all 55mm:

eton_marracesh_1.4.2.T by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

eton_marracesh_1.4.1.T by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

eton_mallorca_1.2.7 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

eton_mallorca_1.2.4 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

eton_mallorca_1.2.3 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

PastedGraphic-8 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

A024_C055_012329_001.01041026 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr
 
I can really see that Monstro resolution and DOP shining through in these stills. Beautiful... Makes me want to make the jump from Gemini.

The other is a full rehouse made by Eastern enterprise in Tokyo, along with the rehousing they also replace the iris and improve the the close focus range. This lens can focus on things that actually are inside the lens barrel.

Eastern Enterprise FDs. by Björn Benckert, on Flickr


I htink these are all 55mm:

eton_marracesh_1.4.2.T by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

eton_marracesh_1.4.1.T by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

eton_mallorca_1.2.7 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

eton_mallorca_1.2.4 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

eton_mallorca_1.2.3 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

PastedGraphic-8 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

A024_C055_012329_001.01041026 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr[/QUOTE]
 
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