Disclaimer: VLFV uses eBay’s affiliate program and as an eBay Partner, we may be compensated if you make a purchase. Our mission is to keep all content free and accessible, so if you’d like to support what we do, feel free to purchase your lenses via the links in this article, at no additional cost to you.
Many of us desire to own at least one super fast lens! It doesn’t really matter if it’s worth it or not, we are simply drawn to the speed and the idea of owning an F1.2 lens! The problem is that most of these lenses are pretty expensive, even the vintage ones, but in this review I’ll be taking a closer look at what I believe to be the cheapest F1.2 lens with a full frame (35mm) coverage. Say hello to the Canon FL 55mm F1.2
Released in 1968 as a replacement to the FL 58mm F1.2 (another F1.2 bargain), this lens was the high end offering from Canon, very much like the “L” lenses today. I’m sure at the time it was quite a something, but how does it stack-up against the modern standards?
BUILT QUALITY:
Like many other vintage lenses, FL 55mm F1.2 is a very well built lens; in fact it’s one of the most solid lenses I own, definitely more rugged than any modern Canon lenses I’ve tried. The whole body is made fully out of metal and you can tell that it can take some serious abuse. After almost 50 years it still looks and feels great, so I guess that is the best proof of its great built quality!
IMAGE QUALITY:
This lens was designed and produced before computers ruled the world and with that in mind I’m quite impressed with the image quality, but it’s of course no match to the modern Canon equivalents, especially wide open. At F1.2 it just don’t resolve the fine detail very well and the fairly obvious glow in the highlights reduces the perceived sharpness even more. This is also where this lens has the lowest contrast and most CA. Is it usable wide open? My test above was shot fully wide open in combination with a Lens Turbo II, which turned the FL 55mm F1.2 into a 39mm F0.9 (S35) low light beast and I guess if you really need that kind of look or low light performance, then yes, you can use it wide open; otherwise stepping it down is a good idea. The slight turn of the aperture ring takes it to the F1.4 (marked as a dot on the aperture ring) and right away flare control and contrast improves slightly (see my “Sharpness/Contrast”| tests below), although don’t expect to see much more detail just yet. It’s only at F2 where we see a massive improvement in every department and by this point this lens is pretty usable, but it keeps getting sharper and cleaner as you stop it down to F2.8 and even more at F4, by which point it’s almost as good as it gets, perfectly capable of handling 4K and capturing pin sharp stills. At F5.6 the difference is almost unnoticeable and why would you want to use an F1.2 lens at F5.6 anyway? For me F2-F2.8 is where I prefer to use this lens unless I want more of that vintage character!
Sharpness/Contrast test:
100% Crops:
Full Res (16mp) test stills can be found here
CHARACTER:
Unsurprisingly you have to go all the way back to F1.2 if you want to experience the magical side of this lens. The flares it produces at F1.2 are quite beautiful indeed and this is where the bokeh is at its smoothest also, but even at F2/F2.8 bokeh is still very smooth and creamy, partially thanks to the pretty rounded 8 aperture blades. Stopping down to F2/2.8 doesn’t mean that flares completely disappear completely either. The coating back in the day must have been pretty simple and un-effective, because this lens will still produce plenty of flares at any f-stop. It also has that lower contrast look that so many vintage lens users absolutely love, but of course it’s not always the desired look and it won’t match modern lenses very well. The video below was shot at various f-stops, between F1.2 and F2.0 which should give you a fain indication of what to expect from it it terms of look and character!
The 19 time Emmy award winning filmmaker Nathan Thompson had this to say about the FL 55mm: “The flare is actually very reminiscent of much more expensive lenses like the Canon K35’s and Canon 50mm F0.95. The hazy character wide open as well”. I know that Nathan owns the legendary 50mm F0.95 and has used the K35s, so I’m sure he knows what he’s talking about!
COMPATIBILITY:
Using this lens on pretty much any mirroless camera will not be a problem at all, but I usually I warn people about trying to use FD and FL lenses (same mount) on Canon EF mount cameras. So many of us use such cameras and funnily enough Canon FD/FL lenses are not quite compatible with Canon EF cameras. Generally there is only one option and that is to use an adapter with an optical correctional element inside, which is a pretty bad idea, because it’s quite frankly not very good optically, making the whole thing a bit pointless, but about a month ago I found out that EDMIKA makes a custom conversion mount for this particular lens, which involves no crappy optical correction elements! Personally I mostly mirrorless cameras, so I don’t need to bother with such conversion, but for someone with an EF mount camera, this is the only way to use such lens without any negative effects produced by common FD to EF adapters (video below shows how easy it is to convert this lens to EF). Generally I would say $75 for a mount that can only be used on one lens is pretty expensive, but since this lens itself is quite cheap for an F1.2 prime, even with $75 mount it would still be one of the cheapest EF mount F1.2 lenses out there!
Specs:
- Focus Throw – Approx 180°
- Closest Focusing Distance – 0.6m
- Filter Thread Size – 58mm
- Weight – 460g
- Aperture Blades – 8
- 9 Aperture Settings from F1.2 to F16
- Made in Japan
- Average Price on Ebay – $200
FL 55mm VS FL 58mm?
Many ask me what is the difference between the FL 55mm F1.2 and FL 58mm F1.2 and the answer is simple: FL 55mm was the replacement for the older FL 58mm F1.2, which itself was a highly acclaimed lens at the time, but based on my research FL 55mm produces better results, including smoother bokeh due to a better aperture construction. That kind of makes sense, because one would generally expect the newer lens to outperform its direct predecessor. The FL 55mm is also generally a bit cheaper than the FL 58mm, because the latter is even older has more of a collectable appeal/cult status. Nevertheless it’s worth keeping an eye out for the FL 58mm on ebay, because they also pop up very cheap once in a while! Keep in mind, the FL 55mm is the only one that can be easily converted to EF.
As usual, before we can reach some sort of conclusion, let’s round up the pros and cons of the FL 55mm:
Pros:
- One of the cheapest full frame F1.2 lenses
- Really sharp when stopped down
- Smooth focus ring with hard stops & multiple M/FT marks
- Approx 180° focusing rotation for precise manual focusing
- Beautiful mix warm/purple flares for creative old-school look
- Smooth & Creamy Bokeh
- One of the most compact F1.2 lenses
Cons:
- Soft wide open
- Strong CA wide open and visible up to F2.8
- Flares very easily (can be a problem in certain situation when you want to preserve high contrast)
- FL mount is a little fiddly making quick lens changes more difficult
- Costly to adapt to Canon EF mount
CONCLUSION:
For me the pros, of course, outweighs the cons of this lens. It’s a proper vintage prime its strong points as well quite a few quirks and imperfections, but that’s part of its charm; you just have to accept it for what it is and get the best out of it. The biggest argument for getting such lens though is of course the price. If you’ve been dreaming of an F1.2 lens, I don’t think there is a cheaper way to get one!
Find Canon FL 55mm F1.2 on
[…] Back to the lens, If you don’t know much about it, make sure to check out my in-depth review here. […]
I use this lens with the lens turbo 2 adapter, it works very nicely and is amazing in low light. things glow a bit at f1.2, but I only notice it when I crop right into the image and it mostly goes away at f1.4, otherwise its just a really nice lens.
Hi, did you have any issues mounting the fl 55 to the lens turbo? I’ve read some people have to modify the pin to get a good fit
I use this lens with the lens turbo 2 adapter, it works very nicely and is amazing in low light. things glow a bit at f1.2, but I only notice it when I crop right into the image and it mostly goes away at f1.4, otherwise its just a really nice lens.
Hi. Im trying to get a ND filter for this lens. Is it possible?
I own the lens, just make it a 58mm thread filter.
Thank you for the great review. The video w/ the lens at it’s widest apertures is just beautiful. Wow, it looked just like film, which is a compliment. Modern lenses are sharp but lacking in image quality (or what might be called character), something the Canon has in spades. By the way, the FD 50 1.4 is a keeper too.
I have this lens and on my Canon 2000D I can focus as far away as my elbow. 🙂 The adapter you mentioned does not seem to be availble for this lens anymore. Have you heard of any others? With this lens you know you have something on the front of your camera. It weighs 1.05822 lbs. The light coming through this lens is different than what comes through other lenses. It seems clear and bright. I am currently using the OM-System G.Zuiko Auto-S 55mm f1.2 lens. Does this lens use Fluorite glass anywhere?
This lens works great with my Sony A7Rii. Has anyone noticed that the girl in the video above is walking around with her shoe laces untied? This seems like it was shot in a petting zoo. Did she borrow these boots? You know what they say about a farm girl with her boot laces untied?
I have the FL 55 f/1.2 and use a Fotodiox PRO adapter to mount to my EF bodies (1DX). It works very well, and the lens is fantastic. Mostly used stopped down a bit; am looking to master its quirks to use it wide open when I can.
These day with my Sony A7Rii, I use several f1.2 for the razor sharp DOF. I use them for product shoots.