Canon FD 300mm f5.6 - vintage lens review and test

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 Canon FD lenses have gained a lot of popularity in the last few years, amongst professionals and enthusiasts alike.

Yet, there are some lenses from this line that everyone seems to forget about and end up being left behind, like today’s subject: the Canon FD 300mm f5.6.

I believe I made it quite clear in past reviews of Canon FD lenses that I like them and by now you all know that I prefer longer focal lengths, so when I saw this lens in good conditions and at a fair price, I had to buy it.

LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK.

The Canon 300mm is made out of hard plastic and metal, it weights around 580g, it is 20cm long with a 58mm front thread. Focusing happens internally, so it doesn’t get any longer, except when you extend the metal sunhood, bringing it to 26cm.

The iris has 8 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f5.6 to f32

The focusing ring is textured, wide, smooth and it turns 320 degrees. minimum focusing distance is a little less than 3 meters.

Flange distance for canon FD lenses is 42mm, so they can be easily adapted to mirrorless cameras.

Sharpness wide open is very good and consistent across the frame. Stopping down to f8 it gets even sharper, losing most of the chromatic aberration.

And while we’re talking about it, chromatic aberration is present wide open and can be distracting on high contrast areas, but as I said it is mostly gone by f8.

As the other Canon FD lenses I’ve reviewed so far, colors are neutral and true to life and contrast is a bit low.

Out of focus areas are soft and boke balls swing between small with some onion rings to big and soft, depending on where you are focusing.

Flares and ghosting are extremely well controlled, even when shooting directly towards the sun.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that this lens is good, given what the other FDs I’ve reviewed so far have shown us. Yet, for some reason, I thought it would be… subpar. Needless to say, I was wrong.

Even wide open this lens produces great images, it is light, precise and reliable.

I understand that 300mm might not be to everyone’s taste or use but, if you are building a Canon FD kit, do not sleep on this one, or you will be missing out!



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