| Year | 1985 |
| Lens Groups | 11 |
| Lens Element | 13 |
| Aperature Blades | 8 |
| Minimum Aperture | f/22 |
| Closest Focusing | 0.9 m |
| Max. Magnifcation | 1:9.9 (0.101x) |
| Filter Size | 72 mm |
| Diameter x Length | 76.5 x 104.1 mm |
| Weight | 485 gr (1.07 lb) |
| Hood | BW-72 |
I should first point out that all of the lens reviews I have written involve using the lens on a Canon film camera--an A-1 or an AE-1 Program. I mention this because a lot of reviews are understandably written about the lens being used for digital work. I do own a Bower FD lens to EOS body converter by find it to be pretty lousy overall and none of the lenses function well. I am glad to hear they perform better on other digital cameras.
That all said, I like the image quality of this lens. As with most lenses it seems to peak its performance from 5.6-11 with sharpness drop-off at f4 and beyond f11. It is light due to the use of polycarb materials instead of metal which makes it easy to add to the camera bag. It is a fairly obtrusive lens and would not be ideal for street photography if you are worried about the subject knowing what's going on. The zoom range does make it ideal for street work nonetheless. If you use the lens hood you might as well where a bell around your neck to announce your arrival. The hood is huge--bigger than the opening of a coffee mug. I love using hoods for protection of the lens and to cut down on flare, but this one is hard to pack into a walk around camera bag--yes it's that big. I'm sure there is a perfectly acceptable reason for this, but I cannot currently think of one. I put the build at 8.5 because I am concerned about plastic and age. Alsatian makes some good points about this in their review. All my FD lenses look great and work great, while the nFD worry me due to build. On the other hand, the older I get the happier I am with lighter weight lenses and the nFD have far better coatings on them--normally multiple coatings. Definitely worth buying for film use if you can get it reasonably ($50-70 US). I sold my 35-105 once I got this lens--I think it has much better image quality.
This is a very, very underrated lens. It was one of the latest designed FD lenses (1985) and was build on experiences from the popular 20-35 f/4L and 35-105 f/3,5.
It's versatile zoomrange still allows close focussing up to 0,5 mtr over the entire range without the need to pull a switch to 'macro'.
Ofcourse it is an all plastic build, but focussing and zooming feels almost like the older FD's.
This lens is perfect for video because it's fixed aperture and focus over the entire zoomrange.
There is a clear range overlap with the smaller 35-105 f/3,5-4,5 from the same year but this one is much better.
This is one of the latest zoom lenses of the FD line and it show in its construction quality : while older zoom lenses use a mix of metal and plastic parts for the outer barrels, the Canon New FD 28-85mm f/4 is entirely clad in plastic parts. While this lowers the weight of the lens, it reduces the haptics. Furthermore, the lens uses the typical bearings for the zoom and focus rings which causes some problems with age - even though my lens looks like new, the zoom ring makes some grinding noise and it tends to move by itself when set to 85 mm. Otherwise, handling is great, thanks to a low weight and a low minimum focus distance. At 85 mm and wide open, it is possible to produce great close-up shots with very nice bokeh. In terms of sharpness, the lens holds up very well once the aperture reduced to f/5,6 - nethertheless, you will have to go to f/11 to assure a very good border sharpness at 28 mm with a Sony A7 "full frame" camera ( the outer corners stay a litt bit fuzzy). Distorsion is pronounced at 28 mm but basically non existant at longer focal lengths, vignetting ceases to be a problem at f/5.6. Against the light, the lens shows a pretty mediocre performance which is hardly surprising given the number of elements used - a lens hood is highly recommended.
This lens is very good. It�s much better than the 35-105 3.5. The flares are well controlled, sharpness is good and it good quite nice color rendition. The only thing i do not like is the rotating front element which makes using a polarizer not very comfortable. Despite it�s plastic body, the lens and its shell"has a very good build quality. It�s a rare to find lens. The price of it ranges between 25 and 150 $. The design of the lens is more modern and it has not that all-metal-feel the older fd lenses had. Because it�s a newer fd lens all the problems with optics are much better controlled than with older lenses."""
had this lans for years and still use it in the digital age. I have it mounted on a Canon AT-1 and use it when on vacation. It offers good wide angle and short telephoto coverage in a single lens and Canon quality says it all.
I had only limited experience with this lens. Owned it (used) for about three weeks until a short drop (18") while sailing broke the internal mount attachments inside the barrel. The AE-1 attached was unharmed.
After taking apart the mount to see if it could be repaired, it was obvious the mount to main lens barrel attachment (four screws into small polycarbonate tabs) was under-engineered given the weight of the front lens barrel and lever arm.
This failure makes me nervous about the 35-105mm zoom I acquired around the same time.