Canon FD 20mm f/2.8 — soft even when stopped down?
Canon FD 20mm f/2.8 — soft even when stopped down?
Hey, I have a Canon FD 20mm f/2.8 and I’m wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience with this lens.
I’m shooting on a Lumix S5IIX with a Hoya Variable ND filter. Overall, I find the sharpness pretty underwhelming. Even when stopped down, the image still feels quite soft and mushy, and I expected it to improve much more at smaller apertures.
It’s also really difficult to shoot with it against strong light. When a bright light source is in the frame, I sometimes get a strange dark/black spot around the highlight, almost like something you would see from an old video camera. I’m not sure if this is caused by the lens itself, the variable ND, or the combination of both.
On top of that, I find the footage surprisingly difficult to color grade. The colors feel a bit strange and I have a hard time getting them where I want.
I’m attaching a few frames from footage shot with this setup so you can see what I mean.
Has anyone here used the FD 20mm f/2.8 and experienced something similar? Is this just how this lens behaves, or could something inside have shifted or become misaligned over the years? Could it be decentered, have a loose/moved element, or some other optical issue?
And if there is something wrong with it, is this generally repairable or worth having serviced?