The 5 Best Bell & Howell FD35 Camera Lenses
The FD35 is a great 35mm film camera.
If you don’t have a lens or want a different lens, this article will go over the top 5 lenses to use with your FD35 camera.
More information is further down, however if you’re short on time, here’s the list of the lenses:
- Kit Lens - Canon FD 50mm f/1.8 (eBay)
- Wide Angle Lens - Canon FD 28mm f/3.5 (Amazon)
- Portrait Lens - Canon FD 100mm f/2.8 (Amazon)
- Zoom Lens - Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 (eBay)
- Macro Lens - Vivitar 90mm f/2.8 (eBay)
Kit Lens and Standard Primes
Canon FD 50mm f/1.8
If you don’t already have it, your first lens should be the original “kit lens” for the FD35, the Canon FD 50mm f/1.8. The 50mm f1.8 is plentiful, has superb picture quality, and is low-priced.
- The “classic” setup as it can be considered the original kit lens.
- Unbeatable value.
- Light and compact.
- Widely available and easy to find in good condition.
- Uses 55mm filter threads.
Check a variety of places to find the best condition and price. Copies of the lens can be found on eBay, Amazon, KEH, and Adorama.
For the 50mm focal length of photography, a 50mm lens is a terrific choice. The types of photography consist of architecture, casual use, travel, street, portraits, and landscapes. This is the most popular focal length that is used with the FD35.
In terms of size and weight, the lens is light, small, and well balanced. Based on on the version of the lens, it will weigh between 170-305g. If you want the lightest lens, find a new FD version.
You can also find 2 faster versions of the 50mm lens in a Canon FD mount.
Canon FD 50mm f/1.4
The Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 is 2/3 of a stop faster, but that comes at the cost of additional weight. It is a small amount more expensive when compared to the f1.8.
- Excellent image quality.
- Optical multi-coatings.
- Fairly easy to find in good condition.
- Larger and heavier than the f/1.8.
There are 4 versions of the 50mm f/1.4. The “new FD” copy is the lightest and newest of the bunch.
Copies of the lens can be found on eBay, Amazon, KEH, and Adorama.This lens is large, heavy, and very hard to focus lens. Expect soft photographs when shot wide open. If you stop the lens down to f/1.8 or f/1.4 you will not see a notable difference between it and the other lenses.
There are 2 versions, both are costly. The cost of the lens is because of collectibility and rarity, not optical superiority.
Alternative Standard Lenses
If you favor other focal lengths, here are several other possible choices. Expect to have to spend additional money than you would for a 50mm lens with a similar aperture.
- Canon FD 35mm f/2 SSC
- Canon FD 35mm f/2.8
- Canon FD 35mm f/3.5
- Canon FD 55mm f/1.2
Wide Angle Lens
Canon FD 28mm f/3.5
A 28mm focal length lens is often used for street photography. However, the most common use for wide-angle lenses are landscape and architectural photography.
- Great combination with a 50mm lens.
- Optical multi-coatings.
- Inexpensive and widely available.
- Small and light.
My recommended choice is the Canon FD 28mm f/2.8 thanks to the low price, ease of finding a copy, and superb optics.
Alternative Wide Angle Lenses
In terms of cost, the correlation is easy to understand. The greater the field of view, the higher priced the lens will be. Lenses with larger apertures also go for a whole lot more.
Weight will vary depending on the qualities of the lens. You will see lenses from 170g to 500g. Faster apertures will also mean that those lenses will be bulky and cause the camera to feel unbalanced.
- Canon FD 7.5mm f/5.6 Fisheye
- Canon FD 14mm f/2.8L
- Canon FD 15mm f/2.8
- Canon FD 17mm f/4
- Canon FD 20mm f/2.8
- Canon FD 24mm f/1.4
- Canon FD 24mm f/2
- Canon FD 24mm f/2.8
- Canon FD 28mm f/2
- Canon FD 28mm f/2.8
Portrait & Telephoto Lens
Canon FD 100mm f/2.8
The 85mm lens wasn’t as significant when the FD35 was initially distributed. Rather, the 135mm focal length was more popular to use as a lens for portraits.
- Excellent portrait lens.
- Less expensive 85mm alternative.
- Great value.
- Inexpensive.
If you want to capture portrait photos with the FD35, there are a few short telephoto lenses to choose among. The 100mm f/2.8 lens is one of the most inexpensive choices available.
An 85mm lens will have the highest price, with 135mm lenses sitting in the middle of the range of prices.
Since all of the Canon FD telephoto lenses will be manual focus, they are smaller than EF versions. Obviously, professional lenses like the Canon FD 85mm f/1.2L has to be hefty and enormous with the quantity of glass in the lens.
Count upon very low prices for the Canon FD 100mm f/2.8. Addititionally there is a 100mm f/4 macro version of the lens. It will certainly cost more and is not ideal for portraits as the lens should be stopped down.
Alternative Telephoto Lenses
An alternative option, the Canon FD 135mm f/2.8 is just about the most inexpensive prime lenses you can get. You will have to search through a large amount of listings for thirdparty 135mm lenses that are usually not anywhere close to as good as a Canon lens.
There are 85mm lenses to pick from. The most desireable is the Canon FD f/1.2L lens. A more inexpensive pick is the Canon FD 85mm f/1.8 lens, but it remains appreciably higher priced than the various telephoto lenses mentioned earlier.
- Canon FD 85mm f/1.2L
- Canon FD 85mm f/1.8
- Canon FD 100mm f/2
- Canon FD 135mm f/2.5
- Canon FD 200mm f/2.8
- Canon FD 200mm f/4
FD35 Zoom Lenses
Canon FD 35-105mm f/3.5 & Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5
The usefulness of partnering a FD35 along with a zoom lens is tempting. Being able to use a range of focal lengths with no need to change a lens is nice.
You need to keep in mind that these are vintage zoom lenses.
- Haze and or Fungus
- Large amount of dust in the lens
- Loose or tight zoom ring
- Loose or tight focus ring
- Oil on the aperture blades
- Decentered lens elements
Additionally, you need to keep in mind the drawbacks the lenses have even when in excellent condition.
- Image quality will not be good when shot wide open.
- One or both ends of the focal range may suffer from a large amount of distortion.
- Zoom lenses are larger and generally heavier than primes.
Alternative Zoom Lenses
In terms of price, most vintage zoom lenses are bargain priced.
- Canon FD 70-210mm f/4
- Canon FD 80-200mm f/4L
- Canon FD 28-85mm f/4
Macro Lens
Vivitar 90mm f/2.8 & Vivitar 55mm f/2.8
- My favorite vintage macro lens.
- Available in multiple lens mounts.
- Incredible value.
- Sharp corner-to-corner at f/8.
- My second favorite vintage macro lens.
- An excellent choice for close-up photography.
- It does not need an extension tube to reach 1:1 magnification.
Komine produced the two suggestted macro lenses in Japan. The lens was also released with several brand names. Elicar, Quantaray, Panagor, Spiratone, and Rokunar are names you might find on a copy of the lens.
There is a Vivitar 90mm f/2.8 Macro Lens Review and a Vivitar 55mm f/2.8 Macro Lens Review.
For capturing photos at macro magnification (1:1), the 90mm lens is going to be the better choice due to the fact that it has a larger working distance.
The 55mm lens is extremely good for table-top and close-up photography.
Alternative Macro Lenses
- Canon FD 50mm f/3.5
- Canon FD 100mm f/4
- Canon FD 200mm f/4
Used FD Camera Lens Prices
Pricing changes constantly. For the past several years, the desireability of film photography has been increasing. Consequently, price ranges have slowly increased.
To get the best price, checka number of websites. Quickly snap up a really good price the moment you come across one mainly because it can be a prolonged time until another comes up.
What Lens Mount Does the Canon AE-1 Use?
The FD35 makes use of the Canon FD lens mount. Canon used the FD mount for film cameras released from 1971-1992.
Here is a list of all the cameras that have a Canon FD mount.
The Canon FL lens mount was preceded by the FD mount, which was utilized from 1964 - 1971. FL mount lenses will work with the FD35, but you will have to use stopped down metering.
Standard Lens Cap Size
The standard lens cap and filter ring thread diameter for Canon FD lenses is 55mm.
Having a standardized filter thread size is useful due to the fact that you just need to find and bring 1 set of filters.
Some zoom and telephoto lenses have bigger filter ring thread diameters since they have large front lens elements.
FD vs FL Lens Mount
The Canon FL mount was made before the FD mount. You can use FL lenses on the FD mount, and FD lenses can be used on the FL lens mount.
What Canon FL mount lenses do not have the technology to automatically do stop-down metering. This means the lens will have to be stopped down with the depth-of-preview switch to enable the FD35’s light meter to display a correct value.
FD vs new FD Lenses
The whole body of the new FD lens rotates to lock onto the FD35. As opposed to original FD lenses which have a breech-lock ring at the rear of the lens that is required to be tightened in order to secure a lens.
New FD and FD lenses are interchangeable with each other. There will be no compatibility issues.
Occasionally you will see new FD lenses referred to as FDn lenses.
The improvement in the design of the breech-lock ring was because of complaints. A small group of customers experienced lenses getting stuck on a camera.
If you have not attached an FD mount lens to a camera, don’t fret. Just take it slow and do not force anything.
Telling FD and FDn Lenses Apart
You can instantly tell FD and new FD lenses from one another. New FD lenses will have a silver button located on the outside of the lens, where the lens mounts to the camera.
The earlier FD lenses have a metal ring that is required to be rotated after the lens is attached to lock it into place.
More Canon AE-1 Camera Resources
That wraps up the best FD35 lenses. Immediately after more info on the camera is put onto the website, it will be linked to right here.