LENS TEST - Canon FD vs Leica R vs Nikon AI-s

[@terrywbreedlove]

I think your Nikon adapting ring is slightly off.

[@aregal]

What a beautiful, lush backyard! Nice grill too!! Haha. Oh…and nice lenses. It’s great to see all three looks side by side. Thanks for shooting this.

[@MarcusRobbin]

Looks like there is fungus or haze in some of the Ai-S lenses. I own the full set and have never seen something like this

[@quiztasiarocks]

How would rate the AIS lenses, I’m thinking of going for those, or the Contax Zeiss Distagon 2.8’s.

[@myblueandme]

@@quiztasiarocks 28 mm Ais is superb also 24mm Ais is amazing

[@myblueandme]

@@quiztasiarocks instead of contax buy flektogon

[@jkapp374]

I have one Nikon Nikkor AI 35mm And in my opinion, it can be an incredibly sharp lens and also renders skin tones very nicely... I would agree with others here. It seems something is off with the Nikon lens in this one particular video. But that's not my experience with Nikon so far..Leicas are incredible lenses but For those of us on a budget, you can build a set of nikon vintage lenses much quicker

[@lescula]

I changed my mind about buying a Leica R. It looks like Canon FD is the best, especially for its low price

[@LucaBono.Studio]

You'll be surprised to see how similar the canon FD and Leica R are...but the glow from the Leica R is just special. For the money, nothing can't beat the canon FD 😁

[@GangofThem]

The L and aspherical canon fds are thousands now, but you can get the cheaper ones a plenty. All look good but if u plan on rehousing down the road the LS are pretty identical to aspherical

[@Chris-ey7zy]

@@LucaBono.Studio I prefer Leica

[@LucaBono.Studio]

@@Chris-ey7zy Me too :) I have a full set of Leica R, while the Canon FD are taking dust...

[@Chris-ey7zy]

@@LucaBono.Studio I don’t use my FD much. Figure I’ll use it if I get a black magic. My Leica love is my 90mm 2.0. Not loved because of its size by other Leica uses but looks amazing when shooting

[@hidemaxwell]

Love Leica and I own a few summicrons but for the money I’d probably go with the nikons... nice balance of highlight roll off, color and pleasing skin tones. Leicas are the best but they are also triple the price...

[@LucaBono.Studio]

I think that Leica R lenses have a more pleasing character...the Nikkor lenses looks and perform cheap to my eyes.

[@LucaBono.Studio]

Great video Frank! I love the look of the fast canon FD, but I prefer the Leica look eheheh. That's why I've got a set of Summicron, not too expensive and difficult to find!

[@GangofThem]

nice! yea all these lenses are great too be honest. the lummilux are dumb expensive so if you can manage with the f2 or go canon/nikon your set! the ads are getting out of hand expensive now. but the great thing is everyone has an option to cheap glass that really looks stunning.

[@hauntedbytheliving1175]

Wait, are the leica r lenses in this comparison summilux’ s? Or a mixture of summicron, summilux and elmarit... mind sharing?

[@Makta972]

They all look great. The 24mm leica R have so much more pop it's crazy. The nikon lenses would work great if you want to emulate super16 look. The canon fd are the most polyvalent lenses here.

[@nebukadnezzar3578]

Such a good video. I often get back to it! :))

[@lenstestchannel5486]

very strange ... never notice this ghosting effect on Nikkor AIS witch are excellent lenses , even at full aperture

[@djmarzek]

this video comparison is very useful !! you need to compare the contax zeiss next !

[@bmefilms6879]

this video right here...I went and hunted down and purchased the canon 35 f2 immediately after I saw this video!!!

[@dalelasoul8359]

Did you get the concave SSC version? heard they're much sharper.

[@bmefilms6879]

@@dalelasoul8359 yes!

[@dalelasoul8359]

@@bmefilms6879 Excellent! I know that particular lens as well as the holy grail 24mm nFD f/1.4 all got a premium mark up since the past year.. These lenses are becoming much harder to acquire at affordable prices. lol

[@bmefilms6879]

@@dalelasoul8359 its silly how the prices have risen.

[@mihao7938]

This is a very nice comparison! Great to see the characteristics of different lenses. I imagine that it was a very quick test and I only wish that the camera was locked off! However I have an impression that a lot of shots were overexposed (particularly nikon and leica) and it also appears to me that certain shots were taken at significantly different ISOs (ie 800 vs 1600) to compensate for different apertures. As the result it greatly affected contrast and therefore saturation between lenses. Also, when you watch in 4K you can see that some of the wide shots are out of focus (the focus is on the pot plant instead of the girl). Awesome smoker bbq tho!

[@darkodjeric4650]

FD looks better, but it feel Nikon scenes were slightly over exposed compare to others

[@TwangThang57]

Something goofy going on with the Nikon lenses….. I shoot AI and AI- S lenses all the time and they look nothing like the footage in this video.

[@marioarias9942]

Thanks for this comparison video on the Canon fd, Leica R and Nikon ai-s lenses. I think the Canon fd was more balanced looking and the Leica R like others mentioned has more pop . I have a Nikon ai-s 28mm 2 it’s a great lens really sharp . I also have Canon fd ssc aspherical 55mm 1.2 it’s a cult classic and the Canon fd 85mm 1.2 L . Canon fd is preferred for videos you can tell even though the other ones are great too . Canon color palette and balance is hard to beat for videos using a vintage lens.

[@TradeMarkMusic23]

This looks great ! Do the leicas all really have that pop ? I just scooped a Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AIS but if there is a huge difference between the 2, id go get myself the leica instead .

[@stranstudio]

for me, Leica R > Canon FD > Nikon Ai-s. I have a full set of FD (waiting to convert) and a Leica R 24 f2.8 & 50 f2. Looking for a high serial 38xxx 90 f2 currently.

[@wasp_studio]

I have nikon Ai lenses and I have never seen that look

[@gasbike100mpg]

Leica seemed to be the sharpest and had more contrast

[@myblueandme]

your Nikkor 24mm is defective. I have one and its a sharp lens yes with muted colours.

[@CertainExposures]

Again I am reluctant to decide just looking at KZbin footage. However, I feel an unfortunate tug at my wallet because the Leica R at F2.8 pleases me the most. I wonder what the 35 looks like a F2.8. Unfortunately all the lenses appear to lack color consistency on my screen. This is an iPad though.

[@GangofThem]

all these lenses will not match at all since its 3 different sets. even among them will have color shift.

[@CertainExposures]

Frank Apollonio yes, I meant within brand. E.g all canons compared.

[@pdas25762]

this mismatch that you see is likely due to very different serial numbers between lenses of the same brand. If you try find a set with relatively close serial numbers then though should look quite similar.

[@CertainExposures]

@@pdas25762 interesting info thank you

[@pdas25762]

@@dasbasti1990 that may be the case, sorry just repeated what a lot of KZbinrs have said. My leica R set are between 332xxxx and 336xxxx and they are quite evenly matched whereas my friend's 29xxxxx has a different colour cast to mine

[@PJM-Media]

Nice comparison! Do the Nikon´s lose the extrem "glow" effect when stopping the lens down a bit? Its looks interesting but is not suitable for every project.

[@theo.jovitch]

The glow starts to disappear as soon as you close the aperture. I think the f1.4 and f1.2 nikkors (exept the late AI and AI-s 50mm f1.4) are not really usable wide open, but perform very nicely at f2. Also it is important to note that the glow is less obvious on a full frame sensor. I think it would have been more telling to test all lenses at similar apertures. Also I would argue that the 24mm f2.8, 35mm f2 and 50mm f1.4 AI-s are better lenses than their faster siblings, except if you are looking for a very dreamy/glowy look.

[@benjaminaguilera8097]

0:33 Nikon 24mm looks like it has a diffusion filter built in lmao

[@ILaxative]

Lol That’s because it’s very soft wide open. Stopped down a lot of these lenses will look similar

[@benjaminaguilera8097]

@@ILaxative well i don't personally buy bright lenses to be used stopped down and neither the Leica or the Canon looked that soft wide open

[@ILaxative]

@@benjaminaguilera8097 most definitely. I own both the Nikon and canon one. My canon lenses and my Helios are glued to my c300 mkiii

[@benjaminaguilera8097]

@@ILaxative the Helios is one of my all time faves. And the 50 Summicron-R is beautiful.

[@Raevenswood]

I think there there is something wrong with your copy of the Nikkor lens they are usually very sharp and render very nicely. Yours looked soft like it has haze or fungus inside or the elements are out of alignment.

[@coudik]

damn.. i was decided to go with the nikon ais set lenses since the fds are kinda hard to convert to ef mount... but after this video I’ll have to go with the canon fd... the nikons are too soft wide open but i still love them. can you please tell me which fd conversion kit you went with? thanks a lot awesome and useful video btw

[@stevensandoval93]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5jIeGaupNp_i80

[@GangofThem]

I went w simmod but they just changed there mounts to brass due to shift w wireless follow focuses, right now its a softer material, would much prefer brass

[@MudbloodWizard]

Thanks for the test! Really helpful in making my decision? What do you think about the Sigma 18-35? Too sharp and clinical?

[@LucaBono.Studio]

Yes It's too sharp and clinical, but you can always add a diffusion filter on it. The real issue can be the green flare, but if you like it...go for it!

[@GangofThem]

I like that lens but im not a zoom fan im a small depth of field on wide lens fan

[@hamzamohamedgamal9427]

really liking the video and the look you got there but can you specify which fd lens you where using at each focal length . the 35mm fd was it the convex or the concave , thank you and great video

[@GangofThem]

hey! all these lenses are wide open. I believe its the worse of the two. and I think i ordered the better one after ( don't remember which is which)

[@Belcanto401]

Leica 24mm Elmarit is essentially the Minolta MD-II 24mm/f2.8. It has never been considered as a true “Leica”. Speaking of Minolta, MD-III 24mm/f2.8 is a much improved lens than its predecessors. Its higher price in the vintage lens market reflects that status.

[@user-zu8nc9rc9k]

Any suggestion on who’s good in the US or Canada for FD lens CLA?

[@joeyzhao465]

leica R just pops! I am surpriesed how nikon ais blooms in the highlight, which I didn't notice in my nikon AIS. Maybe different ages or the coating falled off?

[@GangofThem]

could very well be! i think wide open they bloom and stopped down a bit it goes away. could be copies for sure. getting the leica rs rehoused.

[@jackstacks83]

Is the canon nFD or the SSC version?

[@ThePhenomenalLife]

It seems as if all the nikkor shots are out of focus.

[@GangofThem]

wide open on these lenses gives a softer take for sure and the highlights glow, if you stop down that does away pretty quick, its kinda nice because you can have 2 looks in a lens.

[@ChocolateMafia93]

Indeed they are, on the first shot with nikon the focus is on the table, specifically on the table leg. In the second is on the flowers. Wonder how anyone didn't notice it.

[@askmedontaxeme]

What serial on the leica 24mm?

[@selah2613]

fds for the win

[@dalelasoul8359]

I agree! wish there was a 24mm nFD f/1.4 in this test!

[@NathanKatash]

i dont know if this is the light or somthing else but the greeans in leica looks much reacher

[@CizaEnjoyIt]

this video would be much more useful, if you'd compare the lenses on f-stops that are actually usable. f1.4 lens is always much better at f1.8 or f2 and so on :)

[@jassirhere9631]

THANK YOU!

[@studioduepadova]

witch adapter did you use on the URSA mini pro Ef to Canon FD?

[@GangofThem]

had them cine moded to ef.

[@studioduepadova]

@@GangofThem tks

[@davidadrien4369]

Leica has what the canon and the Nikon has but without the bad problems. Canon looks good but lacks color saturation and is more cool with a tint. Nikon is very vivid and warm with the saturation but the chromatic aberration is BAD... If you have money the get the Leica. If you want cleaner and cool get the Canon. If you want healthy rich saturation that is warm and vibrant then get the Nikon. Just remember to stop down the lens if you dont want the aberration in your shots with the Nikon (Especially with 35mm AIS).

[@PhamDuySG]

The nikon 35 1.4 ais make the blur highlight

[@GangofThem]

yes when wide open it gives a glow. if you stop down a touch that disappears but I actually enjoy it.

[@Nyky279]

@@GangofThem i think it's not the lens because on my little and less professional xh1 there's no trace of the chromatic aberration i see in this footage.. Yes, wide open both 20, 24 and 28 i own are soft but not so much. I made several tests and on corners the 28 ai is better than elmarit 35 or summicron 50 r.

[@Marvin19661]

THe Leica poppped.

[@ktcool4660]

something wrong with the AI lenses

[@chenterry3227]

I suppose the adapter issues.

[@aurealism]

@@chenterry3227 I have a set of24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm at f2. in these videos probably adapter issues or focus is screwed up. I can say that its sharper than this video and doesn't do it justice. it has a slight haze over the image but its like have a pro mist filter on the lens. once stopped up it gets sharper. I do prefer the image over the canon fd.

[@Chris-ey7zy]

Leica 3D

[@christopherlee5650]

It is never the equipments as Ferraris isn't any better than any automobile that cost not nearly as much.

[@stefenheif]

I must say, looking at a test chart, Canon FD lenses have nothing special. This video, with the small camera movements, shows the 3D rendering of the FD. The blooming of AI-S affects negatively this impression and thankfully, the 85 is the least affected. The Leica-R truly are in a class of their own.

[@rupunzel6299]

Leica lens images have a "suspended" away from the background effect as if the model was stenciled into the image. Some consider this desirable, some not desirable. Either case, does not make Leica superior-inferior, Canon FD superior-inferior, it is much about an image presentation.

[@galocascio]

Those Nikon AI-s really sucks. The best to me Leica R, are beautifull, second best Canon FD.

[@alexced3923]

thats here but its superb in the real world