| Year | 1981 |
| Lens Groups | 13 |
| Lens Element | 15 |
| Aperature Blades | 5 |
| Minimum Aperture | f/22 |
| Closest Focusing | 1.5 m |
| Max. Magnifcation | 1:12.7 (0.079x) |
| Filter Size | 72 mm |
| Diameter x Length | 76.5 x 108.4 mm |
| Weight | 600 gr (1.32 lb) |
| Hood | BW-72B |
NOTE: I don't do still images, I only do cinematography so that's where this is coming from...
Overall: If you don't need perfection, then for the price it's the most versatile lens I've found.... I'm pairing this lens with an a7Sii for location scouts and small crew travel/interview documentary shoots.
- Minimum focusing distance is real and shockingly hard to get used to.
- As sharp as it needs to be while still looking "organic."
- Focus pull almost as smooth and as long as a cinema prime (BEST feature for me personally). Really good with a follow focus.
- Parfocal! Lovely... never takes you out of the moment.
- Macro is very usable, but not good enough if the majority of your important shots needed to be macro.
- It barely warms the image up compared to the newer L-series glass.
- De-clicked aperture is very useful, but the aperture pull could be much longer.
- Unexciting flares.
- Can't bokeh on command, which is good so you don't fall back on lazy images, but bad if you want to be lazy.
- I've gotten used to (lazy with) the sony 24-70 2.8 and going up to a 3.5 was an adjustment and I have to remind myself I can't bring this lens to *any* situation and expect to make something pretty while still being lazy.
If ever you manage to find a solid specimen without rotten slide bearings the New FD 35-105 mm f/3.5 might be one of the best bargains in Canon FD land. I had to sample a few before finding a good one and I'm very happy with it: IQ is very good throughout the full frame (Sony A7) and operation is smooth and nice. The standard sunshade BW-72B might be difficult to find and rather costly but the expense might be worth it since the lens is quite prone to reflections and flare.
Good range in the zoom , seems to be a Sharpe across the range .. I paid about £70 for my copy with hood from Uk eBay ... it’s mint .. not scratch or mark anywhere . All controls are tight and work well .. the blacks in the images are very inky dark ... love the look it produces ... it’s a very good solid lens .. macro function is useful as well , not at the same level as the 100mm but if u have nothing else it will get you some interesting images ... nothing bad to say about it ...
Interestingly focal range but unfortunately vignetting and low image quality.
This has been for many years my all around zoom. I have owned quite a few zooms over the years and the image quality of this lens has always stood out above the rest. The only exception to that would be my FD 80-200 4.0L The build quality is excellent, although it is a bit heavy. I have always thought that this could have been an "L" lens. Nice focal range, fairly fast and I love the separate zoom and focus rings (I'm not a big fan of push/pull zooms) The macro feature is also a nice feature of this lens. Image quality and color rendition are excellent. I will continue to use this lens for many more years on both my AE-1 and A1.
I had three examples of this lens and not one of them was good. Its a higly overrated lens. I compared the 28-85 - its much better Image quality. The 35-70 2.8-3.5 is much better too. The only good thing on the 35-105 is its sturdy construction. But that alone helps nothing. Front lens can easy be damaged. Prone to flare. Low contrast. Boring colors...
I bought this lens to use on a Sony A7R and A7R2. I really wanted to like this lens, but after trying three copies I have to give up on it. First, the positives: build quality is excellent and the lens is pin-sharp in the center, just as good as the legendary Contax/Yashica 35-70. The negative: edge sharpness on these cameras is woeful. At this point, I don't know if I've just had bad luck and tried three defective lenses, if the sensor is too much"for this lens"
My example came from a classic film shooter. The zoom+focus rings move way too easily compared to my other FD lenses. Albeit, they move super super super smoothly, which is trademark of FD lenses. The lens portrays a very usable zoom range when mounted to a full frame camera, such as my Sony A7. CA can be present wide open, as expected with almost all lenses, but retreats when stopped down. Weight can be an issue for the girls, but I don't mind it if it means it's because it's solidly built.rnrnThe lens is great value; I bought mine for about $80 and it is mint w/box and 3 Hoya filters, so these can be found easily for less than $80 on ebay, as of 2015.rnrnVignetting is obvious at 35mm F3.5 on a full frame camera and grows when zoomed to 105mm.rnrn"Macro" mode is activated by zooming down to 35 and pushing a switch on the lens forward and rotating the zoom ring down further into the "Macro" range. From there, you release the macro switch and you are now locked in macro mode, which allows you to focus quite close (within a foot if i recall). rnrnThe lens is actually quite sharp even at f/3.5, but f/5.6 would prob provide the best overall IQ, all things considered.rnrnI bought this lens along with a 24-35 3.5L to [mockingly] replace my 24-105 F4L because I sold my 7D for the A7, and wasn't fully committed to mounting an EF lens to it yet. Still getting used to dealing with two rings on a lens, as opposed to my FD primes., so if speed is a concern, that's something to consider.rnrnAll in all, definitely a lens I wouldn't want to do without. A good walkaround lens, though it is fairly long.
I got this for my Panasonic zoom G6 (MFT) for use with SpeedBooster. In my case it's like having a 50-150mm f2.8 about to, both as optical fantastic build quality, both as image quality. In the video is fantastic. A bit too heavy. I noticed that the lens hood is insufficient for this lens, suffers a lot of flares. Many say that quality is lower as compared to his brother "minor" F3.5-4.5, but the beauty of having a video in f3.5 (f2.8 with SpeedBooster) constant, in my opinion is better. Very useful the macro function.
This is a good
great lens great operation great IQ! buy it its great
Up to 1995 I had not owned a zoom lens of any kind, of any make, of any set of focal lengths. It wasn't because I was some single focal length purist. Rather it was, well, other things such as home, family, children, the mortgage - those kind of obligations which used my available funds. So, I used the collection of single focal length lenses had, which did a good job for me both then and now. Then in 1995 a friend gave me a Canon zoom lens he bought at a photo swap. It mounted on the camera, the aperture worked just fine, and it zoomed from 35-105 smoothly. However, it had a fungus on about a third of the front element, and the filter/lens hood ring was banged up. I got it fixed, and while they couldn't do anything for the filter ring, they did clean off the fungus, which resulted in much improved pictures. Though a "a new" style FD lens, I used it primarily on my Canon EF - where it balanced nicely. The high point with this lens was my son's cub scout trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield. The first day was a 3 mile route that took us to Culp's Hill and it's observation tower. I my all my equipment with me, which turned the walk up the tower into a veritable cardiac stress test. The next day which was a 9 mile route that took us to Eisenhower's home, Little Round top and across to Seminary Ridge where we followed the route of Pickett's charge to the clump of trees; well I didn't take all my stuff. Instead it was just my Canon EF with the repaired 35-105 f.3.5. The two of them together did every thing I needed. 35mm was fine for the scenery, while any focal length between 45 to 105mm was fine for portraits, small group shots and demonstrations. The pictures themselves were some of the best I had taken. Sadly, the lens along with my Canon AE-1 were stolen about the same time time I was going through a divorce. Insurance did pay for it, and eventually I collected new gear to replace the old outfit, and, the first new lens I got was, you guessed it a Canon FDn 35-105 f.3.5, which I still have to this day. This one was like new, and is still like new. And, one of these days I'm going to get out my A-1, with motor drive MA, put this lens on it,and take some more "walk around pictures." I bet they will come out just as well as the ones I took at Gettysburg those many years ago. End of story.
Image quality is very good for a zoom. I like the colors it renders.
Build quality is nice, but the lettering is prone to fading away (this is not a problem with the smaller FDn lenses as their lettering is etched/engraved).
It's hard to handle with a small camera like my NEX 5n. Because of it's weight/size I have to balance by holding the lens and when rotating the zoom or focus ring I accidentally rotate the other ring.
Superb all round lens for 35mm camera's, but not so practical for small (system) camera's.
I'm using this zoom on Sony NEX 5N camera, it works very well. In my measurements this zoom surpassed 60 l/mm already fully open, and it has a very good contrast, it's as good as the best FD primes in this range. Mechanically the lens is very well built, with smooth rings, and due to good contrast, it's easy to focus. Be careful using protective filters on this lens, they may noticeably reduce its resolution and contrast.
The worst thing about this length is the minimal focusing distance of just 1.5m. The macro mode allows to shoot from ~0.3 m and there is nothing in between.
I bought this lens for it's reputation, and I have no regrets. It is built very well, has a fixed wide open aperture of a pretty fast f/3.5, and a well designed optical system. It produces crisp, sharp images with nice color fidelity and saturation. It really is a joy to use. Flare can be an issue, as is the nature of zooms in general, but it isn't a major issue. I tend to use a hood with all of my lenses (it's just a personal quirk), and until the sun pokes into the frame, flare is pretty well controlled. I really enjoy this lens, and I would recommend it to anyone as a fine standard lens kit for any FD compatible Canon body.
I mostly use it as a "walk around" lens on my T90 body, but I included a link to a pic where it is mounted on my F1N body. The setup was shot to put a visual to a comment I made in a different review about how the F1N with motor drive attached weighs as much as my Mamiya RZ67 "photo brick" studio camera, so it includes the RZ in the shot, but the FD 35-105 f/3.5 zoom shows itself off pretty well in the mix.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2736/4363414577_ff07f8da46_b.jpg
This lens amazes me, try as I might to dislike it all tests I have done with it has shown it to be very sharp, produces nice colors. I find this is a better performer than the 20-35L. I bought this lens to replace the 35-70AF. Te macro setting I find of very little use, just can't get an image I like too far away the 80-200L or 79=0-210 F4 are better zooms for that.
Big and heavy for its day, but for your efforts carrying it, you get a zoom with few of the vices of a zoom: I like to think of this one as a 'Small Stack of Primes.' The size isn't as remarkable in these days of stew-can-sized zoom lenses, but once upon a time, it could be considered a real beast. While never astoundingly-sharp, it performs quite consistently throughout its ranges and never suffers offensive distortion or embarrassing softness. A great people lens, and makes an especially-wieldy combination with an A-1 or AE-1P and winder A2. (it makes a pretty heavy package on an F-1+winder, likely depending how strong you are)
A great zoom for those who don't like zooms: it can be prone to flare, especially since the OEM hood is a bit hard to find and expensive: this is a good candidate for a three-step rubber hood, lacking one of those.
From a time when they'd call near anything 'macro,' in particular this lens' version is more like an occasionally-useful 'special close focusing mode' than anything likely to appeal to macro fans.
All in all, it's a lens that does the basics well. My IQ rating takes 'for a zoom' into consideration.
Excellent lens.
I had the FDn 35-105mm f3.5-4.5 , and this one is far superior in image quality.
Best zoom lens I've ever used. Great overall focal length if you don't have the time to switch from one lens to another( like shooting weddings, parties etc...).
You would have to spend at least $1,500 to get a 24-105mm 4L IS EF lens to get better quality. I only spent $85 for mine.