Canon AE-1 Program Lenses

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Hello, my name is Brandon and I am a amature photographer. I use the canon AE-1 program camera. I am looking for a zoom lens. Are there any other types of lenses out there besides the FD ones? Thanks to all

-- Brandon Kosinski (AmericanSpirit9@home.com), August 23, 2001

Answers

Hi Brandon,

Sure there are others out there. There are many aftermarket lenses by a number of manufacturers in the FD mount. Quality ranges from great to frightening. I remember one gentleman who was throwing one of these in with a camera for sale. He offered to throw it away so that the buyer wouldn't have to waste shipping on it. I've always had OEM Canon lenses, but there are others who can offer you more detail about finding the good aftermarket lenses.

-- Alan Swartz (swartz@tyler.net), August 25, 2001.


Hi Brandon,

A few questions. What's your intended subject matter? Sports? Landscapes? All-around photography? Do you know what zoom range you are looking for?

Search the web for reviews. For example, I might do a search for "Canon FD lens review" and see what that pulls up. Then I might just try "Canon FD lens". Photographyreview.com even has feedback on a few manual focus lenses.

Tokina, Tamron, Phoenix, Vivitar, and Sigma are among the 3rd-party makers of Canon FD stuff; some of those mfgrs are beginning to drop some of their manual focus models.

If you just want something to play with, consider the cheaper models offered by the mfgrs. If you want to maximize your image quality (as much as is within your budget), do your Web homework and you'll come up with enough info to make an educated decision.

I currently own two zooms: 35-80mm Tamron SP and a Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f3.5. I'm happy with both, although I do wish the Tamron went down to 28mm--I find the 35mm end a bit narrow.

Feel free to ask more Q's. The worst you can get is silence. :-)

-- Joshua Martin (josh_mar10@yahoo.com), August 25, 2001.


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