Canon FD lens with or with out SSC?

I have a canon FD 50mm f1.4 without ssc and I have been approached by some asking if I wanted to buy the ssc version of the same lens.

So my question is....what is SSC, what does it do, What's the difference and is it worth it? He's asking $150 for it.

Help?

Thanks in advance.

Chad

S.S.C. was Canon's super extra good lens coating to increase contrast and reduce flare. Does it work? Well, I shoot with a 55mm f1.2 that has the red S.S.C. identifier and I can tell you that any kind of direct light into the lens is like dropping a veil over it. Stopping down helps a little. It could be that my lens is full of dust but yours might be too.

Here's an example from today shot at f8:




FD 55mm f1.2 S.S.C. at f8

JustChad said:

I have a canon FD 50mm f1.4 without ssc and I have been approached by some asking if I wanted to buy the ssc version of the same lens.

So my question is....what is SSC, what does it do, What's the difference and is it worth it? He's asking $150 for it.

Help?

Thanks in advance.

Chad

Click to expand...

Your lens is also SCC. Don't bother getting another one.

All FD 50mm 1.4 lenses have S.C.C (Super Spectra Coating). The FD 50mm 1.8 and some of the earliest FD lenses had only S.C (Spectra coating). Many had SCC even though it was not written on the lens. All EF and EF-S lenses also have S.C.C (Super Spectra Coating).

More detailed info here: FD Lenses (see Lens coatings, design variants)

The "New" FD 50mm 1.4 has S.C.C but does not have it printed on the lens.

JustChad said:

I have a canon FD 50mm f1.4 without ssc and I have been approached by some asking if I wanted to buy the ssc version of the same lens.

So my question is....what is SSC, what does it do, What's the difference and is it worth it? He's asking $150 for it.

Click to expand...

Three models of FD 50 f/1.4 (and these were preceded by 3 FL models). All three of the FD, as well as the last FL 50 f/1.4 II and the EF 50 f/1.4 USM, have the same optical formula of 7 elements in 6 groups with 8-blade aperture.

1. FD 50 f/1.4. 1971, Silver ring breech lock, 55mm filter size. Doesn't have "S.S.C" on it, but is.
2. FD 50 f/1.4 S.S.C. 1973, Silver ring breech lock, 55mm filter, adds "S.S.C." and minor changes.
3. new FD 50 f/1.4 1979. Black bayonet mount with button release, 52mm filter, new FD series has SSC coatings, doesn't have "new" or "S.S.C." anywhere on it.

[edited for corrections]

--
Unapologetic Canon Apologist

Scott Larson said:

S.S.C. was Canon's super extra good lens coating to increase contrast and reduce flare. Does it work? Well, I shoot with a 55mm f1.2 that has the red S.S.C. identifier and I can tell you that any kind of direct light into the lens is like dropping a veil over it. Stopping down helps a little. It could be that my lens is full of dust but yours might be too.

Here's an example from today shot at f8:

Click to expand...

SSC was quite effective but perhaps shouldn't be judged solely by the 55mm f1.2, which had certain attributes (namely speed) but resistance to flare or high contrast weren't strong points. The FD 55mm f/1.2 AL (Aspheric) was better in that respect.

meland said:

SSC was quite effective but perhaps shouldn't be judged solely by the 55mm f1.2, which had certain attributes (namely speed) but resistance to flare or high contrast weren't strong points. The FD 55mm f/1.2 AL (Aspheric) was better in that respect.

Click to expand...

Would an FD 50mm f1.4 have better flare resistance? The 55mm f1.2 is great old lens but I really have to be careful about light sources. You can see stopping down doesn't help at all.

Scott Larson said:

meland said:

SSC was quite effective but perhaps shouldn't be judged solely by the 55mm f1.2, which had certain attributes (namely speed) but resistance to flare or high contrast weren't strong points. The FD 55mm f/1.2 AL (Aspheric) was better in that respect.

Click to expand...

Would an FD 50mm f1.4 have better flare resistance? The 55mm f1.2 is great old lens but I really have to be careful about light sources. You can see stopping down doesn't help at all.

Click to expand...

The FD 50/1.4 is better than the 55/1.2 in terms of flare resistance. It can be a prone to a slight 'veiling' at f/1.4 but that can be quite attractive for certain subjects (portraiture for example) and stopping down does improve matters.

Under certain circumstances with the 1.4, with bright lights in an otherwise completely dark scene, you can get a faint upside down reflection of those lights. This is not improved much by stopping down but it is a fairly rare occurrence that is not actually unique to this lens and probably should not put you off unless you specialise in something like cityscapes at night.

Many of these lenses for film cameras do flare more with digital sensors because sensors are highly reflective and reflect a certain amount of light back into the lens. Film wasn't nearly as reflective so lenses did not need to be designed to counteract this.