The "One Lens" Challenge

PhotosByHall said:

I'm very interested in picking one of these up as a soft\dreamy superfast portrait lens.

I'd be using it on APSC. I didn't even realise you could use it on Nikon 1 (i used to <3 the Nikon 1 series!)

How would you rate it as a soft portrait lens? I read it's about as close as you can get to the Canon 0.95 dream lens cheaply...

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Well, then maybe I'll help to persuade you to make that purchase.

To be honest, I haven't used it much at all since I bought it last April, and I only had my Nikon 1 cameras and adapter (for Canon FD and Pentax K lenses). I bought my Z7ii on sale before Christmas, so didn't have a full frame adapter until Tuesday this past week.

Therefore, with a Nikon V1 or V3, I only ever used it with 2.7X crop factor, making it effectively a 156mm f3.2. That's not a bad portrait lens, but I have faster, longer and sharper AF lenses to choose from, so those always took precedence when shooting portraits. Besides, using non-Nikon lenses on the Nikon 1 series cameras is not easy to focus because of the extra magnification, no IBIS. Non-Nikon lenses (i.e. without the FT!) lose the ability to zoom in to focus, also, so you can only confirm focus after taking a picture. In other words, it's a pain, and only really useful with a tripod or when you've got lots of time to compose your shot.

Now, using it with the Z7ii is a completely different story. I knew it would be soft and dreamy, and there are times I really like this look. However, when it comes to portraits and wanting to get the end result to look a certain way, you can often achieve a similar result in post-processing. The really dreamy effect is apparent (especially in the orange cat picture), but I've yet to try it with a human subject. I'll post results each week to see whether I'll be able to find new uses for this lens, and that's certainly one of the goals.

All in all, I'm excited about this lens. It's both soft and dreamy and quite sharp when stopped down (even though lacking in contrast). But, for $100 CAD (including another working FL 50mm f1.8 and two rough Canon bodies), it's not bad at all !!

I will follow Parry's lead here and update with weekly results too. Here are a few from the Asahi Auto Takumar 35mm f2.3 (1958-63) on a Nikon Z7. The 35mm f2.3 displays the "two lens in one" characteristics of many vintage lenses - plenty of character wide open but sharp and more modern looking when stopped down.

I attempted to illustrate the interesting bokeh this lens produces (almost swirly in some circumstances, such as in the second photo below) when shot wider open and up close, as well as the other nature of this lens when focused at a distance, as in the last photo below.

Parry Johnson said:

Well, then maybe I'll help to persuade you to make that purchase.

To be honest, I haven't used it much at all since I bought it last April, and I only had my Nikon 1 cameras and adapter (for Canon FD and Pentax K lenses). I bought my Z7ii on sale before Christmas, so didn't have a full frame adapter until Tuesday this past week.

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I used to love the Nikon 1 series. I used to use a v2 with a FT-1 adaptor and mount a full frame 70-300 to get an 800mm lens in a light and non-conspicuous package. I still use a J5 with a native 70-300 when I am in 'stealth mode' shooting gigs or whatever where they bar 'professional cameras'. It's so small, that everyone thinks it's a point n shoot

Parry Johnson said:

Therefore, with a Nikon V1 or V3, I only ever used it with 2.7X crop factor, making it effectively a 156mm f3.2. That's not a bad portrait lens, but I have faster, longer and sharper AF lenses to choose from, so those always took precedence when shooting portraits. Besides, using non-Nikon lenses on the Nikon 1 series cameras is not easy to focus because of the extra magnification, no IBIS. Non-Nikon lenses (i.e. without the FT!) lose the ability to zoom in to focus, also, so you can only confirm focus after taking a picture. In other words, it's a pain, and only really useful with a tripod or when you've got lots of time to compose your shot.

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156mm f3.2 - yeah. that's the only downside, hard to get good bokeh on N1. I'll be using it on a Canon RP and M50, so manual focusing aids won't be a problem. Like i said, I was surprised you could even use manual \ non native lenses on N1. I thought Nikon specifically prohibited that.

Parry Johnson said:

Now, using it with the Z7ii is a completely different story. I knew it would be soft and dreamy, and there are times I really like this look. However, when it comes to portraits and wanting to get the end result to look a certain way, you can often achieve a similar result in post-processing. The really dreamy effect is apparent (especially in the orange cat picture), but I've yet to try it with a human subject. I'll post results each week to see whether I'll be able to find new uses for this lens, and that's certainly one of the goals.

All in all, I'm excited about this lens. It's both soft and dreamy and quite sharp when stopped down (even though lacking in contrast). But, for $100 CAD (including another working FL 50mm f1.8 and two rough Canon bodies), it's not bad at all !!

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I hear you about the post-processing - I've seen some cracking portraits taken with this on Flickr - and the price is excellent on Ebay.

I might grab one of these next payday - not interested in ultra sharpness, I have my Sigma 50mm art for that...

Parry Johnson said:

I've chosen the Canon FL 58mm f1.2 from 1964 adapted on a Nikon 1 V1 or V3 (156mm f3.2 equivalent) or Nikon Z7ii (after my adapter arrives mid-January).

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Slightly off topic, but I love that lens. I shot it on a speed booster on my XT-4 and shoot it now on my Z6ii. Lovely and dreamy wide open but tack sharp and contrasty stopped down to f4. What a lovely piece of glass

PhotosByHall said:

Parry Johnson said:

Well, then maybe I'll help to persuade you to make that purchase.

To be honest, I haven't used it much at all since I bought it last April, and I only had my Nikon 1 cameras and adapter (for Canon FD and Pentax K lenses). I bought my Z7ii on sale before Christmas, so didn't have a full frame adapter until Tuesday this past week.

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I used to love the Nikon 1 series. I used to use a v2 with a FT-1 adaptor and mount a full frame 70-300 to get an 800mm lens in a light and non-conspicuous package. I still use a J5 with a native 70-300 when I am in 'stealth mode' shooting gigs or whatever where they bar 'professional cameras'. It's so small, that everyone thinks it's a point n shoot

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You've got the CX 70-300, eh? (Remember, I'm Canadian.) I tried one out once, but couldn't justify the price. I keep an old AF 75-300 in the car with the FT1 just in case I need it -- it's come in handy every once in awhile, but of course it's manual focus on any mirrorless body, and it's hard to focus anything properly at ~840mm equivalent. You still need lots of light with that CX lens of yours.

I bought both my V1 and V3 lenses used at good deals, and you're right, they're great stealth cameras.

PhotosByHall said:

156mm f3.2 - yeah. that's the only downside, hard to get good bokeh on N1. I'll be using it on a Canon RP and M50, so manual focusing aids won't be a problem. Like i said, I was surprised you could even use manual \ non native lenses on N1. I thought Nikon specifically prohibited that.

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Nikon crippled most of its compatibility, but there is some compatibility with AFS and newer lenses.

Smaller, older lenses like the Tamron Adaptall 135 f2.5 make great, small, bright kits that are really good for paparazzi-like situations. (That's another good "one-month challenge lens.")

PhotosByHall said:

I hear you about the post-processing - I've seen some cracking portraits taken with this on Flickr - and the price is excellent on Ebay.

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I tried it today while doing a video interview with an older woman. I can't share those photos, but suffuce it to say that it doesn't work miracles with wrinkles at f1.2. It's hard to focus properly with moving subjects, as I said before, so even talking is enough to throw the focus. 10fps helps, but I've found moving my own head back and forth instead works better. (Anyway, I used another lens for the interview.) Next time, I'll use a more controlled situation.

PhotosByHall said:

I might grab one of these next payday - not interested in ultra sharpness, I have my Sigma 50mm art for that...

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Yup. I noticed one recently with a "not working aperture" but at a great price. Don't be too concerned about that as the owner might not know how to use the aperture properly. There are actually two aperture rings at the front of the lens -- the outer ring sets the aperture and the inner ring is supposed to allow for the FT/FD camera to stop it down automatically. That second inner ring is stuck on my copy, which means it works more like a manual stop-down lever (think Pentax M42 M/A lenses). That's no big deal to me as I compose and focus wide open, then stop down before taking the picture, and the optics are pristine. If that's the case with that "broken" lens, it's still useful, just not as fast as it could be.

By the way, the aperture levers on many FD or FL lenses can be locked in "stop-down" mode, so it's really easy to change the aperture without opening or closing the adapter pin to do that. Some have levers on the back, others you just push the lever until it locks. So, many of those "broken" lenses are still okay.

There's also an FL 55mm f1.2 that's apparently sharper, but usually more expensive. There seem to be more and better reviews for that one. That's one of the reasons I wanted to share my experience with the FL 58.

Thanks for taking up the challenge, GCL! I love the vibrant but natural colors that combo produces. I got rid of my Tak 50 f1.4 because I didn't have an adapter (or mirrorless body) at that time -- I wish I kept it. This lens seems much like that one. The "swirliness" is there, but subtle -- works really well with leaves and grass, I think.

I'm looking forward to this week's results.

This week's photos are a little late, but here they are nonetheless:

All photos are SOOC except where noted, and this time at full resolution so you can see just how good / bad this lens is.


Canon FL58mm f1.2 with Nikon 1 V3 at f2. Slight unsharp mask and curves correction.


Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with Z7ii Old Bible - Auto Levels and slight unsharp mask in Capture NX2


Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with Z7ii Auto levels in Nikon Capture NX2 (a bit to

From the prairie landscapes of the first week to the urban landscape of the warehouse/arts district this week. Unfortunately I don't think these photos show off the most notable characteristic of this lens as well as last week's minimum focus-distance images with soft and sometimes swirly backgrounds. But you can see some softness at the extreme edges and corners here. Most of all, I think they do show that this is still a capable lens 63 years after it was released, even on high resolution mirrorless full frame cameras. Most of these were taken at f2.8 (about a half stop down from wide open, which sharpens up the image noticeably), and some at f4. Nikon Z7 body again.

Parry Johnson said:

o bright -- I'll rework this one)

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Nice portrait. Most of my pics are of people.

As we discussed earlier, I think I am going to have to pick one of these up - nice dreamy soft look and cheap for f1.2.

PhotosByHall said:

Parry Johnson said:

o bright -- I'll rework this one)

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Nice portrait. Most of my pics are of people.

As we discussed earlier, I think I am going to have to pick one of these up - nice dreamy soft look and cheap for f1.2.

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Thanks. This was just a grab shot of my daughter, but she's as beautiful as her mother.

One thing about that lens is that it's hard to focus accurately, if at all sometimes. The depth of field is so narrow and it's so soft wide open that I have to zoom to 100% and take several fast-frame shots if I'm hand-holding while moving the camera towards or away from the subject. I can't see the whole frame while zooming/framing, so might have to crop or straighten afterwards, I might as well be using a view camera!!

Here are a few more from this past week. All images SOOC and usually at f1.2 unless otherwise stated.










Canon FL58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii.


Canon FL58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii.


Canon FL58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii. I gave up trying to lighten the background to pure white, so just changed the colour. It's really hard to define the back edges because the subject just blurs into the background. The EXIF shows I'm using my 55mm macro, but I had forgotten to change it in the settings.


Canon FL58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii. @f11 Background masked and brightened in Tiffen DFX3. This lens can be very sharp and contrasty! The rest of the image is SOOC.

GCL said:

From the prairie landscapes of the first week to the urban landscape of the warehouse/arts district this week. Unfortunately I don't think these photos show off the most notable characteristic of this lens as well as last week's minimum focus-distance images with soft and sometimes swirly backgrounds. But you can see some softness at the extreme edges and corners here. Most of all, I think they do show that this is still a capable lens 63 years after it was released, even on high resolution mirrorless full frame cameras. Most of these were taken at f2.8 (about a half stop down from wide open, which sharpens up the image noticeably), and some at f4. Nikon Z7 body again.

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What a great sequence! Thanks for sharing. I especially like the one with "Smile at the Camera."

You're right about the corners. There seems to be an abrupt transition from really sharp to quite soft, like in the gravel at bottom left of the last photo. (I love that metal door, too!)

These are great! I love that you've started this thread. I hope this becomes a monthly thing. I think I'd like to participate at some point.

I've really enjoyed trying lots of different lenses, but I'm at the point where I'd really like to get to know certain ones from my collection much better, and I think this is how I'd like to do it.

Keep it up, the pics you guys are posting are great as well!

Erichimedes said:

These are great! I love that you've started this thread. I hope this becomes a monthly thing. I think I'd like to participate at some point.
I've really enjoyed trying lots of different lenses, but I'm at the point where I'd really like to get to know certain ones from my collection much better, and I think this is how I'd like to do it.

Keep it up, the pics you guys are posting are great as well!

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Thanks for your encouragement. There were some good suggestions earlier as to how a challenge like this could happen in the future; and perhaps it shouldn't be this way. However, I'm like you, in that I've got a few lenses to choose from, but not many that I know well.

This thread was started a week into January, so maybe a bit late, but I'm thinking it'll pretty much end on the 31st to make room for a new challenge. I'm being a little selfish, I suppose, as I might have put that lens back in the bag for awhile otherwise. At least I'm using it, and I'm actually enjoying its use more than I expected. The best part is that I'm starting to see its limits (e.g. some portraiture, but sometimes not enough of a difference in effect to warrant its use over another lens -- see the straight-on guitar shot as an example of over-soft detail).

Well, since this is almost the end of January, maybe this should be the end of the One-Lens Challenge for this month. Whether or not this will continue depends on if others are interested to carry this idea forward.

I know there's the other monthly thread for adapted lenses, so perhaps this kind of challenge can just be put in there. Perhaps there will be more discussion in that thread.

In any case, here are some shots I did in the last week (well, mainly earlier today, as I haven't had much time for shooting. Again, all shots are pretty much SOOC converted in NX Studio from RAW files unless otherwise stated. It's my turn to do a few shots from downtown Regina.


Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii When I came home this afternoon, I liked how the light bounced off the dishes in the buffet and had to take a photo. Photo taken through a pane of very old, ripply glass. One control point to increase the brightness to the right side area of the cup in Capture NX-D. @f2.0 - note polygonal highlights, but still nicely blurred bokeh, I think.


Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii Wall art detail (shadow, and a bit flat SOOC) @f11 (maybe f8).


Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii Same building as below, @f5.6 (I think) I love the blue tones in the sky (Picture Control A auro)


Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii. Converted to JPG, then to B&W in Nikon Capture NX2. Straightened, but notice curvature in top bricks above doors. (The doors are certainly NOT straight.)


Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii @f11


Canon FL 58mm f1.2 with Nikon Z7ii @f8 Pop-Art experiment layering and changing colours in Photoshop. Original (image 2) in DX crop mode at approx. 2-foot minimum focus distance (downsized, to fit other versions).

Good exercise to use one lens, although I don't know that I selected subjects that showed off its characteristics as well as Parry did with his Canon 58mm f1.2.

GCL said:

Good exercise to use one lens, although I don't know that I selected subjects that showed off its characteristics as well as Parry did with his Canon 58mm f1.2.

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Those are lovely abstract architecture shots.

GCL said:

Good exercise to use one lens, although I don't know that I selected subjects that showed off its characteristics as well as Parry did with his Canon 58mm f1.2.

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Are you kidding? These shots and your others are beautiful! These show the simplicity of form. That lens really does love colour, and I can old imagine how 60-year-old Kodachromes would have been downright amazing with it at that time!

Some might think that showing a monochrome image is a lazy way of avoiding chromatic aberrations, but in the 1960's black and white still ruled for amateur, fashion and newspaper media -- color was saved for vacation slides and rarely enlarged beyond 8x10 if made with Kodacolor negs. Who cared about CA?? Your lens clearly shows that Asahi Optical produced some of the finest at that time.

So, don't kid yourself -- if anyone else takes the time to really look at your photos, they can find out much more about your lens -- it's certainly a keeper, and I hope you'll be able to use it more in the future because of this little experiment. Thanks for participating -- it made my own experience with the Canon 58mm much more enjoyable to learn and share.

Thanks for your comments and the other generous comment from PhotosbyHall.

I should have mentioned in the original post that these photos are portions of the two "shells" that house the two performance halls of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri. The building's design makes it easy to find interesting photos!

I loved all the photos posted here by contributors to this challenge, great work all!

I hope to see more, whether it has it's own thread or as part of the monthly thread. Maybe it's worth asking Alan WF his opinion on inclusion to decide how to move forward.

Erichimedes said:

I loved all the photos posted here by contributors to this challenge, great work all!

I hope to see more, whether it has it's own thread or as part of the monthly thread. Maybe it's worth asking Alan WF his opinion on inclusion to decide how to move forward.

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That's a good idea. I sent him a message and will await his reply.

In the meantime, I'm deciding which lens to go with next: a Canon FD 200mm f4, a Tamron Adaptall 2 200mm f3.5 or the strange and somewhat rare Tamron Adaptall autofocus 70-210 f4. Which one is the most interesting to any of you?