Canon nFD 300mm F4 (not the “L” version)
Can you do without “Luxury” on your long lenses?
Canon nFD 300mm F4 @ F4 on my EOS R
Back in the heyday of the SLR film days, lenses were evolving at an astonishing fast rate compared to the digital age of computer designed lenses when everything became exceptional on the first try. One of my favorite innovations to see people realize is the effect of Fluorite materials and special element glass was having on long exotic telephoto focal lengths. This lens that I am talking about however was not blessed with any of these new age materials in its construction. The lens has the evolution of the simple Sonnar-type design with a higher than average of 6 elements in 6 groups. The Iris features a higher than average blade count of 9-blades which makes for more circular bokeh even when stopped down a bit. The lens is quite large but I actually don’t mind that if that means that the lens has an internal focus system which this lens does. It feels substantial and well made. The included tripod collar and foot is simple but a nice feature to have and it doesn’t add too much weight. (it is removable)
Canon nFD 300mm F4 @ F4 on my EOS R
This lens is actually a pretty good performer when it comes to overall resolution and contrast; although neither are mind blowing but both are more than decent wide open. The lens suffered from some pretty severe Spherochromatism, a form of Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration that results in magenta fringing before the plane of focus and green fringing past the point of focus. What makes this painfully obvious on the lens is the saturation of both the magenta-purple fringing before the plane of focus and the deep-green behind the plane of focus. This is especially obvious when you have specular highlights in the frame as can be seen by the chrome Lexus “L” logo on the wheel of the car. Even at the plane of focus the “L” logo on the wheel still exhibits a hare of chromatic aberration even at the plane of focus when high contrast edges are involved. The bokeh due to the extreme amount of Spherochromatism is really just ok, it says a bit rough at all times and never really fully melts away like you would hope with a telephoto lens like this one.
Overall though I like the rendering of this lens, especially for the price point. The images at a global level look pleasing and there is enough definition paired with some nice color rendering makes for nice images overall.
If you can get this lens for a good deal in good condition, I got mine for a steal at $100 and it was in totally mint condition in 2021 so I count myself pretty lucky considering its worth at least $150 now for one in a similar condition. I feel like if you can get a very good (optically at least) copy for close to $100 you should go for it. For $150 though you really have to love the focal length - which if you do you are probably better off stepping up to the nFD 300mm F4 L with much better performance when it comes to Spherochromatism/longitudinal chromatic aberration - to make it worth it. Basically for a $100 this lens is a good deal, but for $150 I’m not sure it’s with the price to price to performance ratio you get compared to a modern zoom lens at 300mm.
