Canon FL 1200mm f/11 Lens - Owner Experience?

Fixcinater · Oct 8, 2015

I just picked up a super tele, the Canon FL 1200/11 with the focusing mount and original caps. No case, unfortunately. Original owner passed it down to his grandson who sold it to me locally.

Anyone here ever used one?

Christiaan Phleger · Oct 8, 2015

Wow! Pick a cool morning to shoot and lets see some frames!

CMoore · Oct 8, 2015

No pictures.?
My only experience was standing next to a guy, at Road Atalanta in 1979, that had one on his A-1.
Or maybe it was more like he had an A-1 on his 1200 f/11.
Those are about 3 feet long...aren't they.?
What a beast of a lens.......Congratulations...!!

Mackinaw · Oct 8, 2015

Some guy on the Yahoo Canon FD group has one. I don't believe he's ever posted any pics taken with it.

Jim B.

CMoore · Oct 8, 2015

I was just hoping to see pics on the lens itself.....

j-dogg · Oct 8, 2015

Post negatives or it never happened.

RobC · Oct 8, 2015

Wow, that's a real strapadictome

Methinks you'll need a good strong tripod and zero wind to make an image with that thing. That's if you can find the subject through it.

Fixcinater · Oct 8, 2015

It'll be a little while before I feel confident enough to burn film with this and my FT, but I definitely will be putting some pushed Tri-X through it just for old time surf photo vibes.

Here's a couple shots of it last night at home with an FT QL and today at the office with a non-analog camera and FD/EOS adapter.

With the glassless Fotodiox FD to EOS adapter, it will focus out to about 300ft. Normal minimum focus is 130ft for the 1200mm head on the focusing mount.

MattKrull · Oct 9, 2015

Fixcinater said:
With the glassless Fotodiox FD to EOS adapter, it will focus out to about 300ft. Normal minimum focus is 130ft for the 1200mm head on the focusing mount.

That's wild. Thanks for posting. I really want to see what photos from this look like!
With a lens that slow (f11) I imagine the spilt prism is pretty useless, so do you mostly scale focus, or do you just make sure your eye is lined up absolutely perfectly with the prism?

RalphLambrecht · Oct 9, 2015

looks like someone is having a Viagra problem

benjiboy · Oct 9, 2015

Does it come with a truss for your hernia ?.

trythis · Oct 9, 2015

You gotta try an x2 adapter on that. Yes, f22... But 2400mm!

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pentaxuser · Oct 9, 2015

It makes a Zenith photo-sniper look like a kid's pop-gun. You say: "This is a picture of a wild lion in Africa

The impressed viewer says: "Very nice, where were you when you took it?" You say: "New Jersey!"

pentaxuser

Fixcinater · Oct 11, 2015

So, it's off topic a bit but I will talk about focal length only.

1200mm lens + 1.25x FD:EOS adapter + 1.6x APS-C crop = way too long of a setup.

A Disney cruise ship left port while I was there and even being roughly 2.5 miles away, I couldn't fit the whole width of the ship into the frame.

Those downtown sky scrapers, similarly, could only be seen one at a time.

David A. Goldfarb · Oct 11, 2015

The tripod and head look a bit light for that setup. It's pretty common for first "big glass" experiences to be a bit underwhelming from the point of view of image quality, because one typically gets the big lens before owning an adequate tripod. For now you might consider a second tripod or monopod under the camera body and possibly sandbagging the body to minimize vibration. You can really see the difference in the image.

Dr Croubie · Oct 11, 2015

David A. Goldfarb said:
The tripod and head look a bit light for that setup. It's pretty common for first "big glass" experiences to be a bit underwhelming from the point of view of image quality, because one typically gets the big lens before owning an adequate tripod. For now you might consider a second tripod or monopod under the camera body and possibly sandbagging the body to minimize vibration. You can really see the difference in the image.

Ditto that for LF.
My Vanguard Alta-Pro 283CT is rated for 9kg, and holds my <5kg 4x5 or Pentacon 500/5.6 nicely.
Bought an 8x10 that weighs around 9kg, no good. Wobbled like crazy and unusable in even the lightest wind. Got an Abeo Plus 363CT, now that's the definition of rock-solid.

Back to the long lens, I seem to remember reading that the really-long FL lenses like this weren't even true telephotos, they're just long-focus doublets? How much glass is actually in all of that metal?

asterix · Oct 11, 2015

Dr Croubie said:
How much glass is actually in all of that metal?

7 lenses in 5 groups http://www.canon.com/c-museum/en/product/fl122.html

Fixcinater · Oct 11, 2015

Yes, I will definitely be needing a better tripod setup, there's no way to hand hold this and focus due to the rack and pinion placement.

Current tripod is a Bogen 3021 leg set and 3047 head, rated at 13.3 and 16.6lbs, respectively. But, as mentioned above, it's not enough due to the enlargement factor.

David A. Goldfarb · Oct 11, 2015

Enlargement factor and you really start noticing issues like vibration transmitted from the camera body to the front element, wind vibration, and the like.

Dan Fromm · Oct 11, 2015

FWIW, when I tracked down sharpness problems with a 700/8 Questar on a 3021 plus 3047, I found that the tripod wasn't very stiff in torsion because the bearing surfaces between the leg sections are short. I replaced the 3021 with a Berlebach 8023, which has much longer bearing surfaces between the leg sections, and shots taken with the Q700 improved considerably. I now have an ancient Ries Model C that's even better.

Before I bought the 8023 I spent part of an afternoon looking at B&H's floor model tripods. Most had poor torsional stiffness, all because of short bearing surfaces between leg sections.

The 8023 isn't quite ideal, its center post can wobble a little in the platform even when not extended and with everything clamped down as tight as possible. Not a problem with a tiny little lens/camera assembly of nothing at all like the Q700 with an N8008 behind it but a bad one with my failed Baby Bertha.

If I ever buy a tripod to get more stability it will be a newer Ries, a large Berlebach UNI, a large Zone VI or a large carbon fiber Gitzo. The first three are all much too heavy, the Gitzo is too expensive. Can't win.

Fixcinater · Oct 22, 2015

Thanks all for your thoughts. I'll keep an eye out for big tripod deals as well as a shorter front section, the 1200mm front may be too darn long. I've got a 600/8 mirror lens that I should probably use along with a doubler on my Takumar 300/4 to ease into it a bit but I really am not sure what I'm going to use this 1200 for. Now I understand why it didn't sell in huge numbers...

I used a Canon camera made in 2008 to watch the moon with this setup tonight, filled the frame with it. I've never done much night sky studying so this could be a good dual purpose photographic tool and intro to sky tracking.

I've got an FT QL, it's loaded with a brand new roll of Portra 400 so I need to burn through that and then stick something faster in to get some 35mm results and see if the change from APS-C to 35mm makes it a bit easier to find subjects for.

Fixcinater · Nov 22, 2015

Been using the Sigma 600/8 mirror more lately, I have been trying to get out at least once a week for a few shots of birds or surfers here in San Diego.

Nothing worth showing here, but my technique is definitely getting better, just through familiarity and not drinking as much coffee.

Haven't used the 1200 much, it's still much too large for my tripod.

Fixcinater · Nov 28, 2015

Plan is to venture out tomorrow morning with some freshly bought Delta 3200 and/or TMZ in the aforementioned Canon FT QL with "The Beast" and see if I can make something sharp happen at 1600 ASA and 1200mm native focal length.

Fixcinater · Jan 7, 2016

Got a few frames from a recent roll of Delta 3200 and this lens. Body was a Canon FT QL, and it works. Definitely limited by the film resolution in this case, though. Next roll through will be TMY-2 with a push.

I've taken it out a few more times since I last posted and continue to get better at holding it steady atop the Bogen 3021/3047 combo and started experimenting with FD 25 and 50mm extension tubes to get it to focus closer than 130 feet.

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 7, 2016

Looks like you're off to a good start! At that focal length, sharpness is more about the tripod and head than the lens, and a bigger tripod and head will let you use a slower or medium-speed film, which will improve things as well. When I was doing a lot of bird photography, usually with a Canon FD 600/4.5 + 1.4x-A, I was generally using Provia 100F, shooting one stop from wide open usually, with the fastest shutter speed I could get. You might also experiment with a static subject and compare using a cable release vs. keeping your hand on the camera or resting your hand on the lens to dampen vibrations. Some people use a sandbag on the camera or the lens to reduce vibration as well. The best approach varies with the camera, tripod, and head, so you can learn a lot by testing with film and taking notes.

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Canon FL 1200mm f/11 Lens - Owner Experience?

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