What's it worth? Canon FL 800mm f/8

Hey guys,

Sorry if this isn't the best place to post this...

I'm wondering how much to attempt to get for an FL-mount 800mm f/8 lens I have. It was given to me, so I have nothing invested in it. However, I've tried and tried but have been unable to make it work with an EOS dSLR (it comes extremely close to focusing to infinity, but not quite). So for me, it's not much use and I'd rather get some cash to put towards something white with a little red on it...

It's in great shape, comes with the metal case and everything.

Here's a site showing pics/specs: http://www.mir.com.my …fllenses/canonF​L800mm.htm

Mine looks to be in better shape than the one in those pics.

Any idea what I should ask for it? All low-ball recommendations will be viewed as an interest in purchasing

Thanks!

IMO, the value of most anything is what it is selling for on eBay lately. Got o advanced search, check the box "completed auctions," you will see the last 30 days of activity on that item - how many were listed, how many sold, starting prices, final prices, etc. Of course, you are tlkking about an uncommon lens. Probably none listed in last 30 days. Call or contact KEH.com and ask them for a ballpark $ if you sold it to them. Add 30-25% over that and you have a "fair" price perhaps. My guess = $1500. There is an adapter out there that will give you infinity focus but it is not cheap. Gene

Rob,

I think that any interest would come from a collector, rather than someone who would actually plan on using the lens. Unfortunately, I cannot imaging anyone paying more than a couple hundred bucks for it. And no, I have no interest in purchasing, even for a couple hundred bucks.

I would suggest putting this on eBay. That way, you don't have to try to figure out how much to ask - you simply let the bidders set the value. Just make it very, very clear that this is not fully compatible with modern DSLRs.

gasrocks wrote in post #16736252
IMO, the value of most anything is what it is selling for on eBay lately. Got o advanced search, check the box "completed auctions," you will see the last 30 days of activity on that item - how many were listed, how many sold, starting prices, final prices, etc. Of course, you are tlkking about an uncommon lens. Probably none listed in last 30 days. Call or contact KEH.com and ask them for a ballpark $ if you sold it to them. Add 30-25% over that and you have a "fair" price perhaps. My guess = $1500. There is an adapter out there that will give you infinity focus but it is not cheap. Gene

Thanks for the advice! I will have to give them a call.

As for the adapter, I purchased the EdMika adapter, which is how I got it mounted to my camera. However, due to the nature of the focusing, there's just not enough 'play' built into this particular lens at the infinity-focus setting to allow it to get there. That being said, though, EdMika's adapter is top-notch. It was designed for the FD-lenses, so I knew it was a gamble as to whether it would work in my case.

There are adapters with lens elements in them, but I know they'll degrade image quality significantly, so there's just no point.

Hoping there's somebody out there who's still using film and wants their hands on this thing.

rob40wilson03 wrote in post #16736324
Thanks for the advice! I will have to give them a call.

As for the adapter, I purchased the EdMika adapter, which is how I got it mounted to my camera. However, due to the nature of the focusing, there's just not enough 'play' built into this particular lens at the infinity-focus setting to allow it to get there. That being said, though, EdMika's adapter is top-notch. It was designed for the FD-lenses, so I knew it was a gamble as to whether it would work in my case.

There are adapters with lens elements in them, but I know they'll degrade image quality significantly, so there's just no point.

Hoping there's somebody out there who's still using film and wants their hands on this thing.

I have a film body, but it uses EOS lenses. I got rid of my FD body (an A-1) a couple of years ago.

How far out does it focus with the adapter? If it gets out to 30ft or so, I might be interested; that is enough to focus on my bird feeder from my basement window. I have one of the FD adapters with glass, too, though as you say, the IQ degrades significantly.

archer1960 wrote in post #16736338
I have a film body, but it uses EOS lenses. I got rid of my FD body (an A-1) a couple of years ago.

How far out does it focus with the adapter? If it gets out to 30ft or so, I might be interested; that is enough to focus on my bird feeder from my basement window. I have one of the FD adapters with glass, too, though as you say, the IQ degrades significantly.

To be honest, I didn't even test that, because I wasn't interested in its 'close' distance use. It's at my parents' house at the moment but I will go get it in the near future and find out for sure and let you know!

There are many digital cameras that have adapters for FD/FL lenses, infinity focus included. NEX, Sony a7, a7r, etc.

An FL mount would mean its pre 1971, no special lens elements etc so plenty of chromatic aberations and so on. In its day an expensive bit of glass, now, almost any modern lens would out perform it.

On the loose wrote in post #16736990
An FL mount would mean its pre 1971, no special lens elements etc so plenty of chromatic aberations and so on. In its day an expensive bit of glass, now, almost any modern lens would out perform it.

Yeah, but any modern 800mm lens would be a lot more money too, unless it's a mirror lens, which I also have.

On the loose wrote in post #16736990
An FL mount would mean its pre 1971, no special lens elements etc so plenty of chromatic aberations and so on. In its day an expensive bit of glass, now, almost any modern lens would out perform it.

Not quite true about this being pre-1971. Actually, this lens was first produced in 1971:
http://www.canon.com …ta/100-1200/fl_800_8.html

The Canon Camera / Lens Museum is a good resource when one is trying to gather information about any of these older lenses.

rob40wilson03 wrote in post #16736324
Thanks for the advice! I will have to give them a call.

As for the adapter, I purchased the EdMika adapter, which is how I got it mounted to my camera. However, due to the nature of the focusing, there's just not enough 'play' built into this particular lens at the infinity-focus setting to allow it to get there. That being said, though, EdMika's adapter is top-notch. It was designed for the FD-lenses, so I knew it was a gamble as to whether it would work in my case.

There are adapters with lens elements in them, but I know they'll degrade image quality significantly, so there's just no point.

Hoping there's somebody out there who's still using film and wants their hands on this thing.

Did you try adjusting the focus stop?

here is adaptor for FL lens for Sony, NEX camera's etc. $26 is pretty cheap. http://www.amazon.com …mera-NEX-5N/dp/B003Y302CG

My guess is NEX / Sony guys will kill for this lens! They dont have anything this long at all.

The longest "budget lense" they have is 200mm for ~$900 bucks here: http://www.amazon.com …-1&keywords=200mm+nex+l​en

gasrocks wrote in post #16736738
There are many digital cameras that have adapters for FD/FL lenses, infinity focus included. NEX, Sony a7, a7r, etc.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #16738087
Did you try adjusting the focus stop?

How do you do that?

archer1960 wrote in post #16738782
How do you do that?

IIRC the stop is under the focus grip. There used to be a video on youtube showing exactly how to do it but I can't find it right now.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #16738988
IIRC the stop is under the focus grip. There used to be a video on youtube showing exactly how to do it but I can't find it right now.

I'm going to dig around for this. If I could get another 5 degrees of rotation out of my FD 100 Macro, I could get it to focus at infinity, at least with hyperfocal distance taken into account.