Over the last few months I’ve been using vintage Canon FD lenses on my Fujifilm X-Pro 1.

I regret not doing this sooner! After my previous video about the X-Pro 1, I received a lot of comments suggesting to try manual focus lenses, so i finally did it.  Vintage lenses match perfectly with the aesthetic and style of Fujifilm cameras.

Everyone knows vintage lenses are cool and adapting these to modern cameras is not a new concept.

But if you’ve been living under a rock (like i have apparently), these lenses are inexpensive, easy to find, and give your photos and video a unique look.

You may already have an old dusty film camera laying around that someone passed down to you with a lens on it, if not check grandmas house, thrift stores, marketplace, there’s plenty out there.

Lenses

I’ve been using the 50mm 1.4 ssc,  35mm 2.8m, and a 50mm 3.5 macro.  The Canon 50mm 1.8 is also a great choice on a budget ($50 or less), it was a standard issue on many Canon cameras during that era.

Ive had all of these for many years and used these on the very first camera, which was the Canon AE-1.

Im going to focus mainly on the 50 mm 1.4 because its my favorite.  

This lens on the X-Pro 1 gives you a similar field of view to a 75mm lens on a full frame camera. This lens is over 50 years old, it is in perfect condition, focuses nice and smooth, and its built extremely well.

They don’t make them like they use to…

Shooting Experience

I would to retract my statements about manual focusing on the X-Pro 1, from my previous X-Pro 1 videos. I never gave it a fair chance, I was attempting to manual focus with a fly by wire lens (xf35mm).  If you’ve ever tried that, you know what i mean, its terrible.

Zone focusing is easy with wider focal lengths, but this 50mm is a little tricky.

The best way for me to ensure my photos are sharp is to punch in on the digital zoom to check focus. 

Focus peaking is bad on the X-Pro 1, it’s really hard to see (This is zoomed in, peaking in white around Mamiya RB67 Text).

The X-Pro1 was the very first X Mount mirrorless camera. For a camera that came out in 2012, its unreasoable to expect it to be great with focus peaking. It was way ahead of its time and I will continue to use it 12 years later.

It’s safe to say manual focusing will be a much better experience for most Fujifilm shooters using cameras newer than my ancient X-Pro 1.

Adding vintage lenses on any fujifilm camera perfectly complements the shooting process. The biggest advantage using these lenses has been how much faster I can shoot with zone focusing.

Theres no lag in the shutter to release or relying on the autofocus to lock on. This ancient X Pro 1 feels like a completely different camera shooting this way, which makes it a lot more usable for shooting action.

Final Thoughts

Will using vintage manual focus lenses make your photos better?  Probably not, but there are plenty of other advantages to using them.

As somebody who loves to shoot film and use vintage cameras still, I love the combination of a digital camera with a vintage lens. It’s fun to shoot with and it’s a lot cheaper than using a real film camera.

If you’re strictly a film photographer and you’re on the fence about making the switch to digital, give this a try. At least you can still use your cool vintage lenses.