If you have to list the FD 80-200 then you also must list the Tokina RMC 80 - 200mm F4 with FD Mount. It was top of the Review list of 25 zoom lenses (see below - beating even the Canon FD above). I have it, it is gorgeous.
"" One rainy day a few years ago I went to the Public Library to look through Periodicals. Searching for print on Canon Manual focus Zoom lenses I came across a Consumer Reports magazine that had performed a test of the top 25 zoom lenses in the 70-210/80-200 f/4 range. I remember that the Tokina RMC 80-200 f/4 took first place.
Two through five were the MD 70-210 f/4, FD 80-200 f/4, Nikkor 80-200 f/4 and FD 70-210 f/4 but I forgot the finishing order. Vivitar's Series One 70-210 f/2.8-4 was around tenth. They were tested and rated on five areas; sharpness/center, sharpness/edge, contrast, distortion and vignetting.
Nikon's Nikkor 80-200 f/4 took first place in sharpness/center but the RMC 80-200 took first place in all other areas and overall. It must have been an 83 or 84 issue, I know it was before Canon had made their FD 80-200 f/4L, plus no auto focus yet. http://ferling.net/Sears80-200f4.htm
@DrDave The Tokina AT-X 270 Pro 28-70mm f2.8 that I listed above is a slightly updated version of the 28-70mm f2.6-2.8. There were several versions of this lens, the following link traces its history:
@nomad You can easily remove the click stops from Minolta MC/MD lenses to get continuous aperture. Most have small screws in the back that release the aperture ring; lift it and the small ball bearing that implements the click stops can be removed. My 50/1.7 had one screw that held the small ball bearing and it was easy to convert to continuous aperture... Al
@nomad For video shooting, there were quite a few vintage manual focus prime lenses made by the major camera manufacturers:
Nikon F mount Canon FD mount Pentax K mount Minolta MD/MC mount Olympus OM mount Konica AR mount
While most of these lenses have non-rotating outer lens barrels, they almost always extend while focusing. That discrepancy, combined with the compact size of most 24-50mm primes, can make it a tight fit to attach these lenses to 15mm rail-mounted matte box and follow focus units.
In addition, I've had a couple of secondary issues with vintage primes. The first is I've noticed that focus breathing varies widely and is rarely documented. The second is with susceptibility to flare. Most vintage primes used spherical lens element designs that predated modern aspherical flare-reduction technology. With the fastest vintage primes, I found that lens flare often produced milky, reduced contrast when used at wide apertures.
Quite a few manual focus vintage lenses by Minolta (the MC/MD series) come close:
* Manual aperture ring: Yes (but with click stops I don't like for film) * Direct-coupled focus ring: Yes * Proper focus ring rotation: Yes * Non-rotating outer barrel: Yes (most of their primes) * Non-extending outer barrel: Yes (limited extension on primes) * Constant field of view: Yes (nearly)
And they still come cheap on Ebay, with a few sought after exceptions like the 58mm 1.2 lens.
* Manual aperture ring: No - aperture set in camera on 4/3rds version only * Direct-coupled focus ring: No * Proper focus ring rotation: Lumix direction only * Non-rotating outer barrel: Yes * Non-extending outer barrel: Yes * Constant field of view: Yes
* Manual aperture ring: No - aperture set in camera on 4/3rds version only * Direct-coupled focus ring: No * Proper focus ring rotation: Lumix direction only * Non-rotating outer barrel: Yes * Non-extending outer barrel: Yes * Constant field of view: ??
* Manual aperture ring: Yes * Direct-coupled focus ring: Yes * Proper focus ring rotation: Nikon direction only * Non-rotating outer barrel: No * Non-extending outer barrel: Yes * Constant field of view: ?? * Constant f-stop aperture: Yes * Rotational zoom ring: Yes
Here is a list of video-friendly Nikkor AF-D primes from 85mm up to 300mm. In addition to possessing excellent optics, these lenses all employ internal focus designs with outer lens barrels that neither extend nor rotate. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Nikon AF-D lenses wider than 85mm - their lens barrels all extend when focusing on close objects. The lenses below all share similar video properties:
Nikkor AF 85mm f/1.8 D Nikkor AF 85mm f/1.4 D Nikkor AF 105mm f/2 D Defocus Control Nikkor AF 135mm f/2 D Defocus Control Nikkor AF 180mm f/2.8 IF-ED Micro-Nikkor AF 200mm f/4 D ED Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 D IF-ED