A stroll in the garden - FD 200 2.8

I more and more like telephoto lenses, but my RF 100-400, while very good for what it is, isn't terribly bright. And since I reanimated my old T-70 I have a use for old FD glass. So I was quite happy to find a fast 200mm for 120€; also anything similar for EF is too expensive for something I don't really need.

It's connected to my R6ii via a 35€ Pholsy adapter off Amazon which seems to work just fine and gives a sturdy impression.

I had an hour yesterday around 8 PM when the light was already a bit low, and gave it a try in my garden. And it's really everything I wanted: sharp enough wide open, solid and easy to use. Focusing by focus peaking takes a little getting used to, but it's usually fine (the exception being low-contrast subjects like black cats where I had to go by the whiskers, it wouldn't peak anything else).

With strong white backlight it has some CA; I've included a crop from the tree photo (from the lower left), before and after trying to remove it with Darktable. It mitigates the CA but does not remove it. But that's an extreme example, all other traces of CA I could easily get rid of. That's the first time I realized that CA is magnified by white light, see the wider tree shot. Essentially no CA effect against blue sky.

All hand-held, SS was usually 1/350 or higher. SOOC, uncropped, except for the CA crop. All shot wide open at 2.8. DoF feels razor-thin, that's where the fun starts.

And for extra fun I got my EF 100mm IS L Macro to compare it - same max. aperture and known to be a fine lens, although both are not at their best at 2.8.

For those images I've taken twice: see if you tell which one is which!