Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

FD 85mm f/1.2 Aspherical / L

Canon · Canon FD · 1976

Also known as: Canon FD 85mm f/1.2 · Canon FD 85mm 1:1.2 · FD 85mm f1.2 · FD 85/1.2 · Canon 85mm f/1.2 FD · キヤノン FD 85mm F1.2 · キャノン NewFD 85mm F1.2L

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
FD 85mm f/1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical, breech-lock (1976) Canon FD 1976–1980 — —
New FD 85mm f/1.2 L, bayonet (1980) Canon FD 1980 — —
  1. End dates. The Canon Camera Museum gives marketing months only. The 1980 close of the breech-lock lens is the month the L was marketed, not a published discontinuation; no end date for the L has been found in a source this page could read.
  2. Same optics, different blades. The museum's two tables give 8 elements in 6 groups for both lenses, but 9 diaphragm blades for the 1976 lens and 8 for the L, 1m close focus against 0.9m, and 756g against 680g. Phillip Reeve says the optical design remained the same; Canon Classics' contributors add that the breech-lock version feels sturdier and that its bokeh lacks the concentric rings seen in the L's. Whether a floating-group or barrel change accounts for the closer focus is not stated by any source.
  3. The aspherical claims. The museum says the 1976 lens was the brightest 85mm SLR lens when it was released. mir.com.my, on its New FD page, says the aspherical surface in the second element makes the L "the world's first telephoto lens to be so blessed" and on the same page notes the non-L lens had been available since 1975/6. The two statements are reconciled by reading the first as a claim about the design rather than the 1980 barrel.
  4. Specifications in the table are the museum's for the 1976 lens except length: the museum gives 81 x 71mm and Phillip Reeve measures 72mm. The museum's figure is used. The spec block carries the breech-lock lens's blades, close focus and weight; the L's differ as the variant rows say.
  5. Prices are the museum's yen list prices: 110,000 in January 1976 and 113,000 in March 1980. No dollar list price has been found.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Mount first: a knurled chrome breech ring is the 1976 lens, a fixed rear with a square release button and a red front ring is the L. Then count the blades, nine against eight.
  • 72mm filter, f/16 minimum aperture and 8 elements in 6 groups on both
  • Onion-ring texture in out-of-focus highlights is the aspherical surface, on either version, not a defect

FD 85mm f/1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical, breech-lock (1976):

  • Breech-lock mount with the knurled chrome locking ring; S.S.C. in red and ASPHERICAL on the name ring; black filter ring
  • Nine aperture blades, where the L has eight
  • 1m close focus and 756g; 81mm across and 71mm long
  • No hood was supplied with it (Canon Classics)

New FD 85mm f/1.2 L, bayonet (1980):

  • New FD bayonet: the whole barrel turns to mount and a square chrome release button sits at the base; no breech ring
  • Red ring at the front and L on the name ring; no coating engraved
  • Eight aperture blades; 0.9m close focus; 680g, 76g lighter than the breech-lock
  • Hood BT-72 (mir.com.my)

Serial-range notes

the date code on the rear plate, a letter and three or four digits
Canon FD lenses are dated by the code stamped on the rear plate. In the format used until 1986 the letter is the year (A = 1960, so Q = 1976, U = 1980, Z = 1985), the first digit or two the month, the last two digits of unknown purpose. Alan Watson Forster cautions that the code may be the inspection date rather than the assembly date.
any serial
No serial ranges or production totals for either version have been published in the sources consulted. Canon Classics reports that the breech-lock lens is the rarer and sells for more than 2,000 dollars against roughly 600 for the L, and Japan Camera Hunter has offered a breech-lock example at 3,600 dollars, which is the market's own estimate of the ratio.

Specifications

Formula
Double Gauss derivative with a ground aspherical surface on the second element and a floating system, 8 elements in 6 groups
Construction
8 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/1.2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
9
Min. focus
1 m
Dimensions
81 × 71 mm
Weight
756 g
Filter
72 mm
Years manufactured
1976
Country
Japan
Coating
S.S.C. (Super Spectra Coating) multilayer, engraved on the 1976 lens; unmarked but the same on the New FD L
Original price
¥110,000 (S.S.C. Aspherical, January 1976); ¥113,000 (New FD L, March 1980) (today ¥205,000)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
low to moderate
Vignetting
noticeable wide open
Flare & ghosting
flare-prone

History

Canon built three aspherical lenses for the FD mount in the 1970s, the 55mm f/1.2 AL of 1971, the 24mm f/1.4 and this one, and the 85mm was the last and the hardest. The FD 85mm f/1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical reached the market in January 1976 at 110,000 yen: eight elements in six groups, the second element with a ground aspherical surface, a floating group to hold the correction at close distances, nine aperture blades, 72mm filters and 756g. The Canon Camera Museum says it was the fastest 85mm made for any SLR when it appeared, and describes what it took to make it, laser measuring machines, grinding stones of special materials and electronically controlled polishing that held the aspherical surface to better than a tenth of a micron in mass production, a precision then thought hard to reach even in a laboratory.

In March 1980 the same optics went into the New FD barrel as the New FD 85mm f/1.2 L, at 113,000 yen. The bayonet mount replaced the breech ring, the coating engraving disappeared, a red ring and the letter L marked it as one of the new premium line, and the lens lost 76g and gained a tenth of a metre of close focus, 0.9m against 1m. It also lost a blade: nine in 1976, eight in 1980. Phillip Reeve, Canon Classics and Jeroen ter Lingen all treat the glass as unchanged, and the museum’s tables agree on the construction; mir.com.my’s line that the L’s aspherical second element made it the world’s first aspherical telephoto is a claim about the design that properly belongs to the 1976 lens, which the same page notes had been on sale since 1975 or 1976.

Telling the two apart takes a glance at the mount and a count of the blades. The 1976 lens has the knurled chrome breech ring and S.S.C. ASPHERICAL on the name ring; the L has a fixed rear with a square release button, the red ring and the L. Both take 72mm filters and stop down to f/16. Canon dated them by a code on the rear plate, a letter for the year (Q is 1976, U is 1980) and digits for the month, and no serial tables or production figures have been published for either. The market has its own count: Canon Classics reports the breech-lock lens as the rarer, selling above 2,000 dollars against about 600 for the L, and Japan Camera Hunter has asked 3,600 dollars for one.

Reviewers agree on the shape of the lens. At f/1.2 the centre resolves well but contrast is low, Reeve calling it decent and GuideBG surprisingly convincing with Canon’s characteristic glow; stopping to f/1.6 or f/2 brings it up sharply and by f/8 it is excellent. The edges lag the centre wide open and follow by f/4 to f/5.6. Vignetting is obvious at f/1.2 and gone by f/2.8, flare is a real risk without a hood, and the aspherical surface leaves onion-ring texture in out-of-focus highlights on both versions, which Canon Classics’ contributors say is less visible on the breech-lock lens. Chromatic aberration divides them a little: Reeve found little of it, GuideBG saw magenta and green fringing on the L wide open, and Dirk De Paepe found it in two frames out of thirty on the 1976 lens. Against the New FD 85mm f/1.8, ter Lingen found the L clearly sharper at every aperture, at twice the weight.

What to check when buying is mostly mechanical. The floating system makes the focus travel long, about 180 degrees on Reeve’s example, and should be smooth end to end; the breech ring on the 1976 lens should turn freely and lock, and on the L the bayonet’s release button and the mount’s rotation should work without slop. No hood was supplied with the 1976 lens, so most come without one; the L took the BT-72. Neither version is reported to use thoriated glass, so a yellow cast is something else.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo taken with the FD 85mm f/1.2 Aspherical / L
A Canon F-1 outfit including a New FD 85mm f/1.2 L among other L lenses (huzu1959's caption lists it); a group shot, no single-lens photograph of either version being available under a free licence — huzu1959, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a FD 85mm f/1.2 Aspherical / L? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $800 across 40 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-18 (middle half $640–$3,300). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 56 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-18. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: FD 100mm f/2 · FD 135mm f/2 · FD 24mm f/1.4 Aspherical / L · FD 300mm f/2.8 Fluorite / L · FD 50mm f/1.2 / f/1.2 L · FD 55mm f/1.2 · FD 85mm f/1.8

Sources (11)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.