FL 200mm f/3.5

The FL 200mm f/3.5 (II) was introduced in May of 1966. It has the same seven elements in five groups, an 8 bladed aperture with a minimum aperture of f/22. The filter ring was still 58mm. One difference was an increase in weight by 20 grams to 680 grams. This latter was probably as a result of the added lens hood. I have no information on whether the lens formula was the same or changed in some way.

The real distinguishing difference was the addition of a built in lens hood that could be retraced back over the lens barrel or extended out over the front element. In the first image above of the lens on an FX camera the hood is extended. Below it is retracted.

The Type II is the more common lens in the collector market but neither are rare or expensive.

On the right end is the retracted lens hood with a knurled ring on the left end of it. Using that ring the hood moves to the right shielding the front element from extraneous light entering from outside the field of view.

There is one other variation we must discuss: the Name Rings.  There are two different Name Rings that will be found on these lenses. The one that came out with the Type I lens in 1964 we will call the Type A. However, sometime after the Type II lens came out in 1966 the lettering on the Name Ring was changed. We call this the Type B.  As a result all Type I lenses will have the Type A Name Ring but Type A and B Name Rings will be found on Type II lenses. That is unless someone has switched them around since they left the factory.

Type B Name Ring. This is the second name ring that appeared  sometime after the introduction of the FL 200mm f/3.5 (II) in 1966. On the left is the actual ring and on the right is the text on the ring.

So that makes three possible variations: Type 1 Lens with
Type A name ring, Type 2 Lens with either A or B Type name
ring. But there surprises out there. You may find something
different.

At the last camera show I went to I came across an FL 200mm
f/3.5 (II) with a Type B Name Ring. But both occurrences of the
word Canon on the name ring had their “C” and last letter “n” drilled
out. It was a neat job. It looked professional. So what is this about?

Asking around the only suggestion that seemed to make sense was that
this lens was imported somewhere outside the normal channels and this
was done to avoid contractual obligations. In a word, the grey market. But who knows. I have no definitive answer. But it is an example of the type of things you may find.

This is my FL 200mm f/3.5 (II)
mounted on my Canon R using a K&F
Concept FD to EOS R lens mount adapter.

This is a handsome lens and certainly up to Canon’s usual standard. It is heavy, painted with a beautiful black finish, and has a wide textured focus ring. Focus and aperture are smooth and positive to the touch.

Of course, with this arrangement I relied on the focus peaking feature of the EOS R camera. As well, the aperture is not automatic and must the manipulated manually. Exposure must be calculated when the lens is stopped down but we want to focus wide open. This is where the “stop down button” becomes really handy.

I set the aperture I wanted on the lens but of course it remains open. Then I focus but just before I press the shutter button I press the stop down button to close the aperture for the exposure reading and shutter release. It works well and is very convenient.

Below are three pictures from one image I obtained from this arrangement. The lens ws set to f/8 which should give us maximum performance from it. No sharpening or vignetting was applied in post processing. The left one is the full image. The center is from the center of the image at 100% magnification and the one on the right is the upper right corner again at 100%.

This is the most interesting image at 100% from the upper right corner of our picture. Notice there is no fall off of sharpness of the roof shingles right into the corner.

If we really push things and look at a portion of the image at 400% it gets really interesting. The street number on the left is so magnified, 400%, that the individual pixels of a 30mpx sensor are visible. And the FL 200mm f/3.5 lens resolution exceeds even that.

From this one image alone we can see that this is an excellent lens. Its sharpness from corner to corner and lack of vignetting are impressive. The resolution is actually amazing. That’s Canon quality in a sixty year old lens! This is a lens that exceeded the resolving power of the film of the 1960’s by an order of magnitude. On a modern digital camera it still shines as a formidable lens.

But really, all we want to know is whether this lens can take a good picture. While I was out with the lens looking 

for images CoCo was watching me and following from place to place in the yard. And I was able to take the picture below. This I have cropped so that we are looking at about 70% of the image area and I have post processed it including sharpening and tonal range. And yes, this lens takes great pictures!

CoCo – May 2025