Canon FL 300mm lens
Encyclopedia
Canon FL 300mm lens refers to two telephoto prime
lenses
made by Canon. The lenses have an FL type mount which fits the Canon FL line of cameras.
First introduced in 1969, the FL lens replaced the R mount version, which in turn was superseded by its FD equivalent
. Altogether, two variations (with two different aperture settings) were made in its short production life.
The FL-F 300mm f/5.6 was the world's first lens to use synthetic fluorite
crystals in its elements; those are commonly found today in its L lens
.
The f/2.8 model was used to take photographs of Henry Kissinger
reading a confidential document at the Helsinki Accords
. The images were so sharp that the text could be read clearly.
(CaF2) on its lens elements to achieve extremely high contrast correcting chromatic aberration
. It used two fluorite elements.
The main benefits of fluorite on lens is its low index of refraction and low dispersion is superior to that of optical glass. Though its optical glass wavelengths in the range from red to green is similar, it differ greatly for wavelengths in the range from green through blue, enabling a significant improvement of the imaging performance of super-telephoto lenses in terms of sharpness, contrast and color balance.
The f/5.6 FL-F are primarily designed for shooting sports
, wildlife
, and candids
.
in July 1975, held at Finlandia Hall
, freelance photographer Franco Rossi was hired to cover the event. Twenty minutes into the speech, Henry Kissinger
, the United States Secretary of State
at the time, opened his briefcase and took out three folders. Rossi was above him. By the time Kissinger reached a confidential section titled "TOP SECRET SENSITIVE EXCLUSIVELY EYES ONLY CONTAINS CODEWORD", Rossi was shooting on his Canon F-1
with its Canon FL-F 300mm f/2.8 S.S.C. Fluorite equipped with an FD Extender 2X mounted on a tripod.
The text can be seen to the point that it is clearly readable. It depicts a report on diplomatic relations between Paris
and Hanoi
that was based on information from a trusted CIA
source.
According to the CIA source, the French felt deceived by assurances of North Vietnam
would they not invade the South
. Therefore Paris refused to grant Hanoi new credits until the situation in the South clarifies and until Hanoi or Saigon makes a preliminary acknowledgement of debts contracted by the Thieu government
.
This photograph was shown in La Domenica del Corriere of Italy
and Nieuwe Revu
of and the Netherlands
. Paris Match
purchased the rights to the pictures but never published them, claiming it ran out of space.
Time magazine
erroneously referred to the lens as a 600mm; a 300mm lens combined with a 2x teleconverter
gives the focal equivalent of a 600mm lens. The Canon 600mm lens available at the time was a non-fluorite model with an aperture of f/5.6.
Prime lens
In film and photography, a prime lens is either a photographic lens whose focal length is fixed, as opposed to a zoom lens, or it is the primary lens in a combination lens system....
lenses
Photographic lens
A camera lens is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.While in principle a simple convex lens will suffice, in...
made by Canon. The lenses have an FL type mount which fits the Canon FL line of cameras.
First introduced in 1969, the FL lens replaced the R mount version, which in turn was superseded by its FD equivalent
Canon FD 300mm f/2.8 S.S.C. Fluorite
Lens Construction 5 Lens Construction 6 No. of Diaphragm Blades 9 Minimum Aperture f/22 Closest Focusing Distance 3.5 meters...
. Altogether, two variations (with two different aperture settings) were made in its short production life.
The FL-F 300mm f/5.6 was the world's first lens to use synthetic fluorite
Fluorite
Fluorite is a halide mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It is an isometric mineral with a cubic habit, though octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon...
crystals in its elements; those are commonly found today in its L lens
Canon l lens
An L lens is a line of SLR photography lenses made by Canon.L lenses are Canon's top-of-the-line lenses. The "L" officially stands for "Luxury", a reference to the lenses' high price and proclaimed build quality. The use of "ASPH" was common to notate aspherical elements throughout Canon's and...
.
The f/2.8 model was used to take photographs of Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
reading a confidential document at the Helsinki Accords
Helsinki Accords
thumb|300px|[[Erich Honecker]] and [[Helmut Schmidt]] in Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in Helsinki 1975....
. The images were so sharp that the text could be read clearly.
Information
The f/5.6 FL-F was the first interchangeable lens to use calcium fluorideCalcium fluoride
Calcium fluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula CaF2. This ionic compound of calcium and fluorine occurs naturally as the mineral fluorite . It is the source of most of the world's fluorine. This insoluble solid adopts a cubic structure wherein calcium is coordinated to eight fluoride...
(CaF2) on its lens elements to achieve extremely high contrast correcting chromatic aberration
Chromatic aberration
In optics, chromatic aberration is a type of distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same convergence point. It occurs because lenses have a different refractive index for different wavelengths of light...
. It used two fluorite elements.
The main benefits of fluorite on lens is its low index of refraction and low dispersion is superior to that of optical glass. Though its optical glass wavelengths in the range from red to green is similar, it differ greatly for wavelengths in the range from green through blue, enabling a significant improvement of the imaging performance of super-telephoto lenses in terms of sharpness, contrast and color balance.
The f/5.6 FL-F are primarily designed for shooting sports
Sports photography
Sports photography refers to the genre of photography that covers all types of sports.In the majority of cases, professional sports photography is a branch of photojournalism, while amateur sports photography, such as photos of children playing association football, is a branch of vernacular...
, wildlife
Wildlife photography
Wildlife photography is the act of taking photographs of wildlife.Wildlife photography is regarded as one of the more challenging forms of photography. As well as needing sound technical skills, such as being able to expose correctly, wildlife photographers generally need good field craft skills...
, and candids
Candid photography
Candid photography is photography that focuses on spontaneity rather than technique, on the immersion of a camera within events rather than focusing on setting up a staged situation or on preparing a lengthy camera setup.-Description:...
.
Versions
| Attribute | 2.8 S.S.C. Fluorite | 5.6 FL-F | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | |||||
| Diffractive Optics |  |
||||
| Macro Macro photography Macrophotography is close-up photography, usually of very small subjects. Classically a macrophotograph is one in which the size of the subject on the negative is greater than life size. However in modern use it refers to a finished photograph of a subject at greater than life size... |
|
||||
| Short back focus | |
||||
| Maximum aperture Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,... |
2.8 | 5.6 | |||
| Minimum aperture Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,... |
32 | 22 | |||
| Weight | 2.340 kg | 0.850 kg | |||
| Max. Diameter x Length | 11.2 cm x 23.0 cm | 0.75 cm x 16.8 cm | |||
| Filter diameter | n/a | 58 mm | |||
| Horizontal viewing angle Angle of view In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view.... |
|||||
| Vertical viewing angle Angle of view In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view.... |
|||||
| Diagonal viewing angle Angle of view In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view.... ; |
|||||
| Groups/elements | 5/6 | 6/7 | |||
| # of diaphragm Diaphragm (optics) In optics, a diaphragm is a thin opaque structure with an opening at its center. The role of the diaphragm is to stop the passage of light, except for the light passing through the aperture... blades |
12 | 8 | |||
| Closest focusing distance | 3.5 m | ||||
| Release date | February 1974 | March 1969 | |||
| MSRP Suggested retail price The manufacturer's suggested retail price , list price or recommended retail price of a product is the price which the manufacturer recommends that the retailer sell the product. The intention was to help to standardise prices among locations... ¥ Japanese yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling... |
390,000 | 100,000 | |||
Helsinki Accords
At the Helsinki AccordsHelsinki Accords
thumb|300px|[[Erich Honecker]] and [[Helmut Schmidt]] in Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in Helsinki 1975....
in July 1975, held at Finlandia Hall
Finlandia Hall
Finlandia Hall is a concert hall with a congress wing in Helsinki, Finland, by Töölönlahti bay. The building was designed by Alvar Aalto. The work began in 1967 and was completed in 1971.-Design and building:...
, freelance photographer Franco Rossi was hired to cover the event. Twenty minutes into the speech, Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, the United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
at the time, opened his briefcase and took out three folders. Rossi was above him. By the time Kissinger reached a confidential section titled "TOP SECRET SENSITIVE EXCLUSIVELY EYES ONLY CONTAINS CODEWORD", Rossi was shooting on his Canon F-1
Canon F-1
The Canon F-1 is a 35 mm single-lens reflex camera produced by Canon of Japan from March 1971 until 1976's introduction of the mildly updated F-1n, while in 1981 a New F-1 was launched. The new Canon FD lens mount was introduced along with the F-1, but the previous Canon FL-mount lenses were...
with its Canon FL-F 300mm f/2.8 S.S.C. Fluorite equipped with an FD Extender 2X mounted on a tripod.
The text can be seen to the point that it is clearly readable. It depicts a report on diplomatic relations between Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
that was based on information from a trusted CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
source.
According to the CIA source, the French felt deceived by assurances of North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
would they not invade the South
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. Therefore Paris refused to grant Hanoi new credits until the situation in the South clarifies and until Hanoi or Saigon makes a preliminary acknowledgement of debts contracted by the Thieu government
Nguyen Van Thieu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , became head of a military junta, and then president after winning a fraudulent election...
.
This photograph was shown in La Domenica del Corriere of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Nieuwe Revu
Nieuwe Revu
The Nieuwe Revu is a weekly general interest magazine from The Netherlands, coming out on Wednesday and is written in Dutch.The magazine was an explicitly left winged in the seventies with a big focus on sex, sensation and socialism.-Editorial board:...
of and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Paris Match
Paris Match
Paris Match is a French weekly magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. It was founded in 1949 by the industrialist Jean Prouvost....
purchased the rights to the pictures but never published them, claiming it ran out of space.
Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
erroneously referred to the lens as a 600mm; a 300mm lens combined with a 2x teleconverter
Teleconverter
A teleconverter is a secondary lens which is mounted between the camera and a photographic lens. Its job is to enlarge the central part of an image obtained by the objective lens...
gives the focal equivalent of a 600mm lens. The Canon 600mm lens available at the time was a non-fluorite model with an aperture of f/5.6.