Canon's specialist FD portrait lens — the New FD 85mm f/2.8 with adjustable soft focus.
The Canon New FD 85mm f/2.8 Soft Focus was introduced in 1983 as a specialist portrait lens for the FD manual-focus system, offering a controllable soft-focus effect. It was one of few dedicated soft-focus lenses in the FD line, aimed at portraiture and pictorial work in the New FD era.
This is a manual-focus Canon FD lens with a fixed 85mm focal length and a maximum aperture of f/2.8. Its distinguishing feature is an adjustable soft-focus mechanism that introduces a controllable degree of spherical aberration, letting the photographer dial the amount of softness independently of aperture. Focus and aperture are set manually.
The soft-focus control produces a glowing, diffused rendering around highlights that is prized for flattering portraits and dreamy pictorial images, and it can be reduced toward normal sharpness when a crisper result is wanted. The 85mm portrait length and the variable softening make it a purpose-built creative portrait tool rather than a general lens.
On the used market this soft-focus 85 is an uncommon specialist FD lens sought by portrait and effect photographers. Verify the soft-focus adjustment mechanism moves through its range correctly, check the optics for haze, fungus and separation beyond the intended softness, and confirm the aperture blades are clean. It adapts to mirrorless via an optics-free FD adapter.