FD lenses with adapter

ether2802 · Jun 4, 2011

I want to know how many people have one of this and wich kinds of problems I am going to find besides the fact that FD lenses do not have AF motor...

http://www.dinodirect.com/AF-Confirm-FD-Lens-to-Canon-EOS-EF-Lens-Mount-Adapter.html

verybiglebowski · Jun 4, 2011

Without optical element (looks like the one you linked), you won't be able to focus to infinity with FD lenses. You can use some of the lenses for the macro work. With the optical element, resulting pictures are usually very soft.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/viktor_viktor/

I like this article: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/lens-sharpness.htm

photonius · Jun 4, 2011

ether2802 said:
I want to know how many people have one of this and wich kinds of problems I am going to find besides the fact that FD lenses do not have AF motor...

http://www.dinodirect.com/AF-Confirm-FD-Lens-to-Canon-EOS-EF-Lens-Mount-Adapter.html

this is an adapter with glass.

For FD lenses you need one with glass, but they are not good, you have to stop down a lot to get reasonable quality, then you loose the advantage of the large aperture that the old primes have.
read bob atkins test linked herein
http://photonius.wikispaces.com/Canon+FD

--
Life is short, time to zoom in ©

brianwallace21 · Jun 4, 2011

If you're looking for cheaper old glass - look at the Adaptall lenses from Tamron. They use adapters that don't require glass.

ether2802 · Jun 6, 2011

I've seen some videos on a T2i using old 28mm and 50mm lenses and I know they look soft, but that is a look that I like to get on some videos, besides they're really cheap, but I was wondering like how far can they focus, I know I wont have infinite but with 3mts I'll be fine......I'll check that Tamron thing..!!

Lemming51 · Jun 6, 2011

ether2802 said:
I've seen some videos on a T2i using old 28mm and 50mm lenses and I know they look soft, but that is a look that I like to get on some videos, besides they're really cheap, but I was wondering like how far can they focus, I know I wont have infinite but with 3mts I'll be fine......I'll check that Tamron thing..!!

The FD/EOS adapter with optical correcting elements to allow focus to infinity will also necessarily act as a 1.26x teleconverter, with corresponding increase in focal length and loss of aperture (a 28mm f/2 becomes 35 f/2.5). And the optical elements in a $30 adapter are not likely multicoated or well-corrected for spherical/chromatic aberrations. Best to sell old FD lenses to users of FourThirds and micro-FourThirds cameras who can use them without needing corrective lenses in their adapters.

And shop for old manual focus Nikon, Pentax screwmount (M42), Contax/Yashica, Olympus OM, Leica R mount lenses. These can be adapted to EOS cameras with simple ring adapters and don't require optical elements and maintain focus to infinity.

--
Unapologetic Canon Apologist

photonius · Jun 6, 2011

ether2802 said:
I've seen some videos on a T2i using old 28mm and 50mm lenses and I know they look soft, but that is a look that I like to get on some videos, besides they're really cheap, but I was wondering like how far can they focus, I know I wont have infinite but with 3mts I'll be fine......I'll check that Tamron thing..!!

The adaptors with glass focus to infinity, no problem.

It's the glass FD to EOS adapters that you can only use for macro, because you loose infinity.

--
Life is short, time to zoom in ©

Gunzorro · Jun 6, 2011

I agree with Lemming 100% -- don't bother with the Canon FD. The best value for quality lens is the Pentax Super Tak or SMC Takumars. I moved from those to Nikon for Canon video, got hooked, and then started to buy Ziess ZE and Zeiss Contax for regular shooting.

Olympus has a strong following too and is priced similar to Nikon.

Sounds like you want some manual focus lenses at a bargain prices and aren't overly concerned with image qualty. In that case, look for out of production brands like Mamiya (pre-1984) and Bell and Howell ion the M42 screw mount (often erroneously called "Pentax Screw Mount") with pretty good quality at an inexpensive price.

As has been said, FD are still great lenses, but best on the 4/3 bodies with adapters.

Pit123 · Jun 6, 2011

verybiglebowski said:
Without optical element (looks like the one you linked), you won't be able to focus to infinity with FD lenses.

Sure? I have a Canon FD 500mm reflex. No optical adapter. I can still focus to infinity.
Moon shot example:

verybiglebowski said:
You can use some of the lenses for the macro work. With the optical element, resulting pictures are usually very soft.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/viktor_viktor/

I like this article: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/lens-sharpness.htm

thenickdude · Jun 7, 2011

Pit123 said:
verybiglebowski said:

Without optical element (looks like the one you linked), you won't be able to focus to infinity with FD lenses.

Click to expand...

Sure? I have a Canon FD 500mm reflex. No optical adapter. I can still focus to infinity.

Your lens must have focused past infinity on an FD mount. The FD mount's flange focal distance is shorter than the EF mount, so for an adapter which is not a negative thickness, a lens that only just reached infinity focus on FD necessarily cannot reach infinity on EF.

Le Kilt · Jun 7, 2011

I had a play with a 50mm 1.4 FD and a 135mm 2.8 FD on a 5D with an adapter without a correcting lens and found the focussing issue a pain.

Good fun to try, but the maximum focussing distance drops considerably (sorry, can't recall exactly, but less than 3 meters...).

ether2802 said:
I want to know how many people have one of this and wich kinds of problems I am going to find besides the fact that FD lenses do not have AF motor...

http://www.dinodirect.com/AF-Confirm-FD-Lens-to-Canon-EOS-EF-Lens-Mount-Adapter.html

GoldenSpark · Jun 7, 2011

I had a Hoya 400mm f/5.6 FD lens. I bought the usual lensed FD to EF adapter, but the quality was quite poor and it lost a stop of light, while gaining about 1.4x.

I then did some surgery on it, removing the FD mount and attaching the bottom half of an old 35-135mm EF lens. This allowed me to mount it directly without an adapter, so it went back to being 400/5.6.

The quality was very good, comparing well to my 100-400L @400mm.

I also added a focus confirmation chip by soldering it onto the contacts of the EF lens.

The only downside was it was stuck wide open, but that was not too much of a problem with a slow f/5.6.

The focus confirmation chip was also set to indicate f/2 to the camera, which cased the camera to over-expose by just over a stop, but that was easily corrected.

If you can get a big gun FD lens cheap, it's not a bad way to go.

Pit123 · Jun 7, 2011

lamah said:
Pit123 said:

verybiglebowski said:

Without optical element (looks like the one you linked), you won't be able to focus to infinity with FD lenses.

Click to expand...

Sure? I have a Canon FD 500mm reflex. No optical adapter. I can still focus to infinity.

Click to expand...

Your lens must have focused past infinity on an FD mount. The FD mount's flange focal distance is shorter than the EF mount, so for an adapter which is not a negative thickness, a lens that only just reached infinity focus on FD necessarily cannot reach infinity on EF.

Nope. The FD mount has been replaced by an EF mount and it works just fine.
Of course manual focus.

photonius · Jun 8, 2011

Pit123 said:
lamah said:

Pit123 said:

verybiglebowski said:

Without optical element (looks like the one you linked), you won't be able to focus to infinity with FD lenses.

Click to expand...

Sure? I have a Canon FD 500mm reflex. No optical adapter. I can still focus to infinity.

Click to expand...

Your lens must have focused past infinity on an FD mount. The FD mount's flange focal distance is shorter than the EF mount, so for an adapter which is not a negative thickness, a lens that only just reached infinity focus on FD necessarily cannot reach infinity on EF.

Click to expand...

Nope. The FD mount has been replaced by an EF mount and it works just fine.
Of course manual focus.

Sure that works, but you seemed to indicate an adapter was used, but you have a modified lens actually.

--
Life is short, time to zoom in ©

Le Kilt · Jun 8, 2011

photonius said:
Pit123 said:

lamah said:

Pit123 said:

verybiglebowski said:

Without optical element (looks like the one you linked), you won't be able to focus to infinity with FD lenses.

Click to expand...

Sure? I have a Canon FD 500mm reflex. No optical adapter. I can still focus to infinity.

Click to expand...

Your lens must have focused past infinity on an FD mount. The FD mount's flange focal distance is shorter than the EF mount, so for an adapter which is not a negative thickness, a lens that only just reached infinity focus on FD necessarily cannot reach infinity on EF.

Click to expand...

Nope. The FD mount has been replaced by an EF mount and it works just fine.
Of course manual focus.

Click to expand...

Sure that works, but you seemed to indicate an adapter was used, but you have a modified lens actually.

Lol, yes, not mentioning that the lens is now converted to an EF mount is taking the mickey !

ether2802 · Jun 8, 2011

OK, now I need to search for other lenses then, cause I really don't want to loose either aperture nor focal range, so I'll check for those M42 lenses, leica I guess will be really expensive, right..??

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