Canon FD 28mm f/2.8 won't attach

I'm having a problem getting a lens I just bought to attach. Let me say I am very much a beginner.. I just got an Olympus E-PL1 2 weeks ago along with a Canon FD adapter for it. I have 3 other FD lenses that attach and work great, but this lens I just got today, the 28mm f/2.8 won't go on the adapter! I think it may be broken, jammed up inside? The longer lever is free, and sticks in position on each end of it's sliding path. The shorter lever is stuck, but it is on the other 3 FD lenses also. The lens sits as flush on the adapter as my Canon 50mm f/1.8 does, it just won't turn on to it. This is the only silver ringed FD I have. Breech lock instead of bayonet I believe, but the Fotodiox adapter I got does both lock systems. Any help is greatly appreciated! And the more it's worded for a beginner the better. Thanks.

samuraidave said:

samuraidave wrote:

I'm having a problem getting a lens I just bought to attach. Let me say I am very much a beginner.. I just got an Olympus E-PL1 2 weeks ago along with a Canon FD adapter for it. I have 3 other FD lenses that attach and work great, but this lens I just got today, the 28mm f/2.8 won't go on the adapter! I think it may be broken, jammed up inside? The longer lever is free, and sticks in position on each end of it's sliding path. The shorter lever is stuck, but it is on the other 3 FD lenses also. The lens sits as flush on the adapter as my Canon 50mm f/1.8 does, it just won't turn on to it. This is the only silver ringed FD I have. Breech lock instead of bayonet I believe, but the Fotodiox adapter I got does both lock systems. Any help is greatly appreciated! And the more it's worded for a beginner the better. Thanks.

Click to expand...

With breech-lock, you don't turn the whole lens. You put the lens against the mount/adapter and turn just the silver ring to secure it.

Nothing turns when it's lined up though.

samuraidave said:

samuraidave wrote:

Nothing turns when it's lined up though.

Click to expand...

Breech lock is like a reverse bottle. Open up the lock first by turning the ring clockwise (looking at the bottom), then line up the dot onto the mount, then turn the ring (not lens, counter-clockwise) to lock it in place. Being spring-loaded it should even lock itself partially when pushing it onto the mount properly, and so only need to tighten the locking ring.

MDNL35 said:

M Jesper wrote:

MDNL35 said:

samuraidave wrote:

Nothing turns when it's lined up though.

Click to expand...

Breech lock is like a reverse bottle. Open up the lock first by turning the ring clockwise (looking at the bottom), then line up the dot, then turn the ring (not lens, counter-clockwise) to lock it in place.

Click to expand...

ditto.

With the lens off the camera, turn the breech lock ring so that the red dot is straight up (aligned with focus mark). Join it to the mount/adapter by aligning the red dots, then turn the breech lock ring to secure it.

p. 31 of this pdf of an old Canon TL instruction manual.

http://www.cameramanuals.org/canon_pdf/canon_tl.pdf

MDNL35 said:

M Jesper wrote:

MDNL35 said:

samuraidave wrote:

Nothing turns when it's lined up though.

Click to expand...

Breech lock is like a reverse bottle. Open up the lock first by turning the ring clockwise (looking at the bottom), then line up the dot, then turn the ring (not lens, counter-clockwise) to lock it in place. Being spring-loaded it should even lock itself partially when pushing it onto the mount properly, and so only need to tighten the locking ring.

Click to expand...

I can't rotate the ring at all, in either direction. I don't want to apply a lot of force, and there is nothing much to hang on to. There is no play at all between the silver ring and the back side of the lens. Is there a lever that needs to be repositioned or a pin to depress?

The red dot is currently lined up with the focus mark I believe, yes.

samuraidave said:

samuraidave wrote:

samuraidave said:

M Jesper wrote:

samuraidave said:

samuraidave wrote:

Nothing turns when it's lined up though.

Click to expand...

Breech lock is like a reverse bottle. Open up the lock first by turning the ring clockwise (looking at the bottom), then line up the dot, then turn the ring (not lens, counter-clockwise) to lock it in place. Being spring-loaded it should even lock itself partially when pushing it onto the mount properly, and so only need to tighten the locking ring.

Click to expand...

I can't rotate the ring at all, in either direction. I don't want to apply a lot of force, and there is nothing much to hang on to. There is no play at all between the silver ring and the back side of the lens. Is there a lever that needs to be repositioned or a pin to depress?

Click to expand...

I just tried it and turns out i can't turn it without being mounted, or when putting the back cap on! So basically that means it's ready to go, because something releases when i push the back cap onto it (same as mounting), only then i am able to turn it, locking or unlocking it.

samuraidave said:

samuraidave wrote:

I'm having a problem getting a lens I just bought to attach. Let me say I am very much a beginner.. I just got an Olympus E-PL1 2 weeks ago along with a Canon FD adapter for it. I have 3 other FD lenses that attach and work great, but this lens I just got today, the 28mm f/2.8 won't go on the adapter! I think it may be broken, jammed up inside? The longer lever is free, and sticks in position on each end of it's sliding path. The shorter lever is stuck, but it is on the other 3 FD lenses also. The lens sits as flush on the adapter as my Canon 50mm f/1.8 does, it just won't turn on to it. This is the only silver ringed FD I have. Breech lock instead of bayonet I believe, but the Fotodiox adapter I got does both lock systems. Any help is greatly appreciated! And the more it's worded for a beginner the better. Thanks.

Click to expand...

You've probably got the breechlock ring locked into the position it would be in if it is mounted onto the camera. This will prevent it being mounted onto anything else.



Hold the lens facing you like this and note the two small flat pins at about 10 and 2 o'clock. If the lens is 'locked' you need to depress both of these pins with a paper clip or something similar and then with them depressed rotate the centre of the lens to its 'unlocked' position. Use the FAD (fully automatic diaphragm) lever (the taller of the two as a lever to help you rotate the centre. Once you get the knack this is easier to do than it sounds. If you have an FD lens, or adapter with the silver breechlock ring the procedure is slightly different and in that event I suggest you get back to me and I'll try and remember what it was!

samuraidave said:

(

Click to expand...

nevermind..

That sounds like what I need to know! Unfortunately this FD does have the silver breech lock, and my pins look a bit different. The pin in the 2 o'clock position looks the same as the one you posted, and it does not seem to depress. The 10 o'clock position is different. There is a pin that's partly covered by the ring that I can press down, and near it there's a round pin that won't depress either.

samuraidave said:

samuraidave wrote:

That sounds like what I need to know! Unfortunately this FD does have the silver breech lock, and my pins look a bit different. The pin in the 2 o'clock position looks the same as the one you posted, and it does not seem to depress. The 10 o'clock position is different. There is a pin that's partly covered by the ring that I can press down, and near it there's a round pin that won't depress either.

Click to expand...

Ok - you need to get the silver ring so that the red mounting dot is in this position:








As far as I remember the pin you may need to depress can be seen at roughly 7 0'clock in this picture. If the ring will not turn try and depress this and rotate the silver ring so that the red dot is in the same position as in this photo. At that position the lens is unlocked and it can be offered up to the body mount and the ring should then turn freely when the two surfaces are pressed together (pressure holding the pin in). Remember with the lens aligned up to the body just turn the silver ring - clockwise as you look at the front of the lens. Don't turn the whole lens, just the silver ring. Hope that does it for you.

It's in that position, so that's good. It just won't turn onto the body.

It must be broken in some way.. I'm not real happy with it for a couple other reasons. The larger lever is bent, and when it is one position there is a scraping noise while being focused. Also some slack in the focusing ring. Paid $30 for it, I'll try to get my money back.

samuraidave said:

samuraidave wrote:

It must be broken in some way.. I'm not real happy with it for a couple other reasons. The larger lever is bent, and when it is one position there is a scraping noise while being focused. Also some slack in the focusing ring. Paid $30 for it, I'll try to get my money back.

Click to expand...

Yes it sounds like it might be damaged. If it's already in that position as in the photo then just mounting the lens up to the body mount should cause the breechlock ring to turn by itself about an 1/8th of a turn, after which you tighten it the rest of the way by hand. Has it got a rear lens cap? What happens if you push that against the rear of the lens? Sometimes, especially if the lens hasn't been used for years, the mounting ring can get stiff and seize in position. Pushing the rear lens cap in and wiggling it a bit might just free things up. Good luck whatever happens.




PS The scraping noise is sometimes caused by the FAD spring just touching the focussing helicoid. This is not too serious and if you can get the lens mounted it might not even be audible.

MDNL35 said:

M Jesper wrote:

MDNL35 said:

samuraidave wrote:

MDNL35 said:

M Jesper wrote:

MDNL35 said:

samuraidave wrote:

Nothing turns when it's lined up though.

Click to expand...

Breech lock is like a reverse bottle. Open up the lock first by turning the ring clockwise (looking at the bottom), then line up the dot, then turn the ring (not lens, counter-clockwise) to lock it in place. Being spring-loaded it should even lock itself partially when pushing it onto the mount properly, and so only need to tighten the locking ring.

Click to expand...

I can't rotate the ring at all, in either direction. I don't want to apply a lot of force, and there is nothing much to hang on to. There is no play at all between the silver ring and the back side of the lens. Is there a lever that needs to be repositioned or a pin to depress?

Click to expand...

I just tried it and turns out i can't turn it without being mounted, or when putting the back cap on! So basically that means it's ready to go, because something releases when i push the back cap onto it (same as mounting), only then i am able to turn it, locking or unlocking it.

Click to expand...

That's how it should be. The ring only turns when it is mounted, it releases the little spring that sits under the ring where the red dot is. You can take a small tool and press this down, then you can turn the ring. But as others said, to mount it, it should be in the original position where it is locked, and it will only unlock either when you put the back cap on, or the lens is mounted.

here is a video how it should normally work.


some more pics.


Note: the little spring I was talking about is the one barely visible in the last picture at the bottom of the site above, at the first "1", if the T112 text of the lens.




here another set of pictures

Thank you so much for your help, everyone. I just today got my small screwdriver set so I took the lens apart, and now the silver bayonet attachment ring moves! However, I'm stumped as how to line up the spring loaded levers. No matter what I do I can't seem to get it so the aperture ring makes any change. The larger lever on the rear is doing its job fine though, and the smaller lever moves also. Just no change in aperture. I'm also not sure what position the little steel ring with a hook on it should be in. This is the piece that surrounds the center glass. It has 3 possible positions, and I am not sure which.

Here's some pictures of what I was talking about. How do I get these 2 pieces to mate and have a working aperture adjustment? I believe the small lever in the main lens part (6 o clock on the left piece of the lens), the ring piece that goes around the center, mates with the |_| shaped piece (12 o clock on the right hand side part of the lens.

I think the slightly larger lever in the left part of the lens (3 o clock) mates with the _| shaped piece on the right part of the lens, (2 o clock, inner part). The piece just outside of it is a hooked shaped piece that I successfully slid under a plastic lip on the left lens part. Not positive if that's how it goes though.

The spring also popped off while I was screwing around with it. I think it goes in the little oval cut in the plastic. I know the small pin goes in it proper hole.



I just can't get it so it works! I got it so I can move the larger lever on the base of the lens and the aperture will close down, but it closes all the way down. Past f/22 I think. And if I set f/2.8 it will not make a difference. It just goes as small as possible. Sometimes on assembly the aperture ring does not even turn.


I guess I kind of need an order of what to do and lever positions, aperture position, breech lock ring position, etc. Hopefully that little kink in the spring will not be an issue.


I should add that I'm using this on a Micro Four Thirds adapter. I doubt that changes anything however.

samuraidave said:

samuraidave wrote:

Thank you so much for your help, everyone. I just today got my small screwdriver set so I took the lens apart, and now the silver bayonet attachment ring moves! However, I'm stumped as how to line up the spring loaded levers. No matter what I do I can't seem to get it so the aperture ring makes any change. The larger lever on the rear is doing its job fine though, and the smaller lever moves also. Just no change in aperture. I'm also not sure what position the little steel ring with a hook on it should be in. This is the piece that surrounds the center glass. It has 3 possible positions, and I am not sure which.

Click to expand...

With the disassembled lens, I can't help. perhaps something is in the wrong position.

Anyway, as to how an FD lens should work.

The large lever is the one that the camera body moves to stop down the lens to the effective aperture in A (auto) mode. So, it has only two positions so to speak, open, or stopped down. In the stopped down position, the aperture may of course still be open, if the exposure system of the body asks for open aperture (say, f1.4). This lever, if used on for example, a bellows, or any other full manual way, where no body or other system can stop down the lens, must be looked in the "stopped-down" position. To lock it, you push it until it clicks into the locked position. You can also push it into the open position again, if manual mode is not necessary anymore.

The short lever: this is the lever where the body sets the aperture. So, if the body asks f4 from the lens, a lever in the body will push this short lever to f4. The lens still remains at the open aperture however, until the shutter is released, the the body stops down the lens via the large lever.

So, far, so good. To use the lens in manual mode, lock the large lever in the stop-down position. Move the aperture ring from A to any desired aperture, say f4. Big Note: this works only when the lens is mounted. For some reason, the aperture movement is linked with the silver breech mount. If the lens is in manual mode, stopped down, but not mounted, it will not work. To make it work, you will have to release the mount ring by pressing the little lever under the mount at the red dot position. You will notice that the aperture opens/closes as you move the silver mount ring (depending on manual setting of the aperture ring, say f4). To get the full range of aperture movement (say from f1.4 to f16), the mount ring must be fully closed as it is when mounted on a body.

So, the latter issue is maybe something that confounded you. However, another possibility is that something is broken with your lens, or that when disassembling/reassembling, you somehow didn't link breech lock and aperture correctly.

Hey I also have the same problem with my lens,

I have a Canon F1 with a standard 50mm lens and have never had any problems before but i put on another lens and ever since i used that lens i can't get the 50mm back on.. the new one will go on though..

I reset my 50mm lens like your post said and it worked, thankyou. But it still wont go onto the camera, it still feels jammed. when i reset it the silver release button on the side popped out so i think i did it right but it still wont turn on the camera, it just sits on the camera flat but wont turn.