EOS 100D / 1200D / 1300D with vintage manual focus lenses via EOS adapter

Hi All

I have a large collection of vintage lenses left over from my film days - M42 manual focus Pentax Takumar primes and Contax Zeiss 50mm prime and 28-85mm zoom.

I still shoot film but would like to experiment with these lenses on a digital body. A bit of research has shown that a Canon body would be the most compatible by way of an adapter, and used in A mode.

I don't want to spend a fortune so have been looking at primarily the 100D. 1200D if I can find a new one still and a 1300D.

Does anyone have any experience of using these specific cameras with older lenses with an adapter? Research told me that the old 5D mk1 had an issue with its mirror hitting the back of the lens. I am in the market for one of these entry level Canon bodies and just want to be sure that they will work ok.

Many thanks

Julian

The 100D is great, just make sure it's comfortable to hold, you might want to try any point and shoot before so it feels more substantial, instead of trying a chunky DSLR first and then wondering where the 100D's went. You could also get a mid segment used older camera from a decent source, like keh, they might even have the 5D.

Interesting question. I would be interested in doing the same thing. There is a thread in the 7D forum on DP Review in November 2011 on this subject. It discusses changing the focusing screen on the camera to get proper metering. No mention of intrusion of the back of the lens too far into the mirror box.

I am sorry, I am on my phone and cannot link directly to it. It came up when I did a Google search on adapting Zeiss lenses.

The adaptors are apparantly not expensive.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, no problem with doing that, but something to consider... I find I use Live View a lot with manual focus lenses, so I would go for a body with the flip out monitor, so you can focus by moving the camera without having to get your eye behind it. A nice second-hand 600D, 650D... or 60D would be sweet, and a better camera overall than a 1200D or 1300D.

I read in one of those forum that some lenses would hit the mirror of the full frame DSLR but not with APS-Cs'.

As said before, I find that I prefer to use live view for manual focus, especially the zoom in function.

If you want full frame, there must be a way to lock the mirror up and use live view only...

fletchdirect wrote:...

Research told me that the old 5D mk1 had an issue with its mirror hitting the back of the lens. I am in the market for one of these entry level Canon bodies and just want to be sure that they will work ok.

I think the issue with some old M42 and Pentax K-mount lenses was that the lever for the aperture sticks too far into an EOS body and needs to be trimmed.

fletchdirect wrote:

Hi All

I have a large collection of vintage lenses left over from my film days - M42 manual focus Pentax Takumar primes and Contax Zeiss 50mm prime and 28-85mm zoom.

I still shoot film but would like to experiment with these lenses on a digital body. A bit of research has shown that a Canon body would be the most compatible by way of an adapter, and used in A mode.

I don't want to spend a fortune so have been looking at primarily the 100D. 1200D if I can find a new one still and a 1300D.

Does anyone have any experience of using these specific cameras with older lenses with an adapter? Research told me that the old 5D mk1 had an issue with its mirror hitting the back of the lens. I am in the market for one of these entry level Canon bodies and just want to be sure that they will work ok.

Many thanks

Julian

Have considered a mirrorless camera with an EVF?

You could probably get an older generation Fuji or Sony for not too much money (and you won't need the latest generation of focus tracking anyway).

Being able to use a viewfinder and having digital split screen, focus tracking and the ability to magnify the focus point makes a big difference.

Manual adapters are available for a wide range of mounts.

brightcolours wrote:

Exit10 wrote:

fletchdirect wrote:

Hi All

I have a large collection of vintage lenses left over from my film days - M42 manual focus Pentax Takumar primes and Contax Zeiss 50mm prime and 28-85mm zoom.

I still shoot film but would like to experiment with these lenses on a digital body. A bit of research has shown that a Canon body would be the most compatible by way of an adapter, and used in A mode.

I don't want to spend a fortune so have been looking at primarily the 100D. 1200D if I can find a new one still and a 1300D.

Does anyone have any experience of using these specific cameras with older lenses with an adapter? Research told me that the old 5D mk1 had an issue with its mirror hitting the back of the lens. I am in the market for one of these entry level Canon bodies and just want to be sure that they will work ok.

Many thanks

Julian

Have considered a mirrorless camera with an EVF?

You could probably get an older generation Fuji or Sony for not too much money (and you won't need the latest generation of focus tracking anyway).

Being able to use a viewfinder and having digital split screen

What is that then?

, focus tracking

Uhmmm.. Fcous tracking with manual lenses? really?

and the ability to magnify the focus point makes a big difference.

Manual adapters are available for a wide range of mounts.

Yes you're right - I meant Focus Peaking - obviously still had tracking on the brain after the previous paragraph.

brightcolours wrote:

2ndact scene1 wrote:

Interesting question. I would be interested in doing the same thing. There is a thread in the 7D forum on DP Review in November 2011 on this subject. It discusses changing the focusing screen on the camera to get proper metering.

That is nonsense then. You either misunderstood, or there is nonsense info in that thread.

It may be nonsense but it raised an interesting question. Here is the relevant quote from CarVac in 2011.

CarVac • Senior Member • Posts: 1,246Re: Contax / Yashica lens adapter for CanonIn reply to Jane S • Nov 14, 2011

The standard focusing screen only gives accurate metering if the camera knows what aperture the lens is set to at the moment. As you can probably tell, the brightness of the viewfinder is not proportional to the set aperture of the lens: it's equal in brightness for all lenses f/2.8 and faster. The metering cell in the finder doesn't see exactly what you see, but it's a good analogy. For manual lenses, which don't communicate with the camera body, the body assumes the lens is somewhere around f/3.5, and exposes accordingly. Thus, it overexposes heavily.

If you have a chipped adapter, though, you can ask the seller to program the chip so that it will report to the camera the max aperture of the lens you expect to use. Then, you use Av mode and tell the camera what aperture you will be closing down to by setting that with the control wheel. At that point, you have to lock the exposure, stop down the lens, and take the photo. That sounds time-consuming (I don't have a chipped adapter, so I don't know), and it would only be useful for lenses with matching max apertures.

However, if you use the Ef-S focusing screen (you can order it online for 35 bucks from Amazon), the meter sees light proportional to the amount of light that comes in, all the way out to f/1.8. With an unchipped adapter, the camera will show an aperture of f/0.0, which is a meaningless value, but it exposes correctly for any aperture smaller than f/1.8, and overexposes a third of a stop for f/1.4. Just stop down and take the picture: it'll expose correctly.

The related issue being raised here is that on fast lenses (the Contax 50/1.4 was mentioned in the thread) the use of a different focusing screen (ee-s for a 5D and Ef-s for the 40D/50D/60D) can make manual focusing much easier. As I understand it, this is because the viewfinder shows the shallow depth of field on these fast lenses more accurately than the standard f2.8 view. The downside is that the viewfinder gets pretty dark around f5.6.

I plan to try the ee-s screen on my 5D because I have difficulty judging DOF wide open and DOF preview doesn't help beyond f2.8 (at least that I can see - but I have less than perfect eyesight).

I thought what CarVac said in 2011 made sense - however I have not tried any adapted lenses to date - so I have no personal experience - yet.

This is also a bit off topic because the OP was asking about the 100D.  Wonderful camera that it is,  I am pretty sure it  is not set up to allow changing focusing screens.

Any Canon DSLR will meter properly with adapted lenses. If you change the focus screen for a different one with a split prism, from the film DSLR era, the metering will not be accurate anymore since the focus screen, which sits in front of the metering system, has changed its brightness.

No mention of intrusion of the back of the lens too far into the mirror box.

That only is an issue with some lenses/lens mounts (like Canon FD) on FF bodies, and most problematic with the old cameras (5D, probably 1DS and DS mk II)

I am sorry, I am on my phone and cannot link directly to it. It came up when I did a Google search on adapting Zeiss lenses.

The adaptors are apparantly not expensive.

Hope this helps.