Using Canon FD lenses on EOS system

Tylerwickphoto

:help I have been Researching using canon FD lenses on my canon EOS xsi rebel. i was looking for anyone with advice. I was looking to purchase possibly a canon 50mm f 1.2... is there any benefit to getting the "L" version? or possibly the Canon 55mm f1.2.. in your opoinion what would you choose. and also, what adapter would you think to use. thanks for all your help! looking forward to seeing your answers!

Mr Eddy

Tylerwickphoto wrote:

:help I have been Researching using canon FD lenses on my canon EOS xsi rebel. i was looking for anyone with advice. I was looking to purchase possibly a canon 50mm f 1.2... is there any benefit to getting the "L" version? or possibly the Canon 55mm f1.2.. in your opoinion what would you choose. and also, what adapter would you think to use. thanks for all your help! looking forward to seeing your answers!

Well this won't help you much I have to admit. Or at all really. But FD lenses work beautifully on my Panasonic G1. I've been running around with a 24mm f/2.8 (all of $60) and getting pretty good results. I'm enjoying the whole manual focus experience.

Having said that I've seen a few EOS to FD adapters on ebay. All the ones I've seen don't support infinity focus on the adapted lenses which is a bit of a pain.

Tylerwickphoto

Mr Eddy wrote:

Well this won't help you much I have to admit. Or at all really. But FD lenses work beautifully on my Panasonic G1. I've been running around with a 24mm f/2.8 (all of $60) and getting pretty good results. I'm enjoying the whole manual focus experience.

Having said that I've seen a few EOS to FD adapters on ebay. All the ones I've seen don't support infinity focus on the adapted lenses which is a bit of a pain.

thanks for the reply! im happy to hear from everyone about this topic! the focus wont be supported i think because the miror gets in the way? if that makes sense.

Mr Eddy

Tylerwickphoto wrote:

thanks for the reply! im happy to hear from everyone about this topic! the focus wont be supported i think because the miror gets in the way? if that makes sense.

This article seems to cover the subject fairly well.

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-manual-lenses/

ziggy53

Using Canon FD lenses on an EOS body requires an adapter. The only current adapter is also a poor quality teleconverter. I am not at all happy with the results at any rate.

A better solution, if you want to use very good quality old manual focus lenses on an EOS camera, is to use old Pentax screw-mount lenses (including some third-party lenses that use the M42 mount). You can purchase adapters inexpensively that allow focus confirmation and infinity focus without additional optics.

Here are a few of my results:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=34881
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=38398
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=27214

Most of the lenses in this reply are also M42 mount with the M42/EOS adapter:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1126808&postcount=17

Understand that all of the older lenses will also require the use of manual aperture as well. This means that you would focus with the aperture open and then stop down to take the image. The EOS cameras will allow exposure automation if you use aperture priority mode.

Tylerwickphoto

Thank you all for your input!

someone offered me a canon FDn 50mm f 1.2 already professionally converted to canon eos for 350$ in great condition. what would be the pro's and con's of this lens and would i be better with a pentax and adapter or something else?

thank you all!

ziggy53

Tylerwickphoto wrote:

Thank you all for your input!

someone offered me a canon FDn 50mm f 1.2 already professionally converted to canon eos for 350$ in great condition. what would be the pro's and con's of this lens and would i be better with a pentax and adapter or something else?

thank you all!

For a little more than $350 I would go with a new EF 50mm, f1.4. You gain AF and auto-aperture and, compared with an old FDn 50mm, f1.2, similar optic quality.

You can often get a Pentax 50mm, f1.4 SMC for $60-$80 and an adapter for another $50 or so. I have 2 copies of the Pentax lens and it really is that good.

The Canon FDn 50mm, f1.2L would be another story.

Tylerwickphoto

how much is the 50mmL FDn go for?

ziggy53

Tylerwickphoto wrote:

how much is the 50mmL FDn go for?

I have no idea what they sell for nowdays and it probably would not be worth the money IMO. The EF 50mm, f1.4 USM is a wonderful lens and underrated compared to the price and performance.

If you want a very nice manual focus 50mm there is an Olympus 50mm, f1.4 in our Flea Market right now and it comes with an appropriate EOS adapter with focus confirmation.