cbabcock

I have a couple of old Canon lenses with FD mount and a newer T3i camera. Some of the adapters I see for sale have "glass," some have none. What is the difference in the way they function?

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

The "glass" will focus to infinity. The other adapters limit how far away you can focus. Sometimes making them useless for anything but closeups. Your quality will suffer with the "glass" adapters. - Dave

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

This has been discussed at some length and there are a number of ways to approach it.

The first one, as mentioned, is to use an adapter with a glass corrective lens which will give you the full use of the lens although some loss of image quality can be expected. How much depends upon the quality of the adapter, and there are some UHH members that are happy with the results they have achieved. This could be a decent approach for you since they are relatively inexpensive, you will be able to see the results and make up your own mind.

Which specific lenses do you have? That may be a big influence on how worthwhile it is to bother and which method you use.

The second method involves modifying the lens mount on each individual lens. This can be worth considering if your FD lenses are the higher quality lenses. This can provide an adaptation that includes no additional glass and adjusts for the different flange differences between FD and EF lens mounts, and so still provides infinity focus with no loss of image quality.

There are some things to take into account. This method works well on APS-C cameras such as the T3i. It can cause problems with full frame bodies because of mirror contact issues from the lens protruding too far into the camera body. This is the same reason why EF-S lenses are not intended for use with full frame bodies. The following link will give you an idea of what is involved: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-246186-1.html

Here is an image taken with an adapted FDn 500mm f/8.0 reflex lens on a T3i and front and rear shots of a modified FDn 135mm f/1.2 lens.

Taken with FDn 500mm f/8.0 reflex lens on a T3i.

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FDn 135mm f/2.0 modified to EF mount


FDn 135mm f/2.0 modified to EF mount - rear view

cbabcock

Oops! I meant lenses for Canon. One is Canon fd 50mm 1:1.8, the other Spiratone 1:8 f=500 mirror lens. Also have Spiratone Plura-coat 2x tele-verter.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

You could get an adapter if you wish, although I'm not sure how worthwhile it would be for the 50mm f/1.8. The mirror lens will be hard to focus and use, especially with an adapter. It is effectively an 800mm lens on a T3i from a field of view perspective, with very narrow depth of field as can be seen in my example. Also, you will not have any focus confirm information available through the viewfinder a f/8, even if the adapter has a chip.

Unless you are specifically fond of either of those lenses I would question the value of trying to use them.

You can get a new Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 for $125 with pretty decent optics or the new Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 Lens for Canon EF for around $65, and some people think it is better than the Canon lens.

Many people on the forum don't like mirror lenses for all sorts of reasons, and many of them are good reasons. I use mine occasionally, only for a few special things. I have a used Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM which sees a lot more use.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

cbabcock

Thank you so much! This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. :)

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

For your Spriatone all you have to do is get a t-mount to fit your camera and swap it with the t-mount you have one it Just put a search on eBay and they are less than $5. From China. I have bought them for my t-mount lenses that I used on Minoltas to Nikons and the work fine. - Dave

JPL

Before you go any further with this I have an advice for you.

You should not use much effort to connect your old glass to Canon dslr. It is not worth it. To make good use of this glass you should rather buy a mirrorless camera, sony or olympus f.x. They have models where you have tools to assist with focusing, like focus magnifier. This makes it so easy to get sharp focus. With your dslr it is almost impossible, frustrating at best with live view and still not nearly as fast or accurate as you can do with those mirrorless cameras.

cbabcock

Thanks!!

bigwolf40 Loc: Effort, Pa.

Myself I use the Pro Optic Lens Adapter and it works well with my FD lenses on my Canon 7D and T3i

cbabcock

Thanks for your comment.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

I thank you, I to was looking at the Pro Optic Lens Adapter.
Craig

graybeard

My old film cameras and lenses had the Pentax M42 screw mount, and when I was given a Canon T3 digital SLR, I use my old lenses by using a glass-less adapter M42-EOS which you can get cheaply on ebay. I use one for each of my old lenses, and I have bought some 400mm+ lenses recently. They all work fine, with infinite focus. Of course they are manual focus, manual setting for metering etc. Some of the lenses were not native M42 but with the proper T-mount you can convert them easily. Of course if your old lenses are some other brand you can get the proper adapters for them. Ironically, I have been told, the old Canon lenses are somewhat problematical on Canon bodies.

Karl Shuffler Loc: Weinert, Texas

During the age of film, dealing with; starting off with the Minolta systems, Contax (no auto focus lenses), to Nikon, I have to admit I fell in love with the performance of Carl Zeiss optics over any. And the fell of the RTS III solid construction was nothing to disconsider. Having a great desire to put these wonderful performing optics into today's digital world: with the proper no glass adapter (glass will diminish optical performance) having the needed distance of lens to sensor plane, I chose the Canon 6D for the experiment. Good things are worth waiting for. Spoiled with today's auto focus, as to now going back to full manual in reality Canon 6D became my up to date Contax. If critical focus is needed; I can use live view and dub 10X magnification for better than ever precise focus. At hand held, keeping in mind the way things were done without today's advancements; I shoot completely manually. Yes, this is slower as to not meant for action shots, but that is completely fine. Tripod or handheld, some things are just worth that extra time for that WOW shot. These shots were taken handheld, Canon 6D, c/y Carl Zeiss 180/2.8, no flash. Enjoy

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Karl Shuffler Loc: Weinert, Texas

Sorry for the misspelled word within second sentence. Should of read.......... And the feel of the RTS not fell of. Sorry, did try to change, but to no avail.