graybeard

I forgive you for your poor taste in cameras. All I really wanted was whatever knowledge about using manual lenses on DSLR's people can contribute, and particularly about adapters and their various features and behavior. Thanks to all..... keep it coming.

Bluefish Loc: Berks County, PA

Man leftj and userid, lighten up. This is photography (fun stuff), not COVID-19 .

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

So I’m guessing having the chip activates the cameras AF system? (Not suggesting it drives the lens, just turns on the sensing system because the camera “thinks” there’s an AF lens attached?)

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

When the Zeiss lens is attached to a Nikon digital camera, and the Zeiss lens has a chip, as you manually turn the focusing ring on the manual focusing Zeiss lens, the focus indicator inside the camera's viewfinder will indicate when focus is reached by displaying a DOT. You control the motion of the focus ring, the camera tells you when focus is achieved by displaying the DOT.
The same DOT is used when you achieve focus with a AF Nikon lens, only this time the camera does the focusing.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I have only a few adapters, but all are chipped. None have been "programmed". Focus Confirmation works with all of them.

In fact, I don't even know if any of the chipped adapters I have used were "programmable"... Years ago, one that claimed to be I tried to program, but gave up because I couldn't get it to work.

HOWEVER, regardless of not being "programmed" all of my chipped/adapted lenses have allowed Focus Confirmation to work on every Canon DSLR I've tried (at least including 10D through 50D, all 7D-series, 5D Mark II... while I've briefly used some other Canon DSLRs, I don't recall if I ever used them with adapted lenses).

My understanding is that the "programming" only serves to allow very limited EXIF data about the lens to be embedded in image files. The "programming" will in some cases let a focal length and max aperture to be shown. It DOES NOT show the actual aperture used. NOR with a zoom would it show the actual focal length used. All the programming attempts to do is allow identification of which lens was used. AND, the "programmable" chips I've seen have only had limited lens info pre-loaded, from which the users had to choose. They only had some common focal lengths and max apertures to chose among... They don't allow the user to "type in" custom info. For example, the one I attempted to program had 50mm lenses and f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2, f/2.8 etc. max lens apertures... But there was no way I could program it to precisely describe a 57mm f/1.2 lens that I had planned to use it upon. I seem to recall some other lenses I wanted to use it with also weren't possible to describe, using the limited choices on the chip. It also didn't have any zoom ranges at all... only prime lens focal lengths. (That didn't matter to me, since I had no plan to adapt any zooms and probably never would). And even those focal lengths were pretty limited. Only some very common focal lengths. Nothing particularly wide and the longest telephoto was something like 200mm.

When using the chipped adapters on Canon cameras, you have to remember to switch the camera to One Shot mode for Focus Confirmation to work. Keep in mind, there is no Focus Confirmation available in AI Servo. With every Canon DSLRs where I've used an adapted lens, if the camera wasn't already set to One Shot when the adapted/chipped lens was installed, you couldn't simply change it. In order to switch from AI Servo (or, God forbid, AI Focus) to One Shot, you had to have first a modern auto focus-capable lens installed on the camera. I seem to recall I also always selected the AF pattern and chose the AF point(s) to use while the AF-capable lens was still installed (my cameras are usually set to Single Point, so I don't typically have to make any changes other than confirm that and select which point, usually the center one for it's higher performance). After making these settings, remove the AF lens, install the adapted/chipped vintage lens and the AF system will provide Focus Confirmation based upon those settings.

Another limitation of Focus Confirmation with an adapted/chipped lens is the manually selected lens aperture. Most Canon DSLRs today are able to focus with lenses as small as f/8, though in most cases only with select AF points. Other AF points are limited to f/5.6. With modern electronically controlled lenses you only have to worry about the lens' max aperture and it typically only becomes a problem for AF when you add a teleconverter to the mix or put a strong neutral density filter on the lens, reducing the "effective" max aperture. It doesn't matter what f-stop you've dialed in for your shot, because modern lenses' apertures remain wide open until the very instant of exposure.

However, with adapted/chipped vintage lenses the lens aperture actually closes down when you control it manually. As you set smaller apertures, the amount of light passing through the lens will be reduced (you can see your viewfinder dimming down), and beyond a point this will effect Focus Confirmation. Now, a big variable is how bright conditions you're shooting in. I have been able to get Focus Confirmation to work with as small as f/11 set on an adapted/chipped lens, even on a camera supposedly limited to f/5.6. However, this was a macro lens and it was out in very bright, full sun. So, sometimes when light is low and/or you've got the lens stopped down (or are also using a teleconverter or ND filter), Focus Confirmation may struggle or fail to work at all. It needs some light to work. Subject contrast and detail or the lack of them are other considerations that can effect it.

I've recently gotten one and learned it's different using adapted and other manual focus/manual aperture lenses on Canon's mirrorless cameras. A "chip" isn't needed because Focus Peaking that's made possible by the electronic viewfinder (EVF) works fine without it. The EVF also can easily compensate for the light lost, doesn't dim down as you stop down, the way the optical viewfinders of DSLRs do. However, you do have to set the Canon mirrorless camera to "shoot without lens", because the camera doesn't know there's any lens installed and tries to prevent the shutter from releasing (at least on the M-series I'm using... I don't know if it's the same with the R-series). As far as I can tell, there's no need for a "chipped" adapter to use vintage lenses on the mirrorless Canon. (Plus, due to their extra short lens register, many more vintage lens mounts can be adapted for use on them. The Canon DSLR... and, for that matter, Canon's earlier film SLRs with the EOS/EF mount... are among the most "adaptable", able to accommodate many different vintage mounts. But Canon mirrorless can handle even more. Just for example, it isn't possible to adapt vintage rangefinder lenses for use on any modern DSLRs, Canon's included. But it is possible to adapt various rangefinder lenses for use on the M-series and R-series.

Focus Confirmation varies a little depending upon the particular Canon DSLR. Most have the green LED that lights up in the viewfinder, when focus is achieved. Some models also flash the active AF point in red. Also on most Canon (all the models I've ever used), you have option of enabling an audible "beep" for Focus Confirmation. (I enable that for another reason... While using modern lenses on the camera, if I start shooting a moving subject and hear the "beep", that alerts me that I've got the wrong AF mode set. The "beep", along with all other Focus Confirmation indicators whatever they may be, only occurs in One Shot... not in AI Servo. One Shot is for stationary subjects only. AI Servo is continuous focusing as is needed for moving subjects, though it also can be used with stationary subjects, but that's usually best done in combination with Back Button Focusing.)

The original post asked whether or not to spend the extra for chipped adapters, if planning to use vintage lenses on your Canon DSLR. My vote is for chipped adapters. As I see it, Focus Confirmation can be worth the approx. $20 extra that the chipped adapters cost (I have seen the chips sold separately, too, so it may be possible to add one to a an unchipped adapter.... I've never done this and don't know how well they work or how difficult it is to epoxy the chip onto the adapter). I don't worry about whether or not the chip is "programmable", since I haven't used that feature.

graybeard

Lots of information here. I didn't know about the One Shot setting being a factor. Still, for whatever reason, I only get focus confirmation on my more expensive programmable adapters. Nevertheless I have enough of them for an adapter for each of my manual lenses (6) that I occasionally use. Thanks for the info.