JOHN LULLO

I have an older Canon Camera AE-1 with 3 different lenses.

I have purchased a new Canon EOS Rebel T6i Camera.

Can anyone tell me if there is a way I can adapt the
3 different lenses to this new camera. I would be grateful
for any help.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

There are adapters out there you can use but don't expect auto focus and/or aperture settings to be active with the camera. You will be in manual mode for the most part or aperture priority. Which kind of defeats the purpose of the T6i.

JOHN LULLO

THANKS Big Guy!!!!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Basically: no, you cannot use your FD lenses on an EOS DSLR body. Look for EF / EF-S lenses for your DSLR body.

What you can do with your FD lenses is use them on mirrorless bodies, any brand as in Sony, Canon, Fuji, Nikon, etc, you just need the applicable FD to target-mount adapter.

What FD lenses do you have and what lens(es) came with the EOS T6i? We can give some ideas to replicate the focal lengths with modern EF / EF-S lenses. If really interested in the FD lenses, do you still have an opportunity to swap the DSLR to a MILC (mirrorless interchangeable lens camera) that allows for both the manual focus FD lenses and modern autofocus lenses on the same body?

kcholman Loc: Florida

Actually, there is a way to do it with the right adapter, at least with manual focus. If you search eBay for "canon fd to ef adapter af confirm" you'll find several results for around $30. Note that these adapters do supply the AF confirmation (red dots) on the screen of your T6i as you focus, but you still have to focus manually and set the aperture manually as well. In other words, it provides a way to use your old glass if you'd like, although in a rather laborious manner.

One other note: the above adapters utilize an extra layer of glass to provide infinity focus. Some feel this degrades the image too much to mess with, but I've been pleased with the results as a recreational shooter. There are "glassless" FD to EF adapters as well, but they can only be used for macro work (since they don't refocus the image to fit your T6i sensor).

For some reason, I've enjoyed shooting with old film lenses on my Canon cameras (everything from XTi to 5d3 through the years). I've adapted not only Canon FD lenses, but also Nikon, Olympus OM, Pentax PK, Pentax M42 screw mount (my favorite), and a couple of others. Some of the adapters provide AF confirmation, some don't, but they all require manual focusing and manual aperture. Also, note that some types (such as M42 mount) don't need a layer of glass to adapt to Canon EF and still focus to infinity--no image degradation, in other words. I've had best results using Shutter Priority (S mode) and adjusting the shutter speed until exposure looks right. (After awhile, you get pretty good at guessing close to what will be needed.)

I'm not disputing CHG-CANON's statement; modern lenses are indeed a whole lot easier and faster to work with. But if you do like to tinker, there is a way to still use your old glass.

Finally, I've recently moved from Canon DSLR to Olympus mirrorless (thus making CHG-CANON happier, I'm sure!). I've already collected my first couple of adapters for using film lenses on my E-M1 ii, so the process begins again... Collecting old prime lenses and adapting them is a LOT cheaper than buying Olympus Pro primes, haha!

Kevin

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

You CAN use an adapter, but it’s a PIA (the manual focus and aperture can slow you down if you’re shooting action and AF DSLRs don’t have the same focusing screens that SLRs had), and the cheap lens in the adapter adds an unacceptable amount of CA (colored fringing) on the ones I’ve tried. If it were a high quality L series or fast FD lens, then your two good options are using with a lensless adapter on a MILC body as Paul suggested or change the actual lens mount (if still available, the EOS mount conversion kit is in the $100 range). If it’s an average or low cost lens, I wouldn’t bother (tried it and returned the adapter after one look).

jim quist Loc: Missouri

Call BnH. They can set you up if one is available

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

We have an old A1 here, with 28mm and 50mm FD lenses. They work with a Fotodiox adapter on our Panasonic Lumix GH4 bodies. However, focus is 100% manual. Aperture control uses the 100% manual "stop-down" methods from the 1950s. The optical character is cool for video though. My son uses those lenses and several of my old Nikkors for short films. They work okay, but we greatly prefer the native Lumix lenses.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Canon FD lenses have real value, even the cheapest ones. It would be a shame to destroy that value by altering the FD mount. If you're not using manual focus lenses on digital mirrorless bodies in 2021, you're simply not doing it right. It would be a shame too to buy an adapter to a DSLR to achieve inferior results, using money better spent on an autofocus EF / EF-S lens intended specifically for the EOS DSLR.

On a mirrorless body, you attach the FD lens to the adapter to the body, put the camera in aperture or shutter priority, set the aperture on the lens to the desired composition, put the camera in AUTO ISO, focus and shoot. Use the mirrorless EVF to zoom 10x to the details while focusing and you'll get better results than your entire life's history of shooting film with that same FD lens.

Here's just a taste of an FD 135 f/2 on a Sony mirrorless. The same work can be done quicker and easier with an autofocus lens on the T6i.

Lacewing butterfly by Paul Sager, on Flickr

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Although the sensor size of the EOS T6i is a smaller format, that DSLR is the same 24MP as the Sony sensor for the lacewing above. Put an AF point specifically on the butterfly's eye, give the camera an instant to grab focus, and shoot, and our OP might look immediately to the LCD display and see something every similar without all the manual focus hassle (frustration).

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Check out what you can get for the FD lenses, sell them, and buy EFS and EF lenses that fit your now camera.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

That was my decision. Sold my 6 or 7 FDs and bought one EF L series. Never been sorry.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

You would be better off selling the AE-1 and lenses to fit it, than trying to use them on your new camera.

The AE-1 uses the FD/FL bayonet mount. Canon dropped that design for the new EF/EOS mount around 1990. The EF mount is still in use today and is what you have on your T6i (it's actually a special version of that mount that allows both EF and EF-S lenses to be used on the camera).

As others have said, there are FD to EF mount adapters.... but there are problems. First and worst, they require optics... "corrective lenses". This is because the flange to film distance was changed. In the earlier FD/FL mount it was a relatively short (for film cameras) 42mm. When they made the change to the EF mount, that distance was changed to 46mm. As a result, there's no room to fit an adapter without also using optics in it. When Canon first made that change they briefly offered a high quality FD to EF adapter, but it was very expensive, is quite rare and collectable today, typically commanding a price above $1000 US if you can find one. Due to the optics in it, that adapter also acted as a 1.26X teleconverter, making wide angle lenses less wide and telephoto lenses behave a little longer.

More affordable FD to EF adapters tend to use very low quality optics that ruin the lens' capabilities.

Actually there have been some alternatives, such as replacing the bayonet mount on the lens with a special one. I don't know if those are still being made and they were very lens specific, required permanent modification to the lens that was best done by a professional camera tech and weren't cheap, costing about $100 just for the mount for the lens, plus any labor. This was pretty much limited to big telephotos and macro lenses, though there were a few others. It's a remote possibility, depending upon the specific lenses you have.

It's also possible with some of the cheap adapters to remove the optics and work without it on certain lenses... in particular macro lenses where you only need close focusing can be used that way without too much trouble. Also, very wide angle lenses may be possible, since they have a lot of depth of field and really don't need to be focused to infinity for most uses. It's similar with very powerful telephotos, that they can be used successfully with moderately closer subjects, just won't be able to focus on more distant ones. Fitting the adapter is sort of like installing a small macro extension ring, which will make the lens able to focus slightly closer, but not able to focus all the way out to infinity. The least practical lenses to adapt are the middle focal lengths.... moderately wide to normal to moderate telephoto.

But even if able to do one of those forms of adaptation, it still doesn't solve some other problems. The adapted lens will still be manual focus AND manual aperture only. Further, as you stop the lens down to smaller apertures, you will see your viewfinder dim down. A modern lens on your camera will maintain the aperture wide open until the very instant of exposure, when it will close down very briefly, only during the actual exposure. Adapted lenses don't do that. And even out on a bright sunny day your viewfinder will be quite dim if you use much smaller than an f/8 aperture. This makes it difficult to manually focus the lens.

In fact, manual focusing is difficult already, because like most modern cameras, your T6i is designed to work primarily with auto focusing lenses, so it doesn't have any of the focus assist features you see in your AE-1's viewfinder, such as a split image rangefinder, micro-diaprisms or even a matte screen. Those aren't needed with modern AF lenses, so the majority of today's cameras don't have them. Your T6i certainly doesn't. Another thing, to reduce the cost, size and weight of the Rebel series cameras like your T6i, they use a penta-mirror instead of a true pentaprism. This makes their viewfinders smaller and dimmer, which also doesn't help anyone trying to focus manually.

It is possible to use the rear LCD in Live View to manually focus. You can even magnify what you're seeing there for really critical focus adjustments. However this is a slow process.

There also are "chipped" adapters, which allow your camera's Focus Confirmation to work in a limited way. You can see what one of those chips look like at this website: http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/manual_focus_EOS.html This web site also has a lot of info about other vintage lens mounts that ARE practical to adapt for use on modern EF mount cameras like your T6i.

That chip doesn't make the lens auto focus or give control of the aperture. Some of the chips are user programmable so the type of lens will be recorded in image EXIF. And, as mentioned, they can allow Focus Confirmation to work. Check your manual, but this feature flashes a green LED in many Canon viewfinders when focus is achieved. In some it may also cause one or more AF points to flash red. And, if it's enabled, the camera will emit a soft "beep" sound to confirm focus has been achieved. However, to set this up you have to first fit an autofocus lens to the camera, set the AF system to One Shot mode, then select a single AF point (some cameras you can select a small group of 4 to 9 AF points, but I don't think that's possible on a T6i). Now remove the autofocus lens and install the adapted lens. It's still manual focus, which isn't nearly as fast as AF, but so long as there is sufficient light the camera will now confirm when focus is achieved. Even so, it won't always work. Focus Confirmation fails when the lens is stopped down to f/8 or smaller and/or when ambient light levels are too low.

I don't know about the T6i, but some cameras also need to be set to "shoot without lens" when an adapted lens is installed (or a modern, manual focus/manual aperture lens). This is because the camera is designed so that it won't accidentally take shots when the lens is removed (probably to protect the mirror and shutter mechanisms) and it doesn't "recognize" the adapted lens. In other words, it doesn't "know" the adapted lens is installed. So you have to override the default setting in the menu.

Finally, there are limitations on the exposure modes you can use with an adapted lens. You can still use the camera's internal light meter to shoot Manual exposure (M) where you make all the settings on the camera and lens, checking the meter readout as needed. Very limited auto exposure (AE) is also possible. You can use Aperture Priority AE (Av). Here you set the lens aperture (on the lens in this case) and select an ISO, leaving it to the camera to choose a shutter speed that it thinks will make a correct exposure. I'm not familiar with how the T6i handles Auto ISO, but it's another AE mode you may be able to use.... Here you would set the camera to M and enable Auto ISO. You'll then need to select both the aperture and the shutter speed, leaving it to the camera to choose an ISO it thinks will make a correct exposure.

With adapted lenses you CANNOT use P (Program AE) or Tv (Shutter Priority AE), any of the "Scene" modes (such as sports, landscape, portrait, etc.), or the full "Auto" mode.

All the above means that adapted lenses are slower and more difficult to work with. They generally are not suitable for sports or active wildlife. Mostly just usable with stationary and posed subjects.

So, again, you may be better served just getting some modern AF lenses to use on your T6i... possibly selling the AE-1 and lenses for it. (However, AE-1 cameras really don't bring much $ because they are quite common... and most FD/FL lenses have very limited value as well. You an search for "sold items" on eBay to see what specific lenses and similar cameras are bringing. It's up to you... maybe you should just keep it for "old time's sake"! I still have some film cameras I like to use occasionally. (Just use the camera occasionally. AE-1 left unused for a long time will usually develop a "shutter squeal", which is actually dried up lubrication on the mirror mechanism. If this is not addressed, the camera will eventually have delayed shutter release and slow shutter action problems that cause over-exposure. There's a very simple "quick fix", but the squeal is usually a sign that the camera needs a proper clean/lube/adjust. And when that's done, new light seals usually should be installed. The last Canon A-series film camera I had serviced in that way cost $125 for these jobs.)

EDIT: It's different adapting vintage lenses for use on mirrorless cameras, as Chg_Canon did to take the above butterfly shot. Mirrorless cameras have a very short flange to sensor distance, often 20mm or less. So there is plenty of room to fit an adapter without any need for corrective optics. This lets old lenses have a new life.

kcholman Loc: Florida

Very true with FD lenses and adapters, I agree. BUT...it is possible to shoot M42 lenses (from old Pentax film cameras) and a few other lens mounts that don't require adapters with corrective optics on the Canon EOS cameras (such as PK or OM). I personally have enjoyed adapting the Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 w/ M42 mount to my Canon DSLRs, for example, and I've learned a lot in the process about some of the great "classic" lenses in a hands-on way. For the little amount that it costs ($12 for an M42 to EF AF confirmation adapter plus a used lens from eBay), I've had a blast! I wouldn't go out to shoot an event with such a setup, but fiddle around with? Absolutely!

Kevin