Canon FD Lens to EOS EF Body Mount Adapter

[Charlie_Rabbit]

Hi there

I had a quick couple of question in regards to lens mount adapters.

I have a Canon FD Lens and I would like to attach it to an EOS EF Body (canon 40D). I have heard that you can get a Canon FD Lens to EOS EF Body Mount Adapter (see link below):

Amazon.com: Canon FD Lens to EOS EF Body Mount Adapter: Camera & Photo

I know I can try and get this online such as ebay etc, but can you recommend any places in Sydney I might be able to purchase this from?

Also,

Have you heard or know of any issues when mounting older style lens to more model camera bodies?

Your words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

Ta

[Elmo]

Most lens adapters are very low demand items, so I doubt you will find one locally.

As for issues none of the automatic functions will work. Sometimes the infanity focus might be off.

[OsmosisStudios]

You can get two kinds:
1: A straight adapter, that simply fits the FD mount on one side and EOS on the other. Some are chipped, which relays aperture information for EXIF, but obviously no AF. You also lose the ability to have infinity focus.

2: An adapter with a glass element, which essentially acts as a teleconverter without a multiplying factor. Generally most are cheap, and so the glass in them is cheap. They therefore usually hurt image quality.

If you have some *amazing* lenses, you may want to look into getting the mount on them converted. It's more expensive, but it means you dont lose the image quality and still get infinity focus.

[inkista]

Here's the deal.

A lens mount has to be a specific distance from the image plane (sensor) in order for the lens to focus to infinity. With the Canon EOS mount, that's 44mm. With Canon FD, it's 42mm.

2mm may not seem like much, but note that sinking a lens into the body another 2mm is physically impossible, without damage to the bode, the lens mount, and possibly the mirror box as it whacks into the back of a lens that should be farther away than that.

If you get a physical ring that just lets you connect an FD lens to an EOS mount, it will be held at more than 44mm (because you have to add in the thickness of the ring). So, you won't have focus to infinity. If this is for a macro or portrait lens that will always be used at close focus distances, this may not be an issue.

But if you want a landscape lens, then focusing to infinity is more critical, so you'll need an adapter with a glass element, and as Os says, these are typically going to be cheap glass elements, which will then affect image quality. You'll also, as with a teleconverter, be losing a bit of maximum aperture as well.

For some folks it's worth it. For some folks it's not. Mount adaptation, btw, starts in the $300-$500 range, so as Os says, unless we're talking about an awesome lens like an 85L or a tilt-shift, it may not be worth it.

The only current digital mount that can use simple adapting rings and still maintain infinity focus, right now, is micro four-thirds.

Also, as Elmo implied, there's no autofocus, you're limited to stop-down metering, and you won't have aperture control from the camera body or aperture/lens information in your EXIF. You will be limited to shooting in Av or M modes and manually focusing. If you shot with a manual film SLR, this way of shooting should be old hat.

[Charlie_Rabbit]

thanks heaps for the tips and advise, it is much appreciated