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Old 07-04-2008, 07:45 PM
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gman (Grant)
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Film SLR accessories to Digital Compatability

Used to do a bit of photography a few years ago
Have sitting in the cupboard a Canon T70 c/w a 50mm FD lens and a FD 70-210 zoom with macro and other accessories. (remote switch, filters etc)

I currently take happy snaps with an Olympus pocket digital

As I understand, when I upgrade to a digital SLR, none of the lens are compatible with a digital body.

I also have a range of 52mm filters, are they compatible with digital lens or do I own a complete case of junk?
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  #2  
Old 07-04-2008, 08:20 PM
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Bassnut (Fred)
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Well, I know the EOS lenses are compatible with film and digital bodys, Canon pride themselves on that. Are T70 lenses compatible with Eos bodys?.

The filters you have are unlikely to be usefull for Astro.

Basically, film or digital bodys are not an issue, its wether the lenses fit or not (althogh Field of view can vary, depending on the sensor size)
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  #3  
Old 07-04-2008, 08:52 PM
Dennis
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Hello,

I understand that Canon re-designed the lens mount from the (old) FD to the (new) EOS system and I also understand that for an FD lens to EOS body adapter to “work” would require a lens element in the adapter in order to achieve focus (probably at the infinity end?).

I suspect that if you could obtain such an adapter, all you would have with the FD lens/EOS body combo is manual focusing and manual exposure modes?

Cheers

Dennis
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Old 07-04-2008, 08:58 PM
Dennis
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Just done a Google search, so have a look here, where the author writes:

"Problems with Canon FD manual lenses.

Canon FD lenses are manual-focus only lenses which Canon sold in the years before switching over to the autofocus EF system. Many, particularly those made in the late 70s and early 80s, offer excellent optical quality, have smoothly-operating metal barrels and are available quite inexpensively on the used market. So the obvious thought comes to mind - can such lenses be attached to EOS cameras?

Unfortunately the lens mounts used by the two systems are completely incompatible. FD lens mounts are smaller in diameter, have a different lens register from EF lenses, rely on mechanical levers to control lens aperture, are of a breech-lock design (rotating pressure ring) and never contain autofocus motors.* EF lens mounts are larger in diameter, are of a bayonet mount design (put lens into camera and rotate partway to lock), support electronic control of the lens aperture and the lenses usually contain autofocus motors.

So. When it comes to adapting FD lenses to EOS cameras the key difference here is the lens register incompatibility. Adapters for Canon FD-mount lenses, including the two adapter models that Canon themselves sold at one point, must deal with this incompatibility somehow. Either they contain optics (glass lens elements) to compensate for the register difference and retain infinity focus or else they don’t contain optics and don’t retain infinity focus. There’s no way around this.

Canon’s optic-containing FD-lens-on-EOS-body adapters were basically small teleconverters (1.26x) and only worked properly with a number of their longer telephoto lenses - effectively transforming them into longer slower lenses - you lost 2/3 stop. The full official list of compatible lenses is:.......
"

......The article continues on the website.

Cheers

Dennis
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  #5  
Old 08-04-2008, 11:40 PM
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Suzy_A
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The problem is that the lens to focal plane distance for the FDs is shorter than that of the EOS lenses to focal plane, so unles syou are willing to shorten the lens - and it has been done, then you can't just stick them on an EOS camera.

I have a 28 f2.8, 50 f1.4, and 100 f2 FD lenses - and they are useless on an EOS.

I have thought of modifying them, but it takes a lot of skill and time to do this. You have to remove the mount part of the lens, shorten the barrel and fit an EOS mount on it... Not easy.

You can also get adapters - basically 1.4x teleconverters. Adorama has them http://www.adorama.com/ or http://www.adorama.com/CZFDEOSA.html and so does B&H http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

I bought a B&H one, and it works OK, but you lose a lot of definition and you need to stop down to f4 or so, otherwise ithe images are crap.

The reason I originally got the 100 f2 was because it is such a sharp and fast lens. On the EOS it is a mediocre slow lens....

As for any other lens - Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Contax, Leica, you name it, you can get a $20 adapter and they all work fine on an EOS. Just old canons are crap on new canons....

If you want to go EOS, film or digital, put the FD lenses on a shelf and look at them wistfully sometimes and just go and buy a new EOS lens.
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Old 08-04-2008, 11:59 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Photographic lens and filters

Pity about the older Canon lenses. I use all my left-over Zuiko lens on a Canon 350D, no issues.
All your filters are usable. A step-up ring 52-55 is all you need.
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  #7  
Old 09-04-2008, 04:19 PM
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bojan
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I am in a process of "shortening" Canon FD 50mm F1.4 S.S.C. lens.. It is a bit involved, but quite doable.
Watch that space...
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  #8  
Old 11-04-2008, 09:15 PM
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gman (Grant)
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Thanx for the info.
I think I will keep it simple and look into purchasing a DSLR and see if I can get sixpence for the T70 and accessories on ebay or something.
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