Aperture Priority

[stevet1]

As I understasnd it, since I am using FD lenses on an EF body, the lens doesn't send a signal to the camera, so I have to set the aperture manually. I wonder if I wouldn't just be farther ahead to just use the AV setting on my dial, adjust the aperture ring to an exposure that looks good to me, and let the camera take care of the rest. The focus is manual too, so I have to do that work also.
I think at that point, I would want to choose what kind of depth of field I want.

Anything else I should keep in mind?

Steve Thomas

 

[stevet1]

After I posted this, it occurred to me that this would not necessarily get you the effect you want to achieve.
I was looking at a picture of a surfer carving a path through the waves and each droplet of water that she threw up was frozen in time and space.

It occurred to me that instead, in some cases, you might want to show those drops of water fuzzy and blurred so that she stood out in isolation. If that is the effect you want to achieve, you'd have to take control of the camera's shutter speed and slow it down; so you're back to manual control anyway.

I guess you take one picture with the camera set on an automatic setting as possible, and then, if you are not satisfied with the results, go back and adjust the settings manually. Easy enough to do if your composition is static. Not so easy if your photo is one that is moving, or not likely to ever be repeated again.

Steve Thomas

 

[Original katomi]

I did not see the pic but for water, I will take up to 10 shots so that I get water and splash from frozen ice cube like to milky blurr

 

[Designer]

I guess you take one picture with the camera set on an automatic setting as possible, and then, if you are not satisfied with the results, go back and adjust the settings manually.

Certainly that is a valid method of getting the shot and of learning exposure settings. Nothing bad about it.

There are those photographers who are seasoned enough to be able to know what settings to use simply from experience. I'm not one of them.

 

[photoflyer]

I experimented with FD on a DSLR and did not like the results. New glass, even the lowest end EF/S glass, rendered much better color.

That said, I did so in full manual and had to stop it down at least two stops to get any reasonable sharpness.

It was a fun experiment but I don't do it anymore and would never use them if I was shooting something important.

Perhaps you will have better results.

 

[Original katomi]

Nice to play but FD lanes were never designed for EF EFS I have seen some reports of FD damaging EOS EF EFS cameras
I have some old film EF lens and get good IQ from them

 

[photoflyer]

EF EFS I have seen some reports of FD damaging EOS EF EFS cameras

One must use a special adapter to do this and there is a loss of at least 1 stop. Some communicate with the camera and others do not. Mine had glass in it, I think they all do, and this may account for the optical degradation I experienced.

 

[stevet1]

photoflyer,

As I understand it, some adapters use glass, and some don't. The ones that use glass allow you to focus to infinity. The ones without glass don't have that ability, but are better for macro photography.
Again, as I understand it, because the mounting systems are different, the FD lens does not send an electronic signal to the camera body, so the body doesn't know what aperture the lens is set at. I'm not sure the body even knows a lens is attached. I know when I change to video, I get an error message that tells me to attach a lens before I can start shooting movies.

What does "a loss of one stop" mean exactly? Does that mean that if I think I am shooting at 5.6, I am really shooting at 4 point something?

For some people, using cheaper FD lenses are a matter of necessity, not of choice.

Steve Thomas

 

[Derrel]

The loss of one stop from F5.6 would be to F8 which is a net decrease in the amount of light transmitted, ergo a loss of one stop

from f/5.6 to f/4 is a positive or a gain of one stop of light

using old FD series lenses that will not focus to infinity on a modern EF mount digital single lens reflex is pretty much an exercise in futility in many situations.

 

[photoflyer]

As I understand it, some adapters use glass, and some don't. The ones that use glass allow you to focus to infinity. The ones without glass don't have that ability,

It has been a while but that sounds right and Derrel answered the stop of light question.

I would not discourage you from pursuing this but don't expect to get the same results you would get with even the cheapest DSLR lens. When I experimented with it I enjoyed the challenge.

 

[Derrel]

as far as I recall there are seven legacy 35 mm system Lens systems which will focus to infinity on a modern Canon EF
camera with a glass free adapter. As I recall Canon's own FD mount is not one of the seven systems,which are as I recall Nikon, m42, Yashica/Contax, Olympus OM,and three other brands which I am uncertain of right now. The issue is one of the flange focal length distance. You can learn more about the issue of adapters at Cameraquest.com.