Glass backwards compatible?

PixelRabbit · Sep 23, 2013

Good morning all, I'm going to start shooting film very shortly and I was sitting here daydreaming a bit about shooting with my old Canon AE1 Program and I have a question.

Will new glass be backwards compatible? Can I mount say my Canon 100-400L or 18-200 on my AE-1 and use it manually?

Dao · Sep 23, 2013

The EF lenes from Canon use a different mount. On top of that, the newer lenses are electronic control on the aperture settings. I am not sure if there are adaptor that allow you do mount the EF lens to a FD mount body and let you select the aperture.

Have you consider Canon EOS film body? Those film body will work (except EF-S lens) with the newer lenses.

PixelRabbit · Sep 23, 2013

Thanks Dao, I'm still working on my first coffee so probably after another I would have thought around this longer lol I use an adapter to mount old lenses on my 60D so it would stand to reason I would need one to go the other way. I have a couple old lenses to start with but hadn't considered getting a newer body yet, I'll definitely keep my eyes open, I see newer film bodies on Kijiji a lot!

Dao · Sep 23, 2013

I think the main issue is not the mount because the flange to focal plane distance of the FD mount camera is shorter than the EOS mount camera. So it is relatively easier to make the adaptor. The challenge is how to adjust the aperture? With the old lens, you can adjust the aperture setting on the lens. But with the introduction of the electronic control lens, the aperture settings are adjusted via the camera body.

Of course, you can use a EOS camera and do the DoF preview button trick to set the aperture, but it is just too much trouble to do that if you need to change the aperture often.

PixelRabbit · Sep 23, 2013

Great point, I suppose if I was doing a specific shoot and my aperture would be consistent it wouldn't be much of an issue to set it with preview but definitely too much work for shooting different apertures. On the upside some old Canon glass can be had for next to nothing so I will definitely be keeping an eye open for it.

Derrel · Sep 23, 2013

I think you're thinking glass backwards with wayyyyyy to much gl in front of it...

amolitor · Sep 23, 2013

Converting the other way looks easy, although it looks like there's a glass element involved so buying the expensive adaptor is probably worth it. So if you get some interesting FD lenses, you might consider getting the FD->EF adaptor. Maybe even buy the cheap one and learn to turn the optical weaknesses into strengths!

PixelRabbit · Sep 23, 2013

Derrel said:
I think you're thinking glass backwards with wayyyyyy to much gl in front of it...

amolitor said:
Converting the other way looks easy, although it looks like there's a glass element involved so buying the expensive adaptor is probably worth it. So if you get some interesting FD lenses, you might consider getting the FD->EF adaptor. Maybe even buy the cheap one and learn to turn the optical weaknesses into strengths!

Yeah I have the Fotodiox FD to EF adapter with removable correction lens, most of my macros are done with an old 50mm on my 60D w/o the corrective lens. I'm actually looking forward to getting my hands on more old glass to use on both the AE1 and 60D but being able to use my new glass on the AE1 would have been cool.

Derrel · Sep 23, 2013

Send me a $30 Bill, and I will ship you a Canon EOS Rebel-something or other and a 70-200 Sigma AF lens...that way you can use your AF lenses on a 35mm film SLR with AF and a bunch of modes.