Minolta Lens Adapter for Canon EOS

[edsonk45]

Hi everyone,
I'm a newbie to photography, but I have an extra Minolta 35mm lens (DSLR lenses are so expensive!!!) that I would like my friend to use, so I was thinking of purchasing this Minolta Lens Adapter for a Canon EOS body type so that he could use my 35mm lenses on his DSLR. However, this seems too simple, so I wanted to know if anyone had any experience using an adapter such as the one listed here on eBay below:

Minolta Lens Adapter for Canon EOS
http://cgi.ebay.com/Adapter-for-Min...ryZ30059QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Thanks in advance for your help!

Ed Kahana

 

[JimmyO]

With that you will not be able to AF, meter ,and the the Minolta lens will need to have aperture control on-lens.

JSYK

 

[edsonk45]

Ah okay, but otherwise, it will work? I think my buddy can do without AF/meter; he just needs something better than the cheap plastic that they give you when you buy your DSLR.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

He'd be much better off getting EOS lenses. Adapters are rarely worth the trouble becuase your friend will realize that "hey this sucks that hardly anything works with this adapter, i'm going to get EOS lenses", now they just paid more then what they would have to begin with.

 

[edsonk45]

Hmm...that's a good point, I just figured, we saw a used SIGMA 85mm to 200mm zoom for $200, but I just got a 35mm Minolta 85mm to 200mm for less than $50, so I figured getting the adapter for $30 or so would be worth a shot, but you think he's better off just getting the EOS lens?

 

[Big Mike]

Adapters like this come in two flavors...with glass and with out glass. The one you linked to, has glass (a lens element) which allows the lens to focus to infinity just like it would on a Minolta camera. The problem with that, is that the lens element is a cheap POS. (what do you expect for $30?) So your image quality is going to suffer and it will probably make the 'kit' lens look pretty good.

The ones without glass don't affect image quality but because they move the lens farther away from the camera, they do not allow for infinity focus.

I agree with the others that an adaptor really isn't worth it...unless you have a good quality adaptor and a darn good lens.

There are plenty of cheap lenses available for EOS cameras...just look around. Or better yet, save up for a good quality lens that will last a long, long time.

 

[edsonk45]

Thank you for that perspective. Yeah, it makes sense, if these cheap adapters worked really well in terms of quality people wouldn't be buying super expensive DSLR lenses; they'd just recycle their 35mm ones. Cheap glass in the adapter would just defeat the purpose of using the 35mm lenses. Sigh. Well, I guess I'll get a bunch of our buddies to chip in and buy my buddy a solid lens for his birthday coming up; any lens suggestions for a Canon EOS?
Thanks again everyone for the tips.

Ed

 

[Big Mike]

You can 'recycle' your 35mm film lenses...just as long as your film camera was a Canon EOS.

any lens suggestions for a Canon EOS?

That's a loaded question

If money is an issue (isn't it always?) then the 50mm F1.8 is hard to beat. It's around $100 and made with mostly plastic but the optics are pretty good.

You will need to give us more info (budget, type of shooting etc) for more/better recommendations.

 

[edsonk45]

Well, this is a bit tough since I'm not sure exactly what his DSLR is; all i know is that it's a Canon EOS body type that fits EF/EF-s lenses. For reference, my only experience with photography and SLRs is drawn from the last month of playing with my father's old Minolta X-370 and the 3 prime lenses that came with it. So, I'm learning as I go, too.

However, my buddy is just starting out, and I'd like him to be able to use the camera for production stills for our group's independent film projects that we do every often. Our film projects are typically action films, so ideally, the lens would be pretty quick to catch some action.

So, I'm thinking something like zoom lenses that can shoot wide and also be used for good head shots. Something like an 18-55mm or 18-70mm would be ideal (I've heard that the range of 70mm to 100mm is ideal for headshots/portraits). The link below is a sample from a shoot. I took these shots bouncing between three primes: 28mm f/2.8 Minolta MD, 50mm f/1.7 minolta md, and a 200mm f/4.8 (?) Minolta md.

Fight Choreography Stills
http://photobucket.com/shawnvseric

It'd be great if my buddy could take the same but without all the switching. Basically, we want to achieve that nice shallow focus look for some shots, but also be able to go wide enough to catch and freeze the action between two people. The lens doesn't necessarily have to be the fastest as our budget kind of sucks: $200-$400 for a lens. I'm guessing our best bet is to look for second-hand lenses, but recommendations in this price range and also beyond (ideal budget lenses for that type of work) would be great! Thanks a lot!