School me on "aftermarket" lenses

[lyonsroar]

So I'm going on vacation in July and I would like to have a ultra wide angle lens (and others) to use but I can't afford a modern one right now. (I'm also considering renting one of more lenses, but I'd much rather own them) So that brings me to my question: I see an abundance of decently priced "FD" (and other) mount lenses on eBay and also FD to EF mount adapters. I seem to be getting differing opinions on the usefullness of this setup when I google it.

So if I bought this lens and this adapter would I be ok? I know I won't have AF, but that doesn't really bother me much.

Basically just school me on the pros and cons of doing this.

Thanks!

 

[KmH]

Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, etc are all "aftermarket" lens brand names.

See that piece of glass (lens) in the adapter. That ensures you can still use infinity focus with the FD lenses. But, it will substantially degrade the image quality the lens can deliver, because it's CPOS glass.

All but 4 of all the FD lenses Canon ever made are manual focus, so don't plan on having autofocus or metering. You will also have to set the aperture manually.

Back in 1986 when Canon changed over to the EOS system (Electro-Optical System) and the EF-Mount, they briefly marketed an adapter which enabled FD telephoto lenses to be used on EOS bodies, and that adapter had a great corrector in it. Those adapters are now scarce, selling for around $1000 on the second-hand market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_FD_lens_mount

 

[Hexanon]

The abundance of decently priced "FD" - are these ultra-wide? Such prime lenses (rectilinear) would be uncommon and pricey I would think.

 

[Dao]

But why do you want to buy that? Maybe just use your kit lens.


- 24mm is not that wide with your camera.
- No autofocus and doesn't seem to have focus confirmation neither.
- The adapter will act as a teleconverter, so the finial FoV is close to 50mm equivalent.
- The adapter will rob some light, so a f/2.8 lens may become a f/4 lens.

So you are kind of getting a 50mm f/4 lens.

$40 for adapter, and end bid for the lens is $96, I'd rather buy a brand new EF 50mm f/1.8 for less.

 

[lyonsroar]

Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, etc are all "aftermarket" lens brand names.

See that piece of glass (lens) in the adapter. That ensures you can stilll use infinity focus with the FD lenses. But, it will sunstantially degrade the image quality the lens can deliver, because it's CPOS glass.

All but 4 of all the FD lenses Canon ever made are manual focus, so don't plan on having autofocus or metering. You will also have to set the aperture manually.

Back in 1986 when Canon changed over to the EOS system (Electro-Optical System) and the EF-Mount, they briefly marketed an adapter which enabled FD telephoto lenses to be used on EOS bodies, and that adapter had a great corrector in it. Those adapters are now scarce, selling for around $1000 on the second-hand market.

Canon FD lens mount - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I knew about no AF, but not about setting the aperture manually... how is this accomplished?
And how "substantially" is image quality degraded? Would it be similar to having a low quality filter on a lens? Or worse?
I also read somewhere that that piece of glass in the adapter that allows for infinity focusing isn't necessary if the FD mount lens is Canon branded? (Is that BS?)

The abundance of decently priced "FD" - are these ultra-wide? Such prime lenses (rectilinear) would be uncommon and pricey I would think.

I was mainly just looking at FD lenses in general. I haven't looked specifically at what's available...yet...

But why do you want to buy that? Maybe just use your kit lens.


- 24mm is not that wide with your camera.
- No autofocus and doesn't seem to have focus confirmation neither.
- The adapter will act as a teleconverter, so the finial FoV is close to 50mm equivalent.
- The adapter will rob some light, so a f/2.8 lens may become a f/4 lens.

So you are kind of getting a 50mm f/4 lens.

$40 for adapter, and end bid for the lens is $96, I'd rather buy a brand new EF 50mm f/1.8 for less.

I was mainly posting that as an example of an FD lens and adapter combination.
I already have the 50mm f1.8...it's my favorite lens!

 

[Hexanon]

You can shoot aperture priority - set the aperture you want and the camera computes the exposure. But 'correct' exposure isn't always the one you might wish for a certain *look*. Better to shoot manual. Maybe in manual your camera can display a live histogram or the live-view gives you an idea of how the exposure will turn out. For saturated color and more contrast i often underexpose a bit. Whether you can get nicely focussed shots from an MF prime on a digital depends on which camera you have, what live view options you have, ability to zoom magnification to critically focus and so on..

Lack of AF isn't a problem for me but it might be for the next person. Depends what you are photographing. Where are you travelling ? Ultra-wides can give some extraordinary results..maybe too extraordinary in general for every building and city situations. It can get a bit same-ey after a while. A decent zoom (like the modern purpose-built ones for digitals) is probably a better GP lens to take along.

 

[lyonsroar]

You can shoot aperture priority - set the aperture you want and the camera computes the exposure. But 'correct' exposure isn't always the one you might wish for a certain *look*. Better to shoot manual. Maybe in manual your camera can display a live histogram or the live-view gives you an idea of how the exposure will turn out. For saturated color and more contrast i often underexpose a bit. Whether you can get nicely focussed shots from an MF prime on a digital depends on which camera you have, what live view options you have, ability to zoom magnification to critically focus and so on..

Lack of AF isn't a problem for me but it might be for the next person. Depends what you are photographing. Where are you travelling ? Ultra-wides can give some extraordinary results..maybe too extraordinary in general for every building and city situations. It can get a bit same-ey after a while. A decent zoom (like the modern purpose-built ones for digitals) is probably a better GP lens to take along.

Colorado. Mountain country. Nothing spectacular, but better than Nebraska...

I currently shoot in manual all the time. So what you're saying is that it's really no different? Is there something called an aperture ring? I've never used elderly lenses so I don't even know anything about them...

 

[Hexanon]

Yep -It's just a mechanical rotary selector around the lens barrel instead of selecting an option using the controller on the back of your camera (or similar 'command dial' whatever).

 

[lyonsroar]

So then what do you choose on the camera screen? The corresponding aperture you chose on the lens manually?

 

[Hexanon]

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/fototech/apershutter/aperture.htm.

Hey if you're going into 'mountain country' disregard my comments about weird, leaning buildings in cities with an ultra-wide. That kind of nature photography can really use wide-angle lenses.

 

[Hexanon]

The F-stop will appear as "f1" in your EXIF. The camera continues to meter TTL and select shutterspeed relative to the aperture you have chosen. Some pairings of old lenses and digital bodies don't given perfect metering and need allowances to be made but that's just how it is. The user soon adapts.

Canon are one of the best choices DSLR for using old lenses. Especially M42 which can be mounted using cheap adaptors and then you have a huge range of old lenses that can be used (many of which aren't great it must be said). Some of them are very good. You can use Nikons on your Canon too.

 

[usayit]

In general, I steer people away from adapted manual lenses as a cheaper alternative to the appropriate AF lens mount. UNLESS, the person is specifically interested in shooting with vintage glass. Otherwise, the stuff ends up collecting dust and breeds frustration...... which from my observation is more often than not. Especially true on a camera with a squinty penta mirror viewfinder. Especially True on a crop camera. More so if you have to do manual stop down metering.

Remember, zooms from the 80s were relatively infant in design whe compared to todays optics as well. This coming from someone who regularly adapts his collection of many lenses.

 

[Derrel]

Canon FD-mount lenses are dirt cheap because they're orphans,with no modern "native" body for sale to use them on. On the squity-findered cameras, like the Rebels and the baby Nikons, all of which have rather so-so viewfinder systems, using adapted glass is rather a PITA, compared with using it on the bodies that have either EVF's with electronic gain, or the higher-end cameras that have the largest and best quality viewfinder systems. I use some adapted lenses occasionally, and it's kind of fun. It's a great way to get some exceptional glass on a Canon body. But, unless you're really "into" making photography "a process", it's just simpler,and easier, and honestly more-productive over the long haul, to shoot with modern, system-dedicated AF lenses, either original maker or third party. I've bought a couple adapters that use glass elements to allow infinity focus of Pentax M42 thread mount lenses on NIkon bodies, and the results have been quite poor, compared with using the same M42 Super-Takumar lenses on a Canon 5D,where the lenses demonstrate very nice optical performance and character. To me, the M42 mount lenses that have the mechanical diaphragm actuation button or lever (A/M diaphragm switch) are the handiest lenses possible for using on "traditional" cameras via adapter, since the A/M switch allows one-click stopping down to shooting aperture, whereas other lens mounts, like Nikon, force one to count clicks to stop down to shooting aperture.

 

[lyonsroar]

So basically what you would say is it's a nice cheap way to mess around with photography, but not necessarily something to bank on. OK, cool. I guess I'll just rent a lens or two and call it good.

 

[Gaerek]

I own a bunch of FD glass, and even though it's not worth anything, I can't make myself get rid of it. I've thought about adapters, but all of my research leads me to the same conclusion, unless you want to just play around, they aren't really worth it. I think renting glass for your vacation is the way to go. That's my plan for my Maui trip this winter.