Camera Labs

Anyone have any experience with FD lenses on EOS Digital body (with FD->EF adapter)?

Would like to have a 400mm prime one day, cheapest one Canon offers is 400mm f/5.6L for $1.2k. But I've realized that there are some FD 400mm lenses that are significantly cheaper (~$300 price range). Granted, I know that the lens will be fully manual, but will be worth it in order to have some great telephoto reach.

Thoughts? Words of caution with FD->EF adapter?

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MrKman | website
Canon EOS 5D II + PowerShot G12
Samyang 14 f/2.8 + Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 + Samyang 35 f/1.4 + Sigma 70-200 f/2.8
Yungnuo YN560 + YN560ii (x2) + Cactus V4

WISHLIST: 300 f/2.8
FORMER: Canon 5D + 40D + 450D + 18-55mm + 28-135mm + 50 f/1.4 + 100 f/2.0

I do have an FD-EF adapter and it increases the focal length by 1.25x and the light coming through is getting less about 2/3 of a stop. A 400mm F5.6 lens gets a 500mm F7.1 lens for example. With a 1.6x crop sensor you get "800mm" F7.1. But it works in Av-Mode, especially in bright day light and focusing is OK in live view (+magnification). Still the image quality is slightly worse.

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

You can buy special FD-EF adapter meant for use on such lenses. They are very slim, but often a bit expensive.

Expensive:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/EdMika-0-5mm-FD ... 2a19c5467e
Cheaper:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CANON-FD-EF-ult ... 0639196400

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Canon 5D MkII -|- Sigma 24mm f/1.8 | Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 | Canon 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro | Lensbaby Composer
Canon A-1 -|- Canon 28mm f/2 | Canon 35mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/3.5 Macro

Those are to be outfitted on one lens, not interchangeable liek the one Jiko has?

Also, I'm a bit confused on focusing. How do these standard and "slim" adapters affect focusing?

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MrKman | website
Canon EOS 5D II + PowerShot G12
Samyang 14 f/2.8 + Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 + Samyang 35 f/1.4 + Sigma 70-200 f/2.8
Yungnuo YN560 + YN560ii (x2) + Cactus V4

WISHLIST: 300 f/2.8
FORMER: Canon 5D + 40D + 450D + 18-55mm + 28-135mm + 50 f/1.4 + 100 f/2.0

They are interchangeable, at least as far as I can fathom from the information :S

It's rather more how they don't affect focusing, or at least try to. The slimmer the adapter is, the less problems you will get since you are closer to the original register distance. It's not entirely without issues, but much better than their fatter counterparts.

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Canon 5D MkII -|- Sigma 24mm f/1.8 | Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 | Canon 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro | Lensbaby Composer
Canon A-1 -|- Canon 28mm f/2 | Canon 35mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/3.5 Macro

Lorride, what sort of problems can arise? I keep reading about "infinity focus" ...

Just want to know what sort of limitations I'd be dealing with if I choose to go thru with this.

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MrKman | website
Canon EOS 5D II + PowerShot G12
Samyang 14 f/2.8 + Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 + Samyang 35 f/1.4 + Sigma 70-200 f/2.8
Yungnuo YN560 + YN560ii (x2) + Cactus V4

WISHLIST: 300 f/2.8
FORMER: Canon 5D + 40D + 450D + 18-55mm + 28-135mm + 50 f/1.4 + 100 f/2.0

Due to the differences in mount distance, and adapter thickness, you get an extension tube effect which may mean you lose infinity focus. However, with longer focal length lenses, extension has a much smaller impact than on shorter focal length lenses. If the telephoto can go "past infinity" that may be enough to allow infinity focus.

The other option is some adapters use an optical element to work around the extension effect, which gives them a teleconverter behaviour.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

interesting! I presume this shouldn't be an issue on FF sensors?

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MrKman | website
Canon EOS 5D II + PowerShot G12
Samyang 14 f/2.8 + Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 + Samyang 35 f/1.4 + Sigma 70-200 f/2.8
Yungnuo YN560 + YN560ii (x2) + Cactus V4

WISHLIST: 300 f/2.8
FORMER: Canon 5D + 40D + 450D + 18-55mm + 28-135mm + 50 f/1.4 + 100 f/2.0

Sensor size is irrelevant to the mount distance effects.

_________________
Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.