Kipon Shift Adapter Canon FD to Canon EOS M

[fdlenses]

Just got a Kipon Shift Adapter Canon FD to Canon EOS M and wanted to share my first impressions. AFAIK the adapter is also available in FD/NEX, FD/FX and FD/MFT variants. The FD/EOSM version seems to be the rarest and getting one in Europe needed a bit of patience.

The adapter allows shifting up to 15mm in 1mm increments. It can be rotated 360° (with click stops every 30°) so that the lens can be shifted horizontally, vertically or any angle inbetween. The adapter does not support tilting the lens. Of course, this is a glassless adapter.

Build quality is decent. Fits camera and lens mount well and with no play. No play in itself. Shifting action is smooth. Extension is 23.96 +/- 0.01mm which is 0.04mm less than the nominal difference between Canon FD and Canon EOS M register size. All inner surfaces have black finish (anodized?), maybe a bit too reflective - test pending.







Below is a series of test shots showing vignetting with a Canon New FD 50mm 1:1.4 on a EOS M3 (APS-C sensor). Indoors, wall was 2.5 feet away and more or less evenly lit. My expectation was that a lens which projects a full frame image circle can be shifted up to 7mm horizontally and up to 11mm vertically given an APS-C sensor before vignetting is getting too pronounced.

First row is at inifinity focus with 0mm, 5mm, 10mm 15mm shift to the left. Second row is with focus set to 2.5 feet. Rows 3 and 4 show infinity/2.5 feet focus pairs at 0mm, 5mm, 10mm 15mm upward shift.



15mm shift in either direction cuts off a stripe on one end of the image. 10mm vertical shift still seems usable. I will try other lenses later.

For comparison, these pictures were taken with a Canon TS 35mm 1:2.8 lens and the same camera at 0mm, 5mm and 10mm horizontal shift:



Canon New FD 50mm 1:1.4 with Kipon Adapter at 10mm shift compared to Canon TS 35mm 1:2.8 SSC also at 10mm shift; The Kipon throat diameter is clearly smaller: