FD lenses on a 600D/T3i

insanemachina · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:08 pm Post subject: FD lenses on a 600D/T3i

Anyone has got any experience combining the two?
I am expecting my lenses and adaptor bought on eBay to arrive withing the next month (shipping to Brazil takes a while mostly because customs processing is too damn slow).

This is what will arrive:
Canon FD 50mm f:1.8 Olympic Games 1984 special edition (with box, manual and special edition caps)
Tefnon FD 28mm f:2.8 (with box and a filter)
Canon FD to EOS generic adapter (no glass version with caps, planning on buying the glass version too to compare the difference latter)

So, what do you guys think?

Oh, and by the way, I'll be using them to shoot RAW with Magic Lantern

Aanything · Expire: 2014-05-30

Apart from the fact that adapters without glass don't allow your lens to reach infnity focus, you should be fine.
I regularly shoot with manual lenses on a 5dIII for work and I really like it: you appreciate things like build quality and smooth rings even more when you shoot video.
I especially like using lenses with very strong character when I shoot video, and since the low - compared to a still - resolution of standard fullhd is quite forgiving in terms of sharpness, I enjoy also lenses that are not so great by standard parameters.

As for your lenses, I never used fd's for video, but I had the fd 50/1.8 and it was a nice lens, you should be enjoying using that.
The glassed adapter can be intriguing if you are into flares,ghosts and glow: with the lens set at wider apertures, pointed at the right angle towards a light source it can provide some extra funkiness - with a little price to pay in terms of sharpness.

insanemachina · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 3:42 am Post subject:

Well then, guess I'm buying the glass adapter too.... I'm really counting on these bad boys to arrive home mid-end january because Brazil's post office is damn slow sometimes....

Mr G · Joined: 27 Jan 2014 Posts: 187 Location: London & Essex

I have quite a bit of fd glass which I currently use on a 650d, my advice would be to get the best adapter that you can afford and if you add to your lens collection try and get Canon lenses that are designated as SSC (super spectrum coating, basically L glass), and Google all other marques if something takes your eye.
The adapter I use is relatively expensive however it does have Hoya glass and can be easily removed for close up work.
I have had several professionally converted to EF which include, 20-35L, 50 1.2 ssc, the rare 50-135 and I just got a Vivitar 135 f2.3 s1 back which I haven't had chance to test yet.
Vintage quality glass is hard to beat in the right hands and when you nail a shot for some reason I get more of a buzz from it!

insanemachina · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 2:24 am Post subject:

Thanks, Mr G!
My 50mm 1.8 just arrived and it is gorgeous!!! It's even in the original Olympic games edition box, with manuals, special edition lens cap, everything! Too bad my adapter has not arrived yet, neither has the Tefnon 28mm (which after some research I discovered it was a brand Tokina used to sell primes in the 70's and 80's and latter dropped out that brand and went just with Tokina. They had another brand name for zoom lenses too...). I am still deciding if I will declick these puppies, but I'll not convert them to EOS, I'll leave the FD mount alone, just use the adapter.....

Mr G · Joined: 27 Jan 2014 Posts: 187 Location: London & Essex

Hi, hope ur getting on well with the fd glass u bought and the adapter meets your requirements. I have tested the Vivitar 135mm f2.3 and its gorgeous, now if I can master the art of follow focus I will be firing on all cylinders!

insanemachina · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:18 am Post subject:

Well, I've received my first adapter, the glassless one, and am happily doing macro stills.

I'm still waiting my glassed adapter to be able to focus to infinity and do video tests...

spleenone · Joined: 26 Dec 2009 Posts: 1130 Location: Slovakia

How about your testing? Do you made some test shots?

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Back before I "upgraded" to a Sony mirrorless and more or less retired my old Canon, I did a fair amount of "testing" with both the glassed and glassless adapters. The glassless adapters amount to short extension tubes, so they don't affect the resolution or performance of the lens. With an FD 50mm lens, the maximum distance I could reach was only a few feet, but with my nFD 400mm f/4.5, the maximum distance was approximately 30 meters, so it was more useful.

With the glassed adapters -- I have two, a cheap Bower and a more expensive Fotodiox -- the results are mixed. First of all, with fast optics -- faster than f/2.8, let's say, the speed is wasted. Flare is so strong as to render images unusable, so gone are any advantages to using a fast optic wide open. But I found that, once the lens was stopped down to f/2.8 or smaller, the images were actually quite good. Actual resolution reduction was very minor and only apparent if one pixel peeped. So the adapters -- especially the better ones, such as the fotodiox -- can have their usefulness.

But there's another thing to be aware of. These glassed adapters amount to mild teleconverters. Typically about 1.25x increase in apparent focal length occurs, so there's about 1/2 of a stop of light lost as well. Given the rather severe flare these adapters exhibit -- even the fotodiox -- it has caused me to wonder why? I mean these are basically soft teleconverters, so why so bad? I mean even a cheap teleconverter doesn't exhibit this sort of flare. Which got me to thinking -- what about a 1.4x or 1.5x teleconverter, converted to an EOS mount? The difference between 1.25x and 1.4x or 1.5x is not that great, so why not convert one of these? Well, it took me a long time to find a non-Canon FD 1.5x teleconverter. The Canon 1.4x-A wouldn't work because of its protuding element (and there is no 1.4x-B). But finally I found one -- a Vivitar, I think it is. So next was my desire to convert it to EOS. I planned to do this myself, using an M42 to EOS adapter, which I could machine down to fit the FD mount. Unfortunately this project coincided with our moving to a new house, which required that I dismantle my milling machine to move it to our now location. I've had a fair amount of trouble setting the mill up at the new residence, so the project got put on hold. And then about this same time I bought the NEX, which shoved things back in my to-do list even further.

So anyway, if you're really serious about this, I recommend you do as I did -- but finish it. Get a 1.4x or 1.5x teleconverter in FD mount aand convert it to EOS. This will take care of the flare problems experienced when using fast lenses and is worth the trouble to go to if you want to use your FD lenses with your EOS digital.

spleenone · Joined: 26 Dec 2009 Posts: 1130 Location: Slovakia

Vou, what a finding. So convertor in use like glass adapter for FD to EOS conversion? Great to know. How difficult was that conversion or dismantle on the new bayonet?