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DSLR adaptability to MF lenses
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:45 am    Post subject: DSLR adaptability to MF lenses Reply with quote
How would you rate the currently available DSLR brands as to their having the
greatest number of different MF adapters available for them?

I'm guessing EOS would be #1.

Last edited by dof on Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:17 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Just type EOS adapter on Ebay search bar, then type in the others.
You guessed right.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Only by chance have I purchased an EOS camera.
I stayed with Canon when progressing from P&S to SLR,
and I couldn't be happier yet with compatibility of older MF
lenses with my camera.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
The camera that can mount the largest number of lenses is the Olympus 4/3
However it is limited in that it has a 200% crop factor (a 50mm lens works gives the view of a 100mm lens), this makes wide angle photography very difficult and super wide angle impossible.
Canon can not mount a few of the lenses that the olympus can (Minolta and Canon FD the most important of them), but offers full frame cameras that respect the original FOV of the manual lenses, letting you use a 28mm lens as a 28mm lens, and so on... for this reason, I think it is the best choice.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio wrote:
Canon can not mount a few of the lenses that the olympus can (Minolta and Canon FD the most important of them)
Can you please add a little more details about this? I knew that canon fd CAN be used on eos camera - i am wrong?


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
piticu wrote:
Orio wrote:
Canon can not mount a few of the lenses that the olympus can (Minolta and Canon FD the most important of them)
Can you please add a little more details about this? I knew that canon fd CAN be used on eos camera - i am wrong?


Not without an optical adapter (which I do not recommend) or a physical modification of the mount (which I also do not recommend).

At the time the EF mount was released, there was a huge wave of rage of Canon users towards the company. All their lens collections were unuseable on the autofocus cameras. Canon did release an optical adapter for some time. I do not like them, so if I had FD lenses, I would keep using them on film cameras only.

Canon gave the excuse that they had to change the mount because the FD mount was not compatible with autofocus requirements... which could have been true, but this does not explain why did they choose for EF a longer register distance... and the only possible explanation is, that they wanted to force people to buy the autofocus lenses.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Get a Canon for Wide angle and an olympus for everything else. Btw olympus will give your stabilization, which the canon will not.

*Partizan hackery mode on*
Or just get a good camera like Pentax. All the cool kids are M42 anyway...
*Partizan hackery mode off*

No seriously. Olympus for telephoto, Canon for wide angle.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, the choice depends much on the preferences of the photographer.
There is people like wildlife photographers who don't use wide angles much.
For them using the Olympus could be a good choice, and for the occasional wide angle photos they can always use an AF lens made for that camera.

Or people can use just film cameras and be happy with them - when used properly, film still gives great results. I keep, and will keep, using film even if I have now 3 digital cameras.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
The 2 biggest brands (in no of DSLR bodies sold) are Canon and Nikon (in this sequence), and Canon also happens to be very suitable for MF lenses.

Then ... the Canon EOS also happens to have a relatively short registration distance AND a huge phyiscal lens mount ... all factors that makes the Canon an excellent choice to adapt MF lenses!


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio wrote:
The camera that can mount the largest number of lenses is the Olympus 4/3
However it is limited in that it has a 200% crop factor (a 50mm lens works gives the view of a 100mm lens), this makes wide angle photography very difficult and super wide angle impossible.
Canon can not mount a few of the lenses that the olympus can (Minolta and Canon FD the most important of them), but offers full frame cameras that respect the original FOV of the manual lenses, letting you use a 28mm lens as a 28mm lens, and so on... for this reason, I think it is the best choice.


I agree ...

Olympus can be easy adapted to a lot of lenses, but the 2x crop is a reason for me not to switch to Olympus.

I am now waiting to see the new Samsung NX ... it is said that it has a 1.5x crop (much better than 2x), but will have a reg distance similar to the microFourThirds (20mm approx)... it looks interesting!


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio wrote:
piticu wrote:
Orio wrote:
Canon can not mount a few of the lenses that the olympus can (Minolta and Canon FD the most important of them)
Can you please add a little more details about this? I knew that canon fd CAN be used on eos camera - i am wrong?


Not without an optical adapter (which I do not recommend) or a physical modification of the mount (which I also do not recommend).

At the time the EF mount was released, there was a huge wave of rage of Canon users towards the company. All their lens collections were unuseable on the autofocus cameras. Canon did release an optical adapter for some time. I do not like them, so if I had FD lenses, I would keep using them on film cameras only.

Canon gave the excuse that they had to change the mount because the FD mount was not compatible with autofocus requirements... which could have been true, but this does not explain why did they choose for EF a longer register distance... and the only possible explanation is, that they wanted to force people to buy the autofocus lenses.


At that time Nikon was the BIGGEST player ... and i guess that Canon wanted to overleap them, which would not be possible by using the same mount.

I think ... Canon made the right decision at that time


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
hk300 wrote:
At that time Nikon was the BIGGEST player ... and i guess that Canon wanted to overleap them, which would not be possible by using the same mount.

I think ... Canon made the right decision at that time
When switched from mf to af, nikon kept the same mount, so IT WAS possible. I tend to belive that Orio was right, canon just wanted more money coming from selling new lenses to people


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
piticu wrote:
hk300 wrote:
At that time Nikon was the BIGGEST player ... and i guess that Canon wanted to overleap them, which would not be possible by using the same mount.

I think ... Canon made the right decision at that time
When switched from mf to af, nikon kept the same mount, so IT WAS possible. I tend to belive that Orio was right, canon just wanted more money coming from selling new lenses to people


Technically ... probably Canon could have stayed with their FD mount, but in order to overtake Nikon ... reusing the old mount would probably not yield a big enough advantage.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Let me tell you this... It's a bloody shame that Pentax K-mount lenses work better on a Canon EOS system than on a Pentax DSLR! Although in some cases you'll need to file off the diaphragm lever/protective flange. The reason for this is that the crippled mount of the Pentaxes do not meter with K-mount lenses, unless you press the green button in M mode (wide open in Av mode the green button is not necessary). On canons, the lenses are always stopped down to the desired value, and that's impossible on a Pentax.

It's sad... Wouldn't Pentax sell cameras by their thousands if they decided to make a FF DSLR with a non-crippled mount? Crying or Very sad


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
It's sad... Wouldn't Pentax sell cameras by their thousands if they decided to make a FF DSLR with a non-crippled mount?


I believe it is the same deal as with Canon when the did the FD to EOS transition. They figured why just sell new cameras when they can sell new cameras AND new lenses. Further, why worry about the old cameras and old lenses ? After all, they have already made their money on them.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
greg wrote:
Quote:
It's sad... Wouldn't Pentax sell cameras by their thousands if they decided to make a FF DSLR with a non-crippled mount?


I believe it is the same deal as with Canon when the did the FD to EOS transition. They figured why just sell new cameras when they can sell new cameras AND new lenses. Further, why worry about the old cameras and old lenses ? After all, they have already made their money on them.


Yep. But Pentax specifically markets their cameras mentioning that all of their lenses ever made will work on the recent DSLRs (and yes, this really is Pentax's text):

"We’re lousy at marketing. Never been much for self-promotion. Here’s the thing: we’re a bunch of photography nerds. We’d rather be using our cameras than blathering on about them. And we’re always working to make them better. What’s that marketing word everyone uses? Innovation? Yeah, that applies to us. Although we’d prefer a word that’s more, well, innovative. Of course, to us innovation means building DSLRs with in-camera shake reduction that’s compatible with 24 million existing Pentax lenses. No marketing-obsessed corporate bean counter is going to green light this program. But despite our lack of horn tooting, our cameras always seem to find their way to the people we make them for. The K1000 was the best-selling SLR ever (toot!). And people are already talking about the K100D and K10D. We hear that’s called “Buzz.” Well, given that we’ve just talked about ourselves way more than we ever have in our lives, we’re going to get back to making cameras now. Happy shooting."

But the damn fact is this: I can make Pentax K-mount lenses work better on a Canon than on a Pentax. And that's a bloody shame...


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
piticu wrote:
hk300 wrote:
At that time Nikon was the BIGGEST player ... and i guess that Canon wanted to overleap them, which would not be possible by using the same mount.

I think ... Canon made the right decision at that time
When switched from mf to af, nikon kept the same mount, so IT WAS possible. I tend to belive that Orio was right, canon just wanted more money coming from selling new lenses to people


To be honest.. Nikon kept the old AI-AIS mount with the new AF lenses but at the price to have a TERRIBLE AF system (it improved a bit recently).

Ask to whatever sport or news shooter to which kind of camera he switched when autofocus lenses came out.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A G Photography wrote:
piticu wrote:
hk300 wrote:
At that time Nikon was the BIGGEST player ... and i guess that Canon wanted to overleap them, which would not be possible by using the same mount.

I think ... Canon made the right decision at that time
When switched from mf to af, nikon kept the same mount, so IT WAS possible. I tend to belive that Orio was right, canon just wanted more money coming from selling new lenses to people


To be honest.. Nikon kept the old AI-AIS mount with the new AF lenses but at the price to have a TERRIBLE AF system (it improved a bit recently).

Ask to whatever sport or news shooter to which kind of camera he switched when autofocus lenses came out.


Also remember ... Canon was significantly smaller than Nikon in the MF lenses age, ... ditching the FD mount for a much more sophicated EOS mount was a gamble at that time and paid off !


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:18 pm    Post subject: (off topic) Reply with quote
Spotmatic! Where did you find that little person to hold the Spotmatic? Smile

I just got back some slides taken with my ESII (testing) and WOW! (now I wonder why I mess with digital at all) I have SP, SPII, F, and ESII, all in excellent condition & working order -- all of them together cost much less than one digital body too...


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi Spotmatic,

Canon cameras don't stop-down Pentax lenses. When a Pentax lens is on a Canon its the same as a manual-aperture lens from 1936.

When a Pentax K lens is on a Pentax DSLR you at least get auto-aperture, that big innovation from 1958, where you got to focus at f/2.8 and take at f/16 without fiddling with the aperture ring. Thats a big thing for MF.

At least Pentax bodies have piles of cheap MF lenses that work as auto-aperture lenses. There are few to no auto MF lenses for Canon.

I'll take that over the Av mode anytime. Av is over-rated. Wiggle a little and the thing decides to change exposure by two stops. I am always playing with the exposure compensation, taking exposure tests, or switching to manual anyway.

And if you want Av and all the other techno-modes, there are more piles of cheap PK/A MF lenses, which Canon doesn't have either.

I'll also take that IS that Canon doesn't provide for MF lenses. That thing is a wonder. It makes every lens about two-stops faster, no joke. And it does it while keeping DOF.


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I now have a K10D Pentax and is biased. Very Happy

Olympus is of course the king of adaptability with Canon a close second.

I have many times, almost bougth a canon 5D for the wide array of adapters, but when I think of losing the shake reduction I always back off.
For me High ISO is not an option 90% of the time, even for those cameras that does it well noisewise. So Shake Reduction help alot.

I do miss the real FOV occasionally, but I am no wide angle man. I can almost always find another lens that does the same job.

For a nice series of images displaying the Pentax adaptability to MF lenses, all stabilized, look here:
http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/Photonumerique/Objectifs/adaptation-objectifs-bagues-sujet_12101_10.htm#t2247119

When I upgrade camera, the K10D will become my contax/olympus body after some minor mount surgery.

/ Jan


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:38 pm    Post subject: Re: (off topic) Reply with quote
siriusdogstar wrote:
Spotmatic! Where did you find that little person to hold the Spotmatic? Smile


Oh, that's just me behind a giant Spotmatic model (intended for shop windows). I can safely say that I own the largest Pentax ever made, at least I think so! Very Happy

Quote:

I just got back some slides taken with my ESII (testing) and WOW! (now I wonder why I mess with digital at all) I have SP, SPII, F, and ESII, all in excellent condition & working order -- all of them together cost much less than one digital body too...


Gotta love the old bodies indeed!


PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
luisalegria wrote:

Canon cameras don't stop-down Pentax lenses. When a Pentax lens is on a Canon its the same as a manual-aperture lens from 1936.


Exactly and that's what I like about manual-aperture lenses. I hardly ever go beyond f/5.6 so there's no need for me to have wide-open focusing. Today's screens are good enough for focusing at f/5.6.

Quote:

I'll take that over the Av mode anytime. Av is over-rated. Wiggle a little and the thing decides to change exposure by two stops. I am always playing with the exposure compensation, taking exposure tests, or switching to manual anyway.


That's because you MUST do so with a Pentax. Even though I love my K20D and K10D more than the 5D this does not mean that they are perfect in every way. I'm sad to say it, but the Canon has the better metering system in Av. With my Pentaxes the metering is very inconsistent; the Canon's metering with manual lenses is much, much much better.

Quote:

And if you want Av and all the other techno-modes, there are more piles of cheap PK/A MF lenses, which Canon doesn't have either.


Maybe the PK/A lenses are cheap in the USA or other countries, but here in The Netherlands they are expensive. So I do not have a single A lens.

Quote:

I'll also take that IS that Canon doesn't provide for MF lenses. That thing is a wonder. It makes every lens about two-stops faster, no joke. And it does it while keeping DOF.


That's great indeed. Just as shooting ISO 1600 with the 5D is great Wink
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