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Thin adapter for FD to Eos - possible?
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 1:42 pm    Post subject: Thin adapter for FD to Eos - possible? Reply with quote
I've got a glassless cheapo FD to Eos adapter. It's a decent way to mount my FD lenses for macro photography, but I am annoyed with the thickness of it, about 1 cm. A thinner adapter would be much more useful for standard photography, allowing focus further away.

Looking at the adapter, one reason for its excessive thickness is a rotating ring which fixes an aperture? lever. I can see why they would make this ring, and therefore the whole adapter, wide enough for easy gripping. I would gladly sacrifice a bit of ease-of-use for less extension. Maybe even dispensing with this rotating ring entirely and fixing the lever in a different way.

One tricky bit in this adapter business is that underneath the breechlock ring the adapter pushes/fixes/whatever some tiny lever, allowing the aperture to close.

Maybe an adapter is possible which replaces the breechlock ring, converting the FD lens in an easily reversible way.

Has anyone tried anything along these lines? Alex maybe?


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
this message is outdated and deleted!

Last edited by Aykman on Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:38 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
FD lenses have 42mm flange distance, whereas EF has 44mm. Go figure Very Happy
Basically it is extremely difficult to have a thin adapter, since FD's breach
lock mechanism needs certain thickness for the mount side, so your hope
is not much there.

The only way to use FD without conversion lens, which degrades IQ unless
you can find Canon's genuine FD->EF adapter, you modify FD lens to EF
mount. This is also not easy, you may have a better luck with FL lens,
which are almost same as FD lenses, since conversion is a bit easier.

Those converted lenses are occasionally available in ebay, check "fred
miranda" site. Some guy like Dim.ka and Jim who might have surplus
ones, just send a PM to them.

I have converted one FD lens to EF mount, it was not easy. The main
reason of difficulty is that FD's breach mount mechanism has aperture
control mechanism inside, which is lost when you try to convert to EF
mount. You have to invent/re-install aperture linkage by yourself.


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have another suggestion: use your FD camera and lenses to shoot some great films!


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for thinking along. I'm aware of the options and problems of converting FD lenses.

Stll my question remains - can a thinner adapter be made? The 1 cm thick version is thicker than it needs to be. I would appreciate one not adding any additional extension, that would make my 85/1.2 asph even more fun to use than it is now (it's a great lens for close ups with razor thin DoF).


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
How about to convert a camera body to FD mount ?


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Converting a camera from EF to FD has been done, but is very difficult by the looks of it. Can't find the site right now. Not the route I'm going to take.


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Another idea take a micro 4/3 camera FD adapter available.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
this message is outdated and deleted!

Last edited by Aykman on Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:38 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The best adapters for FD to EOS were made by Canon and were/are in limited supply. Canon made 2. One was for telephoto lenses and had a 1.26x factor and allowed infinity focus. The other was for macro and lacked glass but no infinity focus. I have the latter and it works well for the FD macros and also allows the use of the FD Bellows on EOS bodies which I also have.

The authentic Canon adapters for the tele lenses show up on ebay but go for high prices. The macro one doesn't show up as often. I got mine from Canon during the great "purging" of the FD people. Elefoto supposedly makes the second best to the authentic Canon for this application.

While we are on the subject, Tamron actually made an adaptall 2 mount (EOS-M) which was also only made briefly and is somewhat rare. I also have one of those I got ~ 1990.

There is some good advice in this thread. However, I wanted to add this information since the OP actually asked about adapters and wanted to make sure that it was clear that Canon actually made 2 FD-EOS adapters.

Bob Atkins has a discussion on these and a list of the tele that work with the other Canon adapter. I only have experience with the macro one.

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/canon_fd_eos_adapters.html


PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I quite aware of the FDtoEOS adapters made so far. I'm just wondering if anyone had the same idea about making a more useful glassless adapter than the currently available ones. More useful that is to me, sacrificing ease-of-use to gain focus closer to infinity.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
dickb wrote:
I quite aware of the FDtoEOS adapters made so far. I'm just wondering if anyone had the same idea about making a more useful glassless adapter than the currently available ones. More useful that is to me, sacrificing ease-of-use to gain focus closer to infinity.


As far as I know, the Canon versions are as good as it gets in this regards.

Here is why. The flange of the FD lens would have to be 2mm inside the EOS body for the lens to focus to infinity. As a result, a conversion lens is required to allow infinity focus. The down side is that only certain FD telephoto lenses can be used and there is a risk of optical degradation. The best current alternative to the original Canon pieces maybe these:

http://elefoto.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ENGLISH/index.html


PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I made a thinner adaptor by bolting an FD lens mount (from a T70) to a turned down EF T2 mount. I made it for macro work but I did try it on my 300L FD and I think the maximum focussing distance was about 18 ft. I'm not at home at the moment so I can't try it out to confirm that.

If any of the lenses that you have can be used with the Canon FD 1.4x converter (restricted list, long teles only) you can modify it to take EF lenses and retain infinity focus. I did this to be able to use my beloved 300L FD.

Dave E


PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Blue wrote:
dickb wrote:
I quite aware of the FDtoEOS adapters made so far. I'm just wondering if anyone had the same idea about making a more useful glassless adapter than the currently available ones. More useful that is to me, sacrificing ease-of-use to gain focus closer to infinity.


As far as I know, the Canon versions are as good as it gets in this regards.

Here is why. The flange of the FD lens would have to be 2mm inside the EOS body for the lens to focus to infinity. As a result, a conversion lens is required to allow infinity focus. The down side is that only certain FD telephoto lenses can be used and there is a risk of optical degradation. The best current alternative to the original Canon pieces maybe these:

http://elefoto.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ENGLISH/index.html


I mentioned quite a few times now that I'm aware of the reasons why FD-Eos adapters need glass to allow for infinity focus. That's not what I trying to talk about. I'm interested in a glassless adapter with less extension than the commonly available 10mm thick ones. The Elefoto adapter is interesting in that it can be used with or without glass elements, but from the pictures it appears to be even thicker than 1 cm.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Dave E wrote:
I made a thinner adaptor by bolting an FD lens mount (from a T70) to a turned down EF T2 mount. I made it for macro work but I did try it on my 300L FD and I think the maximum focussing distance was about 18 ft. I'm not at home at the moment so I can't try it out to confirm that.

If any of the lenses that you have can be used with the Canon FD 1.4x converter (restricted list, long teles only) you can modify it to take EF lenses and retain infinity focus. I did this to be able to use my beloved 300L FD.

Dave E


Interesting - I'd appreciate it if you could measure the thickness of this adapter.

Modifying 1.4 teleconverters is a useful way to get to a better quality infinity focus than the ubiquitous FD-Eos glass adapter. However, it won't work for what I'm trying to do, using my 85/1.2 asph at f/1.2 at slightly larger focussing distances than I can focus at right now, without any extra glass.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
dickb wrote:
Blue wrote:
dickb wrote:
I quite aware of the FDtoEOS adapters made so far. I'm just wondering if anyone had the same idea about making a more useful glassless adapter than the currently available ones. More useful that is to me, sacrificing ease-of-use to gain focus closer to infinity.


As far as I know, the Canon versions are as good as it gets in this regards.

Here is why. The flange of the FD lens would have to be 2mm inside the EOS body for the lens to focus to infinity. As a result, a conversion lens is required to allow infinity focus. The down side is that only certain FD telephoto lenses can be used and there is a risk of optical degradation. The best current alternative to the original Canon pieces maybe these:

http://elefoto.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ENGLISH/index.html


I mentioned quite a few times now that I'm aware of the reasons why FD-Eos adapters need glass to allow for infinity focus. That's not what I trying to talk about. I'm interested in a glassless adapter with less extension than the commonly available 10mm thick ones. The Elefoto adapter is interesting in that it can be used with or without glass elements, but from the pictures it appears to be even thicker than 1 cm.


Well pardon me all to hell, Dick. No glass = no infinity.

Edit: BTW, the Canon FD-EOS adapter isn't all that ubiquitous and didn't see that you had used one. The glass in the FB 2xb etc. is still glass.

Last edited by Blue on Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:06 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:04 pm    Post subject: Adaptor thickness Reply with quote
As I said I can't measure anything at the moment as I am not at home. I am in Sudan and my home is Nairobi. I will probably be here for the next month.

Dave E


PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I measured FD->EF adapter's thickness, thus
FD's flange base is a tricky (top), EF's is the bottom at YELLOW line in the photo

Thickness is around 10~11 mm


By the way, I tried this adapter with FD 35/2 + EOS 5D (adapter has correction lens of course) at 30cm F4?

at 50 cm F5.6

at almost infinity @f5.6


Actually not bad for this combination.

So the worst case, you can get the same (no-name) adapter and take the lens inside away. It works as 11mm thick ext. tube,
the most of EOS tubes on eBay has 11mm thick as thinnest, so I think it is very hard to find thinner ext. tube one way or the other.


PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Blue wrote:


Well pardon me all to hell, Dick. No glass = no infinity.

Edit: BTW, the Canon FD-EOS adapter isn't all that ubiquitous and didn't see that you had used one. The glass in the FB 2xb etc. is still glass.


Sorry if I offended you, Blue. For some reason people appear to find it hard reading what I've written in this topic. I'm not after a glassless FD-Eos adapter which allows focus to infinity. That can't be done. I'm after a glassless FD-Eos adapter which allows focus a little closer to infinity than the easily obtainable chinese version of the glassless Canon FD-Eos adapter.

As mentioned before these glassless adapters are easy to use but add around 10 mm extension between lens and camera. I'm wondering if anyone else has tried to make a thinner adapter, sacrificing ease of use (the rotating ring blocking the aperture lever) for a thinner design. This would allow my 85/1.2 asph to focus a little further away. This lens is a great one for close focus shots with minimal DoF.


PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
koji wrote:
I measured FD->EF adapter's thickness, thus
FD's flange base is a tricky (top), EF's is the bottom at YELLOW line in the photo

Thickness is around 10~11 mm

By the way, I tried this adapter with FD 35/2 + EOS 5D (adapter has correction lens of course) at 30cm F4?

Actually not bad for this combination.

So the worst case, you can get the same (no-name) adapter and take the lens inside away. It works as 11mm thick ext. tube,
the most of EOS tubes on eBay has 11mm thick as thinnest, so I think it is very hard to find thinner ext. tube one way or the other.



I agree, this looks better than most of what I've seen so far. Stopped down it may be useable. Wide open, glass adapters tend to turn the image to mush.

I've got a chinese glassless FD-Eos adapter which is essentially your adapter without the glass.

The reason why Eos extension tubes are a minimum of 12mm thick are the electronic contacts and the lens release pin. These are not necessary for a FD-Eos adapter. The problem with the FD-Eos adapter is the rotating aperture lever blocking ring. This aperture lever can also be fixed on the lens, dispensing with the need for the rotating ring. This would allow the adapter to be less than half its present thickness.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
dickb wrote:
Blue wrote:




Edit: BTW, the Canon FD-EOS adapter isn't all that ubiquitous and didn't see that you had used one. The glass in the FB 2xb etc. is still glass.


Sorry if I offended you, Blue. For some reason people appear to find it hard reading what I've written in this topic. I'm not after a glassless FD-Eos adapter which allows focus to infinity. That can't be done. I'm after a glassless FD-Eos adapter which allows focus a little closer to infinity than the easily obtainable chinese version of the glassless Canon FD-Eos adapter.

As mentioned before these glassless adapters are easy to use but add around 10 mm extension between lens and camera. I'm wondering if anyone else has tried to make a thinner adapter, sacrificing ease of use (the rotating ring blocking the aperture lever) for a thinner design. This would allow my 85/1.2 asph to focus a little further away. This lens is a great one for close focus shots with minimal DoF.


No problem on the confusion. I chased after this idea a good while back and concluded that the only feasibility would be to find someone skilled with the operation of a metal lathe and experiment in that regard following some CAD work.


PostPosted: Fri May 28, 2010 7:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'll revive this thread from the dead. I've made a glassless FD to EF adapter, using a front mount from an FD extension ring and a Contax/Yashica to EF adapter. Glueing and screwing these together results in an adapter 3mm thick, a marked improvement over the available 10mm thick macro adapters. The aperture lever needs to be blocked separately.



This allows me to focus much further away than with the commercial 10mm version. I should be able to shave off another mm or two with a next incarnation of this adapter.
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