Just bought a M42 adapter, would like some help in knowing the basic's

[mikeisbeast]

Well i was going to buy a 17-40 soon, but I thought might try using some of my older carl zesis lens so i thought i would try to the adapter mebe save that money for a future date.. I was wondering what should i know about using the adapter. can u shoot in anything besides M? AV? Also when I focus does the camera still tell me its in focus or do i have to second guess it. And lastly do you guys have any tips. thanks


i took that tonite with out the adapter just put the lens over the mount and held it in place so i wasnt able to focus but i was just trying to see if i can see any results. since my glass is good when i finally get the adapter and mount it, should the quality be as good as the canon lens? also i have a 1000mm mirror lens with a fixed aperture of f8.0, will it work on the my camera. oh ya i forgot to mention that im shotting with a 10d.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/mikeisbeast/IMG_4899.jpg

[foxbat]

No the camera will not confirm AF because there's no electronic connection between the camera and the lens, you will need a replacement focus screen to do accurate focussing in very low DOF situations.

Some old manual prime lenses can be as good as, if not better than the Canons (in some cases) if you don't mind the stop-down metering and lack of AF. Some favourites (not all M42) are:

Carl Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 Distagon T* (expensive and rare)
Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.4 Flektogon
Carl Zeiss 50mm f/1.7 Planar
Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4

Feel free to add more!

[Mark_48]

I picked up an M42 adapter so I could use my old collection of Pentax/Takumar lenses. Manual metering and no focus confirmation, just like in the days of yore. The stainless steel adapter I have fits pretty tight when mounted and when removing it you have to be careful since the inards of the mirror and sensor are sitting right there waiting to get poked.

The attached shot was taken with a Pentax Takumar 50mm f/1.4 mounted on a bellows. I almost didn't get Canon's 50mm f/1.4 because I had the Takamar lens, but then decided auto exposure and focus were pretty good features to have.

[Andy_T]

Just use the camera in AV mode, so it picks the shutter speed based on the aperture you (manually) select on the lens.

And maybe do a custom white balance ... your image looks a bit off :wink:

Best regards,
Andy

PS: And learn how to correctly spell 'ZEISS', you'll find a lot more lenses on eBay that way :wink:

[mikeisbeast]

haha sorry rough day next ill get it right thoguh

[Mark_48]

Just use the camera in AV mode, so it picks the shutter speed based on the aperture you (manually) select on the lens..........

Best regards,
Andy


Thanks for the tip Andy, I never even gave it a thought to try it in Av mode, just figured manual was the only way to go since there was no lens coupling.