Old lenses using adapters

I'm looking to get into film-making with my t3i, as I write screenplays in my spare time, and have a few I'd like to make.

Now, I often read that older lenses have better build quality, especially the manual focus rings are more fluid/pleasing.

With that said, can anyone recommend an adapter/route to follow, if I'm wanting to buy a few older lenses for filming? (will also use to take photographs).

Should I go FD-EOS, M42-EOS, F-Mount-EOS?

Which route offers the best value for lenses on offer?

My only experiences are with Nikkor lenses on EOS bodies. I have purchased 4 cheap adaptors from ebay (without the focus confirmation chip) and I am happy with them. Don't go with the FD-EOS adaptors, but M42-EOS seems to be another good way to go.
...Terry

I used M42 with a lens I no longer have, and OM adapter with Zuiko MF. Both worked just fine. I wouldn't bother with AF confirm chip, just get a good well fitting regular adapter.

Yes, M42 seems like a good way to go with so many options. I don't need the AF chip anyway as will be using MF most/all the time. I'll have to have a look at some Nikkor lenses, see how the prices are and how many are about.

Thanks for your input so far

Old Canon mounts don't adapt well to modern Canon bodies. Try old M42, Olympus, and Nikkor lenses.

themadman wrote in post #13493671
Old Canon mounts don't adapt well to modern Canon bodies. Try old M42, Olympus, and Nikkor lenses.

+1 on this. You can also use Leica R series (but not the M-series) and Zeiss C/Y (Contax / Yashica).

Contax N series require structural modification to the intreface but they can also be adapted. If you do this, you can preserve autofocus and aperture control.

The Rokkor 56/1.2 is also worth modifying - a kit to do this is relatively inexpensive.

Very good info there.

Out of interest, why is it that FD lenses do not adapt well? Any particular reason?

A plain FD adapter will not be able to focus on infinity. To enable infinity focussing, another lens is needed in the adapter. A good adapter is very expensive, a cheaper adapter has poor image quality.
...Terry
KISS... Keep It Simple S..., there are many lens that are easily adapted.

Overkill-F1 wrote in post #13494687
A plain FD adapter will not be able to focus on infinity. To enable infinity focussing, another lens is needed in the adapter. A good adapter is very expensive, a cheaper adapter has poor image quality.
...Terry
KISS... Keep It Simple S..., there are many lens that are easily adapted.

Thank you

Check out Bob Atkin's website for a list of the most easily adapted vintage lenses.

There are also T-mount and Tamron Adaptall/Adaptall2 available. Those are a couple common types of interchangeable mount lenses.

The focus confirmation chip does not provide auto focus. It only provides AF confirmation and personally I think it's worth the extra money. Set your camera to One Shot (you'll need to install one of your AF lenses on it temporarily to do that), then put the adapted lens on, you will need to focus manually but you'll get a "beep" (if you have it enabled) and the green confirmation LED will light up in the viewfinder when you achieve focus. Modern DSLRs are not designed with manual focus lenses in mind, so focus confirmation can come in very handy, especially when working with large apertures and teles or macros with shallow depth of field!

There are also replacement focus screens for most Canon models, that have some enhancements to help make manual focus easier. Katzeye Optics are one brand. Just be aware that these might skew the metering system a little overall, and often will throw off spot metering a lot, if you use it. But they add a split image finder at the middle and, in some cases, a micro-diaprism "donut" around it. These were pretty standard features on manual focus cameras... but lacking from modern DSLRs. Adding these manual focus assist features will really help, too... But doesn't solve the fact that that most modern DSLR tend to have smaller and less bright viewfinders, than the old cameras that were designed for manual focus (thus we're back to the usefulness of a chipped adapter that gives focus confirmation).

Manual focus is actually not all that big a deal with many subjects (AF is nice with fast moving things, though). A bigger deal is the manual aperture. Any adapted lens will need to have a manually controllable aperture, usually with a ring on the lens. This is slower to work with, you need to determine the exposure settings using "stop down, match needle" method with the camera's built in meter, or use a separate handheld meter... or might be able set it pretty close by eye once you learn how. But more importantly, when you stop it down, your viewfinder darkens. This can make focusing more challenging. And at some point, once it gets pretty dark with smaller apertures, even focus confirmation will no longer work.

Another, relatively minor thing... The EXIF metadata in the image will not properly report the adapted lens, it's max aperture or the actual aperture used. Some of the chipped adapters can be programmed to show focal length and the lens' max aperture (or something close, they might not have all the possibilities available). However, there will never be any communication with the camera about what actual aperture is being used, so that info can never be recorded. Again, though, it's a relatively minor thing.

There are some great old lenses out there, easily and relatively inexpensively adapted for use on EOS cameras.

Bob Atkin's list is incorrect in one respect... It cites the "Konica F" mount, which is actually much more commonly known as the "Konica K/AR" mount... it's one of the ones that's not easily adapted.

Also, since his last update, "chipped" adapters in most of the usable mounts have become widely available at pretty reasonable prices.

Bob also has another page discussing and devoted to adapting Canon FD lenses to EOS, here at this link. I haven't tried the adapter he discusses. I've only adapted a few vintage lenses for use on Canon (Tamron Adaptall macro lens and a couple old Nikkors).