FD Lens on T3

I have a few manual FD lenses I got to try on my Rebel T3. I have the nicer adapter with the glass in it, and am shooting in aperature priority mode. My grandfather's telescopic FD lens seems to works just fine, but the 50mm f1.8 I got does not do so well. I cannot get the lens to focus, & changing the depth of field on the lens does not seem to change anything. Am I missing something or is this just a bad lens?

I'm very surprised to learn that you are getting infinity focus with any of your FD lenses. Would you mind posting a few sample shots, please?

That must be because he has the adapter with glass inside. It works like a short teleconverter (1.25X) and does allow infinity focus.

FD lenses which are used without being in touch with the mechanical interface in the camera (and there will not be any such interface in an all electric EOS camera, of course) require the stop down lever at the back of the lens to be locked in stopped down position prior to mounting. This is easily accomplished by moving the lever past the normal stop position, so it locks up stopped down.

But the FD 50 mm f/1.8 S.C. has a different way of locking up the aperture closing pin compared to other FD lenses. There should be a dedicated lever for this at the back of the lens. Move the aperture lever to the closed positon and lock it there with the lever.
If you instead have the FDn 50 mm f/1.8 (you said FD, but I'm not sure if that was a generic or specific term), then stopping down requires a special plastic tool, a tool which was sold as an accessory to FDn lenses.

Now I've never seen any FD->EOS adapter, but I guess this will be valid for them too. It was for sure valid when using FD lenses on e.g. F-series cameras together with manual extension rings or bellows, for example.

If the stop down lever isn't in this position, then turning the aperture ring will accomplish nothing but preset the lens to a certain aperture. But the preset will not be executed until the stop down lever is moved.

apersson850 wrote in post #17276607
That must be because he has the adapter with glass inside. It works like a short teleconverter (1.25X) and does allow infinity focus.

Take it from me, none of the cheaper FD to EOS adapters will focus to infinity. There are three that might. 1) The original made by Canon and are very rare and very expensive when found. 2) Ed Mika and 3) Lens Doctor. The latter, I am unable to comment on.

I have been using my FD lenses for 40 years and the only one I have any success with on my EOS 7D is my 100mm macro and that one will only focus up to about a metre using an FD to EOS adapter.

I recently bought an EOS-M camera and that is a completely different ball game when using FD lenses and the appropriate adapter.

Image quality is not very good but, FD to EOS adapters with optical glass correction DO allow infinity focus and they have a pin designed to operate the aperture lever.

If the aperture is not stopping down it is probably user error.

$21 Ebay FD to EF adapter: http://www.ebay.ca …F+infinity+focu​s&_sacat=0

Mike, I've tried a few and never found one that will focus completely to infinity, but if you know of one, then I will accept that.

How close to infinity did you get?

Those cheap "infinity" adapters with glass are not made very well. I bet there is a lot of variation from copy to copy and some are probably better than others at getting you to infinity.

Some of them allow you to remove the glass for Macro work.

msowsun wrote in post #17276749
How close to infinity did you get?

Those cheap "infinity" adapters with glass are not made very well. I bet there is a lot of variation from copy to copy and some are probably better than others at getting you to infinity.

Some of them allow you to remove the glass for Macro work.

My 28mm and 35-105, which are the only ones I would be interested in infinity focus were quite a bit short. I even tried altering the position of the glass, but still no good. I do use my 100mm macro on the 7D with the glass removed and that does quite well. However, since getting the EOS-M, I don't even bother using FD on the 7D, the M never fails with any of my FD lenses, or indeed my M42 fit manuals.

What is the benefit form using old lenses on modern cameras, when lens design clearly has improved a lot in, say, 40 years?
Is it just the saved cost, or are there other advantages?

I have about half a dozen FD/FDn lenses, but I've not seen any desire to put them on an EOS camera yet.

Lens design has not changed as much as you may think. The FD 50mm 1.4 and EF 50mm 1.4 both share the exact same lens design of 7 elements in 6 groups.

The FD lenses are generally lighter and smaller with better manual focus rings which make them ideal for video work.

If you have one of the better manual focus film era lenses, spending $100(or less) on a glass-less adapter can be an economical way to get into some exotic glass. FD prices have been steadily increasing over the years and one reason is because they are so easily adaptable to modern mirror-less cameras.

Here is a forum dedicated to using Manual Focus lenses: http://forum.mflenses.​com/

OK, for a comparatively simple lens as the FD 50 mm f/1.4 S.S.C. set up against the EF 50 mm f/1.4 USM, I can see that they are pretty similar inside.
I guess I was more thinking about the performance you get from an EF 70-300 mm f/4-5.6L IS USM compared to what you can get out of the huge FD 85-300 mm f/4.5 S.S.C., for example.

I think the comparatively complex zoom lenses have gained more from today's engineering than say a Gauss design, which has looked the same since it was invented, more or less.

And the manual focusing rings on older lenses are much better, when you do focus manually. I only need to compare my own old FD 135 mm f/2.5 S.C. with the EF 135 mm f/2L USM to feel the significant difference, for example. I don't do much video myself, but I can fully understand that point.

Yes, Zoom lens technology has gotten much better over the years and the latest lenses also have more Multi-coatings to reduce reflections from the image sensor.

There also seems to be quite a jump in lens technology in just the last couple of years as witnessed by some of the most recent very sharp lenses. (70-200 2.8 IS II, Sigma ART, 24-70 II, STM series, etc)

I think that's driven by the fact that today's camera technology allows everyone to glare at their screens on images magnified to 400% after having max sharpening applied to them four times in a row. You can see even the slightest anomaly in any lens that way.