General MF lens discussion

Oh, where, or from which eBay sellers, do you guys buy your adapters? How comes all mine doesn't work for focus to infinity?

colormaniac wrote in post #10844256
Oh, where, or from which eBay sellers, do you guys buy your adapters? How comes all mine doesn't work for focus to infinity?

I bought a cheapo one on eBay (no af-confirm)...I don't remember which store it came from. I'd actually be interested to see which one you bought...I feel like it's got to be really really thick.

I got my M42 from some place in Hong Kong, I can see if I bothered to save the seller if you're interested. Mine was quite plain, just a metal ring with a hold for the lock, no confirm chip or anything.

I bought my M42 adapter from this guy: suddenawk
http://cgi.ebay.com …&ssPageName=STR​K:MEWNX:IT

Then my EXA adapter from these three guys:
rainbowimaging
http://cgi.ebay.com …&ssPageName=STR​K:MEWNX:IT (This one doesn't fit at all. It claims to have screws to secure the lens but I found none. I returned it.)
cam2_usa
http://cgi.ebay.com …&ssPageName=STR​K:MEWNX:IT (This one can lock the lens but it's not very secure. I used rubber cement to fill some of the gaps.)
ericcc1006
http://cgi.ebay.com …&ssPageName=STR​K:MEWNX:IT

The EXA adapters are more expensive in general. And only one of those seems good in terms of fit. But well, there is still the focus problem.

I'm new to MF lenses. So, I try to get adapters that have AF-confirm. Maybe I shouldn't have done this. That could have saved some money too.

I'm an old manual focus user so I expect manual focus to be, err, manual! Using the focus confirm seems to me to be a bit silly, like I might as well use an autofocus lens.

I use EF-S and EC-S super precision matte focus screens in my 40D and 1D II N bodies respectively and the EC-B split prism focus screen in my 1D II body to focus manually, really manually with my eyes to confirm the focus, without focus confirm lights or beeps.

colormaniac wrote in post #10844256
Oh, where, or from which eBay sellers, do you guys buy your adapters? How comes all mine doesn't work for focus to infinity?

There has been a lot of research already done by manual focus aficionado's in the past on adapter thickness, etc, so I will simply refer to some of their findings here. http://forum.manualfoc​us.org/viewtopic.php?i​d=3097
-Bruce

Ballen Photo wrote in post #10844406
There has been a lot of research already done by manual focus aficionado's in the past on adapter thickness, etc, so I will simply refer to some of their findings here. http://forum.manualfoc​us.org/viewtopic.php?i​d=3097
-Bruce

Oh... thank you for the pointer! I was not aware of that. Discussion about this seems very hard to find.

hpulley wrote in post #10844365
I'm an old manual focus user so I expect manual focus to be, err, manual! Using the focus confirm seems to me to be a bit silly, like I might as well use an autofocus lens.

I use EF-S and EC-S super precision matte focus screens in my 40D and 1D II N bodies respectively and the EC-B split prism focus screen in my 1D II body to focus manually, really manually with my eyes to confirm the focus, without focus confirm lights or beeps.

I know. I was a bit undecided since I haven't done manual focus before. Now it seems to be quite redundant, when the object is not too far away and I can see clearly in the viewfinder.

Ballen Photo wrote in post #10840737
Have a look here. http://oomz.net/tessar​/ The reference you want to read is about adjusting focus at both ends, is towards the end of this article.
I know this is for a 50mm, and you have an 80mm, but I'm betting they will be similar in build. I hope you can find something there to help.
-Bruce

The sentence "be SURE that you can still focus to both ends after you reinstall the guide" there is the key. In my case, there seems to be only one possible way to do so.

colormaniac wrote in post #10846761
The sentence "be SURE that you can still focus to both ends after you reinstall the guide" there is the key. In my case, there seems to be only one possible way to do so.

Ah, You're right. I'll have to do a little more digging around to see if I can find the actual article about adjusting the focus ring. I've seen it there before, but that was a few years back now.
-Bruce

I have 2 adapters from different suppliers. Both with confirm chips. A total waste of money, imo. The chips have too much tolerance. If you go by them, the odds are the shot will not be in focus unless you are shooting at f8 or similar.

Converting an FD lens to an EF one is tricky.
A camera that uses FL or FD lenses has a film/sensor to mounting flange distance of 42mm.
An EOS camera that uses EF lenses has a film/sensor to mounting flange distance of 44mm.
That's the problem. So you have to make the FD lens 2mm shorter so that it will focus to infinity. That is you have to take 2mm out of the mounting flange.
When you do this the rear element of the lens (in the case of the 50 & 85) comes within 0.05mm of the mirror. Absolutely no room for error. If you can't work to these tolerances, don't attempt it.

When you get it correct the lenses work flawlessly. I just love them.

rossbeckernz wrote in post #10848171
Converting an FD lens to an EF one is tricky.
A camera that uses FL or FD lenses has a film/sensor to mounting flange distance of 42mm.
An EOS camera that uses EF lenses has a film/sensor to mounting flange distance of 44mm.
That's the problem. So you have to make the FD lens 2mm shorter so that it will focus to infinity. That is you have to take 2mm out of the mounting flange.
When you do this the rear element of the lens (in the case of the 50 & 85) comes within 0.05mm of the mirror. Absolutely no room for error. If you can't work to these tolerances, don't attempt it.

When you get it correct the lenses work flawlessly. I just love them.

That tolerance is generally for full frame with the big mirror; some people shave the mirror but I don't advise it. APS mirrors are much smaller so there is much more tolerance on crop bodies (1.3x and 1.6x).

here in indonesia, couple of guys can modify those old lenses, so there's no need for an adaptor, the job costs around US$30-40, depending on the difficulty level, and it includes optics cleaning..

You are correct hpulley. I use 1D camera with big mirrors. It's a problem you don't have with 1.6 crops. However you still need to check how much clearance you have at the top of the mount to the frame inside the mount.