Anyone still use FD Lenses?

The local photo fair rolled into town and Ive been looking to pick up some nice primes. I came across a fairly clean 50mm f/1.4 but in a FD mount. I picked up an adapter (Eos-FD) and was on my way to test out the lens.

Ive been using it for a few days now and everything seems to be working fine. Just wondering if there were any others out there that still use FD lenses on their digital cameras. Its a fraction of the cost of their AFing counterparts. The focus ring has a little more give so its a blessing when focusing while shooting video.

So anyone still using them? Running into any problems? Pics? Share!

What adapter do you have? (Pics if possible. I'm interested in FD lenses myself.)

As far as I knew, FD was one of the few mounts that cannot be reasonably adapted to EF, because of the registration distance. Either you lose infinity focussing, or you need a lens in the adaptor which affects focal length and image quality. Some people convert the lenses; you'd need a machine shop.

My understanding is that some FD lenses have good optical quality but that the adapters aren't awesome. ISTR that Canon briefly sold one that's now highly prized. Some have glass and some don't. Loss of AF would be fatal for me, but no problem for static subjects

For those not familiar with adaptors, you also lose automatic aperture. That means, to shoot at f/8 you have to focus (more) wide open, then stop down with the aperture ring to f/8 to meter and shoot, being very careful not to bump the focus ring or alter your body position. I still have a couple of Olympus OM lenses I use this way. It's not really a problem if you planned to shoot (close to) wide open anyway.

It was interesting, the lady at the fair had 2 adapters. One with glass and one without. She said the one without glass was mainly used for macro work and focus to infinity was possible. The one with glass was cheaper so I just went with that.

Differences? Advantages?

The "Holy Grail" of adapters was marketed by Canon to allow pros (and others) to avoid having to instantly retire their very large prime lenses (300, 400, 500, etc...) during the days of the great FD to EF migration.

They are very highly prized and have sold for many hundreds of dollars (if not the low thousands in some cases.)

AFAIK, this rare adapter allows for infinity focus but also requires stop-down metering.

As good as they were previously it too much of a hassle these days. To make it work at infinity then you need a gless adapter which I have a few and they do nothing but degrade the image quality and you lose about a stop of light plus they add as a teleconverter. They often would have to be stopped slightly to counteract the loss of image quality due to the TC effect.

Yes the ones without glass can be used for macro works but the working distance is very close to the subject which isn't really ideal.

If you are really good you can remove the mount and do a bit of DIY to remount with EF bayonet. I have no such skills. I have seen few from here in POTN who have done amazing job with it.

I didn't find anyway to use my old FD lenses (85L1.2 and 50F1.4) on my EOS bodies. But I got very good results and now I use them with a sony NEX5

with FD85L1.2

IMAGE LINK: http://photos.corbi.eu …59/1059896566_t​YXK8-O.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://photos.corbi.eu …53/1114008689_o​wT26-O.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://photos.corbi.eu …58/1114008583_V​zZ3d-O.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://photos.corbi.eu …red/962456003_L​PKB4-O.jpg

I use a eos converted rokkor x 50mm f1.2. The old lenses are really fun to use!!!


Unfortunately canon changed register distances with the move to EOS.
Which makes the old fd L lenses somewhat limited and somewhat expencive macro capable lenses.

Two strikes canon!!!!

Those are stunning images newworld666! Thank you for sharing.

anthony11 wrote in post #11747309
My understanding is that some FD lenses have good optical quality but that the adapters aren't awesome. ISTR that Canon briefly sold one that's now highly prized. Some have glass and some don't. Loss of AF would be fatal for me, but no problem for static subjects

FD mount = manual focus... loss of AF is guaranteed, it never had any.

There was a brief run of AF FD lenses, designed for the T-series of cameras. None of em are any good optically tho.

There are some GREAT FL, FD, and New FD lenses out there... namely the L's (big shocker right?) but as others have noted, its not a simple conversion... it takes knowledge of, experience with, access to, and willingness to mill the mount down for a conversion. One of the other mounts that can't be adapted but can be converted is MUCH easier, thats the Minolta MC/MD mount.

If you have great FL, FD, or New FD mount lenses, get a nice AE-1 Program or A-1 or F-1 and go to town on it with some film... the feel of those old cameras still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

melcat wrote in post #11747300
As far as I knew, FD was one of the few mounts that cannot be reasonably adapted to EF, because of the registration distance. Either you lose infinity focussing, or you need a lens in the adaptor which affects focal length and image quality. Some people convert the lenses; you'd need a machine shop.

I convert them, waiting for afew 1.4's to come in so I can start on those. maintain infinity focus and full aperture control with smoth movement (no clicks) Havent needed a machining tool but my dremel is going through alot of bits right now.

funkyfones wrote in post #11748656
I convert them, waiting for afew 1.4's to come in so I can start on those. maintain infinity focus and full aperture control with smoth movement (no clicks) Havent needed a machining tool but my dremel is going through alot of bits right now.

Seriously? How much do you charge cause I'm very tempted to dive in again into old MF world. There's just something about buttery smooth focusing.

melcat wrote in post #11747350
For those not familiar with adaptors, you also lose automatic aperture. That means, to shoot at f/8 you have to focus (more) wide open, then stop down with the aperture ring to f/8 to meter and shoot, being very careful not to bump the focus ring or alter your body position. I still have a couple of Olympus OM lenses I use this way. It's not really a problem if you planned to shoot (close to) wide open anyway.

There aren't ANY mounts that you can adapt that will allow you to retain control of the AE pins... FD, MC/MD, OM, Pentax-K, C/Y... none.