My suggestion on using FD tele lense on EOS

<p>Hi I a FD user from Hong Kong.Don't know if its appropriate to start the thread here, FD page. Tell me if its better to talk in EOS page.<br>

The following has been a commonly asked question: "How can I use my FD lenses on EOS body". There's 4 "traditional" solutions:<br />1. genuine CANON FD-EF convert -- extremely rare & expensive, 200mm or above only<br />2. 3rd party glassed adapter -- crappy image quality <br />3. 3rd party non-glassed adapter -- no infinity focus , macro only<br />4. Lens mount conversion -- permanent & destructive, time consuming<br>

All these has their own pros & cons, but neither one could be called a good solution, at leat for me, personally. So here I'm suggesting a 5th way: A combination of customized slim non-glassed adapter with focus recalibration. That might not be a brand new idea ( I saw similar idea. eg: making silm adapters), but what I'm aiming for is to promote it to become a stream or trend, so less FD lenses will be destroyed(mount conversion), and more people can ultilize their treasures in Digital.<br>

This 5th solution also has its own pros & cons.:<br />Good:<br />-Best image quality( compare with using glassed adapters)<br />-Cheaper, easier & faster than mount conversion<br />-infinity focus available on ALL supertele lense (300mm or longer) with rear group focusing. ( except 300 f/4)300mm or longer<br />-Easy to be undone<br />-Won't lose the compatability with FD body. 1 lens for both FD & EOS body, wow!<br>

bad:<br />-for tele lens with 300mm or longer only.<br />-deviation of the focus distance indicator on focus ring (though its not a big problem for supertele) <br />-when use on FD body, the closest focus distance would extends approx. 20cm</p>

<p>In the following I'll explain how its works in detail.<br>

The registration(distance between lens mount & film plane) of FD is 42mm, and EOS is 44mm, which is 2mm longer (more if you included the thickness of the adapters). Thats like a thin extension tube is added when you mount FD lenses on EOS body: the whole focusing range will be shifted backward & you lose infinity focus. <br />For the registration difference, its inborn, something we can not change at all (under the rules that we don't convert mount of either side). So what we work on is to minimize the thickness of the adapters.<br />On Ebay there's 2 types of non-glassed adapters. <br />-Thick one, 10mm thick, rotating lever for aperture setting<br />-Thin one, 5mm thick, no lever for aperture setting (you can shoot with aperture wide opened only)<br />All these 2 are far from the word "thin", so I decide to make a customized adaper .<br>

Two month ago, I sucessfully developed the 3rd type and produced 50 of it (by machine of course) from the factory in China . This is a 1mm think adapter with a fixed lever for aperture setting. The adapter has been tested by many users (include both apsc & FF EOS user) and proved it will not collide with mirror. By using this adapter, you can extend the farthest focus distance about 2-3 times compare with the 10mm adapter. However thats still not enough to get infinity focus with any FD lenses. So we need the 2nd process-----focus calibration. I will explain that at part II later, as I'm hurry to go to work now :P<br>

Here are some of the product shoot of the adapter & its temporarily available in China & Taiwan only.<br>

<img src="http://www.dchome.net/attachments/day_101010/20101010_5e253714b444291968edbL9CFUuoeTPj.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="900" /><br>

<img src="http://www.dchome.net/attachments/day_101010/20101010_28505e35af1d1f4357bdkI9B82hUMY8O.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="900" /><br>

<img src="http://www.dchome.net/attachments/day_101010/20101010_dac30c4253bc64bab994WgRdzjPLdSjp.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="675" /></p>

<p>So please be patient for the part II. I will get it done ASAP. Thanks for watching</p>

<p>there is also a solution related to 1) which is to modify a 1.4x FD converter to EOS mount. It changes the 1.26x extension of the original Canon converter to 1.4x<br>

more here: http://www.vp7.de/eosfd/eosfd.html</p>

<p>Yup, I saw that before. That's somehow a balance between 3rd party & geniune adapter. Better images quality and lower cost. But the drawbacks are the 1.4X multiply & smaller aperture . After all, additional glasses are added between the lenses & camera, decline on image quality is inevitable , even the 1.26X fd-ef converter is not an exception.</p>

<p>and how much $$$ is this little gem?</p>

<p>Louis, I sell this for 400HKD ( about 52USD) in Hong Kong (together with focus calibration service for free). Considering to put it on ebay later, but I don't have much left, probabaly need to order them from factory once again.</p>

<p>This is not the classified's if this is going to turn into a for sale ad it will be deleted. No buying selling or trading is allowed in the forums.</p>

<p>Mark Wahlster<br>

FD forum moderator</p>

<p>I'm not intented to make businese here. All I want is to share my experiences. Besides, I don't accept order outside CN/TW, at least for now. However I'll be more carefull about this, thanks for reminding</p>

<p>The best way to use these FD lenses is to get an FD body and some film<br>

Pros:<br>

- No destructive action<br>

- Cheap<br>

- Full meter coupling<br>

- Auto aperture stop down when shutter release<br>

- No glass, preserve its quality<br>

- Looks good<br>

- Easy solution and easy to mount, unmount<br>

- Works for all FD lenses, not only tele<br>

- No need to buy some thing from China and/or ebay<br>

Con:<br>

No Image Stabilisation</p>

<p>can you post some pics of your converter?</p>

 

So here is the part 2.

Even using a 1mm adapter, you still have 3mm unwanted extension so infinity focus is not possible at this stage. But we have a last hope- focus calibration. Every FD lenses has its own focus calibration mechanism built in the lens .It allows techinican to slightly adjust the focus of lenses (mainly for correcting infinity focus). So we can utilize this function to push the range of focus further.

 

The followings are suitable for all tele lense using rear group focus (or internal focusing) ONLY . Older tele lens with helicoid focus is not mentioned because I didn't have any of them.

 

All FD IF lense has the same structure and its can be divided into 3 parts:

-Main optics

-Focusing unit

-Aperture & mount

The main optics & the aperture could be left untouched, we are going to deal with the focusing unit only.

 

I'll start from a simple one - 300 F/4. Originally, by using the silm adpater on EOS, ther farthest focus distance is 24m .After the calibration done, it will be extended to 100m.

 

The steps for this lens are realtively easy. Take off the rubber cover on the focus ring & turn it to infinity position. You should see a chrome screw and a row of holes. ( The chinese characters in these pictures could be ignored)

<img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs591.ash2/154302_499994340475_617005475_7489045_1476936_n.jpg" alt="" />

Loosen the screw a bit (no need to take it off), use toothpicker or anything thin enough to insert into one of the holes & push it higher (closer to the main optics).

<img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1163.snc4/150543_499995775475_617005475_7489050_5878266_n.jpg" alt="" />

Finally tighten the screw, install the rubber cover back & the calibration is finished. Its recommended that you mark the position of the focus group before loosening the screw, so you can recover it to original setting easily.

 

This is the basic of focus calibration & we are going to deal with another lens ---300/2.8L. This lens (& also All FD white tele) will be a bit complicated so I will leave it to part III.

Thanks for watching

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=2257029">Vladimir</a> Here is the photos of the adapter. Thanks <img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs388.ash2/66600_480901880475_617005475_7168319_6681254_n.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="540" /></p>

<blockquote>

<p>The best way to use these FD lenses is to get an FD body and some film</p>

</blockquote>

<p>+1 John</p>

<p>I had tested this mount with a 200mm 2.8 lens (without calibration) mounted on a EOS IDIII body. Although it can focus to infinity, the result is much better than using the after market adaptor with correction lens.</p>

<p>Hi!<br>

It,s now been a year and still no contribution of part III, calibrating a 300mm f2.8 lens. When will this happen :)?</p>