Canon FD lenses on EOS system

I was recently browsing on Ebay and noticed someone was selling an

adapter so the old manual FD lenses could fit on the newer autofocus

EOS systems. Has anyone ever tried this before? How well does it work

and how does it work? Would it be worth buying?

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-manual-lenses/

It works, however you will have some problems. You will obviously lose autofocus as well as focus to infinity unles you have glass in the adaptor. You will also have metering problems. Most likely your picture will be underexposed at least 2 stops if you meter as if it were an ef lens. I was told by a friend to meter with the lens stopped down. However I have not yet tested it. Try to get the original canon fd to eos converter. They are rare but I was told you might be able to find one on ebay for approx. $200-250. I picked up a converter on ebay this week and thought it was an original, however I recently learned it wasn't. So look carefully at what you are buying. The aftermarkets work but I heard not so well. Anyway I have a question posted on relatively the same subject on the canon EOS forum. The guys gave me some really good advice...

Yes, it is possible but with some difficulties. Canon has made two adapters when changing from FD to EOS.

 

1. Canon FD-EOS makro adapter.

This is just an extension tube (about 12mm) with a FD mount on one side (lens side) and an EOS mount on the other (camera side). This one can be used with all FD lenses except for the ultra wide angle, since these cause vignetting with an extension tube.

 

You will loose focussing at infinity. This adapter was merely designed to allow EOS users to still use the vast FD makro system, specially the bellows. It is no longer available from Canon and is now also hard to find. Prices will be around $75 to $100.

 

2. Canon FD-EOS converter

This is a specially designed converter (approx. 1.26x, 2/3 stop lightloss) which only works with some Canon FD L telelenses, mainly the big white ones. It was introduced for professional photographers who had invested a lot of money in expensive FD telelenses. This converter was never sold to "the public" by Canon. Quality is very good, as the 1.4x converter. Converter is hard to find and may cost between $200 and $250 used.

 

I have used this one for a while with the FD 300/2.8L and FD 500/4.5L lenses. Results were very good and sharp but on the 500mm I sometimes had a little vignetting when used wide open. On the 300mm it was perfect. You cannot combine this converter with other converters (FD or EOS) !

 

For both converters you have to remind that there is no coupling of functions between kamera and lens. So you'll either have to work with full aperture or stopped down. The Canon EOS-1 series works fine with these adapters and no exposure adjustment is required. With some other bodies, it might be necessary. I have only used them on my EOS-1n bodies. And of course focussing is always manually.

 

They work fine. But I would only recommend these if you have already invested heavily in expensive FD equipment and can't or won't afford the switch to EOS. If you only have EOS, it is not a way to use the cheaper FD lenses. Better buy used EOS then.

 

There are also a lot of third brand converters on the market. These have glass elements and allow focussing at infinity. But quality isn't very great at the best.