FD lenses on a Samsung NX100

<p>I have an Samsung NX100 that came with a Samsung 20-50mm kit lens. I picked it up (new, open box) recently on eBay for $240. The kit zoom is pretty good but I wanted to see how some of my good Canon FD prime lenses worked with it. So, I got a cheap Chinese adapter on eBay for $25 and shot a few tests. Here are some of the results and a few of my shooting notes.</p>

<p>In brief, the NX100 is a small, lightweight, mirrorless APS-C, 14.6 MP camera, shutter speeds 30sec to 1/4000, and 3FPS. Flash syncs at 1/180 sec. It offers matrix, center-weighted or spot metering. The rear screen is a 3" AMOLED type. It's a nondiscript little digibox thats not very ergonomic but has good image quality. The poor handling is not too big an issue when using with FD lenses since most times I found myself handling the rig by the lens. I put gummy Geeko Strips (by eGrips) on the front and back to help get a better grip. The build quality is OK but not impressive. The rear screen is nice and crisp and the AMOLED technology draws much less electrical power than standard LED screens. It does offer an add-on AMOLED viewfinder accessory but I don't have that and it's expensive($200). Here is a review that goes into much more detail if anyone is interested:<br>

<a href="http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/samsung/nx100/samsung-nx100-review.html#b">http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/samsung/nx100/samsung-nx100-review.html#b</a></p>

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<p>My big worry was focusing. My eyesight is not great and I was afraid I would have difficulty getting fine focus. No problem though. Even with the lens wide open, at minimum focus distance, in low light, the image snapped cleanly into focus. When you hit a button on the rear panel the screen magnifies 2X to assist the fine focus. There is a bit of a nack to it but it seemed to work well.</p><div></div>

<p>This first group of images were made with the old FD chrome nose, pre-SSC, concave front element, 35mm f/2 lens. This is the Oak Grove school house shot at F/5.6</p>

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<p>Here is a 100% crop. Pretty clean! No real color fringing noted at this aperture in the center or the edge.</p><div></div>

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Here is a side view as the sun was setting.</p>

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<p>This portrait of Matthew was shot at f/2.8</p><div></div>

<p>Next I used the FD 50mm f/3.5 Macro lens</p>

<p>A Fly on a Flower shot @ f/8</p>

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<p>A spider web shot at f/5.6</p><div></div>

<p>These next two are with the FD 28mm f/2.8</p>

<p>Park Landscape at f/5.6</p>

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<p>Flower Pot Detail at f/8</p><div></div>

<p>These last three are from my superb FD mount Kiron 105mm f/2.8 Macro</p>

<p>A line of goldenrod. I was heading home from the park as the sun set and a shaft of light through the trees illuminated this line of flowers for a few seconds. I used F/4. The camera handled the hurry up shot quite easily.</p>

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<p>The next two were shot using the Canon 299T flash mounted in the hot shoe and bounced.</p>

<p>Apple at f/8</p>

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<p>Guitar Curve at f/8</p>

<p>Overall, I was pleased with the results. On the positive side, it was nice to use my FD glass without much fuss. The camera is very lightweight and super easy to use. Menus are well laid out. By using a RAW workflow, I got very good image quality and color. Battery life is very good. There is a hair bit more noise than my Canon 7D but nothing really to sweat about. Not much in the way of CA to worry about at middle apertures. At the price I paid, this is relatively inexpensive way to get my FD lenses (and just about every other manual lens ever made) active with a more modern camera.</p>

<p>On the negative side, the ergonomics are poor (for my hands) and the build quality, while adequate, is not stellar. The screen is difficult to read in bright sun and the accessory viewfinder is expensive.</p>

<p>I had fun with it! No, I won't be giving up my fine FD film bodies anytime soon but it's nice to get some versitility from my FD lenses. My next test will be with my longer lenses, the FD 80-200mm f/4L, and the FD 400mm f.4.5 SSC. With the 1.5x FOV offered by the APS-C sensor, this could potentially be very interesting for bird and/or wildlife photography.</p>

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Cool little gadget but I'd need arms about a yard longer to focus on that rear screen! It's so nice to have an optical

viewfinder wearing the corrective lens (diopter) instead of me...my FD bodies are downright courteous of their far-sighted owner!

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<p> I'd need arms about a yard longer to focus on that rear screen!</p>

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<p>Ha! I hear ya, Rick. I'm near sighted so I actually have to take off my glasses to focus...go figure. The accessory electronic viewfinder has diopter adjustments and is pretty good but spendy. Perhaps when the prices come down I'll pick one up. </p>

<p>This was really interesting, Louis - thank you very much for posting!</p>

<p>Beautiful shots as usual, Louis, providing further proof that it's the photographer and not his gear that matters.</p>

<p>By the way, does your adapter have an AF confirmation chip, or were you just using the liveview magnification feature to assist with focusing? The reason I'm asking is that I'm going to be adapting a couple of older Nikkor lenses (55/1.2 and 100/2.5) to my EOS bodies, and am considering adapter options.</p>

<p>A few weels ago I was using my CZJ Sonnar 135/4 on my 5DII with a chipless adapter, and I had a lot of trouble nailing focus. I realize that slower lenses are harder to focus, and that DSLR focusing screens are not optimized for manual focusing. But I'd rather use the viewfinder for routine framing and focusing, and reserve liveview for special circumstances such as macro.</p>

<p>Thanks, Mark. No AF confirm on that adapter. </p>

Louis I use a Panasonic G1 (M4/3i.e. 2x) with my FD lenses sometimes. It works very well as the EVF helps and has

a zoom capability for focusing. The 50F3.5 macro works really well as does the 24F2, 35F2, 50F1.4, 85F1.2 and

135F2. After that it gets harder I have had good results with the 80-200F4L and the 35-135 F3.5 but the zooms are

harder to use. I have played with the 300F2.8 but this is very difficult to focus and the lens is much too big for the

body!

<p>Currently using my FD lenses with a Sony NEX-5 (soon to be NEX-7) and Novoflex adapter, and I couldn't be much happier. I find that I'm hardly using my SLR's anymore. I'm hoping that the eye level OLED finder on the NEX-7 cures one major problem that the NEX-5, and most similar machines have; poor monitor visibility in direct sunlight. Hope to see the 7 at PhotoPlus Expo next week.</p>

<p>Philip- Yes, I remember your exellent post showing shots of your son with the G1 and FD 50 macro (I think). Those results looked darn good. I figured using the 400mm would not be easy but my preliminary test on static objects looked great. Of course shooting moving animals or flitting birds is a whole other thing. </p>

<p>Paul- Glad to hear the Sony is working out for you. I've heard good things about the 7. I'll be attending the show as well, perhaps I'll run into you at the Sony booth.</p>

<p>Awesome, Louis! I'm considering the NEX-5N (but may just wait and see what Canon comes out with...) and may use my FD glass with it. Excellent post with excellent pics as always!</p>

<p>Thanks Andy, Our EOS cameras handle the old Nikon and M42 lenses pretty well but not so much FD stuff. With a dozen of these good lenses in my kit it's nice to get some additional play time with them. Not to mention the these EVIL cameras are light, light, light! The Sony's get great reviews. I would have got one myself till I found the great deal on the NX100. Totally worth the price even if only used as an FD lens horse. </p>

<p>Excellent work Louis, the FD 35mm f2 Thorium lens is one of the sharpest lenses that the company ever made it seems to defy the laws of physics it's as sharp at medium apertures at the edge as at the middle of the frame, I love mine I've had it for more than thirty five years.</p>

<p>Well, I have to say Ben, the Thorium 35 f/2 did not fail to impress in my test. It's the sharpest 35mm MF lens I own. I "de-yellowed" it this past Summer and have been shooting a lot with it since. It didn't go completely clear but any slight residual yellow was easily compensated for by creating a custom white balance for it. The 50mm macro also sparkled in my testing with this camera. The fact is, all the lenses performed very well. I'll see how the telephoto lenses do in the next round of tests. Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you liked the images. </p>