FD>EF>(FE+MFT) adapter

[shawngibson]

<p>Hi All,</p>

<p>I'm usually pretty good at figuring adapters out, but in this case, I'm a bit lost.</p>

<p>In order to fit an 85/1.2L FD to an FE or MFT (via Metabones EF adapter), what adapter do I need to buy to use an FD lens?</p>

<p>I see most of the FD>EF adapters are stupidly cheap and have glass in them. I'd rather pay more and have no glass and a quality product. Is that possible?</p>

<p>Again, it will have to mount to a Metabones EF mount in order to work on both a Sony A7II and Oly EM1.</p>

<p>Merci:)<br>

Shawn</p>

<p> </p>

[User_1172872]

<p>Since the A7ii is 'full frame' you don't need the Metabones adapter. Just a simple, glassless mechanical adapter Canon FD to Sony. For example: http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Adapter-Lenses-E-mount-Mirrorless/dp/B003Y302CG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1456688380&sr=8-3&keywords=fotodiox+sony+adapter [Disclaimer: I have no connection to Fotodiox or the vendor.]<br>

The Metabones is a 'focal length reducer' [astronomers term] to preserve the angle of view on crop sensor cameras. Why would you want to the use the 85 FD lenes on MFT when you have a Sony A7ii?</p>

[dave_s]

<p>The FD to EF adapter has a weak diverging lens in it, because of the design of FD lenses, which have a very short registration distance. This means that, optically speaking, the adapter has to have negative thickness, hence the diverging lens.</p>

<p>In practice these things always degrade the image to some degree. OTOH, you can get a FD to EF adapter with no glass (sometimes called 'macro adapters') but it will preclude your ability to make infinity focus.</p>

<p>If you don't need the Metabones adapter, you can get FD adapters for Sony A7ii or MFT, which should work fine on their own. Some people have had good luck with the inexpensive ones off ebay. I have a posh one (Novoflex) and it works like a bomb on my Sony A7ii. It's a nice piece of kit, but I don't know if there's any advantage to spending that much.</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<blockquote>

<p>I see most of the FD>EF adapters are stupidly cheap and have glass in them. I'd rather pay more and have no glass and a quality product. Is that possible?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Canon did make a FD-to-EF adapter, with glass elements, that was good but they are stupidly expensive.<br>

To connect you FD lens to the A7II you only need an inexpensive adapter with no glass. Look on eBay for K&F Concept adapters. Well make and not too pricy.<br>

<br>

I can't recommend anything for MFT anything. Never used that format.<br>

</p>

[shawngibson]

<p>Hi Professor, and thanks.</p>

<p>I want all of my lenses to be compatible on both cameras, so a Metabones adaptor (not the reducing one, just the one with AF for EF lenses...no glass in the Metabones) is the best way to go.</p>

<p>For example, I can mount a 300/4L on the Sony and get 300mm. On the MFT I can get a 600mm FoV and retain AF and electronic info, i.e. adjust the aperture via a dial on the Oly.</p>

<p>So basically:</p>

<p>Sony A7II>Metabones EF> any AF Canon/Sigma/etc AF lens<br>

OM-D EM-1>Metabones EF> any AF Canon/Sigma/etc AF lens</p>

<p>Main reason for the MFT is to get maximum reach for wildlife.</p>

<p>I suppose the 85/1.2L FD on an Oly would be 170mm and f/2.4 or so...</p>

<p>Main thing here is to get the FD lens on to the Sony without buying a million adapters and having it compatible with an EF mount so that both cameras can use it...</p>

[shawngibson]

<p>Dave and Louis, you posted while I was writing. Now I'm getting very confused lol.</p>

[shawngibson]

<p>>>In practice these things always degrade the image to some degree. OTOH, you can get a FD to EF adapter with no glass (sometimes called 'macro adapters') but it will preclude your ability to make infinity focus.</p>

<p>I don't need infinity focus.</p>

<p>If I'm reading all of this correctly, since putting the 85FD on the Oly would not really be something I would do, I should concentrate on an FD to FE adapter? In other words, the adapter for this lens won't be part of my normal workflow...yes? That's fine. I need to re-read all of this now to see what adapter is best for a straight FD>FE marriage.</p>

<p>Shawn</p>

[dave_s]

<p>For Canon FD to Sony FE, you just need a straight tube, no glass element, with a little nubbin on the inside to actuate the aperture lever on the back of the Canon FD lens. It will make infinity focus. They're ten bucks and up on ebay, although I only have personal experience of the Novoflex adapter.</p>

[shawngibson]

<p>>>with a little nubbin on the inside to actuate the aperture lever on the back of the Canon FD lens</p>

<p>Is that like mink oil? lol</p>

<p>The Novoflex is the best? This is what I see:</p>

<p>http://www.novoflex.com/en/products/adapters/adapter-finder/+/camera_id/22/lense_id/7/</p>

 

[dave_s]

<p>My Novoflex adapter is beautifully machined and anodized, like all Novoflex stuff, but I doubt if it has any functional advantage over the adapters which cost much less. (I only bought the Novoflex because I got a good second-hand price.)</p>

<p>Cameraquest also sells an adapter under the 'Rayqual' brand name, but it's even more expensive than Novoflex. The Professor mentioned Fotodiox, and I think their stuff is generally regarded as OK and excellent value. </p>

[mwmcbroom]

<p>I bought a Fotodiox FD to Canon EF adapter, hoping it would work better than the cheaper Bower one I bought. Both have glass to retain infinity focus. I bought the Fotodiox because of their claim that it eliminated the flare that caused the cheaper ones to be rendered ineffective at wide open apertures. My tests indicated it did a better job of controlling flare, but for lenses of f/2 or faster, even the Fotodiox was unusable. So I'd have to say that, in short, if you're trying to use a fast lens like the FD 85/1.2 (I have one) or a 50/1.4, these adapters just won't work at wide open aperture settings. There's just way too much flare, and it cannot be gotten entirely rid of in post processing.</p>

<p>In their defense, however, I have found that, as long as a lens is stopped down some, they deliver very good results. Haters don't like to hear this, but it's true. You know, all these adapaters are is mild teleconverters. They provide about 1.25x magnification. Which caused me to ask, why is it they all achieve such poor results? I mean, I have some 1.4x TCs that work very well. Is there something about the 1.25x magnification that makes them a problem? Maybe so. I've compared the element sizes of my FD-EF adapters with those of my 1.4x TCs and there's not an appreciable difference. Which got me to thinking. Why not convert a 1.4x TC to EF mount? It's actually not that difficult to do, if you have access to a milling machine, at least. So anyway, it seems to me that, if one wants an FD to EF adapter that actually works, the best way might be to convert an FD 1.4x TC. Just saying. I haven't done this yet, but I plan to -- as soon as I can find a 1.4x FD TC. I don't want to use a Canon 1.4a because it has a protruding element. And I've found aftermarkets to be quite rare. I missed out on an eBay auction on a nice Komura several months ago and I'm still upset about it.</p>

<p>There's another point worth mentioning -- a very annoying one. The cheaper Canon DSLRs -- like the older XTi and XS and newer T1-T6 models -- these cameras use porro prisms, not pentaprisms. That is, they use reflective pieces of glass fuzed together instead of a solid pentaprism. These porro prisms, by inherent shortcomings in their materials, do not pass as much light as a porroprism does. So Canon (and others) designed focusing screens that would boost the light you see inside these cameras' squinty viewfinders as much as possible. The drawback to this sort of focusing screen design is, unfortunately, focusing accuracy. Lenses that are opened up to about f/2.8 or faster will not be focused accurately with these cameras. I've confirmed this. I have a Nikon F to Canon EF adapter (infinity focus retained) that has no glass. If I mount my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, set wide-open to f/1.4, to my old 10.1mp Canon XS and focus based on what I see in the viewfinder, the results I get are a crap shoot. Some images will be in focus. Some will be close. And some will be way off. Now, if I use Live View, yes, I can nail focus. But this works only with Live View. So anyway, if you have one of these "cheaper" Canons, you may as well just forget about it when it comes to trying to get fast lenses -- of any sort, except EF -- to focus accurately on your camera.</p>

 

[harold_gough]

<p>There seems to be a lot here which over-complicates things. I use an FD-mount lens on my m4/3 via an FD to m4/3 adapter. I use it on my Sony Alpha A7R via an FD to Sony E adapter.<br>

Likewise, for Olympus OM (legacy) I use an OM to m4/3 to OM to Sony E.<br>

Why make it more complicated?</p>