rick_janes

Standing proud at Tucson yard, October 2019.

Siderodromania.

Big Boy 4014 and a few admirers, West Colton yard.

Engineer Ed Dickens and his charge at the West Colton yard, October 2019. Canon F-1n and FD 55/1.2 SSC Aspherical, Ilford 100.

That same Union Pacific Big Boy is scheduled to run a couple of fan excursions in Southern California on October 12 & 13, so it'll be on the move for several days before and after. While U.P. hasn't published a schedule and route yet they will, and you can look for it here: 2019 Union Pacific Steam Schedule From past U.P. Steam excursions I expect this one to enter California at Nipton, then proceeding through Kelso on its way to the Cajon Pass. Photo opportunities will be plentiful!

Here's the new Novoflex EOSR/CAN adapting an FDn 50/1.2 L to a full-frame EOS R mirrorless body. Together, they balance and handle like something straight from the Canon factory, aided by this lens' silky smooth focusing action.

My favorite is Fred Parker's handy guide to Exposure Values: Ultimate Exposure Computer

Matt, the new Canon RF mount has a much shorter flange distance than an FD lens', so producing adapters that allow infinity focus will be easy. This was not the case on the standard EOS mount, where even without the adapter an FD lens would be positioned further from the focal plane than its designed flange distance. Adding the adapter pushes it out even more, making them de facto extension tubes- good-bye, infinity focus!

The Polish Racing Drivers of America even accepts Prussians! Directly from the PRDA website: Members must meet at least one of the following criteria: 1. Be a racing driver and be Polish. 2. Be a racing driver and not be Polish. 3. Not be a racing driver and be Polish. 4. Not be a racing driver and not be Polish. Notice: No waivers granted. To maintain our high standards, these rules are strictly enforced.

Matt's OK here- like many others, he's using Canon FD glass adapted to a digital camera.

I very much enjoyed spending a week with an EOS R from LensRentals. Besides the camera they sent an RF 50/1.2, RF 24-105, battery grip, and EOS-RF Control Ring adapter. In some ways the camera reminded me of a modernized digital T90...most likely I'll buy one, and get the RF 35/1.8 as my "walkaround". Meanwhile, still working on that special adapter to mount a Canon 50/0.95 on the EOS R. Someone's gotta be first, hope it's me!

The FD 35 performs very well in this evaluation- which viewfinder aid was used for manual focusing, if any? It looks like you're all set to have fun with combinations of old and new! I look forward to acquiring an EOS R soon to do the same.

Lens mount to remain unmodified, so it can still be used on a Canon 7 rangefinder.

Ben, thank you for that referral- they look like the right shop!

I'm looking to adapt my Canon 50mm f/0.95 rangefinder lens to the new EOS R mirrorless body. Having looked at both pieces they would pair beautifully! My "Dream Lens" retains its original mount and I have no interest in a mount conversion (i.e. Leica M) because it's still enjoyed on a Canon 7 rangefinder. At this time there's no commercially-available adapter for this combination, and nobody has one in the works, so an adapter will have to be custom made. I have contacted Gus Lazzari, DAG Camera Repair, and Camera Clinic looking for someone to do the work, so far without success. Conceptually, I can envision shaving a few millimeters from the front of an M39 to EOS R adapter and then attaching the mounting flange from a donor Canon 7. Done properly, it would accept both the 50/0.95 and M39 lenses. If anyone can refer me to a technician who can handle this job it would be most appreciated!

MTF's certainly the high price option, if there's a commensurate leap in quality compared to cheaper options who knows! I'm going to ask them to produce an adapter which pairs the Canon 50mm f/0.95 "Dream Lens" with an EOS R. Having had both of them here to look at they would make a fabulous couple!

Raphael, my FD 300 2.8 SSC Fluorite was serviced by Steve Swerington at Camera Clinic, due to play in its focusing mechanism. This job included machining some new parts where replacements weren't available. The lens came back working great! Based on his familiarity with the early 300 2.8 I'd refer you to him: www.cameraclinicusa.com I 100% agree with you on the quality and beauty of this lens! Every time its case is opened it still takes my breath away!

Looks like a lubricant drip or some other fluid. Has anyone ever given this lens the naptha treatment?

LensRentals sent me an EOS R kit to play with for a week. Along with the body they included the battery grip, control ring lens adapter EF-EOS R, RF 50/1.2, and the RF 24-105 L zoom. On the whole, a very sweet box o' goodies. After taking some time to get familiarized with controls, menus, and settings the fun can begin! Not having a dedicated FD-RF adapter yet, I tested manual focusing first with an adapted Pentax SMC 85/2.2 soft focus lens- the camera's focus-peaking feature works great on this S/F optic which can be otherwise tricky to focus in an optical viewfinder. That's really encouraging. Next I tried an EdMika FD-EOS adapter with focus confirmation chip that's originally used with an FD 800/5.6 L. Of course, even being very thin it prevents infinity focus with most FD lenses but it still allows them to be attached and focused at closer distances. This too works well, although the still-functional focus-confirmation chip defeats the camera's focus-peaking feature. I'd rather have the latter available so just a simple chip-less FD-RF adapter would be my choice. One nicety is the EVF automatically compensating for the reduced light transmission of slower lenses or stopped-down apertures. Now that is pretty slick.

The search function will turn up some T80 threads.

In between its bouts of operational recidivism my T90 is an outstanding camera, just not dependable enough to really rely on. In fact, my old Canonflexes put the T90 to shame for off-the-shelf readiness!

Just finished looking at an EOS R with RF 24-105 L IS. Held in size 9.5 hands it's compact and dense with excellent perceived build quality, neither the body nor lens felt plasticky. It's all very solid and of a piece. But far as the sizing goes I would not want it to be any smaller. Thankfully the hand grip is up to Canon's high standards which keeps it feeling secure. I found the EVF very clear and crisp, with enough resolution to easily focus manually on the finer details of a subject without using its focus magnifier or focus peaking features. Functionally, it was like focusing on a high quality matte screen and that exceeds my expectations by far. I bet it will be delightful with adapted MF glass! Color me impressed.

Daniel, unless the goal is an artistic effect emphasizing graininess you'll get better resolution from the finer grain structure of lower ISO films. That extra resolution can give additional margin for cropping before quality gets too degraded, but the caveat here is camera shake if lighting levels don't allow high enough shutter speeds. For static subjects a tripod is worth the extra hassle, if not use great shooting technique and take a lot of shots!

I'm eager to try focus-peaking with MF lenses. If it works well, along with the EVF, it could make using the Canon FL 1200 f11 a lot more fun...that lens creates a very dark optical viewfinder which renders focusing aids all but useless. The earliest Canon 19/3.5 lenses (in rangefinder and FL mounts) would also be intriguing! The FL variant required mirror lockup and the use of an accessory viewfinder, but none of that would apply if it's adapted to a mirrorless camera. The EOS R’s lack of in-body stabilization does not trouble me much: about half of the EOS lenses I own are unstabilized, and obviously none of my FD-era film cameras had that feature. I still get excellent results with them, in large part because I learned the skills without that technology. It's like good spelling, what Mr. Selmer's fearsome 9th grade tests taught me makes spell checking software unnecessary.

Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to handle an EOS R later today. As much as anything, being able to adapt (eventually) all my legacy Canon optics to a Canon camera is exciting! Perhaps even the "Dream Lens" Canon 50/0.95 can be paired up someday.