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Question regarding Canon FD lenses/EOS-FD adapters...

ravendhi

ravendhi

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 25, 2011
61
0
Winterfell
I realize and freely admit that I am a pathetic n00b, so I beg patience from the more experienced members of this board........

I just got my first dSLR, a T2i (sold my Fuji HS20 and several other things), but only have the kit lens (18-55mm).

Today at work, a coworker mentioned that she has a "bunch of old stuff" from her father that she'd like to get rid of and there are some camera lenses. She helpfully brought them to me this evening to play with. They are older lenses, all FD mount.

Now, I'm new to photography in general and certainly new to the world of dSLRs and lenses, etc... so I don't know if these things are good, bad, or even worth mentioning. There are 4 lenses in total. I know enough to know that one is a macro, and one is a zoom, but I haven't a clue about the other two.

In all she has:
Macro Lens FD 50mm 1 : 3.5 S.S.C
Zoom Lens FD 100-200mm 1 : 5.6 S.C.
FD 35mm 1 : 2 S.S.C
FD 55mm 1 : 1.2 S.S.C

She's willing to let me have them just to get them out of her way, as she's never had any interest in learning to use them at all. There's no way I can afford new glass right now, so this is really my only chance in the foreseeable future to own anything other than the kit lens (and for the price, hey, who could complain). Peering through with the naked eye, all the glass seems to be in excellent condition and the bodies of the lenses don't have a mark on them.

Would it be worth my time to buy an EOS/FD adapter for my T2i and use these lenses? Ebay them? Use them as flower pots?
 
The FD lenses won't focus to infinite on your camera, you'll need corrective optics to fix this - it usually isn't worth your while.

The exception to this may be the macro lens - where focusing to infinite may not be important to you.

Edit: That 55mm f/1.2 may be worthwhile as well - that's quite a wide aperture, and from a quick search on eBay is worth quite a bit it seems.

Take a read of this:
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/canon_fd_eos_adapters.html

It mentions a $125 ELEFOTO Canon FD to EOS adapter.
 
Last edited:
TheReef said:
The FD lenses won't focus to infinite on your camera, you'll need corrective optics to fix this - it usually isn't worth your while.

The exception to this may be the macro lens - where focusing to infinite may not be important to you.
Click to expand...
Well that depends on the adapter. Some have glass in them, which corrects for that. Make sure the one you get says it allows for infinity focus.
Edit: That 55mm f/1.2 may be worthwhile as well - that's quite a wide aperture, and from a quick search on eBay is worth quite a bit it seems.

Take a read of this:
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/canon_fd_eos_adapters.html

It mentions a $125 ELEFOTO Canon FD to EOS adapter.
Click to expand...

I have a $30 FD to EF adapter and it works great. I didn't know about it when I purchased it, but they sell adapters with a chip in them so the focus indicators work. They run for about $60 to $100. It's definitely worth getting one of those if you plan to focus at all with an aperture of 1.2. I have a hard enough time focusing at f/1.4, so I would imagine f/1.2 would be even harder without the focus indicator
 
ravendhi said:
FD 35mm 1 : 2 S.S.C
FD 55mm 1 : 1.2 S.S.C
Click to expand...
Ok, now I'm jealous. I have an old Canon AE-1 and would be practically over the moon if I got these for free.

Using them on an EOS line camera isn't something I'd do though. If you're committed to digital I'd put them on ebay and get maybe the 50mm f/1.4, or something more approaching a "normal" focal length on crop, like the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 or the Canon 28mm f/1.8.
 
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jackerin said:
Ok, now I'm jealous. I have an old Canon AE-1 and would be practically over the moon if I got these for free.

Using them on an EOS line camera isn't something I'd do though. If you're committed to digital I'd put them on ebay and get maybe the 50mm f/1.4, or something more approaching a "normal" focal length on crop, like the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 or the Canon 28mm f/1.8.
Click to expand...

I was looking them up on ebay, and a couple seemed to be pretty pricey. Kinda makes me feel like I'm taking advantage of her if I do take them!

She swears she still has the old Canon that the lenses were purchased for/with, but she can't find it right off... not sure why it wasn't stored with the lenses, but oh well.
 
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DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME on these cheap adapters. THEY ALL have optics in them. Even Canons' super rare FD>EOS adapter that was given to some pros when they switched from FD to EOS in 1986-87 go for $1800+ sometimes on eBay if you can find them.

JIM converts Canon FL > EOS lenses, as well as Minolta Rokkor X to EOS mount. He may convert FD mount for EOS, as there are some amazing FD-L lenses out there.

Other than that, I wouldn't waste any money on the FD adapters. If it was a 1,2 lens or something (super large aperture), then maybe ring Jim about converting. There are better EF or other ALT glass out there.
 
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