M2 and Eos adapter at DVinfo.net

Mekhael Trepanier · August 9th, 2006, 11:11 PM

sorry if theis thread already exists

but ive been reading up on the M2 adapter and you can mount an Eos ring on the front of that too
1 ?- does this mean i can use my canon ef photo lenses with the M2
2 ? -is there a 7X magnification like the ef adapter that you can screw rite into the camera??

or am i reading this all wrong

any help would be cool thanks
MEKHAEL

Jaron Berman · August 9th, 2006, 11:21 PM

yes, you can mount the eos EF lenses, and no, there is no 7x crop. The crop is somewhere nearer to 1.25x. But, this corresponds to Academy size, so the coverage angle of your lens will be equivalent to the same focal length on a 35mm film camera. DOF will be the same too.

The reason people use other lenses is for the focusing. EOS lenses that allow un-powered manual focus have very short throw distances between focus distances, so it is tough to "pull focus" smoothly on them. Also, all of the higher-end EF lenses require power to focus. The M2 eos mount does not supply power.

By the way, the M2 is EXTREMELY well made. I was involved when it was still an online experiment, and the final product is pretty awesome. Truly production grade. Good luck!

Mekhael Trepanier · August 9th, 2006, 11:30 PM

so just to clarify

i shoot alot of photgraphy aswell and i have a high end
canon ef 70-200 2.8 L lens... i am able to switch it from manual to auto focus
the part about not being able to use the auto focus makes perfcet sense... but the manual focus part is where your saying that, its not the easiest to work with ??
having said that am i better off with canon FD mount lenses... or is it the same thing with photo lenses, in general ?

would a 16X manual lens, mounted on an M2 be a better route to explore ??

sorry if im confussing the questions

MEKHAEL

Jaron Berman · August 9th, 2006, 11:42 PM

No worries, the whole idea of a lens adapter is confusing. I too am a photographer, and I was a bit sad to know I couldn't use any of my lenses, being that I have every Canon Lens from 16 - 300mm all 2.8's! Now I have an older 70-200, and on occasion, it allows me to focus with the lens not attached to the body. That's not normal. Usually you can only focus when attached. if yours allows you to focus without a body attached, you're ok and it will work with the M2 and EOS adapter. If not, go buy some cheap FD / FL lensed. The FL lenses will allow you to change the lenses aperture, where the newer FD lenses will not. That means without the older FL lenses, you will not be able to adjust the DOF past wide-open. There are workarounds...

The 16x lens will NOT work on the front of the M2 - it's a very different lens mount, and the glass of that lens is not meant to fill a full 35mm frame. The reason you use the M2 adapter is to use cinema / 35mm still lenses AND to use a full Academy 35mm frame.

The way the M2 or Mini35 or MovieTube or any other lens adapter works is:
The chip on the camera is only 1/3". To achieve shallower DOF you must use much longer lenses - it's an optical formula. A 50mm lens on your EOS body will give a soft background, and a normal field of view. If you were to bolt that same lens on an XL-2, the background would still be soft, but the lens would act like a 350mm lens or longer. To compensate for the size of the image circle that the 50mm lens projects, and to keep the frame basically the same as a still camera, some sort of adapter must be made to increase the "film size" of the video camera. So the M2 has a spinning ground glass. The front lens projects an image that is the full size that the lens can project onto the glass. if you were to look at the glass, you would see a sharp picture about the exact size of a 35mm negative. If you were to hold the Canon 16x lens in front of a piece of ground glass, you would see an image that was about 1/3" diagonally (usable). the image that the 16x projects is not big enough to fill the ground glass of the M2 adapter, and thus will not work in front.

So instead of film, the video camera takes an image off the ground glass, and that whole process is essentially "digital film." it works, believe it or not. Hope that helps

Jaron Berman · August 9th, 2006, 11:45 PM

oh, and about the MF on the L lenses. Yes, many of the L lenses have very good manual focus... but a lens that is MADE for manual focus will work better because the throw distance is greater. The greater the distance, the less your hand shake can affect the smoothness of the focusing. A 1/2" slip with your hand over the course of 1" of travel is a LOT of shake. A 1/2" slip over a 4" travel is still a lot, but far far less.

Mekhael Trepanier · August 9th, 2006, 11:54 PM

thanks alot that was very helpfull of you...
theres a used camera show comming up soon in my town and theres a boat load of old manual lenses there since everyone is going over to the digital Slr's and want auto focus for them...

thanks again for your help
hopefully others will learn from this one too

MEKHAEL

Toenis Liivamaegi · August 10th, 2006, 03:42 AM

One other thing worth to mention is that some higher end EF lenses have focusing ring that rotates forever, like on HVX - bad thing for focus marks.

T

Mekhael Trepanier · August 11th, 2006, 07:06 PM

to bring up another issue

using a canon XL2 or other canon XL camera
and putting the M2 adapter on the front

what would be the best choice of canon lens to try and find to put on the front....

as mentioned theres a big camera show comming up near by in the next couple weeks and there is lots of people selling older canon manual lenses...

any suggestions would be awsome
thanks
MEKHAEL

August 9th, 2006, 11:11 PM	#1
Mekhael Trepanier Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 144	M2 and Eos adapter sorry if theis thread already exists but ive been reading up on the M2 adapter and you can mount an Eos ring on the front of that too 1 ?- does this mean i can use my canon ef photo lenses with the M2 2 ? -is there a 7X magnification like the ef adapter that you can screw rite into the camera?? or am i reading this all wrong any help would be cool thanks MEKHAEL

August 9th, 2006, 11:30 PM	#3
Mekhael Trepanier Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 144	... so just to clarify i shoot alot of photgraphy aswell and i have a high end canon ef 70-200 2.8 L lens... i am able to switch it from manual to auto focus the part about not being able to use the auto focus makes perfcet sense... but the manual focus part is where your saying that, its not the easiest to work with ?? having said that am i better off with canon FD mount lenses... or is it the same thing with photo lenses, in general ? would a 16X manual lens, mounted on an M2 be a better route to explore ?? sorry if im confussing the questions MEKHAEL

August 9th, 2006, 11:54 PM	#6
Mekhael Trepanier Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 144	thanks jaron thanks alot that was very helpfull of you... theres a used camera show comming up soon in my town and theres a boat load of old manual lenses there since everyone is going over to the digital Slr's and want auto focus for them... thanks again for your help hopefully others will learn from this one too MEKHAEL

August 11th, 2006, 07:06 PM	#8
Mekhael Trepanier Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 144	new question... to bring up another issue using a canon XL2 or other canon XL camera and putting the M2 adapter on the front what would be the best choice of canon lens to try and find to put on the front.... as mentioned theres a big camera show comming up near by in the next couple weeks and there is lots of people selling older canon manual lenses... any suggestions would be awsome thanks MEKHAEL

August 9th, 2006, 11:21 PM	#2
Jaron Berman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 439	yes, you can mount the eos EF lenses, and no, there is no 7x crop. The crop is somewhere nearer to 1.25x. But, this corresponds to Academy size, so the coverage angle of your lens will be equivalent to the same focal length on a 35mm film camera. DOF will be the same too. The reason people use other lenses is for the focusing. EOS lenses that allow un-powered manual focus have very short throw distances between focus distances, so it is tough to "pull focus" smoothly on them. Also, all of the higher-end EF lenses require power to focus. The M2 eos mount does not supply power. By the way, the M2 is EXTREMELY well made. I was involved when it was still an online experiment, and the final product is pretty awesome. Truly production grade. Good luck!

August 9th, 2006, 11:42 PM	#4
Jaron Berman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 439	No worries, the whole idea of a lens adapter is confusing. I too am a photographer, and I was a bit sad to know I couldn't use any of my lenses, being that I have every Canon Lens from 16 - 300mm all 2.8's! Now I have an older 70-200, and on occasion, it allows me to focus with the lens not attached to the body. That's not normal. Usually you can only focus when attached. if yours allows you to focus without a body attached, you're ok and it will work with the M2 and EOS adapter. If not, go buy some cheap FD / FL lensed. The FL lenses will allow you to change the lenses aperture, where the newer FD lenses will not. That means without the older FL lenses, you will not be able to adjust the DOF past wide-open. There are workarounds... The 16x lens will NOT work on the front of the M2 - it's a very different lens mount, and the glass of that lens is not meant to fill a full 35mm frame. The reason you use the M2 adapter is to use cinema / 35mm still lenses AND to use a full Academy 35mm frame. The way the M2 or Mini35 or MovieTube or any other lens adapter works is: The chip on the camera is only 1/3". To achieve shallower DOF you must use much longer lenses - it's an optical formula. A 50mm lens on your EOS body will give a soft background, and a normal field of view. If you were to bolt that same lens on an XL-2, the background would still be soft, but the lens would act like a 350mm lens or longer. To compensate for the size of the image circle that the 50mm lens projects, and to keep the frame basically the same as a still camera, some sort of adapter must be made to increase the "film size" of the video camera. So the M2 has a spinning ground glass. The front lens projects an image that is the full size that the lens can project onto the glass. if you were to look at the glass, you would see a sharp picture about the exact size of a 35mm negative. If you were to hold the Canon 16x lens in front of a piece of ground glass, you would see an image that was about 1/3" diagonally (usable). the image that the 16x projects is not big enough to fill the ground glass of the M2 adapter, and thus will not work in front. So instead of film, the video camera takes an image off the ground glass, and that whole process is essentially "digital film." it works, believe it or not. Hope that helps

August 9th, 2006, 11:45 PM	#5
Jaron Berman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 439	oh, and about the MF on the L lenses. Yes, many of the L lenses have very good manual focus... but a lens that is MADE for manual focus will work better because the throw distance is greater. The greater the distance, the less your hand shake can affect the smoothness of the focusing. A 1/2" slip with your hand over the course of 1" of travel is a LOT of shake. A 1/2" slip over a 4" travel is still a lot, but far far less.

August 10th, 2006, 03:42 AM	#7
Toenis Liivamaegi Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Tartu, Estonia Posts: 579	One other thing worth to mention is that some higher end EF lenses have focusing ring that rotates forever, like on HVX - bad thing for focus marks. T