Help figuring out focus issue on T2i with FD glass

[B.J. Szabicot]

Howdy,

Hoping someone with experience at adapting FD mount glass to EF mount body can chime in here.

I've got in my hands a Canon 28mm f/2.8 FD, and a FD --> EF adapter (non-infinity focus) from one of those ebay sellers.
The lens seems to be fine, but as this is my first / only manual app. lens I have no frame of reference. As it is, the there is no noise from lens when rotating the focus ring, app. closes down in response to moving app. ring, front barrel moves outwards when focus ring turned - seems to be doing fine.
The adapter attaches to the FD lens fine (it clicks in place, not too stiff or loose, no grinding noises) and to the T2i body fine.

Here's my problem - once mounted, the lens can only focus on things about 2-3 inches (NOT feet/meters - INCHES) in front of the lens. I knew it was a "not able to focus to infinity" type adapter, but I assumed that meant "so far out as to be infinity" which, in my head, meant hundred's of feet onwards. I just assumed I would be able to shoot things like medium and wide shots of a subject a couple meters away.
When racking the lens, it literally gives me a difference of about one (1) inch between the near point and the far point. I absolutely can't use this lens they way I had envisioned using this lens if this is correct.

So, my question(s):
a) Is this the expected/anticipated result of putting a 28mm FD onto an adapter and then onto a 1.6 crop T2i? Did I just not comprehend what would happen and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the gear?
b) If not, how can I tell if my FD lens is focusing properly (i.e. not broken, stuck, etc.).

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks all / any,
BJ

[Spiros Zaharakis]

It seems you got a nice macro FD to EF adapter which can be very handy for the rings shot :).

Joking aside i'm not familiar with the FD-to-EF-without-optical-element adaptors but I guess you will probably have to purchace one.

[Kren Barnes]

What up B.J.

What your experiencing is how it's suppose to function with an adapter, a macro lens.
Personally, its not worth the trouble and hassle using vintage Canon lenses on your EOS. You lose a whole stop when you use the adaptor and would need optics for infinity focus. Also given that your FD lens is not a specialized lens , you'd be better off using lenses that actually works with EOS ; M42, Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax mounts.

Being a MF lens user myself, i found vintage Nikons, Helios and Vivitar Series 1 lenses amazing to use with our 60Ds.. Here are great links on the subject..

Canon EOS lens Adapters - Manual focus lenses on Canon EOS bodies

EventDV.net: The Event Videographer's Resource

Cheers

Kren
Vertical Video Works* Winnipeg Videography

[Spiros Zaharakis]

Originally Posted by Spiros Zaharakis

It seems you got a nice macro FD to EF adapter which can be very handy for the rings shot :).

Joking aside i'm not familiar with the FD-to-EF-without-optical-element adaptors but I guess you will probably have to purchace one.

I was meant to write "but I guess you will probably have to purchace the proper one" (with the optical element for infinity focus)

[Joel Peregrine]

Hi BJ

Originally Posted by B.J. Szabicot

Howdy,
Hoping someone with experience at adapting FD mount glass to EF mount body can chime in here.
So, my question(s):
a) Is this the expected/anticipated result of putting a 28mm FD onto an adapter and then onto a 1.6 crop T2i? Did I just not comprehend what would happen and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the gear?
b) If not, how can I tell if my FD lens is focusing properly (i.e. not broken, stuck, etc.).
BJ

FD to eos is a tricky conversion. The distance between the lens mount and the sensor/film plane was narrower for Canon manual focus cameras than it is for Canon EOS cameras. The chart Kren also mentions shows which lenses have flange distances that allow for adapters without optics:

Canon EOS lens Adapters - Manual focus lenses on Canon EOS bodies

That means that a conversion of an FD lens to EOS has to take away 2mm of the mount in order to get the lens to focus to infinity. You can put a non-optical adapter on an FD lens but you'll only get macro focusing distances. There are optical (include a glass lens) adapters for FD-EOS but they don't get good reviews for sharpness or chromatic aberration, they change the focal length by 1.26x's and also make the lens slower by 3/4's of a stop. A very feasible solution is to fully adapt an FD lens to EOS by removing the FD mount and replacing it with an EOS mount. Many people have done this themselves with varying results

http://www.ganymeta.org/~darren/phot...conversion.php

and there is one company in the UK that will do the conversion for you.

- camera repairs -

I've been pricing out used Canon FD versions of the 85mm f1.2 for a while looking for a deal. Even after adding the conversion (estimated by CSO at around $275) the lens would still be $500-$600 cheaper than the modern Canon EOS 85/1.2 L version 1 and nearly $1000 cheaper than the newer version 2 of the same lens.

[Kin Lau]

Originally Posted by B.J. Szabicot

So, my question(s):
a) Is this the expected/anticipated result of putting a 28mm FD onto an adapter and then onto a 1.6 crop T2i? Did I just not comprehend what would happen and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the gear?

a) yup... that's it.

The shorter the focal length of the lens, the pronounced the effect you're seeing. If you were using a 50mm, you would be able to focus further, a 135mm even further, etc.

I believe that the 500mm and 600mm super-teles will actually focus to infinity even with the no-glass FD->EOS adapter, because those lenses can actually focus "beyond infinity", to account for differences due to temperature.

28/2.8's are not hard to find in all sorts of mounts and the FD version is nothing special, but try a SMC 28/3.5 or OM 28/3.5. I suggest the f3.5 version because those two particular lenses were actually better than the f2.8.

[B.J. Szabicot]

Thanks for the confirmation of my suspisions - I'm a goof and didn't understand what I was getting into!
I think I'm just gonna have to start going after M42 mount lenses instead

[Colin Rowe]

Clip here featuring a 50mm FD lens on a 550D. Random shots of buildings, checking for moire and aliasing really. Then down to my shooting ground with the spaniels, the bluebells were in bloom, early May, No sound, just video..

550D with FD Lens on Vimeo

I got rid of the FD lenses after a while, the softening effect the adaptor had, wasn't to my liking