Does anyone make an adaptor that will allow the old manual- focus Canon FD lenses to attach to an EOS or digital equivalent body? If so, what features on the lens would and would not continue to function? Would completely manual aperture be either possible or necessary?
Canon did at one time, but the same adaptor seems now to be made by independent suppliers. I think if you go to any major camera store like B&H or Adorama you will find an FD to EOS Canon lens adaptor. It is not real cheap because it includes a lens element necessary to correct for the added nodal point to focus plane distance the adaptor's depth adds.
I have an original Canon brand FD to EOS adapter. It has an integral optical group which increases focal length by 1.26x. It is manually controlled and reasonably sharp. One important caveat - the element protrudes into the back of the FD lens, so only super-telephotos will work. I did see several "Bower" adapters for FD to EOS body on e-bay for about $30; they also have an integral lens, but I have not used them. They also appeared to be designed to function with all types of FD lenses as the optics did not protrude.
I have one of the Canon brand FD to EOS adapters and it does NOT protrude into the FD barrel, so all but a few Canon FD lenses should work with it, although I have not used anything shorter than 50mm with it, and it does have an optical element which makes it possible to focus to infinity with an FD lens. In addition it looks physically the same as the 3rd party brands I have seen since.
Hi All,
Thanks for the responses, which have been very helpful. I did see that Adorama has non-Canon-brand FD-to-EOS lens adaptors, but the customer reviews about optical and focal length limitations are pretty grim. I contacted Canon about brand name adaptors, and got the following response:
"...Unfortunately, FD mount lenses are not compatible with EOS Digital cameras. I am sorry to say that we do not offer any adapters that would allow you to mount your FD lenses on the EOS cameras. We regret this inconvenience.
Our EOS cameras use EF series lenses. To view our current lens lineup, please visit the following Web site..."
That seems incompatible with the several responses from people in this forum who already own Canon-brand adaptors, precisely the object in question. If Canon doesn't make them any more, that still doesn't justify the "are not compatible" remark. Anyone have any further suggestions? Is there some sort of swap-forum for buying such things used? I'm a little out of my element here, having been completely content with equipment 30 years old and still working perfectly. Thanks.
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