FD to Eos adapter recommendations

[smodette]

My brother gave me some lens meant for his T70 film camera. I have a Canon Rebel T7. I know it needs an FD to EOS adapter with optical lens.

Can anyone suggest one that won’t degrade the picture too much?

[deebatman316]

Hi @smodette it’s not worth your time adapting FD lenses to the EF Mount. All adapters with optical correction result in a 1.26x teleconverter and no focus to infinity. There will also be no kind of automation like EF lenses have. Also it will difficult to manually focus the lens. Since the viewfinder has no focus aids like a split prism or micro prism. The optical quality of FD lenses won’t match any EF lenses including older ones.

[SignifDigits]

"too much" is wholly subjective.  Most, but not all, people do not hate the Vello version for just $29 on B&H.  That seems a reasonable first choice, then you can decide if it is "too much" degradation and also decide if you still want to use the lens despite all of the shortcomings that deebatman316 has pointed out to you.  the K&F version is 4.4 stars on Amazon for $37

I have no hands-on experience with either and cannot recommend them personally, but it seems that given deebatman316's input you should not make a big investment into this solution.

[smodette]

If I choose to move forward anyway, is there an adapter you would recommend?

[SignifDigits]

I am not comfortable making recommendations for products that I've never used.  If nobody here offers you a recommendation I can wholeheartedly endorse B&H and suggest that you give them a call and purchase from them.  They are extremely knowledgeable and professional.

[wq9nsc]

I reached out to a buddy who loves working with older and odd cameras and he has the K&F adapter and is happy with the functionality.  

My first "real" camera was a Canon AE-1 so I grew up with manual focus but many people hate manual focus and it will be more difficult without the focusing screen that provided the split image "bubble".  But if you have good eyesight, you will quickly master focusing via close inspection of the viewfinder and unless you are using wide aperture telephoto lenses wide open, you have a bit of leeway in focus precision.

At under $40, the K&F Concepts adapter is a cheap experiment and will let you experiment with the FD glass.  Certainly lense design has gotten better BUT a lot of great photos were captured back in the day using FD series lenses so you should still be able to find some use for them.  Modern photography is less dependent upon the skill of the photographer in many ways so it is easier to get garbage shots with vintage camera gear BUT I can assure you I have succeeded in getting more than one garbage shot with my 1DX III bodies using Canon L series primes that cost in the five figure range 🤣

Have fun with your newly gifted glass!

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

"Can anyone suggest one that won’t degrade the picture too much?"

No.

[ebiggs1]

I have tried most all of the so-called adapters, The very best is the Ed Mika FD/EF conversion kit. It is not an adapter it replaces the FDn mount with a dedicated EF mount. It is fully reversible. It retains infinity focus and proper aperture control. It has no glass optical elements to effect the image. Now I am not sure Ed Mika is still producing them but you can find them online. There might be other makers of this type 'adapter' I am not sure of that but it is the best way to proceed.

[johnrmoyer]

if at some time in the future, you might have a Canon mirrorless camera, then an adapter for your old lens will be much more practical. I use a 50 year old Minolta lens with from a film camera with an Urth brand adapter on my EOS R5. If the lens has nostalgic value, then maybe save it for use later on a newer camera. Also, some of the older lenses work very well for black and white photos ( they .

Some of the mirrorless cameras have focus assistance built in and green icons will converge in the viewfinder as the focus ring on the lens is turned. Since the camera does not know that a lens with no electronics is attached, it may be necessary to set an option in the camera menu to allow activation of shutter with no lens attached.

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2021Jul17_birds_and_cats/2021jul11_wetland_IMG_2501cv.html 

A wetland in Maryland on July 11, 2021

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2024Mar31_birds_and_cats/2024mar22_lichen_IMG_9377c.html

Lichen growing on a wild Eastern Redbud tree (Cercis canadensis) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on March 22, 2024

Camera Model Name	Canon EOS R5
F Number	8.0
ISO	800
Shutter Speed Value	1/128
Focal Length	50.0 mm
Camera Temperature	31 C
Lens Model	Minolta MC ROKKOR-X PG 1:1.4 f=50mm
Field Of View	39.7 deg
Hyperfocal Distance	10.38 m