35mm Lens Madness

DammitJanet

DammitJanet

Well-known member
I've made up my mind on which 35 adapter I want, but now I need to figure out which lens mount/lens to get. I guess it's between Canon and Nikon. At first, we're primarily going to need a 50mm lens for the majority of our narrow DOF shots, and I've heard these lenses are relatively inexpensive. I don't know where to start though, so could some of you with experience point me in the right direction? Thanks.
 
Canon FD is the best of the SLR mounts IMHO. It's impossible to have a loose lense mount as the lock ring of the lens screws down onto the mount..very nice. Next step up, the PL and OCT19 mounts are much, much more robust..but they are not inexpensive.

As far as glass, the major manufactures all have great, and not so great examples :-)
 
Adaptor makers are not keen to build them to fit EOS lens. They have autofocus feature not necesary in Mini35 adaptor. Manual FD mount fro Canon or Nikon good enough.
 
So....how about those lens recommendations? Like, if you're going with Canon, or Nikon, say so and then recommend a particular model lens or two...please?
 
I personally use Canon FD. Start with a 50mm F1.4

I would then say get a 28mm F2.8, and maybe an 85mm F1.8 after that.

You can find faster lenses for a little more money.
 
I will do the same as Wayne. I personally have a Canon F1.8 50mm and a Tamron Tele Macro 80mm to 210mm. The Tamron works well with the adaptor that I am using. If you read more on this and other forum, people tend towards Canon FD lens more. So I would suggest going specifically Canon FD lenses for FD mount adaptor. Always go for fast lens with F1.4 and below if you can afford them. The lower teh number the more expensive they are. Good luck.
 
I don't see the advantage to Canon FD lenses over Nikon other than maybe they are a tiny bit cheaper. You have wedge something into the lens to get the aperture to work in most cases. Additionally if you shoot 35mm still or have the desire at some point, manual Nikon lenses work better on Canon EOS than Canon FD because of the flange distance. And of course they will work on any Nikon camera if you have one. I would say in terms of quality the glass is pretty much a wash.
 
I've got the same Canon FD set (85mm coming) as Wayne. The glass is good, and the mount is the best. I also use a selection of Minolta MD Rokkor lensess, including a 24mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 as well as a few zooms.
 
Dennis,

I have just got the Minolta MD mount for the SGpro, I would love that 24mm F1.8, how much did you pay for it? (currently got a 24mm F2.0)
 
from what i read most people with adapters have nikon f mounts. What is the advantage of a canon fd mount. Its not like u can buy a digital slr that fd mount lenses will work with? Plus i've seen alot more nikons used. Is the quality better?
 
i would like to get the mini35 for my dvx and hvx (when we get it)....what is the issues with using the EOS lenses? The only reason I ask is I have a lot of money in EOS glass already for our photography, although if its not too expensive for FD glass, or even nikon glass, then it might be worth getting it just for video purposes...
 
the aperture in EOS lenses is electronically controlled by the EOS camera body. With the lens on a 35mm adapter, there is no such connection, and the EOS lens is usually set at wide aperture.

I have heard of a trick that you can attach the lens to the EOS body and set aperture, then remove power of something similar that will keep the aperture where it is, then you can put the lens on the adapter. I've not tried it, though.
 
deedive said:
from what i read most people with adapters have nikon f mounts. What is the advantage of a canon fd mount. Its not like u can buy a digital slr that fd mount lenses will work with? Plus i've seen alot more nikons used. Is the quality better?
Click to expand...

deedive makes a good point here. What is the benefit (if any) of the Nikon's mount over the Canon FD?
 
I chose a nikon mount for my adapter because nikon and nikkor lenses
are the easiest lenses to get a hold of in my country(Norway), and they
have a friendly price as well so I can get a lot of them :)
 
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