aperture control from nikon fit lens on GH1 but not from canon fit?

tikigod19

Well-known member
Hi all

I have purchased a Tamron 17-50 canon fit lens for use with my 60D for photography and GH13 for video but have been told that unless I use the expensive adapter I can not control aperture.

I may be making it up but Im sure someone said that if I'd have bought the nikon fit lens then I would be able to adjust the aperture, is that correct?

Would it be controlled in camera or on the lens itself?

Also I know this belongs in the canon forum but if I then tried to use that nikon fit lens on the canon body via a cheap adapter, what functionality would I lose compared to if I'd have used the canon fit of the same lens?

Many thanks
 
Basically you need any lens that has an aperture ring on the lens. You could then control the aperture from the lens and the camera would have nothing to do with it. Some common, good quality lenses for this would be older Nikon Ai, Canon FD, Contax Zeiss, Zeiss ZF, etc.
 
So when somebody suggested the nikon fit tamron 17-50 I assume that has the aperture ring. Would it still allow the auto focus?
 
The Tamron does not have an aperture ring, the reason they suggested the nikon version for you is because you can get an inexpensive nikon to m4/3 adapter with built in manual aperture control for nikon lenses. The upcoming canon mount with aperture control will be around $700 and will allow electronic control.

Here is a link to the nikon adapter with aperture control. Nikon
 
i got my tamron 90mm macro specifically with nikon mount for this reason (although it already had an aperture ring) + adapter that controls aperture. Adjusting the aperture via this particular adapter just slides the blades open and closed with no real value though.
 
Adjusting the aperture via this particular adapter just slides the blades open and closed with no real value though.


do you mean there is no f rating displayed on the adapter, its just a case of opening or closing the blades until you find the right 'look' aperture?

So if I used this adapter with a nikon fit tamron (or indeed a nikon lens) on my Canon 60D. Would it spot auto focus or would it be a case of manual focus only as is the case when using any lens with my existing canon to m43 adapter?
 
The Tamron does not have an aperture ring, the reason they suggested the nikon version for you is because you can get an inexpensive nikon to m4/3 adapter with built in manual aperture control for nikon lenses.

I havent checked for this particular Tamron lens, but I do know for several Sigmas I have been looking at, that the Nikon and Pentax versions do have a manually-adjustable aperture control, whereas the Canon and Sony/Minolta versions do not. So I think the advice you got was indeed about the lenses to look for, not the adapter.

You will not have autofocus on either camera with the inexpensive adapters.

Edit: Just checked ... indeed none of the 17-50 Tamy's have an aperture ring (whereas with the 28-75s the Nikons do and the Canon's don't. How confusing).
 
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yes it appears to be the case of just adjusting till it looks right if your lens does not have an aperture ring.

you wont get any autofocus with these type of adapters. thats why you will be looking at paying $700 or so for the soon to be canon ones that provide this type of electronic communication between canon lens and body.
 
ah well that rules out the nikon fit idea as the point is I'd like to use it for phtography on my 60D as well as video and I can't be doing manual focus for photography. Hmm... this dream of 'sharing' lenses between my GH1 for video and 60D for photo isn't quite a reality yet... think I'll be paying $700 soon!
 
So does that Nikon adapter with the aperture control ring allow you to use older Nikon lenses as well as the newer G lenses or JUST the newer G lenses?
 
my particular one is for G, AFS, F, AI, that's why i got it. It has the adjustable aperture ring for the newer lenses.
 
You could also get the canon adaptor with its own built in aperture ring (like $125) for aperture control.
 
You could also get the canon adaptor with its own built in aperture ring (like $125) for aperture control.

So this would enable me to fit Canon and Canon Fit lenses onto my GH1 and manually control aperture through the adapter? Do you have any value or is it just a ring and you use your eye to judge the correct aperture?

This would be ideal for me as I can then buy the canon fit lenses so I can use them on my 60D fully functioning, but also fit them onto the GH1 without losing anything other than auto focus which isnt an issue for video
 
I have just found this on ebay, is this what you mean?

I have a canon 50mm 1.4 which I think is an EF mount so that should be fine. The other 2 lenses I have are the Tamron 17-50 canon fit which I have read is EF also... all looking good.

The other lens I have is a Sigma 70-200 canon fit and I can't find out the mount anywhere... However I have a sneaky suspicion I MAY have seen an aperture ring on the lens (I have literally never used it! and its the most expensive lens I have...) If it does, I take it this is useable via this mount? (as long as the mount fitting is EF)

Sorry for all of the questions, lens mounts and adapters is never something I've got my head round.
 
thats the adaptor ben b is talking about but I dont think it works for all efs lenses, it even says so on the ebay page, worth checking out if your particular lenses work ok
 
i don't have any of the EF-S lenses listed at the bottom of the ebay page so I'm hoping that means I'll be ok?

Its more difficult than I first thought to get the mount of my lenses 100% confirmed
 
i don't have any of the EF-S lenses listed at the bottom of the ebay page so I'm hoping that means I'll be ok?

Its more difficult than I first thought to get the mount of my lenses 100% confirmed

The Canon system is simple to understand. All autofocus lenese are EF mount and DO NOT have aperture rings. All manual focus lenses are the older FD mount and DO have aperture rings. This adapter is for EF mount only.
 
Ok my sigma doesn't have the aperture ring so what you say makes sense.

So the same thing is true of canon FIT lenses too? (like sigma and tamron..) if they have AF then they're EF mount?
 
You could also get the canon adaptor with its own built in aperture ring (like $125) for aperture control.

That really doesnt seem like a reasonable option to me, the aperture behind the lens often results in vignetting and you dont even know what your aperture is set at in terms of f-stop. Seems like some big compromises to put up with just for an adapter that will probably never really allow the lens render images quite the way they were intended anyway.
 
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