Are Canon 5D lenses compatible with the AF100

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Ganpati23

New member
Sorry for being an idiot, but after years of just using consumer camcorders, my partner's having to get a proper camera.

We were thinking about the AF100 (as we'd never ever used a stills camera, and don't like the screen at the back. It all feels, well, wrong).

Our friend, who's a really good cinematographer, has a Canon 5D, and quite a few lenses.

They will be working on a project this Autumn.

Is what we want to know is if the lenses are interchangeable.

If not, can this be done? What would we need? Who from? Any pros and cons of the options?

What we really want to know is if we'd be able to put her Canon 5D's wide-angle lens on the AF100 (if we buy it).

Are there terms for the sort of lenses that fit on the 5D and the sort that fit on the AF100? What is EF?

(So we'd need to get an eg. X-Y adaptor to use her wide-angle, and if in future the 5D user wanted to use one of our AF100 lenses, she'd need a Y-X)

Also, is there anything else we need to know?

If they're both going to filming the same things (it will be almost exclusively outside in the bright sunlight of Rajasthan) would there be any problems cutting from shots from the two different cameras in the final edit? Would they look different?

Sorry for my stupidity, but when we've filmed in the past we've only used auto-everything camcorders and she's meant to use a real camera for her M.A. (Docuemntary film) this year. And while they are being taught to use a specific video camera, they're not allowed to take it abroad by the college. That's why she has to buy one.

Would people recommend an AF100? As I say, she feels a lot more comfortable with a video camera than those SLR types like the 7D/5D/550.

How much would they cost with a zoom lens? Any suggestions? Any idea where to get the best deal in the UK?

If anyone can help, we'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.
 
You can mount any Canon lens (EF mount is what the 5d uses) on the AF100, but you can't mount natuve micro 4/3rds lenses (AF100 lenses) on the 5d.

If you mount Canon lenses onto the AF100, there will be no way of controlling the aperture on the lens. It will stay at whatever it was set to when last used on a Canon camera. By default EF lenses on Canon cameras will set the iris fully open when the camera powers off, however if you remove the lens from the Canon camera while the power is still on, the aperture will stay at what it is currently set at. This can be used as a (very slow and cumbersome) workaround to control EF mount lenses for use with an AF100 - every time you want to set a certain aperture, you put the lens onto the 5d, set the aperture you want and then remove the lens (while the camera is still switched on), then you can put it back onto the AF100.

There are also some electronic mounts in the making which allow the aperture on EF mount lenses to be controlled by the AF100 but I'm not sure how far along the development is. Look up the 'birger micro 4/rds to EOS adaptor' and see what you can find out.
 
Thanks for that guys.

btw if I get a Panasonic Lumix 14-140 lens, some ads say HD. Are all lenses HD, or do I need to buy specifically an HD one? (or not the HD one)?

Also, if I wanted a second lens for good depth of field, which size/sort would you recommend.

Thirdly, I say a 0.43 fisheye for about £40. This would attack to the end of a lens. So the 14 would go down to about 6 which I could then zoom up to c.56 or whatever (Is this right? Idiot newbie remember). Would this be a cheap but ok of getting wide angle, as opposed to paying £500 for a 7-14?

Thanks again. Really helpful.
 
Cheers,

The first Redrock MFT I could find via google was about £500 inc VAT. Is this the going rate, or would I find it much cheaper if I looked around?

(It's just I've seen the Af100 from £2,000 - £2,800)

Thanks again
 
EF stands for Electro Focus. On a stills camera, the focus and aperture are (nearly always) controlled electronically by the stills camera body.

When on an AF100, most EF lenses can be focused manually, but the aperture needs to be controlled electronically by an adapter (or you can set aperture on a Canon body then put the lens on the AF).

There are 2 electronic adapters- the Redrock, which has a 9 volt battery that you attach to the AF body (your price looks right),
And the MTF (not to be confused with MFT!) which has a control unit held/mounted separately.

http://www.zgc.com/s/p/mtf-mtconef.html


The 17-140 kit lens is "slow"- that means it need lots of light. It's f/4 - 5.8, getting slower (needs more light) as you zoom in.
But it's the only zoom lens with that range from wide to telephoto unless you get into "B4" lenses (from large ENG cameras) or film camera lenses (very expensive).

Most people try to use fast lenses (2.8 or faster) which are more light sensitive and allow for more shallow depth of field. You should say shallow DOF, not "good" because good doesn't always mean shallow.
Also "constant aperture" is good- that means it's 2.8 wide and 2.8 zoomed into tele.

You can mix and match the AF with a 5D with a little experimenting on settings (or using some that have been posted here) then doing "color grading" in post (editing) to match them more closely.

Good luck and have fun learning- experimenting and trial and error are good for you!
 
As others said for about $500-$1000 you can get EF mounts to mount the canon lenses with electronic controls to the AF100.

Keep in mind the crop factor due to the smaller sensor size on the AF100 - a wide angle lens won't appear as wide as it does on the Canon 5D because the smaller sensor on AF100 limits the field of view.

AF100 is a great camera depending on what you want to do. You get XLR inputs, built in waveforms, LCD viewfinder, long recording times, etc. It also has downsides. There's also the Blackmagic cinema camera that will take the canon lenses natively and will give better image quality but you'll also lose a lot of AF100 benefits. It's all about pros and cons and choosing the right tool for the right job.
 
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