Canon 60D - lens mount and adapters

chromeboy007

chromeboy007

Well-known member
Hello,

I'm new to DSLR's. I own a 60D and I want to try out those cheap vintage lenses like the Vivitars.

I know if I get the correct mount / adapter, I can use those lenses. But when it comes to mounts / adapters I'm totally confused. For one I don't even know the differences between 'mounts' and 'adapters'. I tried googling and I'm lost. Is there a good resource out there on these things?

It would be great too if someone can just tell me which adapter I would need, but I sure like to learn these things more indepth as well.

I apologize in advance for asking newbie questions.

Thanks.
 
Think of mount as the connection on the lens. A lens with a Nikon F mount will need an adapter to fit on a Canon camera. Usually you can find the right adapter on Amazon with a search similar to one of these:

F mount to eos adapter
f mount to ef adapter

Hopefully this clears things up a bit.
 
The mount is the actual fitting whereby the lens fits to the camera body. An adapter allowss a lens mount for one type of camera, to fit to a camera with a different type of mount. Most camera mounts are specific to that brand, although some such as Canon changed mounts from the FD, to the EF mount on the Canon EOS range launched in the 1980s. Your Canon 60D is a Canon EF mount. The Canon FD mount is not directly compatible with the newer Canon EF mount, and it requires an adapter to fit the 2 together. Not all mounts can be made to fit another type of mount even with an adapter. Older Vivitar lenses come in a variety of different mounts to fit different types of camera mount, and you will need the right type of adapter for that particular type of mount on the lens, so it would fit your Canon 60D. So for instance you would need a different type of adapter to fit an Olympus OM mount Vivitar lens to your 60D, than if it was Vivitar lens in Nikon F mount. Older manual focus Tamron Adaptall 2 lenses have interchangeable mounts for most types of camera mount available when they were made. Although Tamron never made a Canon EOS mount, you can now get newly made ones on eBay. However most independent (none camera manufacturer) lenses have a fixed mount specific to a particular type of camera mount. Independent manufacturer lenses like Vivitar were made in a variety of different fittings to fit most cameras of the day.
 
Ok cool thanks guys. So as an exercise:

This bad boy: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vivitar-Seri...mera_Lenses&hash=item35bb476a60#ht_500wt_1193

would require a Canon FD to EF adapter. Is that what this one would be called, FD mount to EF adapter? like this guy: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Mount-A...X72G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334726064&sr=8-1

If this same bad boy has an Nikon F mount, I would need a F mount to EF adapter? like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Moun...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1334726140&sr=1-1

Correct?
 
Canon FD, Pentax and Minolta/Rokkor vintage lenses all have the wrong flange length to be fit to the newer Canon EOS EF mount without a glass element as Samuel said. Nikon F and Olympus OM are the only readily available vintage lenses that can be fully functional on the 60D with their full original image quality.

Here's 39 pages of reading on vintage glass for your 60D. Just about everything there is to know about it can be found there :)
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?201760-The-Vintage-Lens-Thread

Cheers,
Pete
 
Thanks guys. There are lots of M42, F and OM mounts to chose from on ebay so this is good :)

I'm on page 19 of that thread.... lots of reading material haha!
 
Samuel H said:
FD to EF is a bad idea, the adapter either loses infinite focus, or has a glass element that kills the IQ; use this table for reference: http://www.similaar.com/foto/lensmount/lensmount.html
Click to expand...
Yes I agree with this point. I had thought I'd mentioned that, but must have left it out when I re-wrote my comment to make it a bit clearer. I have seen a few FD to EF mounts in the past which claimed they gave infinity without the glass elements, but I never tested one. I only mentioned the FD to EF to clarify how the mount system had changed. What I was trying to do was to clarify what these terms meant, rather than give recommendations.
 
Keep in mind that some adapters have focus-assist chips and some don't. Depending on whether that's important to you, you might spend an extra $10 or so per adapter if you want that chip. It won't focus for you, it will just chirp when your subject is in-focus if you press the shutter half-way.

Personally, if you're using a lens with an aperture of f/1.4, then the focus assist might come in handy since the focus-area is about the size of the ridge of a quarter.

I use a Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 w/ M42 screw-mount.
Samples

I also use a SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4 w/ a Pentax-K Mount.
Samples
 
M42 will mostly fit Canon EF with an adaptor, though some have a deeper rear element which could foul the mirror.
Pentax K may fit Crop-sensor Canons if you use an odd sort of adaptor which mounts the lens with the focus mark at 2o/c so that the prodruding lip at the bottom is rotated away from the mirror.
Contax will mostly fit crop-sensor cameras, but some lenses foul the mirror of FF Canons.
Leica R will mostly fit Crop-sensor Canon exept (I think) the 21mm f/3.4 Super Angulon, though quite a few will foul FF. Leica R are my personal favorites ATM.

For a full list of Contax and Leica lenses that may or may not fit Canon check out www.pebbleplace.com
 
chromeboy007 said:
Thanks guys. There are lots of M42, F and OM mounts to chose from on ebay!
Click to expand...

I finally got a Fotodiox adapter for OM to EOS. I know they have good feedback from users. The EOS side fits very well, but the OM side is very loose. So loose that I had to make a thick paper gasket to make it fit correctly. Fotodiox said there is an adjustment, but so far I don't see one.
 
Here's a pic of a Fotodiox Nikon to EOS adaptor. Same as the OM to EOS. If you look closely at the side that mounts to the lens there is a tiny slot in each of the three ears. Very gently wedge a pocket knife into each slot and ever so slightly bend them open. This may take a few itterations, but will snug up the lens side of the mount perfectly. Please do this off the camera so as not to stab your knife into the mirror or sensor :)

fotodiox adaptor adjustment.jpg

Cheers,
Pete
 
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