Canon FD 50mm - help please

RedGiant

RedGiant

Active member
I recently bought a Canon FD 50mm 1.4 for my DIY adapter (RedRock DIY) - I thought I could just open the iris - but then came to find out you first need to "jam" the f-stop engager - so I put a piece of a paperclip in there and it is now "pushed over." My problem is this still doesn't help with opening the iris. I thought if I jammed the f-stop engager and put on the rear lens cap (Canon cap) that I would be able to open the iris up - but nope.

So now, I come asking for advice as I'm sure there are plenty of others who have run into this. What else do I need since it doesn't appear the rear lens cap works. Do I need a FD mount? If so, what is the cheapest one that will do what I need? The one from RedRock is about $100 which is twice what the lens cost me. Is there something from B&H that is $10 or $15? Is so - link? Or do I just need a completely different lens and the FD will not work with the DIY adapter?
 
I went to a local camera shop, fast dying breed I can tell you that, and asked if they had any scrap canon AE models they would be willing to sell. Bought it and took the mount off the body. $20. Just curious, I have 2 FD 50mm 1.4's and they are wide open I have no probs shooting with them the lens is great for DIY adapters because of the light loss of the adapter, are you having problems getting a good picture?
 
Lrdmora said:
I went to a local camera shop, fast dying breed I can tell you that, and asked if they had any scrap canon AE models they would be willing to sell. Bought it and took the mount off the body. $20. Just curious, I have 2 FD 50mm 1.4's and they are wide open I have no probs shooting with them the lens is great for DIY adapters because of the light loss of the adapter, are you having problems getting a good picture?
Click to expand...

Thanks - can probably find an old cam on ebay for a few bucks, but just wondering if I can just buy the mount itself without taking apart an old camera. As for having problems getting a good picture? Yes, I can't open the iris up, therefore can't get an image onto my spinning gg (well not a good picture anyway). I can get one with a Pentex lens I have, but don't really want to use that one as it is the lens to my wife's camera.
 
Canon FD mount should normally have the aperture fully open. Unless if you want to stop down, you need to jam the pin at the base.
 
Hey Red.

You can use the FD lenses on the M2, but the best Canon lenses to use on the M2 are the older FL lenses. The aperture is manual and so you have full aperture control without any jamming. You can tell the FL lenses by the aperture ring at the front end of the barrel of the lens (as opposed to the "newer" FD lenses where the aperture ring is closer to the base of the lens). However, if you need to use the "newer" FD lens, here are some instructions on the pin setup: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=411076&postcount=10

By the way, I just finished a documentary and in many shots used a Canon FL 1.2 wide open (really short depth of field). It looks great.

Check out KEH.com for some periodic good deals on used Canon (and other) 35mm lenses.

Not sure about attaching a Canon adapter to your DIY, but you should definitely need the Canon mount in some configuration or other. And if you need to spend the $100 for it from Redrock, I'd highly recommend it. You'll soon forget the pain attached to the cost, but will remember the images forever ...
 
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