canon FD lenses on the 7d

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dacloo

Member
I have some great Canon FD lenses and I would like to attach them to the 7d. Is this possible with a lens mount and which one would you recommend?
Will I run into practical problems with this?

Thanks!
 
You'll need an adapter with a correcting glass element in order to have infinity focus for longer focal lengths, or merely usable focus for shorter focal lengths (e.g. I had a 35mm FD lens that could only focus a few inches on an adapter without glass). The glass element on even expensive adapters will result in a slight change in magnification, a slight amount of light loss, and a reduction in image quality. The image will be very soft at apertures bigger than f/5.6.

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/canon_fd_eos_adapters.html

Your "great Canon FD lenses" won't be so great anymore.
 
Thanks for the info! That'll surely help.

Why would I need a correcting glass element? (excuse me - I'm not an expert on this subject). I used a converter for my fd lenses on the GH1 too. Is it because of the sensor crop? Or is it purely the focal length as described in the link?
 
dacloo said:
Thanks for the info! That'll surely help.

Why would I need a correcting glass element? (excuse me - I'm not an expert on this subject). I used a converter for my fd lenses on the GH1 too. Is it because of the sensor crop? Or is it purely the focal length as described in the link?
Click to expand...
As I said, if you don't use the correcting glass, you'll have focus problems.

I had a Canon FD 35mm f/2.0. I bought an adapter that did not have the glass element. I put it on my 5D (yes, I had a 5D, which I recently sold after I got the 7D). The entire focus range, from one foot to infinity, was reduced to only a few inches. The lens became virtually useless.

The longer the focal length, the better. Telephoto lenses will be very usable without the correcting glass, but you won't have infinity focus. (Focus marks will also be off.) Focal lengths up to 50mm will only be useful for macro work. You absolutely need the correcting glass if you intend on using your FD lenses.

The reason for all of this trouble has to do flange focal distance. (Read the article on Wikipedia.) An adapter for Canon FD to EF is like a very short extension tube.
 
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