M42 to Canon digital

wontolla

wontolla

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I have tried a search on the subject but none really answers my question. I have a Canon 350d and would like to get a prime lens, 50mm. I’m on a really tight budget and cannot afford a great deal. This is what I’ve been looking at.
There are a lot of very cheap, but good quality M42 lenses on FEEBAY and also lots of adapters, is this a good (cheap) way of getting a quality lens on to my Canon? I know that I will have to focus manually, and most of the other auto bits will not work, but I need to take the plunge and put some thought into my picture taking and this way I will have too!
Has anyone gone this way with their setup? Are you happy with it? What sort of quality could I expect?
Thanks Guys and Girls out there in anticipation.
 
The quality will be entirely down to the lens you choose, having to adapt the mount won't affect you at all m8. I did it a few times with my old Pentax film kit without problems and have an EF to m42 adaptor for attaching my canon to a telescope.
 
Steep said:
The quality will be entirely down to the lens you choose, having to adapt the mount won't affect you at all m8. I did it a few times with my old Pentax film kit without problems and have an EF to m42 adaptor for attaching my canon to a telescope.
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Thanks for that. Not decided on the make of lens yet but get your point. I also have a spotting scope wit an adapter for my Nikon compact but was thinking about adapters for the DSLR. Would the M42 adapter work for both? Lens and Scope I mean.
 
animal168 said:
i adapted a couple of olympus lenses to my 450d. the best was a 28mm prime, i think it was a Zeiss lens. It was very good for landscapes. The learning to use manual actually helped me understand how to use my camera.
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Thats what I mainly want it for, landscapes. And yes, thats what I hope too!
Thanks.
 
It should work, Buy a Zeiss lens if you can great glass.
 
wontolla said:
Thats what I mainly want it for, landscapes. And yes, thats what I hope too!
Thanks.
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If you want it for landscapes don't get a 50mm for your 350D with the crop factor you looking at an 80mm equivalent field of view which is pretty tight for a landscape. Look for something around 28mm as this will give you closer to the field of view of a traditional 50mm lens on a 35mm SLR. I would look to try and save the money for an EF fit lens as I'm sure that what you'll want long term, the nifty fifty can be had for a little over £50 and I picked up a 28mm f2.8 for around £80 second hand.
 
If its only a 50mm prime you are really looking for, then why not just buy a used Canon 50mm f1.8 (nifty fifty) - it might be a plastic bodied lens, but has superb quality across the full aperture range. Used ones normally fetch £60, you'll have great bokeh and automatic focus and full EF integration.

Just remember 50mm isn't wide at all on a crop sensor body like yours - to get a 50mm full sensor eqivalent you'll need somethign in the 28-35mm range.
 
Thank all! I now realise that what I should have said was the EQUIVALENT of 50mm. I understand about the crop factor. I really do not want another Canon lens, I have two already and I cannot afford the price of the better quallity ones, that is why I was asking about the non-canon lenses from top makers like Ziess etc. It seems a better way of getting a top quality lens at an affodable price.
 
Look for a M42 30mm f1.8ish lens that will give you the equivalent of 50mm on a full frame camera, and consider one of these for the money, it works like any ef lens on manual (when you half press and focus it beeps when focus is achieved.
 
CScottMcQueen said:
Look for a M42 30mm f1.8ish lens that will give you the equivalent of 50mm on a full frame camera, and consider one of these for the money, it works like any ef lens on manual (when you half press and focus it beeps when focus is achieved.
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Thanks for that Scott. That was one that I was looking at. I dont trust myself yet without focus confirm!
 
CScottMcQueen said:
Look for a M42 30mm f1.8ish lens that will give you the equivalent of 50mm on a full frame camera, and consider one of these for the money, it works like any ef lens on manual (when you half press and focus it beeps when focus is achieved.
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I think 30mm m42 lens will be as rare as hens teeth. Take 35mm lens ,the AOV for this will be H 54, V37, D63. It will be exactly the same on a full frame camera as it was on an old 35mm film camera. It will not have auto focus, so no bleep.
 
Not just a 50mm but other manual lenses are great on my 350D with an adapter,I have 5 M42 lenses that I use on a regular basis with the 350D and get some great results.As with all things you get what you pay for but prices of manual focus prime lenses are way cheaper and in many cases of equal quality to their modern AF equivalents.
 
I picked up a few old M42 lenses a while ago. Great fun to mess about with and certainly a good exercise in working manual.

One thing I will say, using them on a 350D is quite tricky because you have a small viewfinder so not easy to check focus. This is a problem if you want to use them wide open because you have no margin for error with your DOF.

Use them at f8 and they can be as sharp as a very sharp thing.

I also read that you need to check compatability with some of the shorter lenses because the element protrude behind the lens and can colide with your mirror - which is rather a bad thing. Anything over 50mm you are pretty much ok with but you're looking for shorter so be careful.
 
You will need to bare in mind that you will probably lose infinity focus on M42>EOS adapters. I have a Pentacon 135 that won't focus to inifinity, basically anything over 40-50ft away wasn't focused. I dont know if the make/quality of the M42 adaptor makes a difference?

I have a Pentacon 50mmf1.8 and it is a great lens although a bit soft at 1.8. I tend to use it for macro stuff on a bellows that I have.
 
A word of warning for the focus confirm adapters, I used one which fried my 10D's main board. The HK vendor was OK about it and provided refund + repair cost but I personally would never use one again.

Also, I have no problems getting infirnity focus witht he 2 M42 lenses I have.

Best of luck anyway, good manual lenses seem to be becoming more expensive.

Russ
 
AndyBorzi said:
You will need to bare in mind that you will probably lose infinity focus on M42>EOS adapters. I have a Pentacon 135 that won't focus to inifinity, basically anything over 40-50ft away wasn't focused. I dont know if the make/quality of the M42 adaptor makes a difference?

I have a Pentacon 50mmf1.8 and it is a great lens although a bit soft at 1.8. I tend to use it for macro stuff on a bellows that I have.
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The focus to infinity thing, correct me if i'm wrong,.I'm sure i read somewhere ,in a book/mag ,that the thickness of the of the flange between the camera body and lens mount effects if it'll focus to infinity or not .:shrug:
 
CaptainPenguin said:
Not just a 50mm but other manual lenses are great on my 350D with an adapter,I have 5 M42 lenses that I use on a regular basis with the 350D and get some great results.As with all things you get what you pay for but prices of manual focus prime lenses are way cheaper and in many cases of equal quality to their modern AF equivalents.
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Thanks, just what I need. You don't get the mirror colliding with the lens did you as mentioned in another reply?
 
AndyB said:
I picked up a few old M42 lenses a while ago. Great fun to mess about with and certainly a good exercise in working manual.

One thing I will say, using them on a 350D is quite tricky because you have a small viewfinder so not easy to check focus. This is a problem if you want to use them wide open because you have no margin for error with your DOF.

Use them at f8 and they can be as sharp as a very sharp thing.

I also read that you need to check compatability with some of the shorter lenses because the element protrude behind the lens and can colide with your mirror - which is rather a bad thing. Anything over 50mm you are pretty much ok with but you're looking for shorter so be careful.
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Thanks for the words of caution AndyB
 
wontolla said:
Thanks, just what I need. You don't get the mirror colliding with the lens did you as mentioned in another reply?
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So far no problem at all,the lenses I have are
Carl Zeiss Jena 28mm
Pentacon 50mm
Sologor 135mm
hanimex 200mm
Vivitar 300mm

All just fine and I paid less than £100 for the lot

Oh and I have a 350D and not the greatest eyesight in the world but I have no problem focusing,then again certainly with the 28mm & 50mm I tend to use the hyperfocal distance a lot
 
mxfun said:
The focus to infinity thing, correct me if i'm wrong,.I'm sure i read somewhere ,in a book/mag ,that the thickness of the of the flange between the camera body and lens mount effects if it'll focus to infinity or not .:shrug:
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Most of these flanges fit flush into the body, theres no thickness outside at all, I haven't got a M42 one but my Pentax K mount works fine to infinity. Wayne
 
Thank you immensely to all who have replied. I think I will take the plunge and go for it! I've seen the following lenses that might suit me. MEYER OPTIK LYDITH 30mm 3.5 LENS. Super-paragon PMC 76* 1:2.8 f=28mm lens M42 screw fit. Soligor 28mm 1:2.8 wide angle lens. Anyone any thoughts or experience with any of these?
 
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