Using older Canon Lenes

[Dirty Donkey]

Believe there is an adaptor to allow older Canon lenses to be used on a newer camera. A1 to AE1?
Could someone please explain what funtions are lost, and any other disadvantges, if any?
Also, is this a Canon only product, or is there a third party option?

Many thanks.

 

[Musicman]

Because the registration distance from the mount surface to the film plane is shorter on FD lenses than on EF mount, an adaptor needs an optical lens to allow focus to infinity.

The extra glass will add aberrations into the image and also introduce a noticeable crop factor (approx 1.2x to 1.5x depending on the design). There are a few FD lenses which have a protruding rear element which may snag on the adapter's glass (the FD 50mm f/1.8 is one IIRC)

Canon made an FD to EF adaptor for a brief period around the changeover to autofocus. It was very expensive at the time and only worked with a limited range of lenses (principally long telephoto lenses). They still sell for around £1,000 second hand. There are now third party ones on the market, which are much cheaper, but their optical quality may be variable.

An adaptor without glass will not compromise the quality of the original lens, but will not allow focus to infinity (which may be OK for macro work).

Since there are many other manufacturers' lenses which will fit on EOS bodies without use of an optical adapter, it's probably better to go with one of those unless you already have a large collection of FD lenses.

 

[Dirty Donkey]

Many thanks Musicman, cleared up a lot of misinformation I had.
Pretty dear though!
Ta again.
DD

 

[benny the jet]

Hi i'm using an old fd 50mm 1.8 (fiver off ebay) with a five quid no glass adapter. It works a treat for almost macro and portrait stuff