EOS to FD
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Interested in the possibility of using FD lenses on the Digital EOS camera's?  For the hobbyist, using the Digital - this is truly back to the basics and a wonderful expansion. You have to THINK and PLAN like to "film days".

 

What is needed is a now quite common utility adaptor called an "EOS to FD converter" (or a Canon AF/FD with glass optics). They cost about $50. (but be sure it has the glass optics - other adaptors without this inner lens are useless because they wont allow infinity focus...)

Many FD lenses are really outstanding and the results speak for themselves. Moreover, they are really cheap now. (rarely more than $100 even for the most exotic) So what's lost compared to the EOS lenses? Well, of course, you loose the AF.  
 

Actually the challenge is trying to get a good accurate focus with your FD lens on an EOS! Most old manual focus FD cameras had small prism arrays or split-screens in the viewfinder that showed when something was even slightly out of focus. EOS cameras have none of this - so getting sharp pictures is not always easy. Best practice is regularly take more shots than you need, resetting the focus several times to make sure you get at least one really sharp shot!

Another challenge is focusing at small apertures. Because a manual lens will make the viewfinder image quite dark when using small apertures it's easier to open up the aperture, focus, close the aperture the right amount, THEN take the picture.
When using large apertures none of this is needed of course-just focus and shoot. I find that these big FD lenses work well - wide open. Use the Av setting for daylight - it will choose the right speed. The really great thing with EOS is that they still meter with a non EOS lens. While not full matrix type metering - it's reasonably accurate. Set the ISO at "auto".

When a flash is needed - the built-in flash works very well. 

 
 

A new-style stop-down metering style. (Yep.. back to the future...)

        If we attach a non-EF lens (Like the FD) to a newer Canon EOS DSLR, the camera notices that the lens doesn’t have a working computer - and goes into "stop-down" metering mode, displaying the aperture value 00. This means that the camera knows that the aperture setting is not under its control and will not let you set the aperture electronically. 

Your FD lens has an adjustable aperture (usually an aperture ring on the lens barrel) use it. This will obviously vary the amount of light entering the camera, and the camera meters from that accordingly.

Now, since the camera isn’t capable of adjusting the aperture setting on the lens it can’t work in the Tv mode with such a lens, but it’ll work just fine in the other “creative” modes - P (program), Av (aperture priority) and M (manual).

Anyway, set the aperture using the lens aperture ring and the camera will set the correct shutter speed in all other modes except M, where you’ll have to set the shutter speed yourself. So generally, Av mode is probably the most convenient.

 

Metering should now be center-weighted (Like the FD Camera's).. (.)

It’s possible you may have problems achieving completely accurate metering with your camera and manual lens. Since the camera has no way of obtaining lens characteristics from the lens it doesn’t know what sort of metering compensation to apply. So it’s probably worth shooting a few test frames, when you first put a manual lens on your camera to see if the camera is metering correctly for that lens. If we can’t stop down the aperture - we may be forced to shoot wide-open, which would be unfortunate since that’s where the lowest quality of the lens tends to be. 

We are probably best off using a "partial" metering (or center-weighted averaging) over evaluative. Partial metering meters a smallish area at the center of the frame rather than trying to apply metering algorithms based on individual segments of the whole frame. 

Your Camera can "lock up" with the manual focus lens installed. 

Canon EOS cameras contain tiny switches in the lens mount which are used to sense the presence of a lens with autofocus electronics. If a manual focus lens trips this switch - perhaps through a badly designed lens mount adapter - then the camera will lock up because the switch is telling it to expect an electronic lens, but there are no electronics to be seen.

In such a case you may need to unlock the lens and rotate it very slightly so that the switch doesn’t engage. If you do this don’t turn it too far - or don’t let it get bumped - because the lens might fall off!

A similar problem occurs if you install a teleconverter (extender) or extension tube between your manual focus lens and your camera. The camera will get confused and lock up because the autofocus lens switch is tripped but there aren’t any lens computers around. The workaround is the same as the above - unlock and rotate the lens and TC. 

Use of Mirror Lenses

Some lenses do not have an adjustable aperture. For example, mirror (catadioptric) lenses have a fixed aperture - usually f/8. So the only way to adjust the amount of light hitting the plate is to adjust the shutter speed, use different ISO speeds or put a neutral density filter over the lens. This limitation results from inherent properties of the lens, and not from any lens to camera body adapter.


  

 

 Using FD Lens with EOS Camera

 

 
1... Attach the EOS - FD adaptor to the Camera (same as any AF Lens)

 

2. Select your FD lens. Any FD or FL will do - (but it will never be on the "a" setting). Choose an wide - open aperture like f5.6, then attach FD lens to adaptor on camera.
 

 

3. Set the camera to 'Av' mode, then half press the shutter button and the camera will automatically select a shutter speed to suit! You can also use 'M' mode and select the shutter speed yourself (in the viewfinder) if you would rather.

That's it - focus and shoot. Adjust the lens opening as required, using the preview screen -

 

 Here's the results you can expect....

 
Canon 80-200mm f5.6 at 1/200 (Full zoom - 200mm)
 

Canon 100 - 300mm with 2x extension for picture at 600mm - 1/200 f4.5