Canon EOS Lens Mount Converters
EOS to FD Lens Mount Converters
There are two types of lens mount converters available for Canon EOS bodies.The first type simply converts the EOS bayonet lens mount into the FD bayonet mount and, due to the thickness of the converter, this acts as a short extension tube and reduces the minimum focusing distance but also prevents the lens focusing to infinity.
The second type of converter is similar to the first but contains an additional lens element and this allows the mounted lens to focus infinity. This additional lens element may affect the image quality in the same way that a teleconverter does but, for most people considering using such an adaptor, this may not be too important.
Canon Macro Lens Mount Converter FD-EOS
This converter is no longer available from Canon and was introduced when the Canon EOS cameras
were still new. It was (and possibly still is) the only way to use Canon bellows with an EOS
camera for macro photography. This converter is of the first type of converter described above,
i.e. it does not allow focusing to infinity.
Canon(AF)/FD Converter
This converter is of the second type described above and is, at the time of writing, still available from various suppliers
(for example SRB Film).
Canon EOS - Leica R Converter
At the time of writing, there are at least two suppliers of this type of adapter. The one shown here was purchased from
CameraQuest and another manufacturer of this type of converter is Novoflex.
The depth of the Leica R camera bodies is slightly greater than that of the Canon EOS bodies. These lens mount adaptors are designed to match the difference in body depths so that when a Leica R lens is mounted on an EOS camera using the adaptor, there is no need for an additional lens element in order to permit focus to infinity.
Using The Lens Mount Converters
Using all three types of lens mount converters on a Canon EOS camera is similar.In each case, focusing is performed with the lens aperture opened to maximum - both types of FD converters have a setting which opens the lens iris to maximum size but the Leica R converter requires the lens to be set to its maximum aperture.
The lens aperture is then set to the desired setting and, in the case of the FD converters, the converter is set to stop down the lens iris (for the Leica R adaptor, the lens iris closes when the aperture ring is rotated). This darkens the view in the camera's viewfinder which is why focusing can only be done accurately with the lens aperture opened to maximum.
If using the camera's meter, then metering must be performed with the lens stopped down. The camera should be set to manual or aperture priority metering. For manual metering, the camera's shutter speed setting needs to be manually adjusted until the camera's meter indicates correct exposure. For aperture priority metering, the camera automatically sets the shutter speed according to the amount of light received by the meter with the lens stopped down.
Useful Links
SRB Film: http://www.srbfilm.co.ukCameraQuest: http://www.cameraquest.com
Novoflex: http://www.novoflex.com
SpeedGraphic (UK distributor of Novoflex products): http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk
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