Canon FD lenses on Nikon "mirrorfull" reflex?

Laurent · Jul 9, 2024

Hello all,

I hope I'm in the right forum.

I'm doing lots of wildlife photography at the moment and, although I love using film, the current costs do make me feel it's a bit silly considering the ratio of good/bad images

I do not want to re-invest in a digital setup, especially considering I own a lovely 300/2.8 FD lens and the "modern" equivalent are awfully expensive.

It seems there are some adapters that would make my FD lenses fit a Nikon F mount, without losing infinity focusing.

I'd like to get some opinions about this, and preferably from people who tried this.

I considered mirrorless camears, but focus peaking does not seem a viable options for birds in flight...

Chan Tran · Jul 9, 2024

I think this would work

Nikon F Adapters

Fotodiox, Inc. USA

fotodioxpro.com

Laurent · Sep 25, 2024

Thanks, and sorry for the late reply. I just discovered there are KF adapters for FD to EOS, so I may explore this track.

Dan Fromm · Sep 25, 2024

Hmm. There are indeed adapters but since FD register is 42.00 mm and F-mount is 46.5 mm they all have lenses in them.

OP, if I understand what FD mount lenses are correctly, they don't have autofocus. If this is right and you want to use your 300/2.8, why not buy an FD mount body? I know that an additional body adds weight etc., but ...

xkaes · Sep 25, 2024

As Dan ponders, how do you have a Canon 300mm and a Nikon F body?

Do you prefer the Nikon body? Why not sell the Canon 300mm and buy a Nikon 300mm?

Do you prefer the Canon lens? Why not sell the Nikon F and buy a Canon F?

We don't know what you have so we are working in the dark. Most of us are used to that, but we know what's in our darkroom, not yours.

Laurent · Sep 25, 2024

xkaes said:
As Dan ponders, how do you have a Canon 300mm and a Nikon F body?

Do you prefer the Nikon body? Why not sell the Canon 300mm and buy a Nikon 300mm?

Do you prefer the Canon lens? Why not sell the Nikon F and buy a Canon F?

We don't know what you have so we are working in the dark. Most of us are used to that, but we know what's in our darkroom, not yours.

Sorry for the confusion I introduced... I have no Nikon body, only Canons.

So:

I happen to have a Novoflex system with the Pigriff, BAL-U, 300 and 400mm. I bought it out of nostalgia (could not afford it when new and I was broke) and found out I absolutely love wildlife photography (a subject matter I contemplated for years, and the break I've got to heal my burnout gave me time to realize one needs to be on the trails as much as possible and results come somewhat easily.

I had the opportunity to buy a very nice 300/2.8 in FD mount for my F1. I love the lens, got it for a good price and like using it on my film bodies.

I realized wildlife photo means lots of images, so using digital could be better than craming film, and so I thought I should have a look at used Nikon D* bodies, as I happen to have an Ai ring mount for my Novoflex. But this would mean the 300/2.8 would sit unused and the lens is much better than the Novoflex (plus 2 stops more is nothing to despise in the morning).

So I started thinking about this... and I came to the conclusion I should get an FD to Ai ring. Without realizing I may find and FD to EF one... and without realizing this is a bit convoluted.

Since I have some nice lenses in FD mound, and their EF equivalent aren't cheap, I'm reluctant to ditch them. Especially since I prefer the "look and feel" of 1970s/80s mechanical cameras.

I may still try a Canon digital body if I can find a suitable adapter that keeps infinity focus, but as I started to read about these there seem to be issues than a tele may make worse...

Hope this is undestandable.

xkaes · Sep 25, 2024

I don't know much about Canon cameras, but the lens should work fine on their more recent digital cameras (with SHORTER camera flange distances) -- with an adapter -- in manual everything mode, although aperture-priority exposure mode should work -- maybe PROGRAMMED-mode too.. I'm a Minolta/Sony user and there are a ton of adapters with different features, and I assume this is the same with Canon/EOS lenses & cameras as well. I'm sure some Canon users will jump in here.

One thing about digital cameras and manual focusing. The focusing screens are not designed for manual focusing -- having no focusing aides.. I use a Minolta eyepiece magnifier when I need critical focusing. I know that Canon makes these too.

Chuck1 · Sep 25, 2024

The is a novoflex a mount to canon ef (for the pigriff)

Laurent · Sep 30, 2024

Chuck1 said:
The is a novoflex a mount to canon ef (for the pigriff)

Thanks for this reply, I missed the information. So I may try an EOS D something with my current lenses and see if I'm happy with that... Sounds promising!

My son is optimistic about our ability to "grind" a K&F adapter if it was preventing from reaching the true infinity, so it would be a parallel option, which would make my FD "L" lenses available also...

koraks · Sep 30, 2024

Laurent said:
So I may try an EOS D something with my current lenses

Not with your Canon FD lenses. Only any canon EF lenses you may have. As pointed out before, there's no way to mount a Canon FD lens onto an EF-mount Canon SLR while preserving infinity focus.

Laurent said:
to "grind" a K&F adapter if it was preventing from reaching the true infinity

You can never make an adapter with a negative length. You would need an adapter with a "-2mm" (mins two millimeters) length to mount an FD lens onto an EF mount camera. I.e. you'd have to actually machine into the camera's EF mount, destroying mechanical linkages and electronic contacts in the process.

The usual approach to using FD lenses in a digital ecosystem is to drop the SLR concept in favor of a mirrorless approach. This offers much more flexibility w.r.t. flange distances. It's one of the reasons why the Sony Alpha series became so popular right from the get-go.

Laurent · Sep 30, 2024

koraks said:
Not with your Canon FD lenses. Only any canon EF lenses you may have. As pointed out before, there's no way to mount a Canon FD lens onto an EF-mount Canon SLR while preserving infinity focus.

You can never make an adapter with a negative length. You would need an adapter with a "-2mm" (mins two millimeters) length to mount an FD lens onto an EF mount camera. I.e. you'd have to actually machine into the camera's EF mount, destroying mechanical linkages and electronic contacts in the process.

The usual approach to using FD lenses in a digital ecosystem is to drop the SLR concept in favor of a mirrorless approach. This offers much more flexibility w.r.t. flange distances. It's one of the reasons why the Sony Alpha series became so popular right from the get-go.

I know there is no "negative" adapter, but the K&F I mentioned includes a converter. I would really hate getting rid of my 300/2.8 L and the EF equivalent ones fetch high prices.

Since I'm doing wildlife photography, I'm not sure mirrorless is a valid approach as manually focusing might be way too slow.

koraks · Sep 30, 2024

Laurent said:
the K&F I mentioned includes a converter

OK, gotcha; my bad!

Laurent said:
Since I'm doing wildlife photography, I'm not sure mirrorless is a valid approach as manually focusing might be way too slow.

You'll be manually focusing either way; SLR or mirrorless. I don't really see how that would be different. I agree it may probably be too slow for wildlife, but since you're planning to use your FD lens, it's a moot point anyway.
Thinking of it, mirrorless may even work better since you can use nifty tricks like focus peaking, enlarged viewfinder image etc.

Your best bet IMO would be to find someone local to you who has an EVIL system and maybe even an FD adapter so you can try it on for size. Alternatively if they only have a mirrorless and 'digital'/AF lenses, try that setup but disable AF for a moment to see how well you can focus manually with the EVF etc.

Laurent · Sep 30, 2024

koraks said:
OK, gotcha; my bad!

You'll be manually focusing either way; SLR or mirrorless. I don't really see how that would be different. I agree it may probably be too slow for wildlife, but since you're planning to use your FD lens, it's a moot point anyway.
Thinking of it, mirrorless may even work better since you can use nifty tricks like focus peaking, enlarged viewfinder image etc.

Your best bet IMO would be to find someone local to you who has an EVIL system and maybe even an FD adapter so you can try it on for size. Alternatively if they only have a mirrorless and 'digital'/AF lenses, try that setup but disable AF for a moment to see how well you can focus manually with the EVF etc.

My understanding is that mirrorless needs focus peaking, while SLR has a ground glass, which makes focusing a "physical" action: either the image forms on the right place, or it doesn't. My memory of the 7D I owned some years ago is that gg focusing was doable quite easily.

koraks · Sep 30, 2024

I own the 7D and indeed it focuses fairly easily. However, I wouldn't say that EVF-assisted focusing including tricks like focus peaking etc. would work any worse. I think it's a matter of getting used to, mostly. I'd definitely recommend trying it out as I think that a mirrorless system would give you a lot more flexibility in using your FD lenses.

Laurent · Oct 2, 2024

Thanks for the advice!

My concern is that I know nobody in my area with a system I could borrow (even nobody with an involvment in photography). I also absolutely need a finder of some kind, using the rear screen is not realistic in a "wild" situation.

Size is not a big deal, my current setup is a F1 coupled with either a 400mm Noflexar + pigriff, or the FD 300/2.8 . In both cases the lens is in the kilogramS and camera just shy of 1kg, so a DSLR is in the same ballpark.

At the moment I do not want to move everything to digital, otherwise I might look for something close to a Fuji X100 with interchangeable lenses and a decent finder, but the prices at the moment are a bit high if I want an EVF with millions of pixels

loccdor · Oct 2, 2024

You can't adapt the FD lenses retaining infinity focus glasslessly to a DSLR.

I'd look into cutting film costs in other aspects, like bulk rolling, switching to black and white, switching to Kentmere/Foma, home developing, being more selective with shots, searching for deals, etc. Last year I was able to find fresh B&W 36-rolls as low as $4 each by checking the popular sellers often.

If you want to try digital, there are websites that allow you to rent cameras, or some with return policies that might allow you to take one for a test drive.

Laurent · Oct 2, 2024

loccdor said:
You can't adapt the FD lenses retaining infinity focus glasslessly to a DSLR.

I'd look into cutting film costs in other aspects, like bulk rolling, switching to black and white, switching to Kentmere/Foma, home developing, being more selective with shots, searching for deals, etc. Last year I was able to find fresh B&W 36-rolls as low as $4 each by checking the popular sellers often.

If you want to try digital, there are websites that allow you to rent cameras, or some with return policies that might allow you to take one for a test drive.

thanks for your contribution.
We already discussed adapters, so I guess this is sorted.

About film management, the issue for me is more about the time it takes and the amount of "failed" images when doing wildlife. I already have hard time processing my other images (in fact I can't, I have about 5 years printing backlog, 1 year and a hald late on a postcard exchange, ADHD is sometimes a bitch).

loccdor · Oct 2, 2024

Ah, that's definitely a challenge and slower with film compared to digital. All I can think of (and you might already have this) is some type of good optical viewer to allow you to judge the shots quickly so you can discard the failures. I also recall film splicing tools for quickly and accurately cutting frames out.

I personally don't discard any negatives but probably should, it nearly injures my back anytime I have to lift my box of negative binders.

Canon FD lenses on Nikon "mirrorfull" reflex?

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Canon FD lenses on Nikon "mirrorfull" reflex?

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