awesome! I read some comments about people saying why not just buy one. shoot when you can do something as beautiful as make your own like this why would you ever want to buy one! this is terrific
Thanks for the video! It looks like quite a complicated process. I also have 3 or 4 FD lenses that I would love to convert to a EOS mount. Let me know when you are up for some paid work.
As it turns out, Canon made quite a few different versions of this lens. I happened to get the easiest one to convert as my first try. I have a few others, each one different, and each one a pain to convert. The trick is that the lens has to sit further back into the camera than what the stock mounting will allow. Picture taking the lens, shaving off about 4mm, then glueing it to the camera. That would work, except that it would be your only lens because it's glued on.
@killerwatt318 The 50mm prime will have infinity focus around 4 feet. That's not very far. I have a Vivitar zoom that I have not converted yet but, holding the lens up to the camera, it looks as if infinity may be around 30 feet. There is an adapter that has a lens in it in order to change infinity, but a lens in only as good as its poorest quality element. If the lens in the adapter is good, then you get good results. It's most apparent when you compare two images side by side.
the real problem is the distance between the back lens and the sensor, in the 35mm film body is smaller than the Digital EOS.. thats why they need a correction lens in between.
Hi Jeff, I too do some machining (Myford) and I'm wondering if you have any written or audio instructions etc to go with this video. I'm slowly studying each frame to come up with my own. I plan to use a Takumar to ef mount and try things out on the newer FD mounting system. Any hints re that or the older Fd greatly appreciated. Cheers Colin
@WOWindie It is something that I have considered, but I would like to get a few more under my belt first. I think I have all of the bugs worked out, but Canon made two different FD lenses (from what I know so far) and I'd hate to be hit with any surprises on a lens belonging to someone else.
It is the great works!! I have a question about this one off FD-EF mount. Can this mount make a focus of an infinity ? I would like to get this one if that has an infinity^_^
Hi Jeff, maybe you can help me with an advice. I bought a very good lens Canon FD BreechLock SSC 85 1.2, and a person who had it made the conversion by him self to EF. Very ugly job something was handmachined, but yet functional on EF. What my question is, can this lens be brought to the original state to have FD breechlock again if I take the mount part from another FD breechlock lens and install back to this lens? i see that all Breechlock FD lenses are same in the back, am I wrong? So I was hoping this can be done what I just mentioned. I can send you images of this converted lens so you see your self. I would appreciate your answer.
As far as adapters... they have a lens of their own in order to change the focal distance. They work, but your image is only as good as your poorest quality lens in the chain. In order to get the full benefit of a quality, metal-cased Canon lens, you'd need a high quality adapter.
When I did this lens, it was more of an effort to prove that I could rather than have a viable business or anything like that. It took a lot of time, but the "naysayers" drove me to do it. I tried a second, but I quickly found out that Canon made several different internal configurations for the same mount. Ball bearings replaced sliders and things became very complicated. I got bored and never finished the second one.
Hi Jeff Johnson , I would love to this conversion to my lenses. Have you written a detailed blog of what and how you did exactly? If not Would love to have a detailed blog . Flange to Sensor distance for FD is 42 mm whereas for EF is 44 mm. Hence it make all this infinity focus fuss. I have a no- glass dumb FD to EF convertor . I am thinking of somehow combining this convertor with lens back plate to get 42 mm flange distance. I have not figured out the “How” part yet , but your video might be the answer
@MrProvideoeditor Except adaptors for FD to EF will require an element for infinity focus, making them either poor quality, expensive or limited in how far away you can focus. Whereas a well done conversion like this allows you to focus to infinity with no element.
hi paramax 55 i'm considering buying 2 fd lenses for £25, a 50mm prime and a 200mm zoom it comes with an adaptor ring but you lose infinity focus, how bad is it. would the lens be able to focus on a subject 10 feet away or is the maximum focus distance less?
Hello paramax55!. I have seen several times your tutorial on how to modify the FD mount to Eos. Since you have not decided to commercialize your invention, I would like to know what type of adapter you used to make the modification. Or simply you have used a piece of steel and started to design it or have removed any EF mount and then modify it?. Please let me know to do it by myself. Greetings from Italy. I apologize for my English translated by google
Hey dude, sign me up when you have orders going. I have a nice 35mm 2.8 and with the adapter I get something like 3.8, and the image is quite soft. I'd love to not have to use this horribly made cheapy adapter. Would love to have an EF mount for the FD lens!
There were several versions of the fd lens that all fit the fd camera. One was easy enough to convert. The rest sucked. The fd lens is too long and spaces the lens too far away from the sensor. You have to remove metal to get the lens further into the camera.
victorbart It's because it was his first test and attemp.. Would You really start with something expensive like 1.2 and destroy it, or try it on 20 Euro 1.8, if something goes wrong?))
So stick a mounting ring in there... that means you need to shave off another coulpe of milimeters. Oops! Canon stuck mechanical pieces in there to change aperture and focus.You can't get in the way of those! This was originally going to be a hobby. I have been busy with other things and haven't been able to devote the necessary time to this so far. But it's always swirling in the back of my mind...
Forgive me if I'm wrong but could you not just machine//manufacture the only the parts you adjusted. I'm sure you could just send the parts to someone to knock them out in bulk, i'm sure theres a ton of people who'd pay a reasonable price for it!
+Michael Batson Better quality conversion than through a cheep china made pos. Or perhaps hard work for good results. I admire the machining precision needed. Hats off.
+Michael Batson To get the registration right for that particular lens so you can have infinity focus. Thats my guess anyway. I have adapters for Pentax K mounts and they only focus 20m or so.
chris c Incorrect. Www.fdtoef.com Corrected for flange distance. $119 for most normal lenses. But I’d rather make my own if I had access to a turning lathe.
Too bad those $23 adapters on ebay don't allow for infinity focus. Gotta keep your subjects within about 4-10 feet of you for everything. Educate yourself before you try to show up someone!!!
Thank you Jeff for sharing this with us... and letting us watch you as you craft a decent piece of work... God I wish I had that machine !!
You are a MASTER ARTISAN. Hope you have several young people to pass these talents along to ... Sure would be missing out ....
Thanks
awesome! I read some comments about people saying why not just buy one. shoot when you can do something as beautiful as make your own like this why would you ever want to buy one! this is terrific
Extraordinary video. This system eliminates the annoying adapter with intermediate lens. Thank you very much.
Excellent. It must be fantastic to be able to produce your own components with that wonderful machine and skill....
Great to see the process in the making
Thanks for the video! It looks like quite a complicated process.
I also have 3 or 4 FD lenses that I would love to convert to a EOS mount.
Let me know when you are up for some paid work.
I am really impressed! Good skills.. I also love old lenses
example of fine craftmanship :)
Wow, this is great!
Nice job. precision work.
I really liked it, unfortunately I do not have a milling machine.
Very delicate work, well done! Thank you.
Love the song and the video man
wonderfull video! wonderfull work! greetings from Brazil!
well done!
Excellent video, your enterprising spirit is very inspiring. Let us all know if and when you start accepting orders.
As it turns out, Canon made quite a few different versions of this lens. I happened to get the easiest one to convert as my first try. I have a few others, each one different, and each one a pain to convert. The trick is that the lens has to sit further back into the camera than what the stock mounting will allow. Picture taking the lens, shaving off about 4mm, then glueing it to the camera. That would work, except that it would be your only lens because it's glued on.
nice job and good music.
@killerwatt318 The 50mm prime will have infinity focus around 4 feet. That's not very far. I have a Vivitar zoom that I have not converted yet but, holding the lens up to the camera, it looks as if infinity may be around 30 feet. There is an adapter that has a lens in it in order to change infinity, but a lens in only as good as its poorest quality element. If the lens in the adapter is good, then you get good results. It's most apparent when you compare two images side by side.
Impressive
Nice
the real problem is the distance between the back lens and the sensor, in the 35mm film body is smaller than the Digital EOS.. thats why they need a correction lens in between.
are you going to sell this as a conversion lens Kit?
Thanks...
Hi Jeff, I too do some machining (Myford) and I'm wondering if you have any written or audio instructions etc to go with this video. I'm slowly studying each frame to come up with my own. I plan to use a Takumar to ef mount and try things out on the newer FD mounting system. Any hints re that or the older Fd greatly appreciated.
Cheers Colin
@paramax55
looks like i'll just have to save up 50 quid and get the ef 50mm
cheers for the info
@WOWindie It is something that I have considered, but I would like to get a few more under my belt first. I think I have all of the bugs worked out, but Canon made two different FD lenses (from what I know so far) and I'd hate to be hit with any surprises on a lens belonging to someone else.
It is the great works!!
I have a question about this one off FD-EF mount.
Can this mount make a focus of an infinity ?
I would like to get this one if that has an infinity^_^
Hi Jeff, maybe you can help me with an advice. I bought a very good lens Canon FD BreechLock SSC 85 1.2, and a person who had it made the conversion by him self to EF. Very ugly job something was handmachined, but yet functional on EF. What my question is, can this lens be brought to the original state to have FD breechlock again if I take the mount part from another FD breechlock lens and install back to this lens? i see that all Breechlock FD lenses are same in the back, am I wrong? So I was hoping this can be done what I just mentioned. I can send you images of this converted lens so you see your self. I would appreciate your answer.
great machining but don't you think, time to clean up the shavings from other jobs or was this for effect?
As far as adapters... they have a lens of their own in order to change the focal distance. They work, but your image is only as good as your poorest quality lens in the chain. In order to get the full benefit of a quality, metal-cased Canon lens, you'd need a high quality adapter.
When I did this lens, it was more of an effort to prove that I could rather than have a viable business or anything like that. It took a lot of time, but the "naysayers" drove me to do it. I tried a second, but I quickly found out that Canon made several different internal configurations for the same mount. Ball bearings replaced sliders and things became very complicated. I got bored and never finished the second one.
Hi Jeff Johnson , I would love to this conversion to my lenses. Have you written a detailed blog of what and how you did exactly? If not Would love to have a detailed blog . Flange to Sensor distance for FD is 42 mm whereas for EF is 44 mm. Hence it make all this infinity focus fuss. I have a no- glass dumb FD to EF convertor . I am thinking of somehow combining this convertor with lens back plate to get 42 mm flange distance. I have not figured out the “How” part yet , but your video might be the answer
I have a 55mm 1.2 fl. What would you charge to convert this lens?
@MrProvideoeditor Except adaptors for FD to EF will require an element for infinity focus, making them either poor quality, expensive or limited in how far away you can focus.
Whereas a well done conversion like this allows you to focus to infinity with no element.
Hey man. Don´t you have a Kit for ordering? What about a tuto to allow others to do the same job for themselves?
hi paramax 55
i'm considering buying 2 fd lenses for £25, a 50mm prime and a 200mm zoom
it comes with an adaptor ring but you lose infinity focus, how bad is it. would the lens be able to focus on a subject 10 feet away or is the maximum focus distance less?
Hello paramax55!. I have seen several times your tutorial on how to modify the FD mount to Eos. Since you have not decided to commercialize your invention, I would like to know what type of adapter you used to make the modification. Or simply you have used a piece of steel and started to design it or have removed any EF mount and then modify it?.
Please let me know to do it by myself.
Greetings from Italy.
I apologize for my English translated by google
Nice music
Could you replace an FD mount with an EF mount from an EF lens?
Hey dude, sign me up when you have orders going. I have a nice 35mm 2.8 and with the adapter I get something like 3.8, and the image is quite soft.
I'd love to not have to use this horribly made cheapy adapter. Would love to have an EF mount for the FD lens!
can i get this done anywhere ?
Did you shave down an M42 adapter to do the convertion?
I just want to tap the thumb up many times if I could.
I thought you were gonna butcher that lens! Nice job, anyway, you're a criminal... FD lenses are beautiful just as they are!
you can buy a adapter for the lens.
i have a normal 50 1.4 fd thats a waitin to be changed to eos. if you never make a kit im going to remove some parts and epoxy on a eos mount. eeeks.
There were several versions of the fd lens that all fit the fd camera. One was easy enough to convert. The rest sucked. The fd lens is too long and spaces the lens too far away from the sensor. You have to remove metal to get the lens further into the camera.
Darn. Yeah I came upon a nice spreadsheet on edmika that showed the lens compatibilities. Total shame though. I appreciate your time.
Nice rebuild of the lens mount. But why use a 20 euro 50mm F1.8 and spend all your time on that lens. Instead of F1.2 L version of a canon FD lens? :)
My guest would be optical quality or price
it's a very good lens if you ask me... i'd love to have mine redone for the EF mount like that.
victorbart It's because it was his first test and attemp.. Would You really start with something expensive like 1.2 and destroy it, or try it on 20 Euro 1.8, if something goes wrong?))
+Jakub Macák Ditto
So stick a mounting ring in there... that means you need to shave off another coulpe of milimeters. Oops! Canon stuck mechanical pieces in there to change aperture and focus.You can't get in the way of those! This was originally going to be a hobby. I have been busy with other things and haven't been able to devote the necessary time to this so far. But it's always swirling in the back of my mind...
And yet after all that you never gave the audience the satisfaction in seeing the lens being actually mounted onto an EF mount Canon?
prolevel
I can't see anything it's so dark.
might aswel cut a whole in a potatoe and glue it to your camera for $3
this is better than porn
Forgive me if I'm wrong but could you not just machine//manufacture the only the parts you adjusted. I'm sure you could just send the parts to someone to knock them out in bulk, i'm sure theres a ton of people who'd pay a reasonable price for it!
why go thru all the work when they sell adapters for like $30
+Michael Batson Better quality conversion than through a cheep china made pos. Or perhaps hard work for good results. I admire the machining precision needed. Hats off.
+Michael Batson To get the registration right for that particular lens so you can have infinity focus. Thats my guess anyway. I have adapters for Pentax K mounts and they only focus 20m or so.
Fair enough. Was just curious. I figured cause the guy liked to do the work.
more light sir cannot see
ORRR... u could have bought the new 50mm 1.8 II for $100 lol
dude they sell adapters already made
kudos for soundtrack tho
Not for FD - EF, flange distance makes that impossible without losing infinity focus, or using optics that are bound to degrade the image
chris c Incorrect. Www.fdtoef.com Corrected for flange distance. $119 for most normal lenses. But I’d rather make my own if I had access to a turning lathe.
Too bad those $23 adapters on ebay don't allow for infinity focus. Gotta keep your subjects within about 4-10 feet of you for everything.
Educate yourself before you try to show up someone!!!
bad movie! Point of view wrong!