Using Manual Focus Lenses on Canon EOS bodies

[Note: Here are my reviews of current autofocus EOS lenses - Canon EOS Lenses]

A common question is whether older manual focus lenses from other manufacturers can be used with a Canon EOS body. The answer is a qualified "yes" in many cases. Of course you don't get autofocus, nor do you get any sort of focus confirmation. Also, you don't get any sort of automatic iris operation. In most SLRs, focusing is done at full aperture, and if you stop the lens down to, say, f11, it remains fully open until just before exposure, then it stops down for the exposure and opens up again. This gives a brighter viewfinder image and makes focusing easier and more accurate. When these lenses are mounted on an EOS body, stop down metering must be used. That means that the lens is first focused at full aperture (for maximum accuracy), then manually stopped down to the shooting aperture before the shot is taken. Some people have trouble accurately focusing using the standard EOS viewfinder screen, since it has no focus aids (like a split image center). While some of the higher end models (like the EOS-1 series, the EOS 3 and the EOS A2), so have additional accessory screens with focus aids (e.g. screen Ec-B has a split image center), the consumer level cameras (Rebel, Elan, digital Rebel, 10D, 20D) do not.

Clearly using a manual focus lens is inconvenient, but sometimes it can be worth it if the equivalent EOS lens is expensive, if the manual focus lens is better than any Canon EF or EF-S series lens (rare, but it happens), if you shoot mostly static subjects or if you don't use the lens very often.

Flange to Focal Plane Distance

A mechanical adapter which allows a lens to be mounted on an EOS body and focused to infinity is only possible if the lens is designed to focus an image at a distance greater than that of EOS EF series lenses. This is because you need some space for the mechanical adapter between the EOS body and the lens. If the lens is designed to focus an image at a shorter distance then an EOS EF lens, then the MF lens would have to be put inside the EOS body! The distance from the mounting flange on the back of the lens to the film (or digital sensor) is known as the "Flange Back", or the "Flange to Focal Plane" distance, or sometimes as the "Flange to Film" distance.

Here's a list of flange-to-focal-plane distances.  For all Canon EOS cameras it is 44.0mm, which is shorter than most other major cameras. This enables (in theory) lens adapters to be constructed for the lenses shown in green below. Lenses shown in red (which includes all Canon FD and earlier lenses) cannot be mounted on an EOS body and still reach infinity focus without some intermediate optics.

In addition, it should be possible to mount just about any medium format lens on an EOS body. Adapters are available for Hasselblad, Pentacon-6, Kiev. Mamiya 645, Pentax 645 and Pentax 67 lenses and all should focus to infinity without a problem. The only exception might be superwide lenses which require the camera mirror to be locked up for use. You can find such medium format adapters on eBay if you can't find them from the usual vendors (Amazon, Adorama, B&H etc.).

Mechanical Lens Adapters (no optics required)

I have seen adapters advertised for sale to adapt Nikon, Olympus OM, Leica, Contax/Yashica, Pentax Screw (M42) and "T" mount lenses to a Canon EOS body. Prices range from around $25 for the simple Pentax Screw and $17 for "T" mounts, up to around $200 for the more complex and harder to find adapters.

If all else fails, Cameraquest have most adapters, but their prices are high. $175 for most adapters and even $75 for the simple Pentax screw (M42) to EOS adapter. Another place to look is Ebay, where there are some people selling inexpensive adapters made in China.

Update July 2006 -Though it looks like Pentax K-mount lenses should be adaptable to an EOS body, it turns out that the diaphragm coupling lever which sticks out from the back of the lens causes problems. On most EOS bodies you would have to remove this lever. However it is reported that EOS bodies which can take EF-S lenses [EOS 20D, EOS 30D, Digital Rebel (300D) and Digital Rebel XT (350D)], and maybe other APS-C format DSLRs can take adapted Pentax-K lenses without the need to remove the aperture coupling lever. There's is more room inside the EF-S capable body and the reflex mirror of APS-C sensor cameras is smaller, so there's less chance of interference. The adapters are available on Ebay for around $10-$40 (the more expensive ones have focus confirmation circuitry) and there are a number of sources. Some claim that they will work with any EOS body, not mentioning any modfication of the lens, but I'd be suspicious of such claims. Others warn that they only work with unmodified lenses with APS-C (crop sensor) DSLRs designed to accept EF-S series lenses.

You can find a number of adapters for Canon EOS and other systems on Amazon.com via this link - Lens Adapters

Ebay is also a pretty good source for low cost EOS adapters of any type. Try search terms like "EOS Nikon Adapter"

Lens adapters with Optics

Adapters with optics are available for a number of lenses, including Canon FD lenses, often at fairly low cost. For example Adorama sell one for around $40. The problem is that the optics in these lenses are often not equal to the optics in the lenses and so image quality suffers. In addition they also act as weak multipliers, so your excellent 50mm FD lens might become a mediocre 70mm or 80mm lens when mounted on an EOS body via an inexpensive optical adapter unless it's stopped way down.

Genuine CANON brand FD lens adapters

Canon have actually made two adapters for mounting Canon FD mount lenses on an EOS body. The first is a purely mechanical adapter (the "Lens Mount Converter FD-EOS"), and so lenses will not focus to infinity. They can, however, be used for macro work. The second adapter is designed for the following FD lenses and allows infinity focus:

• FD 200mm 1.8 L
• FD 200mm 2.8 RF
• FD 300mm 2.8 L
• FD 300mm 4
• FD 300mm 4 L
• FD 400mm 2.8 L
• FD 400mm 4.5
• FD 500mm 4.5 L
• FD 600mm 4.5
• FD 800mm 5.6 L
• FD 50-300mm 4.5 L
• FD 85-300mm 4.5
• FD 150-600mm 5.6 L

It contains optics and acts as a 1.26x multiplier. The Canon part number is C54-2131 and the cost 10 years ago was around $240. It was available only through Canon Professional Services. I don't think it's still available new, but it does show up occasionally on auction and used gear sites, though prices can be as high as $1000 or more! If you have a large investment in quality FD glass it might be worth looking for. In fact Canon offered it to ease the transition for professional FD users to the EOS system. I guess there aren't many professional FD users left now.

Elephoto FD to EOS adapter

Elephoto make an FD to EOS adapter that's better than the cheap generics, but not as good as the Canon (however it is a lot cheaper!). See Elephoto FD to EOS adapter for more information.

Other Lens Adapters

One other series of  manual focus lenses can be used on EOS bodies, and that is the Tamron "adaptall" series. These lenses can be mounted on just about any camera body via the appropriate "adaptall" adapter. Tamron make many such adapters, in fact they make one for most major SLR lines. They even made one for Canon EOS. Note I said the "made" one, not they "make" one, since they stopped making it a decade ago. They are now very hard to find. However there is a "workaround". If you can get an adaptall mount for Pentax Universal Screw (M42), and a Pentax Screw (M42) to EOS adapter you can couple them togther and mount any Tamron adaptall lens on any EOS body!

The M42 Adaptall mount also seems to be getting difficult to find, so if you can't find one there are two other routes. The first is to get an Adaptall mount for either Nikon or Contax. Then you can look for a Nikon to EOS or Contax to EOS adapter. Both are currently available on eBay at reasonable prices. You can usually find them around $20 (made in China, but so is just about everything these days!). You can also find very expensive german/swiss/japanese made adapters costing up to $200. I'm sure the more expensive ones are better made, but the cheap ones seem to work.

Here's a brief list of some of the manual focus lenses I've successfully used on both EOS film and digital bodies:

• Pentax 50/1.4 (Pentax Screw)
• Pentax 55/2.0 (Pentax Screw)
• Peleng 8/3.5 fisheye (Pentax Screw)
• Zenitar 16/2.8 fisheye (Pentax Screw)
• Tamron 500/8 Mirror  (Tamron Adaptall mount)
• Tamron 17/3.5 (Tamron Adaptall mount)
• Tamron 24/2.5 (Tamron Adaptall mount)
• Tamron 28/2.8 (Tamron Adaptall mount)
• Jupiter-9 85/2 (Pentax Screw)
• Pentacon 135/2.8 (Pentax Screw)
• Soligor 35/2.8 (T-Mount)
• Vivitar 19/3.8 (Pentax Screw)
• Various telescopes (T-Mount)

None of them were better than similar Canon EOS EF lenses, though some were cheaper (MUCH cheaper in some cases!) and some are not available from Canon (e.f. 8mm fisheye).

Exposure and Metering

When using a manual focus lens on an EOS body there are two exposure modes which will work correctly, Manual and Aperture Priority. In manual mode you set both the shutter speed (via the EOS body) and the Aperture (via the aperture ring on the lens) yourself. In Aperture Priority mode you set the aperture and allow the EOS body to determine the shutter speed.

Since the lens has no electrical coupling to the body, the body doesn't know it's there and so with most current EOS bodies the LCD display will readout an aperture of "00". This is normal. don't worry about it. Some older EOS bodies will display "1.0", and this can be changed with the usual aperture control dial to anything you want. However you want it set to "1.0". Do NOT dial in the aperture you are using on the lens. Leave it at "1.0", and if it changes to something else (some bodies will change this value when switching between modes), change it back to "1.0".

Though I've never used an EOS Elan 7 it's reported that these bodies (especially early versions) do not meter well with manual focus lenses. You may need up to 3 stops of exposure compensation, or you may need to use full manual exposure and an external meter. As I said, I haven't used the Elan 7 myself, so I can't comment directly on this from experience, but at least be aware of potential problems.

Metering with manual focus lenses on other EOS bodies may require some degree of exposure compensation - or it may not. There's really no way to tell without doing some tests. You can either shoot, look at the results, then decide if compensation is needed. This is easy with digital, but tedious to do with film. The other way is to compare meter readings for the same scene between the manual focus lens and a regular EOS lens. At the same aperture both should give the same shutter speed. If they don't, add exposure compensation in the case of the manual focus lens until they do. I've found most lenses are pretty good, but a few do need exposure compensation set. For example my Zenitar 16/2.8 fisheye needed about -1 stop of exposure compensation on my EOS 10D.

Focusing

Though the focus confirmation indicator ("green dot") operates when you manually focus a Canon EOS EF series autofocus lens, it does NOT operate when using a 3rd party fully manual lens. For focus confirmation to activate all Canon EOS bodies need to first establish electronic communication with the lens. Since there are no compatible electronics or even electronic contacts in 3rd party manual lenses, you do not get electronic focus confirmation. Canon could probably have included such a feature, but they didn't!

Update- July 2006: There is now a Russian M42 adapter which has an electronic chip built in which enables the EOS electronic focus confirmation when used with manual focus M42 screw mount lenses. Right now (07/29/06) one is supposed to be on it's way to me from Russia and when it arrives I'll be testing it and posting my findings here on this website. Stay tuned!

Some Canon cameras have interchangable focusing screens and for some of these cameras split image center rangefinder screens are available which can help in focusing. The old 620, 630, 650, RT series cameras had such a screen available, along with the EOS-1, 1n, 1v and EOS-3. The A2/A2e/5 have interchangable screens too, but no split image screen was made for that camera series.

The screens in the Digital Rebel, Digital Rebel XT and EOS 20D are not officially interchangable, but there is a 3rd party screen maker www.keoptics.com who do make split image rangfinder screens for these cameras. The cost of the screen is $100, plus an extra $50 if you want them to do the installation.

Note that you can (with normal eyesight) focus quite well using the standard screens in most EOS cameras - or I should probably say that at least I can. It requires some care and a little practice, but it can be done. For those who have difficulty, the use of an eyepiece magnifier may help, though this only shows you the center of the screen, so framing becomes difficult. The Canon Angle Finder C gives you switchable 1.25x and 2.5x magnification as well as right angle viewing. Cost is around $180.

Is there any point in using manual focus lenses?

I think the answer is generally no, not unless you have to. For example if you want a 500/8 mirror lens, you have no choice but to adapt a manual focus lens. The other reason might be cost saving for a lens like a fisheye. The Zenitar 16/2.8 fisheye costs around $120, while the Canon 15/2.8 fisheye costs around $550. Since fisheye lenses barely need focusing (they have a huge depth of field) and since they're a lens that most people would only use very occasionally, it makes sense to save $400+.  On the other hand there's really no point in adapting a 50mm lens since the Canon EF 50/1.8 II costs $75 new. You can argue that the optical quality of the manual focus lens is better that that of a similar  EF lens, but I haven't found that really to be the case, at least with comparably prices optics. The two Pentax lenses I tested (50/1/4 and 55/2) were really no better performers than the Canon EF 50/1.8 II. 

You can find some very inexpensive Pentax screw mount lenses. For example for under $30 you can probably find a 28/2.8, a 35/2.8, a 135/2.8 and any number of 50mm lenses from f1.4 to f2. If you just want to experiment, these lenses and an M42 to EOS adapter offer a very cheap route. Optical quality may not be the highest, but then neither is the cost.

Some people suggest that the manual focus Zeiss 21mm f2.8 is significantly better than the Canon 20/2.8 or any of the wideangle zooms which cover 21mm, and is, in fact, one of the very best wideangles available, especially in terms of corner and edge sharpness . I can't confirm this myself since I haven't personally used one, but I see no reason why it couldn't be true and it certainly appears to be the case judging from image samples I've seen posted on the web. However, it will cost you around $1700 new (the Canon EF20/2.8 is closer to $400), so it's certainly not a cheap route to optical quality!