FD lenses on NEX?

[Inchiquin]

Has anyone used a Canon FD lens on a NEX? I still have my old FD 50mm macro which was a superb lens and I've now spotted that you can get adaptors from about £5 upwards (though I doubt if I would buy the cheapest ones). I'm thinking that the NEX6 with a 50mm macro would make rather a nice bit of table-top studio kit, something that I've always struggled to get the 5D2/24-105 to do successfully.

 

Alan

 

[Ed Rooney]

Morning, Alan.

 

David Kilpatrick has a video on YouTube where he shows various marriages between the DSLR lenses and NEX cameras.  

 

 

Others on YouTube have videos on the subject too. 

 

I have a bunch of fine old Nikon primes, so I bought an adopter for Nikon to NEX-6 and NEX-7 and planned to keep a few of my favorite ai lenses: 105 (view of 157.5) and 135 (202.5). As I'm sure you've noticed, these adopters run from about $20 to $300. I bought the cheapest one and found that there were no real problems (except not having any auto functions). My thinking was: if this cheap one doesn't fit well I'm out just $20, and I'll then consider something more costly. 

 

As it turned out, I've not really been using the Nikon/Sony combos. If I were out in the great beyond doing landscapes and other leisurely setups the Nikons might well get some use . . . but here I am in the city, a Street shooter, and I need to work faster and without a tripod. I want to be able to do tabletop but do not have the space at this time. (I own 4 Nikon macros.) David or someone would know if there are any special focus problems with macros on NEX.  Good luck.  

[Inchiquin]

Ah, that looks very useful. Thank you Ed. I shall watch it with my afternoon tea and hot cross bun.

 

Alan

[Bryan]

I've tried a 50mm f1.8 and a 28mm f2.8 Canon FD on the NEX 6.  I have the 50mm and adapter in front of me as I type! They were both fine, but I found that bayonet fitting less convenient to use than the simpler arrangement on old Pentax and Olympus lenses, while the FDs didn't offer anything special optically over and above those marques. I guess that there will be stellar FD lenses that you might possess just as I have found the very old Pentax K 28mm f3,5, and Zuiko 50mm f1.8  to be a pair of gems.

 

I enjoy using old glass and manual focus on the NEX is a dream. Being something of a Luddite, I prefer being in total control of the focus, having been let down by auto focus systems too many times. 

[John Mitchell]

Ah, that looks very useful. Thank you Ed. I shall watch it with my afternoon tea and hot cross bun.

 

Alan

I'm sure there is an adapter that will allow you to fit a hot cross bun on your NEX.

[Inchiquin]

 

Ah, that looks very useful. Thank you Ed. I shall watch it with my afternoon tea and hot cross bun.

 

Alan

I'm sure there is an adapter that will allow you to fit a hot cross bun on your NEX.

 

Well, I've seen a toaster fitted in a computer so I guess anything's possible.

 

Alan

[Bryan]

I've just had a look through some of the test images that I have shot and have posted a couple of comparisons of the Sony 16-50 against the Zuiko 50mm f1,8.

 

These results are typical of what I have seen when comparing old manual focus lenses by the leading brands of the day with the Sony kit zoom.

 

Alan wanted to know about FD lenses in particular and I have looked up a couple of test images from the FD 50mm f1.8.  Stopped down to 5.6 it is very good, sharp from edge to edge of the frame, and giving a more contrasty image overall than the Sony. I don't have an exact comparison for demonstration unfortunately. The picture is the same with the humble and very cheap Pentax 50 mm f1.7, it's a far better lens that the Sony at 50 mm. I normally use the 50mm Zuiko, but I would be  happy to shoot with the Pentax.

 

Alan - if you want to see the photos  PM me.

[Inchiquin]

Many thanks Bryan. I've now watched David K's video and I'm completely sold so I'm going to get an FD adaptor without further ado. It's also opened my eyes to other possibilities too - for example I have an old set of BPM bellows sitting in my cupboard, I've got a Tamron 500mm mirror lens which would give me 800mm equivalent, and I'm also now wondering what the NEX would make of my EF lenses. I think I'm going to enjoy this camera!

 

Your comparison shots are quite revealing but the quality from your 16-50 is not as good as I've been seeing from mine.

 

Alan

[Bryan]

I suspect that the Sony is at its worst at 50mm, and I have had better results at other focal lengths, indeed I have had no qualms over uploading to Alamy and all have passed QC.

 

However, at all focal lengths I have obtained better results from prime lenses. The files from them produce larger JPGs, indicating that they are capturing more detail, while they just appear to have more zip about them.

 

I would be interested to see some comparison shots from your Sony when you get the FD adapter Alan.

 

I've also used a 500mm Tamron mirror on the NEX, it's very difficult to keep the thing steady, even using a decent tripod!  It's quite good reasonably close up, but I've been unable to get decent results at a distance. Could be my Tamron is not great?

[Inchiquin]

I've also used a 500mm Tamron mirror on the NEX, it's very difficult to keep the thing steady, even using a decent tripod!  It's quite good reasonably close up, but I've been unable to get decent results at a distance. Could be my Tamron is not great?

 

Mine isn't brilliant either. I haven't yet captured anything that I would put through QC with confidence. That may be because I haven't put enough effort into making it rock steady. But I kept the lens mainly for my own amusement rather than expecting it to be Alamy-worthy.

 

Alan

[Robert M Estall]

Brian; of course, on the 50mm prime, being a full frame lens, you are nowhere near the edge whereas with the zoom you are getting near that area which is so often dodgy.

 

I guess most of us have a spare 50mm of one brand or another hanging around from the old days. I don't actually have a Nex at the moment, but if someone could convince me I could get life out of old Canon FD lenses, I might well get in the game. Sitting in the bottom drawer is a cracking f 1.8 85mm which is very compact and a f2-8 135mm which isn't huge.  There is also an f 2.8 200mm but it definitely doesn't fit in a pocket and might overbalance a small Nex.

 

as for 500 mm mirror lenses, hardly any of them were up to much except amusement. The strange out-of-focus blobs were always good fun.

[Ed Rooney]

 

When doing brochures for airlines I always carried my Nikon (f8?) 500mm mirror lens. I've shot enough catamarans against the setting sun to last me two lifetimes. But the Nikon 500 was a sharp lens.

 

On a different note, I don't see the point in going small with a system and then using giant optics.

[Inchiquin]

On a different note, I don't see the point in going small with a system and then using giant optics

 

For everyday use, no. But I'm increasingly seeing this NEX as both a work tool and a plaything, and one simple adaptor can open up several possibilities for play.

 

Alan

[John Mitchell]

I suspect that the Sony is at its worst at 50mm, and I have had better results at other focal lengths, indeed I have had no qualms over uploading to Alamy and all have passed QC.

 

However, at all focal lengths I have obtained better results from prime lenses. The files from them produce larger JPGs, indicating that they are capturing more detail, while they just appear to have more zip about them.

 

I would be interested to see some comparison shots from your Sony when you get the FD adapter Alan.

 

I've also used a 500mm Tamron mirror on the NEX, it's very difficult to keep the thing steady, even using a decent tripod!  It's quite good reasonably close up, but I've been unable to get decent results at a distance. Could be my Tamron is not great?

I sold my 500 mm Tamron mirror lens because I hardly ever used it. Also, the results weren't that great. Didn't think they would be good enough for Alamy. The close ups were OK, but that's not what I wanted a mirror lens for. Manual focusing it was also a real pain.

 

Minolta made the only mirror lens with AF, as far as I know. It later was rebranded by Sony:

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/sony500.shtml

[Bryan]

 

 

On a different note, I don't see the point in going small with a system and then using giant optics.

 

Cracking shot Ed, love it.

 

The lenses designed for, in particular Pentax and Olympus around the era of the ME/MX and OM1, are very compact and light, and of course there's no auto focus gubbins nor image stabilisation, which keeps the size down while there's less to go wrong.

 

I have contemplated buying an expensive auto focus adapter to fit my Canon EOS lenses to the NEX, but mainly for the reason you cite, I didn't pursue it.

[Ed Rooney]

Thank you, Bryan. A sandwich of three transparencies, part of a sci-fi book I was doing with a New York agent, who suddenly went out of business. 

[John Mitchell]

Thank you, Bryan. A sandwich of three transparencies, part of a sci-fi book I was doing with a New York agent, who suddenly went out of business. 

Excellent use of doughnuts. Looks very otherworldly,

[Ed Rooney]

In these days of Photoshop manipulations my sandwiches back then seem pretty tame. I had about a dozen images tied together with text . . . the text made things work. Que será, será.

[David Kilpatrick]

The video is pretty old now. I've been working with full frame adaptors, and despite the lying and deceptive approach taken by 'UK' sellers who are really in China I've ordered a Kipon Tilt-Shift adaptor for Nikon F lenses just now. I'm waiting - several days after it was officially due to arrive - for a Canon EF to NEX adaptor. Do not use Cam2UK or Digiunited on eBay if you want your goods to arrive when stated, or want any response from the former when a return and refund is needed.

 

Nikon adaptor - $20 HK type - admits light through its lens release latch! I had to repair this using black lightproofing putty. Leica M helical close-focus adaptor (see above) was 10mm thick instead of 9.8mm and therefore would not focus on infinity. Found out that most Chinese engineers consider 9.8mm and 10mm to be close enough. For my regular Leica M/screw fit lenses, I now have a Novoflex M to NEX adaptor, because even with a 12mm or 15mm, it's perfect at infinity.

 

Tilt adaptors - my expensive Kipon has no centre/neutral lock. Every position is guesswork. So it can't be used as an adaptor with optional tilt. My Russian version has a zero position so can be used every day, but it works by tilting the front mount from pivot position to one side. The Kipon tilts around the rear node of the lens. So I'm getting their tilt-shift, because this has zero positions for both movements, and tilts the lens around the centre of the sensor (correct design). However, I have had to choose one mount type. I wanted Canon FD. but the back focus distance is too slim - they only make this adaptor for the five thickest body type lens mounts (M42, Olympus OM, Leica R, Contax/Y, Nikon).

 

The reason I wanted Canon FD is that I already have a 20mm FD which I use on a Kipon shift adaptor. This lens has a circle of coverage large enough to allow a 5mm shift on full frame. I also had an FD 17mm and I'm pretty sure it has very little extra coverage. I have a Tokina 17mm and suggest that this, also, is very tight on 24 x 36mm. I have bought a used Nikon AI 18mm f/4 to try with the Kipon tilt-shift, on the basis that this specification is likely to have the best circle of coverage - but I may be disappointed. Alternatives to get the extra few mm I need to use tilt-shift could include Voigtlander 20mm f/3.5 Nikon mount, Carl Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZF but the cost of trying all the choices to find the best is overhwelming - many times any return I might get from an article if ever published.

 

I also have many other lenses, Pentax 50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/3.5, Macro 50mm f/4 SMC, assorted Minolta MD and with both LA-EA3 and LA-EA4 adaptors a range of Minolta to Sony AF lenses.

 

By using MF and AF, and these adaptors, I have compared many lenses. There is one factor which benefits manual, old lenses and that is accurate focus. If you take a modern zoom, which superficially appears very inferior to a 1960s standard lens, it may be because that zoom if never focusing correctly - AF modules and even contrast-detect on sensor focus rarely focus any lens properly. On the NEX there is a further issue. If you use Aperture priority, the cameras have two different behaviours, controlled by light level. In low light full aperture will be used, but if the light is good, the NEX will view and focus at working aperture which might well be f/11. This results in very imprecise focus. You can correct this by using Program exposure, which always focuses wide open. But don't dismiss the quality of today's lenses unless you treat the same way as vintage glass and focus them carefully, manually, wide open.

 

Oh - and Sony is going to launch a mirror lens for NEX, probably at photokina - likely to be a 350mm very compact stabilised design for APS-C - the world's first stabilised mirror lens.

[Bryan]

Interesting and useful post David, I'd not thought of using manual focus with the kit lens and will give that a try.

 

Re adapters, all that I have bought, none expensive, enable infinity focus, fit snugly and don't have any other issues that I can detect, but only those designed for Pentax fit are accurate enough to allow me to set infinity on the distance scale and know that the result will be sharp. The others will all permit focus beyond infinity, which is not a killer, but a slight nuisance as you can't use the distance scale. The Pentax adapters came from BV-electronics via Amazon and cost £23.

[Ed Rooney]

I've put in the link to your adapter video a couple of times now, David, and I always think: "Should I ask David's permission first?" But then I realize you have it up on YouTube, so it's not exactly in the category of something that Edward Snowden might want to share. Thanks for the additional comments. 

 

Edo

[John Mitchell]

"Oh - and Sony is going to launch a mirror lens for NEX, probably at photokina - likely to be a 350mm very compact stabilised design for APS-C - the world's first stabilised mirror lens."

 

Very interesting, David. Do you know if the new mirror/reflex lens will be AF or manual focus?

 

I generally use program shift with my NEX-6, mainly because I like this mode and really missed it on the NEX-3. Glad to hear that it can improve the focusing capabilities of the camera. Didn't realize that using P-S caused the camera to focus wide open. Live and learn.

[David Kilpatrick]

Pretty certain it will be AF - like an updated Minolta AF but for APS-C and a bit faster, with stabilisation.

[John Mitchell]

Pretty certain it will be AF - like an updated Minolta AF but for APS-C and a bit faster, with stabilisation.

I remember trying the Minolta AF mirror lens out years ago, and it seemed pretty fast. Don't know how sharp it was, though. It will be interesting to see what Sony comes up with for the NEX. A compact, and usable (?), lens like this might be a worthwhile addition to the system.

[Bryan]

Just carried out further tests of the Sony 16-50 against the Zuiko 50 and updated my blog post with the results.

 

There is a very slight improvement to be had in focusing the Sony kit zoom manually, but the Zuiko 50mm f1.8 is still markedly superior. ( I manually focused both lenses at f5.6 and stopped down to f8)