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Can old lenses be used on a new slr camera?


I have a canon AE-1 that I have had from the late 70's. It's getting old and needs repairs again. Can the lenses from that camera be used on a current camera?


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November 27, 2002

 

doug Nelson
  Charlie. as a life-long Canon fan, I've butted my head against this one. Generally, no, FD lenses cannot be used on Canon EOS cameras or on any others. Don't believe these internet auction people who claim they have an FD-to-EOS adapter. These work only on macro lenses or long teles, because the adapters don't allow infinity focus. FD's are, however, great lenses. You might consider replacing the AE-1 with an F-1, a very reliable professional manual-focus camera.


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November 27, 2002

 

doug Nelson
  I have to update my response to this one. Canon made adapters for macro lenses and long teles. Those adapters do not allow infinity focus, but one would not need it for those specialized purposes.
The adapters being sold on ebay and elsewhere allow you to focus to infinity. However, they have a glass element to allow for the different lens-to-film distance between EOS and FD lenses. You can expect that glass element to cause at least a slight softening of your image. That effect may be negligible or disastrous, depending on the adapter maker's quality control. Canon does not make such an adapter.


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April 07, 2003

 

doug Nelson
  Read more at http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-manual-lenses/


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April 07, 2003

 
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