Canon FD lenses

So, I was thinking of tearing apart an old FD lens, as well as an old lens of mine and trying to mash them together. Is there anything functionally different between the operation of these two lenses? (i.e. shutter leaver works in the opposite way)

What are you actually trying to do?

http://www.ganymeta.org/~darren/photo_f1.2_conversion.php would lead me to believe that it's possible as he had to extend his mount. The FD is 42mm, and the EF is 44mm, but he had to extend his mounting device by at least enough to allow for the 45.5mm that exists on a Pentax.

In theory, the optics should work, I'm just more concerned with the mechanics.

Apart from the body castings I would think they won't have a lot in common.

Unless they're both the same make and focal length that is.

Whether you can get a usable lens out of the pile of bits will be dubious.

So would anyone know how the shutter is triggered on a canon system / aperture system works on a canon as compared to a pentax system? Surely someone has both types of lenses around and can look at the mechanics on the bottom.

The good news is that the rest state of FD lenses is the same as PK ones (ie closed until an action is performed).

The bad news is that these were breech-lock lenses, not bayonets. The registration distance is too short (so you'd lose infinity), and the levers that operate the aperture are in the wrong place for Pentax - meaning completely new internals would need to be fabricated to make it work.

It would be a very brave project (and nothing's impossible!) but the level of bespoke components that needed to be fabricated mean that again you're likely to end up spending more money making it work than it would to just buy an equivalent Pentax lens in the first place.

As far as I'm aware the only lenses that will successfully work on the K mount (other than K mount lenses of course) are:

M42 (many manufacturers)
Nikon (pre-AI no adapter required)
Contax/Yashica (with modified bayonet mount)
Leica R (with modified bayonet mount)
Pretty much any MF/LF lens with an appropriate adapter. Adapters readily available for Pentax 645, Pentax 67 and Pentacon 6. LF lenses require a additional focussing mechanism such as bellows.

I'd forget anything from Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Praktica B, etc (certainly no rangefinder lenses such as Leica M or Contax) as they'll just be far more trouble than the end results would ever justify.

Hope that helps

Hrm, well it gives hope. I want to avoid any actual fabrication and leave it up to epoxy and will power, but maybe I'll go forward with this then.

Good luck!

http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/23000297/Images/102/cam7343__1.... shows that the levers may operate in the opposite direction to that of the pentax. Hrm, that was one concern.

EDIT: my bad - never mind the leaver is on the left because the aperture is wide open. Hrm, this could work.

This adaptor might be of interest:

link

I have just ordered one myself as I have access to a collection of FD lenses. The additional optical element may be a factor in the quality achievable, I will report back when it arrives.

When you are done please post some pictures of your creation, and some shots taken with it.

Cheers,

/Ian

After reading Hefty's comment, above. I got quite excited! I tried a Nikon pre-AI lens on my istD. It does indeed fit in the throat, but it can't be rotated to fix in position. I couldn't get it to, anyway. I took a few shots through it by holding it in the mount while shooting. Pity, I have a couple of nice pre-AI lenses for my Nikkormat. It would have been nice to be able to use them straight on the K mount, if only with limited function.

That is a drawback of the Nikon lenses, although I'm given to believe certain lenses will, if not quite lock, rotate far enough on to be semi-convenient. Not 100% sure which though as I don't have any to hand...

With the others, as long as you're careful not to drop them then it should be possible to get infinity focus, metering, AF confirmation and shake reduction - all without the need for extra optical elements or an adapter. Better than a poke in the eye!

In the above linked post the seller says:

Does s/he know something we don't?

K.

So it seems I'm not alone in this idea I've found a bunch of websites with people doing it, so it can be done. That's quite exciting. Most say it won't cost much other than blood, sweat and tears - yay!

So here's a question for ya'll... I'd love a 50mm f1.2, and I may be able to get a cheapish one. I've also found a cheap 28mm f1.8. The other end of the scale, I may look for a cheapish 300 f2.8 or bigger. What do you think I should start with?

Also, anyone have a good lead for cheap FD glass? Or for that matter, have any that they want to get rid of?