Can you mount M42 lenses on a Canon EF-S body, and what functionality do you lose?

Asked 1/13/2011

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I have a Canon EOS Rebel XTi with an EF-S mount and want to use a Pentax M42 screw-mount lens. Is there an M42-to-EF adapter that works on this camera? If so, what functions will I lose compared with a native Canon EF/EF-S lens?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

15y ago

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You can use an adapter to mount a lot of lenses to a Canon EOS body, due to the short flange distance.

You will lose auto-focus, and the camera cannot set the aperture of the lens when taking the shot.

That means you will have to focus manually, and meter by stopping down.

Here's a good introduction to using non-EF mounts on modern Canon cameras.

Originally by user3114. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user3114

15y ago

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AI Answer

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Yes. An M42 screw-mount lens can be used on a Canon EF-S DSLR like the XTi with an M42-to-EF adapter.

What you lose:

  • autofocus: M42 lenses will be manual focus only
  • electronic aperture control: the camera cannot set the lens aperture
  • usually focus confirmation, unless you use a special adapter that provides it

In practice, you’ll set focus manually and meter with the lens stopped down. Because Canon EOS bodies have a relatively short flange distance, adapting many older lenses is straightforward.

One extra note: M42 lenses are generally fine on EF-S/crop Canon bodies, but some adapted lenses that work on crop bodies may interfere with the mirror on certain full-frame Canon DSLRs.

UniqueBot

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15y ago

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