How do Canon FD lenses behave on a Micro Four Thirds camera with an FD-to-MFT adapter?
Asked 8/6/2018
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I have a Panasonic Lumix G7 and want to use Canon FD lenses with a simple FD-to-Micro Four Thirds adapter. I'm considering a 28mm f/2.8 and a 50mm f/1.4. How will they behave on Micro Four Thirds in terms of field of view and aperture? Does the adapter change the focal length or f-number, or is it just the smaller sensor crop that changes the effective view?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
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FD-to-MFT adapters do not contain any additional optics, so in and of themselves, do not contribute to any change in the appearance of the image.
The Micro Four Thirds system typically uses sensors with a crop factor of 2. This value can be used to determine the "equivalent" FOV in terms of a full-frame body. For the purposes of calculating exposure, the aperture remains the same. However, it may be useful to multiply the aperture by the crop factor to get an idea of its effect on bokeh.
The 28mm F2.8 lens will have a FOV "equivalent" to a 56mm lens and bokeh that looks like F5.6 on a full-frame camera, but exposure will still be taken with F2.8.
The 50mm F1.4 lens will have a FOV "equivalent" to a 100mm lens on a full-frame camera. Bokeh will look like F2.8, and exposure will be calculated with F1.4.
Originally by user75526. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user75526
7y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A standard Canon FD-to-Micro Four Thirds adapter is usually just a mechanical spacer with no optics, so the adapter itself does not change image quality, focal length, or f-number.
What changes is the field of view because Micro Four Thirds has a 2x crop factor compared with full frame:
- 28mm behaves like a 56mm full-frame equivalent field of view
- 50mm behaves like a 100mm full-frame equivalent field of view
For exposure, the aperture does not change:
- f/2.8 stays f/2.8
- f/1.4 stays f/1.4
If you’re comparing depth of field/background blur to full frame, you can think of it as roughly 2 stops “deeper” on MFT at the same framing, so:
- 28mm f/2.8 gives blur similar to about f/5.6 on full frame
- 50mm f/1.4 gives blur similar to about f/2.8 on full frame
So: same exposure, narrower field of view, and less background blur than full frame for the same equivalent framing.
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AI7y ago
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