Which vintage manual-focus lenses can adapt to a Canon EOS 550D with infinity focus?
Asked 5/3/2020
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I have a Canon EOS 550D (EF/EF-S mount) and want to use older manual-focus lenses that are inexpensive but still good optically. I’m fine without autofocus and understand the APS-C crop factor, so I’m mainly interested in roughly 24–35mm prime lenses.
I’ve read that some mounts, such as Konica AR and Canon FD, generally cannot reach infinity focus on Canon EF bodies without an adapter that uses optical correction. Which older lens mounts can be adapted to the 550D with a simple mechanical adapter while keeping the full focusing range, including infinity?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
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Olympus, Nikon and Pentax lenses are easily adaptable to the EF mount with simple adapters that do not require optical correction to maintain infinity focus. See the complete list below....
Bob Atkins: Using Manual Focus Lenses on Canon EOS bodies
Canon EOS Lens Adapters
Flange to Focal Plane Distance
“The focus of a lens is determined by the distance from the lens to the sensor. A mechanical adapter which allows a lens to be mounted on an EOS body and focused to infinity is only possible if the lens is designed to focus an image at a distance greater than that between a standard EF series lens and the sensor in the EOS body. This is because you need some space for the mechanical adapter between the EOS body and the lens. If the lens is designed to focus an image at a shorter distance then an EOS EF lens, then the manual focus lens would have to be put inside the EOS body! The distance from the mounting flange on the back of the lens to the film (or digital sensor) is known as the "Flange Back", or the "Flange to Focal Plane" distance, or sometimes as the "Flange to Film" distance.”
”Here's a list of flange-to-focal-plane distances. For all Canon EOS cameras it is 44.0mm, which is shorter than most other major cameras. This enables (in theory) lens adapters to be constructed for the lenses shown in green below. Lenses shown in red (which includes all Canon FD and earlier lenses) cannot be mounted on an EOS body and still reach infinity focus without some intermediate optics.”
Originally by user39427. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user39427
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
On a Canon EOS 550D, the best vintage lens mounts are the ones with a longer flange focal distance than Canon EF/EF-S, because they can use a simple mechanical adapter and still focus to infinity.
Common 35mm SLR mounts that adapt well to Canon EF/EF-S are:
- leica r
- contax/yashica
- nikon f
- pentax k
- olympus om
- m42
These are commonly available with straightforward adapters that do not need optical elements. That’s the key difference versus mounts like Konica AR or Canon FD, which generally need a corrective optical adapter to reach infinity on EF bodies. Those adapters act a bit like a teleconverter, usually changing focal length/aperture and often reducing image quality.
Medium-format film lenses can also often be adapted, though adapter availability varies.
So if you want cheap manual-focus lenses with full focus range on your 550D, start by looking at M42, Olympus OM, Pentax K, Nikon F, Contax/Yashica, and Leica R.
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