Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus)

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

The lens adapter is great. Now I can use my Canon 35mm lens on my Canon digital camera. Thanks B&H for a good buy with excellent fast shipping.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

It allows me to use my old 35 mm Canon lens on my digital Canon camera.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

Without repeating too much of what everyone else said, I'll share my experience with this item after testing and using it in the field for a few weeks.

The adapter is compatible with canon lenses (fl, fd, fdn) predating the eos lineup. As expected, the optical element reduces light to the viewfinder/sensor by about 2/3rds of a stop. Acting as an extension tube (with or without optical element), it yields roughly a 1.25x magnification.

Let's Attach This Thing:
If you're familiar with fd lenses and your eos body, someone could hand you this adapter in the dark and you could feel your way around it and assemble everything in less than 5 minutes. The piece of paper in the box was obviously a coaster for your coffee rather than an instruction manual. On a technical note, the optical element inside the adapter screws in and out easily with the tip of your finger. This is extremely helpful if you want to quickly switch from a telephoto to a 28mm (eg) because you'll be able to adjust the optics' positioning on the fly once you figure out what approximate depths work best for your lenses. I was able to get infinity focus with the adapter's optical element nearly flush with a 28mm 1.8 fdn when turned to infinity focus on the lens. Word of caution tho...the images are degraded at infinity so I wouldn't use this adapter if you're using it for the sole purpose of landscape photography.

Optical Quality:
For the $ I didn't have super high expectations. Bower seemed to manufacture this item as more of a general use adapter for the whole fl/fd lineup. Like most lenses, the more you stop down, the better the optical quality (less light refraction). In the case of this product, under strong lighting conditions, expect purple and/or cyan fringing on certain subjects at any stop. From the use of a 300mm f4 fdn, I've found that the key to reducing the nastiest of "purple fringing" is tack on focusing and making sure the adapter is in lock position. This allows you Av control. When properly dialed in, the Sharpness of your subject shouldn't be affected compared to an AF lens of equal optical quality...I've captured some finely detailed wildlife from 100+ feet and incredibly sharp captures from 50 to 10ft.

Summing Things Up:
If you have an old telephoto prime and can't afford the inflated prices of the latest and greatest EF[-s] equivalents, this product will impress you. Just make sure to practice good post production technique if you're submitting your photo for picture of the year.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

Without repeating too much of what everyone else said, I'll share my experience with this item after testing and using it in the field for a couple weeks.The adapter is compatible with canon lenses (fl, fd, fdn) predating the eos lineup. As expected, the optical element reduces light to the viewfinder/sensor by about 2/3rds of a stop. Acting as an extension tube (with or without optical element), it yields roughly a 1.25x magnification. Let's Attach This Thing:If you're familiar with fd lenses and your eos body, someone could hand you this adapter in the dark and you could feel your way around it and assemble everything in less than 5 minutes. The piece of paper in the box was obviously a coaster for your coffee rather than an instruction manual. On a technical note, the optical element inside the adapter screws in and out easily with the tip of your finger. This is extremely helpful if you want to quickly switch from a telephoto to a 28mm (eg) because you'll be able to adjust the optics' positioning on the fly once you figure out what approximate depths work best for your lenses. I was able to get infinity focus with the adapter's optical element nearly flush with a 28mm 1.8 fdn when turned to infinity focus on the lens. Lenses will differ. Word of caution tho...the images aren't tack sharp at infinity so I wouldn't use this adapter if you're a die hard landscape photographer looking for superb images. Optical Quality:For [$] I didn't have super high expectations. Bower seemed to manufacture this item as more of a general use adapter for the whole fl/fd lineup. Like most lenses, the more you stop down, the better the optical quality (less light refraction). In the case of this product, under strong lighting conditions, expect purple and/or cyan fringing on certain subjects at any stop. From the use of a 300mm f4 fdn, I've found that the key to reducing the nastiest of "purple fringing" is tack on focusing and making sure the adapter is in [what i believe] open position. This essentially allows you Av control. When properly dialed in, the Sharpness of your subject shouldn't be affected compared to an AF lens of equal optical quality...I've captured some finely detailed wildlife from 100+ feet and incredibly sharp captures from 50 to 10ft. Summing Things Up:If you have an old telephoto prime and can't afford the inflated prices of the latest and greatest EF[-s] equivalents, this product will impress you. Just make sure to practice good post production technique if you're submitting your photo for picture of the year.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

works

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

it looses a full stop, so it didnt help me with my 1.8 lens. some lens worked fine, but it's a lot of tweaking. I returned it and will save my money for a EOS lens

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

You cant judge lens quality/picture quality by adapter ring. Works perfectly! Added 2 nice lens to my collection with with this gadget.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

I picked this up more out of curiosity than anything. I have a couple old FD lenses that I thought could be fun to have the added versatility if I felt like it, so I bought this to try them out. After reading reviews it looked to me like it would be easy enough to get working, just take a little bit of fiddling with the lens in the adapter to get it adjusted right to be able to focus. I didn't make a scientific exercise out of it by any means, but after playing with the adapter for about an hour, I could only get it so clear and able to be focused. I wasn't dead set on it working by any means, and I'm pretty sure if I dedicated more time to it, I could get it closer than I did in my one sitting. For now I just pulled the lens out and I'm using it like a short extension. Without the lens it obviously takes clear pictures, but your focal distance is reduced drastically, to a few feet at best with my lens selection.

Not a bad gizmo to have around, but I wouldn't suggest one to anyone who's looking for something beyond playing with it and having a little fun.

A few quick notes on the other attributes of it. It is kind of confusing to mount. Simple enough, as long as you know how to mount an EOS and an FD lens, I just can't be bothered to pay attention to how it goes on, so I have to re-learn the task every time I do it, which is entirely my own laziness.

The lock ring on it slides a tab on the FD lens to one side. I'm not familiar with FD lenses enough to know what that tab is for, if anything. But the lock ring does move *something* on the lens, it just doesn't physically lock the lens to the adapter, or the adapter to the camera, like some seem to expect.

It would be nice if it came with caps or a case, but I had a body cap for an AE-1, and a lens cap for the lens that is mounted to that camera, I just threw those on there.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

Works excellent, it took a little getting use to the fact that I couldn;t use it at infinity, but after reading some other reviews, I found out that you have to adjust the glass in the lens.. When you get it in the right place it works fine. I would recomend this product to my friends.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

it fits great and i can easily adapt my old canon lens¡¡¡¡

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

Being able to use my old lens is great and so far the results are just what I expected. Only wish I could auto focus too!

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

This item worked great with my Canon EOS Rebel T3. I have a 70-210mm fd lens put that on the adapter and it worked great! Saved me a ton of money!

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

The products works exactly how they say it will, and i had no trouble fitting it on my camera. This peice saved me about 1000$ to buy another telephoto lens so it was well worth the price. Now i can use my colection of film lenses on my new canon rebel t3i.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

I'm an old school semi-pro photographer that's recently moved into the Digital field. This FD lens adapter lets me use all of my old Canon DF lenses on my Canon EOS. Also, it has saved me a boat load of money in not having to buy a wide variety of new lenses for my digital camera. The manual focus aspect is no big deal as I'm a fan of manual focus in the first place.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

I bought this adapter to be able to use an Canon FD Series 500mm mirror reflex lens. When researching this adapter online, I saw very mixed reviews -- either people loved it or hated it. Some couldn't figure out how to use it and bemoaned the fact no instructions came with it. Mine did come with a sheet of instructions, although they were a tortured Chinese-to-English translation that really made them worthless. Fitting the adapter to the lens and the camera is as easy as you would expect. The tricky part is the lens inside the adapter. It is removable -- it threads in and out, about 10 revolutions or so. With it in place as it was delivered, it was impossible for my Canon T1i to focus on infinity. Removing the optics all together did not solve the problem either.But, by threading it in halfway, about five revolutions, I was able to get good manual focus on an object about three miles away (a rocket on a launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station). You'll need to play with the focal adjustment for your camera, but for [$] I can now use long lens that has been in mothballs for years. It's a good option if you can't afford a new lens. For me, it was well worth the price.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

Use this with a T3i and a FD 50mm 1.8 lens I already had, figuring I would get some use from the old lens. Unfortunately, this adaptor does not hold down the small bar on the back of the FD mount needed to adjust the aperture manually. This means my aperture was permanently stuck and the resulting images were hazy and blown out at best.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

Bought this item several months ago and used it on several prime FD's I've had for years. at first it didn't seem to focus right so I tried it without the inner lens and was able to get some fantastic close focus shots. Put the glass back in and like many didn't know where it went so I just guessed and started adjusing it a quarter turn till i got it right then a bit of super glue and a week of curing and I tried it again with better results than out of the box. Ordered 2 more and took the glass out of one and use it on my bellows and macro lens and adjusted the other to optimal focus and locked it in place like the first. Now I leave them attached to my 24 and 85 and just swap out the lenses without having to align the inner workings. It's been fun to be able to use my old prime glass again. Maybe I'll buy one or two more for the other lenses in my inventory

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

great way to adapt old lenses for DSLRs

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

It works as advertised. Very easy to use. Fits well with my EOS DSLR.

Comments about Bower Lens Adapter - FD (Manual Focus) System to Canon EOS (Auto Focus):

The adapter certainly makes FD lenses usable on newer EOS bodies - but with limitations. The unit comes with very limited instructions but it is not difficult to figure out. One of the things I noticed right away was that it takes a bit for the EOS body to meter with this adapter and FD lens attached. There is a brief pause before the exposure marker moves when you change camera settings. It also takes a bit to get use to manually focusing again with not split image focus assist.

The internal optical element is used for infinity focus and can be removed if you want to use the FD lens for macro use. When putting the optical element back into place, there is no internal marker to tell you when it is back in its "normal" position. Depending on where you put it, I think this affects its magnification. Also, the screw thread of the optical element is not really "tight", a tad sloppy so this may affect the quality of the shot.

My FD lenses are mid-range and give okay results. I did notice that there was more chromatic abberation compared to my EF lenses so you have to be careful pointing at light sources like the sun.

The price is excellent and it does what it was advertised to do. For me, I didn't get great results beause of the quality of my lenses. I would recommend this for people with higher quality FD glass and for them to remove the optical element if their shooting needs don't require infinity focus all the time.