# Nikon body Canon Lens??.. is this dumb?



## random2

I been reading reviews after reviews... bottom line I'm wondering can you mix lenses and body's etc.. Has any one done this? Is this Obsurd or not? I just want the best bang for my buck on a quality lens up to 500mm.


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## Derrel

The Canon EOS system can accept lenses from many different 35mm SLR/digital lens systems, due to the back focus distance of Canon--it is rather long. Nikon F, Pentax K, Pentax M-42 thread, Leica R, Yashica/Contax,as well as many medium format lenses (Mamiya 645, Bronica SQ series, Hasselblad,etc) can all be adapted to use on Canon bodies. All with glass-free lens adapters that will allow infinity focusing.

The reverse is not true; Canon EF lenses do not have aperture control rings on any lenses, and the back focus distance (flange to focal plane distance) is wrong for adapting other lenses to Nikon bodies.

The 4/3 system is also excellent for adapting lenses, as is the newer micro 4/3 system.


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## Mike_E

If you want to focus on infinity you are going to have to stick with Nikon mounts on a Nikon  body.


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## Dwig

As a rule, lens mounts are different on different brand equipment and they don't mix without serious limitations. Mixing will always require an adapter of some sort. The limitations include:

1. Mechanical communication between body and lens is no longer present. Iris stop down when the picture is taken becomes manual and mechanical meter coupling isn't present.

2. Electronic communication between body and lens is no longer present. This mean no autofocus, limited or complete lack of light meter function, limited or complete lack of aperture controls and possibly other functionality loss.

3. Inability to focus to infinity. If the register distance for the body (distance from body flange to film/sensor) is close to or greater than the body the lens was designed for the addition of the necessary adapter will prevent the lens from focusing to infinity. This means that if the lens and body combination can be made to work it will be only useful for closeup and macro work. There are some adapters that function as low power tele-extenders and get around this problem but the added optics change the lens' focal length and generally degrade image quality significantly.

The bottom line is that for general everyday use such mixing isn't practical.


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## Derrel

Dwig said:


> As a rule, lens mounts are different on different brand equipment and they don't mix without serious limitations. Mixing will always require an adapter of some sort. The limitations include:
> 
> 1. Mechanical communication between body and lens is no longer present. Iris stop down when the picture is taken becomes manual and mechanical meter coupling isn't present.
> 
> 2. Electronic communication between body and lens is no longer present. This mean no autofocus, limited or complete lack of light meter function, limited or complete lack of aperture controls and possibly other functionality loss.
> 
> 3. Inability to focus to infinity. If the register distance for the body (distance from body flange to film/sensor) is close to or greater than the body the lens was designed for the addition of the necessary adapter will prevent the lens from focusing to infinity. This means that if the lens and body combination can be made to work it will be only useful for closeup and macro work. There are some adapters that function as low power tele-extenders and get around this problem but the added optics change the lens' focal length and generally degrade image quality significantly.
> 
> The bottom line is that for general everyday use such mixing isn't practical.



A few bits of explanation on Dwig's comments would be in order for those using Canon bodies, for example, with adapted lenses. On iris stop-down, it is mechanical, which makes Pentax and other M42 thread-mount and Olympus OM-series Zuiko lenses some of the best to use; those lenses have on-lens stop-down buttons or switches, making stopping down a simple one-click affair.

Light-metering when using a Canon with an adapted lens is limited to match-diode, and aperture-priority automatic. In the Av automatic mode, the user will select the lens aperture, and the camera will automatically select the correct shutter speed for the aperture in use. Tv and Program and Green Box modes,and the scene modes, will not function.

Canon will focus seven lens systems in 35mm,and all medium format lenses I am aware of, to infinity, with no need for glass-containing adapters. I've had good luck using adapters on my Canons; Nikon and Pentax lenses work quite well on the 20D and 5D bodies, with full infinity focusing and semi-automatic light metering/exposure control. Focusing will always be manual, powered by the user's fingers! There are focus-confirmation adapters available, but the focusing process itself will be done by the user's own power-there are no AF adapters available!

This decent performance with no-glass adapters is what makes the Canon EOS system the best d-slr system for use with 35mm and medium format lenses--other camera systems are not nearly so adaptable. If you're interested in a camera that can readily and easily use non-system lenses, the EOS system is the top choice. The 4/3 system has become sort of a cult system among those who want to use many older manual focusing lenses on a new, digital camera. For experienced photographers, using an adapted lens is not that difficult in some circumstances,while in others it can be a real challenge. Several factors come into play, as in many things. For novice users, adapted lenses would make for a very difficult process much of the time. If using a lens wide-open, or down to about as small as f/4.5, using an adapted lens on a Canon d-slr body is like using any other manual focusing lens.

Adapters: Leica R or Nikon F to EOS*


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## usayit

Derrel said:


> On iris stop-down, it is mechanical, which makes Pentax and other M42 thread-mount and Olympus OM-series Zuiko lenses some of the best to use; those lenses have on-lens stop-down buttons or switches, making stopping down a simple one-click affair.




there are a bunch of M42 lenses that don't have a switch or button to stop down the lens.  Just check before purchase. 

Also...

There are some lenses which have rear elements or structures that go deep.  Some Canons ( Example 5d) have mirrors that might collide with the lens.  Just be a bit careful especially with wide angled primes.


As someone who adapts many lenses... In general, my leaning is that it isn't worth it unless there are specific reason to do so.  In my case, a pre-existing collection.  I have a lot of K-mount lenses.  Adapting these lenses to my Canon EOS doesn't make as much sense as adapting them to a digital Pentax body as the mechanical linkages are still included in design (THANKS Pentax!).  Most K-mount lenses do not have a stop down button or switch. 

I also adapt many M42 lenses in my collection.  Again, to my Pentax and not Canon.  Flange distance of M42 is the same as K-mount.  Not all M42s can be manually stopped down.  

LTM adapted to M-mount is no brainer.

My Micro 4/3rds camera with its very short flange distance is adapted to use M42, K-mount, M-mount, and LTM.  There are some corner to corner problems depending on certain lengths.  The 2x crop is a double edged sword.  An f/1 with fov 100mm is pretty interesting though.

My point being...  present day glass between the manufacturers are close enough that its more beneficial just to buy the appropriate lens for the appropriate system.  Its better in the long run ... unless... you are like me that just does it for the sake of doing it.  You are not gaining any bang for buck if you have to work around limitations AND work with older optics.


Trust me...  A micro 4/3rds adapted to a 500mm f/5.6 takumar to give me a FOV of 1000mm sounds like a great idea.   That's until you realize just how tricky it is to focus, carry, and manually stop down... to end up with a photo that was obviously taken by a lens that predates color negative (and not corrected for it).  I had a blast trying though...


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