# M42 Lenses



## sandymandy (Jul 21, 2012)

Hi there,

i can get some used m42 lenses for cheap and i wanna use them with my eos 1100D. Ive seen some adpaters but im a bit worried if they gonna scratch my camera mirror or some other bad stuff might happen.

Any good m42 to eos adapters you people can recommend? Ive seen some with AF electronics on them?!

Plus it will be manual focussing only i guess, so if yall have some good hints for me how to manual focus in a more efficient way. Ive read about focussing screen replacements, but i think that will kinda suck if i wanna go back to using AF isnt it?

thanks laew


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## steliosk (Jul 21, 2012)

get a cheap adapter with AF confirm from e-bay!

I use both M42 and M39 with no problems

The AF confirm chip lets you know if you focused right while pressing halfway the shot button.
you'll have to press it constantly and then focus manual until you hear the beep and the focus point become red.


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## Ryan708 (Jul 21, 2012)

I have not used any non EOS lenses on my rig. What is the body you are using? some have very readily available focusing screens. The focusing screens used for manual focusing still work fine for autofocus, they just tend to be darker looking through the viewfinder. The screens used to help with manual focus make the sections out of focus look blurrier in the viewfinder, so you can more easily tell what is in focus. hope this helps!


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## sandymandy (Jul 21, 2012)

ive seen some adapters that have a pin for pushing in another pin on the old lenses. whats that exactly for? any disadvantages?


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## akiskev (Jul 21, 2012)

steliosk said:


> get a cheap adapter with AF confirm from e-bay!
> 
> I use both M42 and M39 with no problems
> 
> ...


+1


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## mws (Jul 21, 2012)

There are tons on ebay. Make sure you get one with a focus confirm chip. Also check to see if you need the adapter that has a flange for the aperture pin on the lens (depends on the lenses you are using). If you dig a little on ebay, you can get them super cheap. I got one with a focus chip for under 4 dollars with shipping included.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 21, 2012)

sandymandy said:


> Hi there,
> 
> i can get some used m42 lenses for cheap and i wanna use them with my eos 1100D. Ive seen some adpaters but im a bit worried if they gonna scratch my camera mirror or some other bad stuff might happen.
> 
> ...


The adapters mount outside the camera and will not hit the mirror. The lens can be a different issue, but SLR's also had mirrors that flip up, so I doubt if there are M42's with that issue, but do a google search for each of your lenses to make sure
I try to buy decent quality ones, they are not all that expensive. I avoid ones with AF chip, many are totally worthless, and its a pain to set them up.
Next, you will be lookiing for a new focus screen so you can actually focus. I use live view as the nost accurate way to focus. Even with Canon, the focus chip indicator is not accurate enough for wide apertures.


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## sandymandy (Jul 21, 2012)

can i use the m42 lenses in full manual mode too? or just AV mode? are the lenses with the adapter fully functional or is it like e.g. cant change aperture etc? i wanna know first b4 i buy sth


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 21, 2012)

sandymandy said:


> can i use the m42 lenses in full manual mode too? or just AV mode? are the lenses with the adapter fully functional or is it like e.g. cant change aperture etc? i wanna know first b4 i buy sth


The lenses are fully manual, they have a ring to adjust the aperture and a manual focus ring. The adapter will depress the aperture pin on the rear of the lens so that you cna set it by merely turning the ring.
For best results, focus the lens wide open and then stop down to take the image.
Manual setting of your camera is the best way. Using AV will give different results for each lens. You cannot set it at F/8 and the lens at f/8 and get a accurate exposure. You have to play with it. For example, on my 1D MK IV, I had to set the aperture in the camera to f/1 for my f/8 lens inorder to get the right exposure.
In manual, its much easier IMHO.


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## bonedaddy.p7 (Jul 22, 2012)

I'm waiting on my first m42 lens to come from halfway around the world right now, my adapter research pretty much points out what the others have said, except I was pointed to the optix AF confirm chip as it offers some additional features like focus trap, focus adjust, program ability for aperature and the ability to be setup for 3 lenses. do an ebay search for optix v6 and you'll find several results. I'll try to remember to post back here after I've played with a few adapters.


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## archangelrichard (Jul 22, 2012)

1) if you have problems with manually focusing, the AF confirm chip is OK for what it does

2) all the pin does is close the aperture in auto mode - auto mode won't help you and some adapters try to trap the pin

3) The old lenses were 42mm (hence the M42) in diameter, the new lenses are 55mm in diameter (Canon EOS, Nikon AX and DX, Pentax, Mijnolta maxxum / Sony; et. al - they all changed their lenses to the wider standard at the same time -- and they were all using 42mm before this but the M42 SCREW mount was a standard for Pentax, Practika, Mamiya, Yashica, Ricoh, Russian Zenit, Edixa, Zeiss Contax (the originator), Fujica, some Olympus, Exakta, chinon and cosina cameras (do NOT attempt to use without checking because while they screwed in, they had cam's to do Auto exposure and that may damage your camera) see wiki article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M42_lens_mount

NOTE: The pentax lenses (Takumar, Asahi) are overpriced, Mamiya is at least as good if not better and cheaper NOW (not then - new), The Yashica F 1.4 lenses were good (the F 1.9, etc weren't that good but as good as the Canon F 1.8) The Zeiss lenses are fantastic and hard to find, the Practika lenses (pentacon, etc.) Meyer Optics are mechanically some of the best (22 aperture leaves !!!!!) but average quality glass; some were built by C Z Jena (Carl Zeiss East Germany factory in Jena) and are great; T mount lenses from Tamron, Vivitar, Soligor are medium to better glass, other brands quality falls down unless you know the manufacturer - despite the brand almost ALL 400mm f 6.3 preset and auto were one manufacturer; same for 500 F.8, almost all brands same manufacturer (even off brands like Spiratone, Cambron, etc.)

If you are not sure about a lens email me back the brand and F number; I have some of this already and know where to look generally7 for the off lenses

4) BEWARE the T and T2 mounts - the M42 has a 1mm pitch, the almost identical T and T2 have a .75mm pitch (the slant of the screw) so you could force the lens on and strip the lens or the adapter.(the T and T2 were lenses built to adapt to many cameras - they are short by a few mms so the adapters make them the right length AND change the 42mm x .75 to whatever is needed (Canon notoriously went with the same distance on the camera as M42 standard, just a different mount so the lenses focus to infinity as normal - Nikon, others have deeper bodies so they have issues and can NOT focus to infinity with M42. A T mount lens with a M42 adapter on it is the same as a M42 lens BUT --- Mant of the same chinese manufacturers make T mount to EOS adapters (also old Nikon to EOS, Olympus to EOS, and some more

NOTE: The T lenses had some good glass (soligor, Vivitar, Tamron, etc. put their better glass / mechanics on heir T lenses like Vivitar Series 1 (the premium quality and price series); etc.

5) In Manual (if the lens HAS a manual setting) you focus first, THEN move the aperture ring to the desired setting; On PRESET lenses (no auto at all) you must move the preset THEN move the aperture (or mo9ve them both at the same time - on some lenses you can move the aperture ring and it will move the preset ring at the same time) or simply leave the preset at the smallest aperture and ignore it; all it does is stop you moving the aperture beyond a point) On lenses that do not have a manual setting

6) he optix chip is interesting (here is one ad http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-M42-Eos-Adapter-Optix-V6-AF-Confirm-PCB-Chip-Canon-EOS-OP6002S-/380402645479) but I have never seen one and yes the set up looks complicated - but the focus adjust feature does not appear to work as you might think (moving the lens) but rather telling the camera how far it is off focus of the same canon lens (which might work -- there have been problems with this chip in some users hands so might work like a microfocus adjustment) Do understand that users have reported this Optix chip is slow - slow to focus so still objects are better - sports, etc. is just plain useless

7) read Mt Spokane, A V mode is questionable - sometimes these adapters get it way off; use manual for best results

8) the 1100D does NOT have interchangeable focus screens, some of the higher end Canons do (dating back to the Canon F-1, A-1, AE-1; etc.) film cameras as well as the EOS5 / A2 / A2E FILM and subsequent - don't worry about this

9)No, don't ever focus using live view - live view is useful for framing, not focus. Use the Viewfinder, it is much more accurate (essentially live view gives you a very very low resolution image but the viewfinder gives you a far far higher resolution image, many times the resolution of live view


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## akiskev (Jul 22, 2012)

archangelrichard said:


> 9)No, don't ever focus using live view - live view is useful for framing, not focus. Use the Viewfinder, it is much more accurate (essentially live view gives you a very very low resolution image but the viewfinder gives you a far far higher resolution image, many times the resolution of live view


I agree with 1)-8), but not with this. Live view is the best thing ever happened to users of manual lenses. Especially Sony's live view focus with the awesome peaking mode. Even Canon's 5x, 10x modes help a lot to focus precisely. Don't forget that with live view you actually see the real depth of field that a fast lens provides, not the f/2.8 (or darker) of the focusing screen. 
It is not easy to focus accurately using the huge viewfinder of my EOS3, while with 5dmkII's live view it is a trivial task.


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## sandymandy (Jul 24, 2012)

Somehow a new world opened in front of my third eye and showed me there are also FD and FL Lenses. Especially something like FL 55mm 1.2 which is a lot cheaper than the EF 50mm 1.2L and makes really good images too. 

Ive just seen some kinda expensive converter brass ring...

any experiences with such lenses?


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## bonedaddy.p7 (Jul 24, 2012)

I typically like the old FD lenses, but they have different optical qualities than most modern lenses. They can be subjective on whether you like them or not(just like all old lenses). there are tons of cheap adapters on the market but the tolerances can be a bit tighter on these lenses than the adapters account for, the EdMika ones are the only ones I've seen that have adequate quality control for them to make the lens usable at both ends of focus. I don't remember off the top of my head but it has something to do with how thin they need to be or something. There's even an article on them here on CR: http://www.canonrumors.com/tech-articles/fd-fl-lenses-on-your-ef-body/


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## sandymandy (Jul 24, 2012)

well i also read that DF mount n stuff doesnt work with full frame cameras cuz the mirror will be in the way.i think i will just stick with the m42 ones since im not a fan of crop bodies (i got one now)


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