Canon FD lenses to Nikon F mount?

[John Harkus]

Hi all, I've found an 85mm f/1.8 Canon FD lens in the loft - now I understand that any mount adaptor needs to have a compensating lens element to achieve infinity focus, wondering if anybody has tried one?
Cheers,
John H

[Erik Lund]

Not worth it I'm afraid ... buy a Nikkor Ais instead of an adapter, same price point...

[PedroS]

+1

[Airy]

Some lenses would be worth an adapter, but maybe not this one. The Canon FD 85/1.8 was one of my best lenses in my Canon T90 days. However a used Nikon 85/1.8 will render services at least as good without any adapter.

On the other hand, the FD could well be used on m43 (especially Olympus, with stabilizer). It is not as good as the Oly 75/1.8, especially wide open, but the latter is an expensive piece of optics. FD lenses are a bargain nowadays, and a good treat for m43 cameras. I still regret not having bought that Angénieux 180/2.3 with FD mount in a pawn shop... but that was before I got my first m43 camera.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Longer Canon lenses in FD mount might be easier adaptable and well worth a try, if you don't mind using the Dremel on them.

A friend of mine modified an 800/5.6 Canon to F mount. The loss of aperture automation is less of a problem with a lens one mainly uses wide open anyway.

[John Harkus]

Thanks all, pretty much what I thought, although £20 for an adaptor with a lens in it is a fair bit cheaper than a 2nd hand 85mm Nikkor! (Yes, I realise there'll be no comparison in terms of image quality).
Seems such a shame that - M4/3 excepted - that the old FD lenses are pretty much no use these days.

[Airy]

There might be a Sony (mirrorless) A7 adapter for FD lenses. At least that should be technically feasible.

[Jan Anne]

Just hold onto the lens for a little longer and enjoy it when switching to a mirrorless system camera, it might take a few years but it's inevitable that Nikon will go this route to compete with the other brands. I for one will be very exited when they do, until then my a7S will do just fine.

[Bill De Jager]

There might be a Sony (mirrorless) A7 adapter for FD lenses. At least that should be technically feasible.

There are glassless adapters and a Speed Booster for that mount combination.  There is also a glassless adapter for putting long Canon FD lenses on EOS cameras, utilizing the beyond-infinity part of the focus range: http://www.edmika.com/

[John Harkus]

All, thanks for the input - decided to sell the Canon after all, if an FD-to-Nikon adapter had been cheaper I might have given it a go for close-up stuff