Welcome to the world of FL/FD/FDn Manual focus on a Canon DSLR.  If you are already shooting with a Canon DSLR body with arguably the best shooting experience available in terms of controls and image quality then an adapted FD lens might be right for you.  Why can't there be one adapter to fit all lenses like some of the cheap ones on eBay?  Because the one size fits all FD-EOS adapters use corrective optics to adjust for the different flange focal distance.  In most cases these optics crop the picture and cause you to lose a stop of light turning a fast and sharp professional lens into a consumer grade slow and fuzzy one and turn a good consumer grade FD lens into nearly unusable garbage.  This is why we took the hard route and developed custom mount replacement kits for many of the FL/FD/FDn lens types that put the optics back to the original distance from the film/sensor plane and retain the excellent lens IQ that made Canon famous in the first place.  This approach was not as simple as making new mounts but also making a custom aperture linkage solution for each lens that keeps the ability to control the aperture diaphragm since the old removed mount had these connections integrated within it.  This system of EdMounts, EdBushings, EdLinks, EdShields and EdTravellers allows these fantastic precision lenses to be used in their original optical purity.  This family of solutions for the first time ever truly opens up the world of Canon manual focus lenses to Canon DSLR shooters.

Important tools before you begin.  You need a good phillips 0 or 00 screwdriver that does not have tip bottom out in the center of the screw. For some lenses a very thin flathead may be needed.  Use lots of downwards force when turning to help prevent the screw head from stripping. Know your skill level, some of the EDMIKA EOS conversion kits are very easy and some (like the 85L) are very hard.  Get help if you think you cannot do it yourself.  I do not do conversions for people, I only rescue lenses after customers on the rare occasion get stuck.  Shipping and Canadian border fees on the lenses make it difficult for me to offer conversion services as part of my normal business.

The single most important tool: a good phillips screwdriver

 

How to take a new FDn bayonet mount style lens mount off:

 

A big growth area for me has been countries in Europe, Russia and South America in particular where big border delays were normal because the very heavy brass mounts drew additional scrutiny because of their high weight and because of how the metal would flag automated border x-ray scanning equipment.  Because of this I was forced to use FedEx last year which increased my shipping costs by a factor of 3.  FedEx had been extra frustrating because they pay taxes for the customers and then later charge my customers an extra often substantial processing fee. I will be again able to send by Canada Post "Light Packet" service and the lack of tracking (it makes the item seem unimportant or low cost) and light weight of package combined have so far dramatically reduced the delays caused by borders with the added advantage of almost no reports of any extra fees being paid by customers that have been Beta testing the Polymer mounts.  

Over the years I have discovered that light reflections both within the adapter and light bouncing back from the sensor on to the face of the adapter were causing a big loss of contrast and sometimes very noticeable and unattractive lens flare. I had tried to mask the brass with paints, flocking tape and polymer EdShields with some success but even the shielding that had smooth machined surfaces maintained high reflectivity.  In one of my biggest development breakthroughs ever I have found a way to mechanically apply a consistent surface etching that brings reflectivity down to levels nearly as good as flocking (the fuzzy velvet finish you see inside many lenses).  This completely shuts down the reflections and brings image quality back to original unmodified lens performance levels.  The added benefit to this deep etch surface finish is that it is the only reason any sort of focus confirmation chip can actually be glued on successfully.  The material has incredibly low surface tension which normally makes it next to impossible to bond to.

A huge problem with manual focus lenses that go on today's modern bayonet style body mounts like the Canon EOS system is that there is backlash inherent in the system.  If you have a bit of a stiff focusing ring, when you try to fine tune your focus on a subject you first have move the body pin keeping your lens from rotating from one side of the hole to the other before the actual focusing happens.  This is why there are many fans of the old original FL and FD breech lock (silver twist ring) lens mount system, the lenses where absolutely locked down with no rotational slop.  My polymer mounts have fixed this problem by designing the rotational arrest feature that I call the EdLock to act as a stiff spring.  The lens mounts as a normal EOS lens but a slightly greater force is needed for the final part of the turn to get the pin to click.  The body pin is now pushed off to the side of hole and there is no longer any back or fourth rotational play (you are welcome!).

Polymer has even allowed me to do the impossible.  For many of the older FD mount lenses the only conversion method available was to permanently modify the lens by machining its rear face down so an adapter that was thick enough could be installed and have the lens be in the perfect distance from the film/sensor plane.  I have re-Engineered the EOS mount to scavenge areas of clearance within the opening face chamfer of the body mount.  This could only be achieved with the smallest of rounded long end mills and is not something that could easily been done with brass or aluminum.  I now have a lens safe, non damaging EOS conversion that is effectively a zero thickness mount for lenses like the excellent FD 50mm 1.4 SSC thanks to the superior machinability of the new polymer solution.

Finally this next generation solution is Camera and Lens safe.  If enough force is applied by perhaps an equipment drop the polymer material will bend and spring back or even break if an extreme force is reached.  This gives your body mount and lens mechanics an effective fuse that should break before before they do.  When I dropped my brass adapter converted FD200mm/1.8L and 5D3 (don't ask) both the adapter and lens mount bent and stayed that way which made me have to cut my way in to take the assembly apart (good thing I have plenty of spare FD lens parts).  The new 0.7mm FD-EOS Polymer mount would likely have survived and not put high enough point loads into the lens mount to deform it.  Its not just from an impact safety point of view, the Polymer never tarnishes or makes tiny filings through wear like brass can.  I carelessly wiped the sensor of my 1D4 last year with a cloth instead of brush and a horrifically deep scratch formed across the sensor caused by a few stray specs of brass.

I have decided to no longer include the Dandelion Gen4 Focus confirmation chip with my kits.  Many newer cameras like the 7D and the C100 have signal loss issues with the chip that cause light spikes in video shooting and the focus confirmation is not nearly as accurate as shooting in live view or getting a focusing screen.  There are other chips on the market like the Optix V5/V6 that customers may want to try instead.  You can still get a Dandelion chip from the normal distributers in Singapore if you feel they want one (EURO is just the dandelion rebranded) http://www.ebay.ca/sch/tagotech/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from= just search their listings for EOS chip. This is a good seller, they have helped me out with emergency shipments several times in the past when my stock was running low and I was waiting for the 3-4 week delivery from the Russian chip manufacturer.

As a thank you to our loyal repeat customers I will be offering upgrades from their original brass kits to polymer ones at half price (not even Apple does this kind of thing when a new product generation comes out).  Finally to promote people building collections of FD lenses I am offering a buy 5 get 1 free deal.  If 5 kits are purchased within a day, send me a note with your desired kit for a 6th lens and I'll include it in the shipment at no extra cost.