NEW MEMBER QUERY: Lenses & Bodies

[mdc4491]

Hi. I have a Canon FTQL SLR 35 MM which I bought years ago. Today I bought a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 Zoom lens at a flea market. It had a Canon protective labeled cap on the interconnecting end of the lens. I know the Canon FTQL takes a bayonet type fitting, but for $5.00 I thought this lens would work on my camera. Unless I am doing something wrong, this lens does not appear to work on my camera. Can someone verify my conclusion or tell me what if I am doing something wrong to connect the lens to the camera?

[GrahamS]

Vivitar lenses are made for a range of different brands of cameras and if yours does not fit your Canon FT it obviously is for a different camera. because it had a rear lens cap marked with the Canon logo does not mean that it actually is for a Canon camera. However, the Vivitar series 1 is a superb lens optically and mechanically and you should have no trouble selling it on once you have taken it in to a camera shop and asked them to identify the lens mount.

[inkista]

Your SLR is Canon FL mount. You may have gotten a Canon EOS mount lens (or Canon R mount or...). The Vivitar 1 lenses were made for decades for a number of different camera mounts and brands.

The FD/FL mount was a mechanical/manual focus mount system, and was abandoned by Canon in the late '80s for the electronic EOS (autofocusing) mount system. Given that the EOS mount is now over 25 years old, it's not surprising you can find used 3rd-party EOS gear as well as FD/FL gear.

I'm not sure if you can use FD lenses on an FL body. You can use FL lenses on an FD body with stop-down metering, so I gather there was a change in aperture control linkage between FL and FD. The FL system, btw, replaced the R mount. And then there's the rangefinder S mount. There's more than one mount system per brand if you start looking at vintage gear.

"Canon" and "bayonet" isn't enough to distinguish one mount system from the other. One way you may be able to tell is that EOS lenses do not have an aperture ring, since electronic communication between the camera body and the lens is how the aperture is set. You could also look for the gold electronic contacts on the mount side of the lens, but not all 3rd party manufacturers add them, so it's still not a guarantee.

This is an FD mount:


This is EOS:


I'd suggest learning what the hallmarks are for identifying an FL-mount lens. It can be something of a minefield out there in vintage camera gear land. You'll also want tips on how to determine if a lens is infected with fungus, has element separation, or grease on the shutter blades. And also the contact/pricing information of a good vintage service guy to do a CLA (cleaning, lubrication, adjustment). Or get really good with spanner wrenches and exploded diagrams and techniques to fix 'em yourself (me, I'm not that brave.)

http://forum.mflenses.com/ is one great resource for info on vintage lenses.