How to Use M42 Lenses with a Canon EOS DSLR

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Screw the adapter onto the M42 lens.

   This is straightforward enough; but be gentle for the first turn or two, so as not to cross-thread either the lens or the adapter. , The lens (or rather, the adapter attached to it) should drop into place with no real effort, just like any Canon lens., Again, this is the same as fitting any lens to the Canon., Since the camera will have no way of controlling the aperture of the lens, this will be the only one that works (except manual (M) mode, which may be more complex than you want to use). "Aperture priority" means that exposure control will be done by the camera adjusting its shutter speed according to the aperture you have chosen., Given that you will be focusing manually, it is essential that the view through the viewfinder is as sharp as possible, and you may not have bothered with this if you had autofocus to fall back on.
   
   Set your lens to focus at something a known distance away (or, simpler, focus your lens to infinity and aim at something a little further away than the next closest distance on your lens).
   
   Look through the viewfinder, and turn the dioptric adjustment dial one way or the other until the picture is no longer fuzzy., With a normal M42 camera, in "Auto" mode, a lever inside the camera would depress a pin on the back of the lens to stop it down to your selected aperture during metering, or when taking a photograph.
   
   Of course, the EOS camera body has no such linkage, so you'll need to stop down manually., smallest f/number.
   
   You need to do this to make the screen as bright as possible for focusing., Since you often won't have any aids on your mirror, like a microprism ring, to help you focus accurately, this can be awkward.
   
   It sometimes helps to keep turning the ring until you are in focus, turn it a little further till you're out of focus, then very slowly turn it back.
   
   Once you're in focus, stop your aperture down by a couple of stops; this will give you a greater depth of field to compensate for the inevitable focusing error, however small., Take several photographs of well-lit subjects.
   
   Look at them on your LCD screen; the chances are that you will find your lens consistently under- or over-exposes in certain conditions (for example, the Pentacon 50mm
   1.8 tends to cause the camera to overexpose by about +1 to +2 EV), so you will need to..., Exposure compensation on an EOS maintains automatic control over the shutter speed, but will underexpose or overexpose the picture by a given amount.
   
   Experiment with varying degrees of compensation and take as many photos as you need to get it right., Every lens has limitations, and many of them will have unique strengths.
   
   Ultimately, you can only find out what these are by taking as many photos as you can.
2. 2

   Step 2: Align the red mark on the adapter with the red mark on the camera body.

3. 3

   Step 3: Turn the lens and the adapter clockwise until you hear it "click" into place.

4. 4

   Step 4: Set the mode dial on your camera to Av (aperture priority) mode.

5. 5

   Step 5: Set up dioptric correction.

6. 6

   Step 6: Set your lens to "Manual" (M) with its manual/auto switch.

7. 7

   Step 7: Set your lens to its widest aperture

8. 8

   Step 8: Focus on a well-lit subject.

9. 9

   Step 9: Take photographs.

10. 10

    Step 10: Set up exposure compensation.

11. 11

    Step 11: Get out there and start taking more photos.

Detailed Guide

About the Author