When adapting EF/EOS lenses for use with MFT-mount cameras, you have several options. Each option has a different price point and essentially tries to do the same thing, which is of course allowing you to use Canon glass on any MFT camera you might own.
The three main types are as follows:
Basic adapter: $20 – $50+
Adapter with built-in aperture ring: $80 – $200+
Electronic adapter for controlling lens aperture: $500 – $700+
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/672332-REG/Redrock_Micro_8_041_0001_LiveLens_Active_Lens_Mount.html
All three adapters have their advantages and specific uses.
If you plan to shoot wide open, a cheaper basic adapter will suffice. The purpose of the more expensive adapters is to give you control over the aperture of your Canon lens electronically, which is important to many people. However, if you have very fast Canon EF lenses and you find yourself only using them in emergencies, it may not be worth the extra investment to buy a lens with aperture control. I know personally that I have some lenses where I rarely, if ever, use the aperture at all. These are the lenses I own specifically for ultra-low light situations. If you only have one or two lenses and only need to adjust them for wide-open use, buying a cheap basic adapter is your best bet. If you own a Canon digital SLR, one way (albeit annoying) to deal with stopping down the lens aperture is to mount the lens on the Canon camera, set the aperture value, and then mount it to the adapter and MFT camera. This will allow you to change the aperture value on the lens, but every time you want to adjust it you’ll need to pop it back onto the Canon body to make changes.
The next level up is having the aperture blades built into the adapter itself. Essentially, they allow you to stop down the aperture through an adapter, rather than actually closing down the aperture blades built into the lens. This is an excellent choice for anyone who primarily needs to shoot at a relatively wide aperture, but may need to stop down in some rare situations. I say certain scenes because when these adapters come to a full stop, they often cause vignetting. This is because the aperture blades are in the adapter, not where they should be in the actual lens. Having said that, it only seems to happen when the adapter is fully closed, and is not an issue on all lenses.
The top layer is the electronic adapter. These adapters essentially mimic what a Canon digital SLR camera tells the lens to do. In terms of quality, these will give you the best images at full stop as it controls the actual blades within the lens so you won’t have any vignetting issues. If you own a lot of Canon lenses and are just switching to MFT format, this option may be for you. Although they are a bit pricey, you will ultimately be able to use any lens in any scene with this adapter. However, if you don’t typically shoot with the aperture closed very far, this might be a bit overkill for your needs. Another disadvantage of this type of adapter is that they require power. Either plug into the wall or some kind of battery device. This makes the adapter a bit cumbersome to use at runtime, but it’s still a good option if you’re working in a controlled studio type environment.
When deciding which adapter to buy, I ended up settling for the middle option and purchasing one with a manual aperture blade. The reason for this is because I don’t have a ton of Canon lenses, and the ones I do have I almost always shoot wide open. I didn’t want to buy a really cheap adapter because there would be situations where I would want to stop, and of course I didn’t have the option of using a cheaper adapter to do that. I rarely stop shooting completely, so any vignetting that might occur when fully closed is not an issue for me. I did consider the electronic option, but it simply wasn’t worth it for my use. I don’t have enough Canon glass to justify it and don’t necessarily plan on purchasing any in the near future. I also really don’t like the idea of needing a separate power source to use my lenses. Even though I mostly shoot in controlled environments, I still don’t want this kind of hassle on set. This is another thing to worry about for no reason since I can easily get away with not using it.
So I ended up ordering the Fotodiox adapter from Amazon.com for $80. http://fotodioxpro.com/index.php/lens-mount-adapters/micro-4-3-mft-lens-adapters/fotodiox-pro-lens-mount-adapter-with-built-in-aperture-iris- Canon eos ef lens non ef s lens to micro 4-3-quad third system MFT camera adapter for Olympus pen-e-p1-pen-e-p2-pen-e-pl1-pl2-panas .html
I put it on my Gh2 yesterday along with my Canon 50mm 1.4 lens and was very impressed. The build quality of the adapter isn’t top-notch by any means, but it doesn’t feel cheap either. This is what you would expect for the price. The aperture ring is relatively smooth, and on my 50mm lens there wasn’t any noticeable vignetting – even when stopped down all the way. Ultimately I’m glad I didn’t opt for the electronic version like the RedRock adapter. It would be a waste to consider this as an option as this adapter does exactly what I need it to do.
I’ve heard good things about the Kipon adapter listed above, which costs more than twice the cost of the Fotodiox, which is about $180. I haven’t used Kipon myself, but I think you pay for build quality. It’s probably a sturdier, more suit-oriented piece of gear than the Fotodiox. I also think the aperture ring could function a little smoother. While the ring on my adapter is sufficient for my needs, if you do a lot of aperture rolling while shooting and need a smooth aperture ring, I’d guess you’d probably get better results with a Kipon.
Overall, I’m very happy with the new adapter. It does what I need it to do and does it well. Surprisingly, unlike the product photo, my adapter has no aperture markings. It is simply numbered 1 – 7 (pictured below). I may have received an earlier version of the adapter. Still, this isn’t a problem for me because the way I use this adapter doesn’t require me to have specific aperture markings on the adapter. However, this is something to be aware of if you may need to do this for your particular shooting style.
Update: If you’re in the market for an MFT adapter, you’ve probably been looking at the GH3 and Blackmagic cinema cameras. I recently did a quick and dirty side-by-side comparison of the two cameras, which you can check out here .
