Canon is clearly the most popular current choice when it comes to shooting video on a DSLR. Deservedly so, Canon claims the podium when it comes to DSLR video and has worked hard and accomplished a lot with their video division. It was only natural for them to excel at including video in their DSLRs. However, they are still not the creme of the crop when it comes to glass. While not bad, it’s just now as good as some of it’s German competitors such as Leica and Zeiss. The prospect of using the good camera with the good glass was limited only by the lens and camera mount. Now with so many mount adaptors on the market, there is quite a bit of crap to sift through.
Fotodiox makes a lot of mount adaptors including a Nikon : EOS and Leica R : EOS. Perfect for this application. The difference in quality has a lot to do with tolerances and material. While most people think the mount on a DSLR is steel, it’s not… They are almost always made of brass and then nickel plated to look nice. The same goes for the mount adaptors offered by many companies. The higher quality adaptors are made of anodized aluminum or stainless steel. Fotodiox offers two versions of both adaptors I tested. A “pro” and a normal, i suppose. I’ll start with the Nikon : Canon adaptor.
All in all, Fotodiox did a great job of covering the bases. The “Pro” versions are in fact better than their standard counterparts, but I would not consider them professional since a professional would be using gear that is functional as-is. That said, the pricing is spot on. The standard adaptors are $28 each and the “pro” versions are just shy of $90 a piece. If you need your full frame quality glass to fit on your Canon 5DII, then these are the way to go. I’ve seen a few other brands but have not formally tested them. If you know of any popular mount adaptors, feel free to email me or leave a comment and I will look into their quality as well.
UPDATE:
After I ordered the Photodiox adaptors, I did some more searching and found that a lot of people were using and liked the Novoflex Nikon : Canon adaptor. So I added that to my list of mount adaptors. At $270 I expected big things. While the Novoflex does in fact outperform the Photodiox in regards to mechanical shift, it is a very similar design, similarly difficult to remove and doesn’t seem to use any materials that are more exotic or reliable than the other cheaper adaptors. So yes, the Novoflex is a better adaptor. And no, it’s not worth the additional $180.
