Hi EOSophiles, I am trying to get hold of an �eyepiece� to put on my telephoto lenses, in place of the camera body so that I can use them as telescopes, in order to save weight (not to mention money) when out photographing & watching wildlife.
My first question is - does anyone know where I can come by such a device in a Canon EF fit? WJM has told me that he has seen such items advertised in the past but not recently. I have obtained a �Minolta Lens/Monocular Converter� & found a company called SRB Film in Luton, England who are very helpfully prepared to convert the mount on it to Canon EF but I would also like to be able to take advantage of the image stabiliser on my 100-400. I found the lens contact pin-out details (below) on WJM�s site but I am not an electronics expert. Can anyone tell me what is likely to be needed to turn on the IS? Martin Wiseman wrote the following on 10/8/98: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- �Looking at the front of the camera body and reading from left to right, the signals are: 1. VBAT 2. P-GND 3. P-GND 4. VDD 5. DCL 6. DLC 7. LCLK 8. D_GND Pins 2 and 3 are combined into one large contact on the lens. My interpretation of these signal names is as follows: VBAT - Battery power for driving motors etc. P_GND - Power ground - the return path from motors to battery negative. VDD - Power for the logic circuitry D_GND - Digital ground for the logic circuits DCL - Data from Camera to Lens DLC - Data from Lens to Camera LCLK - Data clock Other people have suggested that the data protocol is probably 8 bit serial at 62.5 kHz and possibly based on the Motorola SPI interface.� ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have not tried simply putting 6 volts across pins 1 & 2 yet but I imagine that there will be something more complicated than that needed to activate the IS. I have mailed MW who says that this may work however, especially if I add the correct data voltage across pins 4 & 8: Since early bodies were not aware of IS there can be no signal specifically sent to activate the IS but there may be a general �wake-up call� sent to the lens. Does anyone know what data voltage is used, to save me much effort with my multimeter & trying to fool my EOS 3 into believing the lens is on when it isn�t? WJM has suggested using the Novoflex Lens Reversal Adapter (that maintains electrical contacts to the lens when it is detached from the camera body) & using the camera body itself to activate the IS. This would certainly do the trick, however it would be a bit cumbersome for bird watching to have the camera body suspended nearby all the time, & the eyepiece would have to be used with the Novoflex adapter even on non-IS lenses because it would have to be suitably shortened. I would far prefer to find out what signals need to be sent to the lens to switch the IS on, & try to incorporate a battery & a device to give these signals into the eyepiece, or mounted on it. Anyway, this is all I have managed to find out so far & I would greatly appreciate it if someone can enlighten me further before I risk blowing up my treasured IS lenses! Can anybody help please? _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
