Lens Question

[moparop]

I have a Rebel EOS (35mm) that I bought about 10 years ago. Since then, I have been a digital P&S person. I am looking to get back into the SLR market with an XT/XTi. Will my old lenses work on the digital body?

Thanks!

 

[ukcatfan]

I am not a Canon person, but I am pretty sure that they will. Check this site for information about lenses. See if you can find your on it. http://www.photodo.com/products.html

Kevin

 

[mhutchinson]

The EOS film camera uses the EF lens mount which will also work on the Rebel or any other Canon EOS DSLR. One of the best lenses still out there is the original 50mm that came with the EOS. It is fast and very sharp...an I use one on my 20D. It might be noisy as a tank, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The Rebel will also accept EF-S lenses in addition to the EF. These are lenses designed specifically for these sensor sizes.

Non Canon lenses will fit but might have compatibility issues, only way to tell on these is to try them.

Michael

 

[pjacobi]

I re-used my 70-300mm USM lens from my film Rebel on my 30D. Because of the smaller sensor size on the XT/XTI/30D/40D, you must multiply the focal length by 1.6. So the 70-300mm lens appear to be the equivalent of 112-480mm. The multiplier works great for telephoto lens.

Unfortuantly, the 28-80mm USM from film Rebel becomes 44.8-128mm which is not so great of range. I've opted to replace this lens with the 17-85 USM IS which is the eqivalent of 27-136. This more closely matches the range from the film Rebel.

I perfered the more studier 30D over the XTI for serious photography, but keep a digital P/S (A620) for snapshots.


-Paul

 

[captaincrash]

If your lenses are EF lenses - then you should have no problems.

Because the XT or XTi sensors are smaller then a 35mm negative frame - you are going to lose the outer perimeter of the image from a regular lense. Typically, this region is where lenses typically lose performance. SO.... it's a good thing - unless your collection of lenses happen to be the "L" series lenses which are far more costly in part because they correct most of the weaknesses visible in the edges/corners with light falloff, softness or distortion. SO... proceed with confidence. Your image quality should naturally IMPROVE with the same lenses since optically you should see improvements.

And - may I suggest that you consider new purchases with the regular EF lenses. The quality is better since you ignore the weak fringes - and you have an upgrade path should full frame DSLRs become truly inexpensive or common place in the future. An "S" series lense can only serve on a 1.6 /APS-C sized sensor DSLR. Which for now is more or less quite effective.

 

[AndrewWG]

If they are Canon EF lenses, they should be fine. However, I had the same type of setup and I had 2 nice Sigma lenses that would not work. If you have non-Canon lenses, I would suggest calling the manufacturer of the lens and asking them if they will work or if they can re-chip them to make them work. Unfortunately Sigma no longer offers this service.

 

[pjacobi]

and you have an upgrade path should full frame DSLRs become truly inexpensive or common place in the future.

Sorry, but full frame will never be inexpensive or common.

The reason is CMOS manufactuing technology. One 8-inch silicon wafer can hold either 200 APS-C sensor or just 20 full frame sensors.

If there are 15 errors on the wafer, the wafer yields either 5 full frame or 185 APS-C dies.

Because of the large chip size and low yield, the full frame sensor will always be substantially more expensive.

This is according to a Canon White Paper.


-Paul

 

[ukcatfan]

Sorry, but full frame will never be inexpensive or common.

The reason is CMOS manufactuing technology. One 8-inch silicon wafer can hold either 200 APS-C sensor or just 20 full frame sensors.

If there are 15 errors on the wafer, the wafer yields either 5 full frame or 185 APS-C dies.

Because of the large chip size and low yield, the full frame sensor will always be substantially more expensive.

This is according to a Canon White Paper.


-Paul

What if the wafer becomes cheap enough that even the yield of only 5 chips is not expensive? I paid over $3K for my first computer and it had less computing power than my current free cell phone. Anyone remember when a DSLR was at least $2K and now can be had for less than $400. I believe the only way that prices would not come down would be b/c of inflated prices set up by small production which drives demand up.

Kevin

 

[Groucho]

Well, full frame'll always be more expensive, and I'm not convinced that it'll replace APS sensors any time soon. I would guess that we'll see the quality of the APS sensors continue to improve. We already have APS sensors that produce very nice 10mp and 12mp quality with good noise control. How many mp does a non-pro shooter need?

A bigger sensor can improve noise levels, but so can improvements to the APS-size sensor. Meanwhile, the APS-size sensors give you a smaller, lighter camera and the ability to use the smaller, lighter "digital-specific" lenses than are out there.

If full frame does become the standard for DSLRs, that will firmly leave Olympus as a niche player.They're the only main DSLR player who have put all their eggs into a specific, smaller-than-full-frame sensor size and cannot change without starting a new system from scratch. Time will tell.

 

[pjacobi]

What if the wafer becomes cheap enough that even the yield of only 5 chips is not expensive?

Wafer costs are the same for 5 full frame sensor or 185 APS sensors. While the price goes down over time there will still be a huge difference in price from full frame vs. APS sensor.

Full frame digital is being positioned as the new "medium format" camera. A few ameteurs had medium format film cameras, but it remained too expensive for most people.


You can read all about yourself at:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-7897-8537

-Paul