Old lenses new camera (real newbie question)

[PaulDB]

Hi all,

Im thinking about getting a 300d or 20d soon and i was wondering how compatible they are with old lenses. I've never owned a d-slr before so I'm not sure about this. A member of my family has an old (15 yrs or so) pentax film slr and a LOT of lenses (he used to be a professional photographer). I was wondering would there be any way to use these lenses with the 300d or 20d or if I would need some kind of special lenses for digital slr's or if canon cameras have lenses that attach in a different way??

Sorry about the newbieness (word??) of this question but I know you guys will have an answer for me :-)

Thanks in advance!!

[PaulDB]

I'm REALLY hoping there is a way to get this to work as it will save me a hell of a lot of money. Oh, and can I ask the same question again about flashes?

Thanks!

[skimmilk68]

haha im on the same noob boat so dont be afraid

well to answer one of ur questions, i know lenses that arent compatible with canon bodies wont work at all... however there are adaptors that would allow you to use older canon lenses (no EOS lenses)

but im just a noob so lets wait for that pro to answer

[PaulDB]

Would i be right in thinking that if a lense is compatible with a pentax body then it almost certainly wont be compatible with a canon body??? (crosses fingures)

This guy seems to think its possible:
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/manual_focus_EOS.html

There are links in that article a shop that sells adapters.

[nosquare2003]

Do you mind using manual focus? And it's not easy to use manual focus on a 300D /20D as there's no focus assist screen (like split screen) on the viewfinder.

Will your Pentax lenses fit a Pentax digital SLR?

[PaulDB]

I believe so with an adaptor. But I've read reviews of Pentax DSLRs'. In fact i did a google on penax dslrs' and in the text that came up in google it actaully said 'not as good as the canon eos series :p. I can try and use manual focus and see how it goes.

If nothing else it will be useful for me to try different focal length lenses as I'm not sure for example exactly how much zoom i would get from a 70-200mm. So at least this way if i try a selection of the pentax lenses I will make the right purchase on a canon lense first time.....

[alan sh]

I think you had better assume that a 15 year old Pentax lens will not work on a modern dSLR Canon body.

We are talking 1989 here (OK, maybe 1990) with the lens design being older than that. Well, I think EOS was only released in 1990 so, the technology is older than that. So, no auto focus, probably manual stop down too - and that is assuming you can find a converter so that it fits and works correctly (produces a clear image).

If you really want a dSLR from Canon and you are new to the game, buy the 300D or 20D (depending on budget) with the 18-55 lens. Its an OK lens (especially compared to 1980's technology) and will give you a good feel for what you can achieve without spending too much more than the body.

Hope this advice is of some use.

Alan

[PaulDB]

Thanks for the advice, and I see where your comming from. But im getting given about 10 lenses free and it seems I can get the adaptor for about £15 so I will probably give it a go anyway.

I almost certainly will be buying some modern lenses as well, wouldnt like to try and take a pic of a moving bird with manual focus!

I'm not sure whether to go with the 20d or the 300d with some additional lenses but thats another discussion entirely :-)

[dhbailey]

If you've got the money, go with the 20D and save up for more lenses later.

The 20D offers several improvements over the 300d, one of the most helpful being the ability to shoot at ISO all the way up to 3200. Up to 1600 you get very little digital noise, at 3200 you get a bit more noise but there are some great utilities to remove the noise and the ability to shoot without flash in lower light situations is very helpful.

And the increase in pixel count means a wider range of printing options without having to expand the picture.

If I were you I would look seriously at the different features between the two cameras -- thinking down the road it was easy for me to select the 20D because I could see how once I got into dslr photography the features which at first might seem less important could become very helpful very quickly.

Your idea about trying the Pentax lenses to give you an idea about zoom ranges, framing opportunities, etc is a good one, but you will need to put the money into Canon lenses in order to get pictures of any quality.

This list is a terrific place for suggestions of which Canon lenses to buy and which not to buy.

Don't hesitate to ask for suggestions and reviews.

[ron chappel]

I've used a ton of old lenses on EOS cameras so i can help with some of your questions.

Pentax lenses come in two types-the old universal screw mount (M42) and the newer K mount.
The screw mount lenses were made up until about 1976 and can be used on EOS bodies with the help of a very cheap adapter (available off ebay)
Of course you have no autofocus,no way of fine tuning focus accuracy as described above by nosquare,and no shutter priority/program modes.
You will have aperture priority semi auto mode and full manual metering so it all works quite well.Even the flash will work quite well!!
The last of the old screw mount lenses,the super multicoated models were very good lenses.The primes will be close to as good as modern primes but the zooms generally won't be very good

If however you lenses are bayonette type fit they will be the K mount,made from about 1976 on.
The K mount lenses can't be adapted to EOS .There are some seriously good lenses among them so this really is abit sad.
On the other hand they will fit on pentax DSLR's and give better compatability and features than EOS can manage with them anyway
So if they are good model lenses you should seriously consider getting a pentax DSLR intsead
The other option is to sell them on ebay where you'll get a good price for them then just buy the EOS camera and lenses you want

Can you tell us which model lenses they are?I -and no doubt several others- can tell you what they're worth

[PaulDB]

When I get hold of the lenses I will let you know what they are. But selling them isnt an option as they have sentimental value to the relative involved for reasons I wont go into here.

Unfortunately they are the bayonet type but he did mention that some of them are not pentax lenses and some might be canon and several other brands :-) He said he used them with an adaptor to get them on the pentax. I will just have to wait and see.

Although, I have seen an adaptor from M42 to k mount.. so theoreticall I could put an m42 on first then the k mount. Or is this a bad idea?

Thanks for all the help and advice. This is by far the most friendly / helpful forum I have ever been a member of :D

And I think i will go for the 20d! But if i do I might risk getting a relative in the US posting me one and hope i don't get caught. Naughty I know but its almost half the price with the current exchange rate!!!

[ron chappel]

mmmm you may well get caught! be carefull
Is there a 'gift' exemption on duties/VAT?
That's what we have here in australia (but only up to a certain value i think)

I look forward to hearing what the lenses are.Feel free to PM me when you get them if you like!

There is one option left for the bayonete K-mount lenses.They can be modified to fit EOS but it is fiddly.If you don't mind 'mechanic' type stuff you may like to try it.
It involves removing two small parts at the rear of the lens then jury rigging an EOS lensmount to fit.It's nowhere near as clumsey as it might first sound because it's actually difficult to mount anything crooked or off axis.I've done it with several lenses just so i could have the fun of using them on my 300D
The pentax lens parts are not changed in any way so it is fully reversable (important so that you don't impinge on the sentimental aspects of the lenses)

Of course it's only worth the effort with really good lenses...but i'm thinking there may indeed be some of those.He was a pro after all :)

[PaulDB]

I'm thinking its probably 50-50 on getting caught :( I will get my uncle to wrap the camera in some kind of birthday / chritmas paper and hopefully they wont open it..... well its worth a try anyway. Maybe he can just mark the value as 200-300 dollars and maybe they wont check. I will let you all know how it goes..

[ron chappel]

i think all that happens if you DO get caught is that you have to pay the duties owed.

or perhaps they still do the transportation to australia thing,LOL
It's pretty nice here if the worst comes to the worst

[PaulDB]

That would certainly be a bonus :)

But otherwise i think the camera will still probably be cheaper with import duties than it would be to buy new here. It would cost about £1200 with the kit lense. From the states its about $1300 which works out to £680 ish. Thats a HUGE difference...

[PhotosGuy]

I'm using 40 year old Nikkor lenses with my 300D, but I don't mind using everything on manual as that's what I used to do every day anyway. So, if that's OK with you, check out:

http://www.cameraquest.com/frames/4saleReos.htm
IMPROVED Pentax 42mm Screw Lens Adapter to EOS $75 PEOS.

[Belmondo]

It is possible to use older Canon FD (manual focus) lenses on EOS bodies, but the current adapters do not allow for focusing to infinity. Because of the design of the old FD mount, the adapter does not allow the lenses to sit deep enough in the body. They actually have the same effect as a small extension tube.

There was one FD-EOS converter made by Canon that would allow focusing to infinity, but it was made in very small quantities, and is actually a 1.26X teleconverter. It will not work on all FD lenses....only those with a recessed rear element like the longer telephotos.

I recently purchased one on eBay, for just under $400. Since then, a few others have sold for as much as $550.00. At those prices, it's not cost-effective, especially considering that you lose autofocus and auto-exposure. In fact, I would not have purchased the one I did except it appeared I would be able to get my money back without difficulty if things didn't work as hoped. I was trying to get an FD 600mm f/4.5 lens to work on my EOS body. It was enough of a bargain that I had a little cushion in the cost of the adapter.

It does work okay, but certainly not as well as a new EF 600mm f/4.0. Then again, I have a little less than $1300 invested in the whole thing as opposed to $7,000.

The list of lenses that can be used with the Canon FD-EOS converter is very short. For all other lenses, you're stuck with the cheaper version that doesn't allow focusing to infinity. Whichever way you go, you'll lose all automatic function. The camera will become fully manual.

[Mogwyth]

Bear in mind that there will be probably be no warranty on your camera, warrenties on Canon DSLRs are only good for the region of sale. You can purchase third party international cover from someone like mackCam .com at time of purchase. The allowance for gifts is a mere £35.00. Vat is charged on all personal imports over the value of £18.00, some goods like lenses but not cameras attract duty as well.

So

Camera & Lens £700.00
Warrenty £50.00 +
Shipping and Insurance £50.00 +
Total £800.00
Vat £140.00
Total cost £940.00 poss more if duty is due as well

It's worth it without deliberatly trying to evade duty, be aware if the value is under declared best case scenario you will may have to pay VAT/duty on the UK sales price not neccersarily what you have paid, worst case you or the sender could be charged with evading duty.

[PaulDB]

Well if its £940 or £1200 to have a proper UK warranty its starting to sound slightly more tempting to buy it here :(

But surely shipping wont be £50!!

And do they ever charge anyone with evading duty?

[ExPOSED]

Will the lenses of a Canon Rebel (not dSLR) work on the new Canon Rebel dSLR or the 20D?

[alan sh]

They should do. Which ones did you have in mind ?

[Belmondo]

Will the lenses of a Canon Rebel (not dSLR) work on the new Canon Rebel dSLR or the 20D?
That is (or was) the beauty of the Canon EF lenses. Until Canon introduced the EF-S lenses, any Canon EOS body, film or digital, would work with any Canon EF lens. Now, you have to be careful not to try to install an EF-S lens into the wrong EOS body. The rear projection on the lens will interfere with the mirror.

[stv737]

I am using my 50mm f/1.8 that came with my 15 yr old EOS 750. Its really loud compared to the new lenses and its not as fast focusing but other than that is works great.

[robertwgross]

If we step away from the non-Canon older lenses for a moment...

On the entire Canon EOS camera line (film and digital), you can use any EF lens. On just a few models of D-SLR, you can use EF-S also. But if you take the EF-S lens and try to put it on a model that does not accept it, you'll have problems.

So, if you are buying a new Digital Rebel now, and if you are on a tight budget, maybe you want some EF-S lens to use just on that one camera. However, some of us have both film cameras and digital as well, so having pure-EF lenses means that we can move our lenses around from camera to camera at will.

---Bob Gross---

[Mogwyth]

Well if its £940 or £1200 to have a proper UK warranty its starting to sound slightly more tempting to buy it here :(

But surely shipping wont be £50!!

And do they ever charge anyone with evading duty? Sorry didnot mean to be a part pooper.

It can be, could be more, when I got my Rebel D/300D from USA shipping & full insurance was £55.00, I recently had some very small silver charms shipped from USA cost £14.00.

Yes occasionly, a friend of mine was caught deliberately evading duty about a month ago, had to pay the Duty/VAT and double again in fines, that's why I mentioned it, the excise men are clamping down on personal importation.

[PaulDB]

You werent being a party pooper. I was really hoping for someone who had experience of this to answer and that is what you have done. Until now I hadnt heard of anyone getting caught quite as badly as your friend did. So I will definately take this into consideration when I make my decision in the next couple of weeks.

[Mogwyth]

Glad to be of help.

BTW Amazon 20D+kit lens @ £1150 inc delivery. A few others have simular price +delivery.

[leonay jenny]

another newbie question.
I have an old sigma 70-210mm and a wide angle (both k mount lenses).
is there a digital slr camer that i can use with these as i would hate to have to get rid of them. I am simply a mum that wants good sports shots of kids at the pool and bike riding. any advice greatly appreciated.

[kitacanon]

I'm using 40 year old Nikkor lenses with my 300D, but I don't mind using everything on manual as that's what I used to do every day anyway. So, if that's OK with you, check out:

http://www.cameraquest.com/frames/4saleReos.htm
IMPROVED Pentax 42mm Screw Lens Adapter to EOS $75 PEOS.

I have a bunch of old Nikkors too...can you tell me if they can be used on the EOS...the 10D or 30D...WITH AUTO APERTURE, or do you have to manually stop down the f-stops?Thanx for your reply...

[kitacanon]

Will the lenses of a Canon Rebel (not dSLR) work on the new Canon Rebel dSLR or the 20D?

The 50/1.8 EF and ALL the EF lenses (such as the 35/2.0 and 28/1.8 and 2.8 ) work on the Canon DSLRs...I also have the 24-85mm EF and it's a fine all-purpose lens for under $200.