Newbie question. Rebel XT lenses

[mandobear]

Hi I'm new here and I rescently purchased a rebel xt.
My question is can I use lenses from a Canon EOS 500 35mm camera?
Thank you in advance.

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[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

I assume you mean the EOS 500? If so, then yes you can use those lenses on the Rebel XT. They are both EOS cameras and use Canon EF lenses.

There is one catch though, the Rebel XT has a sensor (digital film, if you will) that is slightly smaller than 35mm film. This means that when you put lenses on that camera, they won't see as wide a view as they would on the 35mm film camera. The comparison ratio is 1.6....so if you have a 50mm lens on the film camera...then try it on the digital....it will feel like a 80mm lens would feel on the film camera.

This is why Canon makes EF-S lenses...like the EF-S 18-55mm. It's wider than a typical lens for a film camera, so that you get a 'normal' range on the digital.

[mandobear]

Thank you for your response Big Mike.
That is great information to know although I'm sure thats common knowledge among digital photographers. I asked because someone wants to sell me a Sigma 70-300 lens that he used for his EOS 500.
I also purchased a canon EF 50 1.8 lense which I think is great and I assume what you explained to me about the viewing size also applies.

[DeepSpring]

The 50mm is a great purchase. Yes it will apply to every lens you use on a crop camera, which most digitals are. The only thinkg you have to watch out for is the ef-s lens mike mentioned don't work on a film cam or the full frame digitals.

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

a 70 - 300 will give you a similar result to a 110 - (Wait for it ) 460 YES 460mm on a 35mm film camera or full sensor Digital. Look at most of the wild life shots of lions and tigers. These were often taken on a 500mm. (See where I'm comming from?) Now a 500mm f4 is an expensive lens. But a 300mm f4 is not. And while you loose stops if you use a teleconverter. You DO NOT if you use a digital camera. Therefore you now have a fast 460mm for the price of an average 300 zoom...


Good Eh?

[Mad_Gnome]

You actually only have the frame size of a 480mm lens. The image frame of a 300mm lens on an APS-C sized sensor will be approximately the same as on a 480mm lens, but the image will not appear any closer than a 300mm image. The sensor is simply smaller than a frame of 35mm film, so it crops the edges of the image. The only way to give a 300mm lens the same zoom capabilities as a 480mm lens is to use a 1.6x teleconverter. And then the image will have the same frame size as an image taken at 768mm. Cropping makes me irritable.

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

The fact that the sensor is smaller in this camera means, as you say, that the frame is "the equivilant of", when coupled with the lens in question. The result will look different from the normal "Full frame"result. Without taking the poor guy through an advanced physics lesson and adopting the standard terms of reference that everyone (sorry MOST people) use I was pointing out to the person concerned that his images will bare a strong resemblance to those taken using a full frame camera Which if we are to be as specific as you have been so far is actually a half frame (but that has not been in common use since the early part of the last century ) or digital capture device. which was equiped with a lens having similar proportions and performance levels to those which I indicated as an aproximation.

It is simpler to use the words EFFECT and CROP and understood by almost everyone. I think that while you are scientifically correct. maybe the time has come when you can stop splitting infinitives. and get used to the normal terminology. Even if only when discussing with the nonscientific people who inhabit most of this planet.
sorry, but intolerence make me irritable. Especially when we all know what was being said . and the exactitude delivered no gain.

You will note my advisory use of the phrase "will give a similar result to ... " NOT, makes it a ...

If a print were to be taken from an APS C sized sensor and a "full frame " sensor with a lens aprox 1.6 times the focal length the results would be strikingly similar...
I hope this clarifies the position.

[Mad_Gnome]

I wasn't attempting to be intolerant. I was merely pointing out that if you look through the viewfinder of an APS-C sensor camera, the image will not appear to be any closer, so it will not necessarily be any easier to compose the image. I apologize if I raised any ire with my post. That was not my intent. I simply wanted to clarify.

Since this post was in the section entitled "The Beginner's Place" and the poster's thread was entitled "Newbie question," I thought that there was a possibility that he might not know what was being said, and wanted to make sure that he didn't misread the information being given. If I was wrong, again, I apologize.