Canon EF USM lenses to which DSLR bodies

[otter1833]

I've had the Canon Elan 7 body for years and have three Canon EF USM lenses. I need to make the switch to a DSLR body and; in an effort to save money, have decided to keep my lenses and get a compatible Canon DSLR body. A local camera shop told me that my EF USM lenses wouldn't work on any of the Digital Rebels...I would have to start with the 40D and go up from there. Any truth to that? I checked out the Canon website and their Digital Rebel cameras said they took both EF and EF-S lenses. HELP!!! What is my starting point?

 

[bigtwinky]

Typically, EF works on all lenses and EF-S works only on the crop sensor cameras (Rebels, 30D, 40D, 50D).

I was in a similar situation and simply brought my lenses in to the store and tried them out on the cameras to ensure the autofocus would work.

 

[musicaleCA]

If it's an EF lens, it'll work with all Canon cameras on the market, I do believe, both full frame cameras and the APS-C format ones (as noted, Rebel, 30-50D). However, if you put an EF lens on a compact Canon, you'll get a cropping factor of x1.6. Just take the focal length of the EF lens and multiply it by 1.6 to get the effective focal length of the lens on that camera body. EF-S lenses are designed specifically for compact frames (which confers their own advantages), but won't work on full-frame bodies without severe vignetting.

 

[otter1833]

Thanks! This is starting to make sense! Looks like I don't have to drop $700 and up on a digital Canon body.

 

[Montana]

All of your EF lenses will work so you have two options:

1) Find a different camera shop that knows what the heck they are talking about.
2) Or find a different camera shop that is not trying to "upsale" you into a camera more expensive than a rebel.

Either way the camera shop should not have told you such a thing.

 

[Big Mike]

Don't go back to that camera shop...ever. Their advice is completely false.

Any EF lens will work on any EOS camera, period.

 

[Dao]

Hum ... a person at camera shop told you that ..... I guess I expect more from a camera shop (than bestbuy type store)

I had a EF 50mm lens that dated back in 1987 (based on the date code) and works great with my Rebels as well as 40D digital camera.

However, if you pick up a EF-S type lens (with a white dot near the lens mount instead of red) in the future, it may not work with your film camera.