Canon EOS Rebel T3 Lenses

[j10a11]

Hey, there! I am new to the website, and new to photography, and I have a question.

I have a Canon EOS Rebel T3 (?), and I would love to get some more lenses for it. I am wondering if, when I one day upgrade to a different camera, I will be able to use the same lenses? It's quite an investment and I want to make sure I'm getting my money's worth!

I do not know at this point what camera I might be upgrading to. Any help is appreciated!

 

[ronlane]

Welcome to the site. If you purchase EF mount lenses, you will be able to keep them for any upgrades from Canon (unless they change the mounting system, of course). The EF-S lenses will only work on ASPC (Crop) Sensor cameras.

 

[j10a11]

Welcome to the site. If you purchase EF mount lenses, you will be able to keep them for any upgrades from Canon (unless they change the mounting system, of course). The EF-S lenses will only work on ASPC (Crop) Sensor cameras.

Thank you for your help!

 

[KmH]

Canon EF-S lenses will nor mount on Canon EF camera bodies.
Be careful. Some of Canon's pro grade EF camera bodies had a 1.3x crop image sensor, the APS-H.
(1D, 1D MK II, 1D MK II N, 1D MK III, and 1D MK IV)

Canon's 1.6x crop image sensors are the smaller APS-C size image sensors and are in Canon's EF-S camera bodies.
Canon EF and EF-S lenses mount on Canon EF-S camera bodies.

 

[TCampbell]

The "full frame" DSLR cameras are so-called because they have a digital sensor which is approximately the same size as a single frame of 35mm film.
The "APS-C" DSLR cameras have digital sensors which are a little smaller. They are the same size as "Advanced Photo System - Classic" (APS-C) size film. These cameras are sometimes referred to as "crop frame" cameras (all cameras with sensors smaller than "full frame" are referred to as "crop-frame").

All Canon "Rebel" series, plus Canon mid-range models (60D and 70D as well as the camera with 2-digit model numbers that are no longer produced... 50D, 40D, 30D, 20D, and 10D) as well as the Canon 7D and the new 7D II are "APS-C" size sensors (aka "crop frame").

The Canon 1D-X is full frame as well as the 5D III (and all 5D bodies including the ones they don't make anymore) and also the 6D is "full frame". There were some 1D series bodies that were "APS-H" size sensors (not quite full-frame but bigger than APS-C).

With that in mind...

Canon EOS "EF" lenses will work on ALL Canon EOS bodies... past and present (and presumably future)... film or digital.
Canon also makes some specialty lenses... specifically the tilt-shift series (TS-E lenses) as well as the speciality macro-photo lens (MP-E 65mm... which is a bit like mounting a microscope to the front of your camera as a "lens". That lens magnifies substantially more than a normal "macro" lens.) Those speciality lenses can be treated like "EF" lenses in that they will work with ANY Canon EOS camera.

Then there's the EF-S lenses (notice the "-S" suffix). Those lenses will ONLY work on Canon cameras with APS-C size sensors (e.g. all the Rebel bodies plus the mid-range and 7D series bodies.) The "exception" was the 10D (hasn't been made in years)... which cannot take EF-S lenses.

Canon experimented with a mirrorless EOS camera which they called the EOS-M. They still sell it in other countries but it failed in the north-american market. For this came they made ... I think a grand-total of two lenses only. Those lenses are called EF-M lenses. They will only work on the EOS-M body.

Your Canon EOS Rebel T3 can take ANY Canon EOS lens.... *except* the EF-M lenses.

 

[KenC]

The biggest question you have to answer is what you want to do and in what ways your current lens(es) interferes with doing those things. Until you figure this out you could be spending money on lenses that will not help you, whichever camera you put them on. I know you were mainly asking about lens compatibility, but since you say you're new to photography I thought this was worth pointing out.