Have 3 original EF lenses from early 90's, taken good care of...wondering which camera I should get.

TimmyD11

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I have 3 original EF lenses from early 90's, taken good care of...wondering which camera I should get.

The lenses are:

Canon EF 85mm 1:1.8

Canon EF 28-105mm 1:3.5-4.5

Canon EF 70-210mm 1:4

I've been away from photography for a while and things have changed and gotten interesting...but too many choices rattles me!

My options seem to be use lenses AND newer lenses with a new DSLR...but there are probably 10 good DSLR's by Canon between $600 and $1200 and I don't know if I need the more expensive ones (I like the creative filters idea and the handheld in camera HDR, but which ones have that and which ones don't?)

Should I sell lenses and go smaller, micro four thirds / mirrorless? Seems like if you don't go huge with prints you can get results as good as APS-C and full frame...while cutting your weight and cost down by half?

By the way, my passion is the great outdoors, hiking, backpacking, mindblowing mountains and forests...so landscapes and occasionally wildlife will be my primary interest.

Thanks.
 
For the three Canon EF lenses that you currently have, I would suggest full-frame cameras only.

Canon 5D Classic...$395 or so here in this town, used....a solid imager!
Canon 6D...solid picture-maker. $795 or so here, used, locally, all the time. VERY nice image sensor in it, good low-light AF on the central AF point.

I would not suggest a Canon APS-C camera (crop-sensor) for the three lenses you already own...those are for full-frame angles of view, and will be adequate on the above two cameras.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, they would just be more "telephoto" no? If I add a 15mm (or so) lens I should be covered at the wider end.

I'm not thrilled with buying used, and full frame is probably outside my budget.

So should I go APS-C DSLR or the new technology (mirrorless)?
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, they would just be more "telephoto" no? If I add a 15mm (or so) lens I should be covered at the wider end.

I'm not thrilled with buying used, and full frame is probably outside my budget.

So should I go APS-C DSLR or the new technology (mirrorless)?

More telephoto...that's one way of looking at it, yes, but that's a gross oversimplification. THe 28-105 will no longer be the wide-to-tele it once was. The 70-210 will be too long for family events. The 85 will be very narrow, and useless indoors.
 
The 28 to 105 isn't prime lens quality obviously but it still sufficiently covers often used focal lengths, correct?

The 70 to 210 now multiplied by 1.6 could become a fair to good big game wildlife lens in the mountains, no?

Add a prime lens somewhere in the 15 to 20mm range and i shouldn't be in a terrible situation, no?

Admittedly I have been out of the game for a long time so if anyone has a good argument for why I may be looking at this wrong I am all ears.
 
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Braineak often seems to be a man of few words... I think he and Derrel are trying to tell you that APS-C or 4/3rds etc. won't be the best option with your lenses for landscapes, etc.

I've bought used plenty from reputable dealers - KEH, Adorama used dept., etc. Might be a better option to get used, and buy what would work best for what you want to be able to shoot.

Sometimes these things can snowball, if these lenses don't do well for wildlife on a smaller 4/3rds or whatever then you need to get lenses for the camera body you bought, and then that still isn't working out so then you need to get a full frame and new lenses for that.... and you would have been better off keeping it simple from the get go. You can always start with a used body for the lenses you have now and then trade in/sell and upgrade at some point down the road.
 
Let's expand this discussion on the pros and cons of using these lenses on a Canon APS-C DSLR so that I can be fully convinced that it's not a good idea.

I realize there is no landscape lens among the lenses I currently own, I understand that the first lens I will have to get will have to be something like a 15mm - X zoom if I am going to try to do landscapes with an APS-C DSLR.

And that 15mm - X will probably also cover the portrait / people lens range as well on an APS-C DSLR camera.

So then, will my good (good, not bad, not great) 70 to 210mm become a good 112 to 336mm telephoto lens? What will it's shortcomings be?

I don't think I'd like to buy used.

I don't think I want to go as expensive, heavy or large as a full frame DSLR.

So that leaves a beginner or enthusiast DSLR.

Or mirrorless.

And I recently learned that the Sony A6300 has an APS-C sensor.......................................

Does that mean a mirrorless Sony can be as good or better than a Canon APS-C DSLR?
 
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Almost everything on the market is better than a Canon aps-c. Those lens will suit a ff beautifully, there's no reason you shouldn't look at a used 5d or 6d to couple them with.

You will lose auto focus if you go with anything else for them.

Knowing Canon those might not even mount on a aps-c...
 
Just a thought: get hold of ae1 or rebel film body, shoot a roll of film and see if you like the result with those lenses. Maybe that can help you decide. I've had a 5D since they came out and have no complaints. Good reliable workhorse camera.


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Almost everything on the market is better than a Canon aps-c. Those lens will suit a ff beautifully, there's no reason you shouldn't look at a used 5d or 6d to couple them with.

You will lose auto focus if you go with anything else for them.

Knowing Canon those might not even mount on a aps-c...

They are EF lenses, they'll mount and work.

And are Canon APS-C DSLR's so bad? Many get good reviews.

And if I go mirroress I'll sell lenses and start over completely.
 
Just a thought: get hold of ae1 or rebel film body, shoot a roll of film and see if you like the result with those lenses. Maybe that can help you decide. I've had a 5D since they came out and have no complaints. Good reliable workhorse camera.


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The lenses were fine with my EOS A2 before I broke a dial and just moved on to other hobbies.
 
Almost everything on the market is better than a Canon aps-c. Those lens will suit a ff beautifully, there's no reason you shouldn't look at a used 5d or 6d to couple them with.

You will lose auto focus if you go with anything else for them.

Knowing Canon those might not even mount on a aps-c...

The part I bolded is my thinking as well, and of course, I recommended a used $395 Canon 5D, or a used $795 Canon 6D: two fine cameras, with good performance. Dan Ostergren does amazing work with the "old and outdated" Canon 5D. I have a 5D, and shot it for five years..it has a good sensor for its era, and it's the RIGHT sized sensor for the lens set the OP currently has under discussion.

Sony makes the best-performing sensors now, for FF and APS-C cameras. Period. Mounting 1990's AF Canon lenses ona mirorless camera...ehhh...a LOT will be lost, like the convenience and sureness of Canon EF lenses on a Canon full-frame camera designed FOR THE lenses you have.

RE: 28-105's optics...it will be fine on a Canon 5D, which is 12.8 megapixels...it will be FINE on those big, huge, low-density pixels! APS-C at 18 to 24 megapixels demands MORE, and better lens performance than the 5D at 12.8 or the 6D at 20.2 megapixels...the bigger sensor performs BETTER with "average" lenses than the tiny APS-C sensor will.

If you're afraid to buy a used 5D or 6D, I get that. But don't expect Clinton-era lenses like the 28-105 to be all that good or very handy on a 1.6x crop-frame camera.

Look...I've been shooting d-slrs since 2001 with 1.5x and 1.6x Canon and FX Canon and FX Nikon, and have used 1990's era lenses...even used a 28-105 Nikon on FX...a VERY handy lens--on a full-frame camera! Lenses on APS-C never really do translate perfectly to what they were designed to be when you throw away half of the image area. Last week I bought a $29.95 1990's Tokina 70-210 f/4~5.6, and on FULL-frame Nikon D610, it is a SOLID poerformer, and useful for what it was designed to be...a short to medium-long telephoto, with an f/4 to f/5.6 max aperture. Which means to leverage that slow lens, I needed to pair it with a large sensor that is good in LOW-light, and right now, Canon is weak(ish) in low light and in higher ISO levels on all their APS-C cameras. Your 28-105 is also slow...so, again...I told you the 5D and 6D are solid imagers, because they can be shot at ISO levels of 1,000 or 1,250 for the 5D, and much higher for the 6D...not so with Canon APS-C sensor cameras with slooooooow lenses.

The 85/1.8 EF is a SOLID lens. Owned it. GOOD, no, damned good lens, on any sensor size.

A Canon 5D or a Canon 6D is almost the same, exact size and weight as a Canon 1.6x body...

You ALREADY OWN an entire, complete, useful full-frame lens set. My suggestion is 1)Either get a FF Canon, or 2)sell all the stuff and buy the right, new, modern, AF lenses for a Sony mirrorless. Or 3)buy a Nikon D3400, 18-55 AF-P VR and 70-300 AF-P VR two-lens kit and be very amazed. I'm outta' here.
 
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