interchangeable lenses

[cazzablanca]

hi

I currently have a canon eos 300 slr with a standard 35-80mm lens. I was hoping to purchase a canon eos 550D dslr, however it would be cheaper to just buy the body so I was wondering whether the lens from from slr would fit onto the dslr until I can afford a better lens.

Does anybody know whether the lens would work on the dslr?

 

[Designer]

Check out the user's manual for the proposed EOS 550D online.

My user's manual has a listing of lenses that will work and to what extent they are compatible.

 

[petrochemist]

I'm not a canon user, but I beleive the EOS lenses will work OK, although the lenses designed for APS-C cameras are EF-S rather than EF. I know the older FD range won't & you can't even get an adapter as the rear flange distance was shorter.
However 35-80 is not a very useful focal range on APSC cameras. It goes from standard to short telephoto, whilst the kit zoom will be significantly wider (18-55mm is normal).
In my experience slightly older DSLRs can be brought with their kit lenses for very reasonable prices on the second hand market (~£200 covers several 550Ds sold with lens on e-bay and ~£100 seems relatively common for a 300D) The kit lenses themselves can also be brought for as little as £20 with a little patience.

The kit lens is not marvelous, but it's still very usable and getting a better lens with the same field of view will be VERY expensive.
.

 

[Big Mike]

hi

I currently have a canon eos 300 slr with a standard 35-80mm lens. I was hoping to purchase a canon eos 550D dslr, however it would be cheaper to just buy the body so I was wondering whether the lens from from slr would fit onto the dslr until I can afford a better lens.

Does anybody know whether the lens would work on the dslr?

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, the lens will work on any Canon EOS DSLR (or any film EOS for that matter).

All EF lenses will work on all EOS cameras.
The only time you are likely to run into an incompatibility issue, is with EF-S lenses. They are made to work only with 'most' DSLR cameras (all but the high end models).

So while your current 35-80mm lens will fit and work on a 550D, it won't feel the same. This is because the 550D has an image sensor that is just a bit smaller than 35mm film. So the camera only 'sees' a smaller portion of the image coming through the lens. The edges are essentially cropped, which is why these cameras are often called 'crop sensor' cameras.
HERE is an example of the difference you would see on something like a 550D vs shooting on your film Rebel.

If you are shooting things that are further away, this is actually helpful. But if you like shooting wide angle views, then it becomes less helpful.

So my suggestion would be to consider the type of shooting you like to do. If you like taking wide angle scenic landscapes, then I would suggest getting the new camera with the 'kit' lens (typically EF-S 18-55mm). But if you are more likely to be shooting things that are further away, then you might be just fine with your 35-80mm.

 

[TCampbell]

^^ This

All Canon EOS "EF" lenses (not to be confused with "EF-S" lenses... those are not the same) are compatible with all Canon EOS cameras regardless of whether it is a film camera vs. digital camera and also regardless of whether a digital camera is full-frame vs. crop-frame.

HOWEVER... whereas a 50mm lens would be considered a "normal" focal length on a 35mm film (or full-frame digital) camera, the Canon 550D has an APS-C sized sensor... it's a bit smaller and has a 1.6x (60%) crop factor. On such a camera, the "normal" focal length is about 30mm (give or take).

THAT means your 35-80mm lens (which is mildly wide through mildly telephoto) on your 35mm film camera will actually be a VERY slightly narrow angle of view. You will have no wide angle at all and it'll seem just slightly more confined at 35mm focal length than shooting a 50mm focal length on the film camera.