New body, old lens

[eagledad]

Recently bought a Canon 7d. I have a 2000 era Canon Rebel 2000, with which I used a 70-300 mm autofocus Tamron lens. I used this setup for a while, then gave it to my son who lives in a mountain community (dust, moisture, etc) and probably didn't care for it as well as I would have, but now I'd like to begin using the lens with my new digital 7d.. I don't know that there is anything wrong with it, just that it is a 13 year old lens, and used. Should I have it professionally cleaned/servicved before beginning to use it on my 7d?
Thanks

 

[astroNikon]

take a flashlight to it (both sides as you look in), open up the aperture and see if you see any hazing, fungus. If all looks clear then the glass should be okay.
Is the mount dirty at all, if not then it's probably okay.
just check it over. If it is dusty on the outside etc then maybe a cleaning is in order. Of course that depends how much it costs versus replacing it with a cleaner one.

I bought a 75-300mm AF lens for my Nikon. It's "old school auto focus" and push-pull but it's a nice and sharp lens and clean throughout. It takes great pictures.

 

[dsiglin]

edit: ninjad by astro

A 13 year old lens is still young. I have lenses that are more than twice my age.

 

[goodguy]

I have a Sigma lens which I think was made at 2001, good lens, not the sharpest in my collection of lens but sharp enough and is great value for the money.
I also have the Nikon 50mm 1.4D which I don't know when it was bought as I got it used but its a rather old design but produces sharp, sharp pictures!!!

So age doesn't mean your glass is crap.

 

[ronlane]

I have a Vivitar 200mm fd mount that I use on my T3i. It is soft for my liking when I hand hold it, but put it on a tripod and use flash and it does really nice work.

 

[Dao]

Older Canon EF lenses should works with newer EOS digital cameras. I used to have a 50mm f/1.8 lens which was made in the 80's and that lens work with the Digital Rebel and the 40D without any issue.

However, if you have a old 3rd parties lens such as your Tamron lens that was made for the EOS film body, there is a slight chance that it may not work in the newer EOS digital cameras. You just need to try it and see.

 

[eagledad]

I took it outside to try it out. It worked fine, until I ran the zoom up to maximum - 300 mm. When i pressed the shutter button, it did not autofocus, did not snap a picture, and I got a notice that there was something wrong with the connection between the lens and the camera body. I backed off the zoom very slightly, and then it once again would take a picture. Strange