Older Lenses on todays DSLR's

[medallion]

Is it not a good idea to use older lenses 20 years old on newer DSLR's?

 

[2WheelPhoto]

your manual explains lens compatibilities for your body.

 

[KmH]

20 year old lenses may not auto focus, or meter, on today's DSLR cameras.

As mentioned, check your camera user's manual for specifics related to the lenses and camera you have..

 

[Patrice]

Is it not a good idea to use older lenses 20 years old on newer DSLR's?

You need to give us more information than that if you want an informative answer.

Why are you asking? Are experiencing a problem with a lens?

What camera model are you asking about? Not all 'newer' dSLR's are the same.

What specific lens are you asking about?

 

[dxqcanada1]

I use many old Maxxum AF lenses (circa 1985-1995) on my Sony SLT, great IQ, fully compatible.

... but your question is kind of vague.

 

[medallion]

I have a pentax ist dl and a tamron 18-200 and a pentax 18-55. I am looking at the pentax k5 and want to make sure these lenses will work. They do have auto focus on the dl. Hope that helps. Do not want to buy the K5 if the lenses either do not work or the quality of newer lenses have improved.

 

[dxqcanada1]

The Pentax Camera Lens Compatibility Chart

 

[medallion]

Thanks for the chart. I am not very smart when things start getting technical. What does it mean when I have an af lens (my tamron) and looking at the K5. M** and av mf. Is it a big deal? Do I need to be a pro for this to matter? Thanks again for the help!!!

 

[dxqcanada1]

Looking over that chart ... I would say that all AF lenses for Pentax work on the K-5.
I think that Pentax specifically designed their DSLR's to be very backward compatible with all of the K mount lenses.

http://www.robertstech.com/compat.htm

 

[medallion]

Thanks for all the help!

 

[unpopular]

Depending on the lens, you may not even have auto-aperture, requiring stop-down metering. Stop down metering is more precise with TTL metering, but is slow and cumbersome. In some ways I do prefer it, as it slows you down a bit and doesn't have any discrepancy between what the f-stop says and how much light is actually being transmitted through the lens, which can be significant.

On some relatively newer thread-mount lenses with an aperture pin, you may need to physically disable this pin else the aperture ring will be ineffective. Which lenses are you looking into.

Also be aware that some lenses designed for rangefinders or motion picture cameras may physically mount to your camera, but may not cover the entire frame of your DSLR or be able to focus to anything but extremely close distances.

 

[NemesisK]

I am not very smart when things start getting technical.

Saying that to yourself and others over and over again, makes it self fulfilling.

In reality, it's just a lame excuse for avoiding what you need to do so you are smarter when things start getting technical.

 

[medallion]

Very true.