Tell me about this frickin' lens because I can't find ANYTHING on it.

[e.rose]

Well, actually, I CAN... but it's confusing.

I have this Promaster lens and I'm trying to find out more about it... and I'm having a lot of trouble finding information on it.

This is EXACTLY what it says on the lens itself:

Promaster Digital EDO AF Aspherical LD (IF) 11-18mm 1:4.5-5.6 Φ77 (what the hell is that symbol of the circle with the line through it called, anyway? )

So I searched for that I found this, for example:

Promaster 11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Digital XR EDO Aspherical Auto Focus Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital 4697 : Wolfe's Camera Shop

But it says it's for Nikon... and they have written in the title, next to the word digital, "XR"... which isn't on my lens. But looking at the picture they have displayed it's not on *their* lens either...

So first of all, I can't figure out what "XR" stands for and if my lens *is* that...

And in my searches I also found an ended bid on ebay:

PROMASTER 11-18mm DIGITAL EDO AF LD 1:4.5-5.6

Which, once again, says it's a Nikon lens...

But I acquired it from a Canon shooter, who has *always* been a Canon shooter... Maybe *they* got it from someone *else*... but there's no loner any way for me to ask them that.

So my NEXT two questions are:

Is it possible to use Nikon lenses on Canon cameras without the use of any adapters?

How can I find out if this lens, is in fact, a Nikon lens, or if it's a Canon if it doesn't say it anywhere on it?

I'd like to sell the damn thing because I *never* use it... but I don't even know how to LIST it, without knowing this information, haha.

Any help you can offer would be welcomed!!!

 

[Robin Usagani]

Promaster is probably a relabeled samyang or rokinon. It wont Auto Focus and you may have to manually change the aperture too?

 

[e.rose]

Promaster is probably a relabeled samyang or rokinon. It wont Auto Focus and you may have to manually change the aperture too?

No, it's apparently affiliated with Tamron.... from what I've found... and it auto focuses just fine and the aperture works just like my other lenses. I've USED it... to play with it... but then I've never used it again, and I've had it for months. I don't really have any real applications for it right now and I'd rather just get rid of it and get something I *want* later.

 

[480sparky41 41]

Φ77 (what the hell is that symbol of the circle with the line through it called, anyway? )

Diameter symbol.

 

[e.rose]

Φ77 (what the hell is that symbol of the circle with the line through it called, anyway? )

Diameter symbol.

Well that solves THAT mystery... but as for the REST of it................

 

[tirediron]

No, you cannot use a Nikon lens on a Canon without an adapter, or vice-versa.

Look at the back end; Nikon and Canon mounts are distinctly different, especially the electrical contacts; if you're unsure, post a picture of the mount.

It does indeed look very Tamron-esque.

 

[Derrel]

How can I find out if this lens, is in fact, a Nikon lens, or if it's a Canon if it doesn't say it anywhere on it?

Well, the easiest, safest way is to try and put a Canon rear lens cap on the lens...if the lens cap fits the lens perfectly, then the mount is a Canon mount. You could also try putting it onto your Canon camera...

A Nikon F-mount lens has a mechanical lens diaphragm actuating mechanism on the back of it...a small, square-ish, metal "lever-dealie" that opens/closes the blades of the diaphragm...a Canon EF lens has nothing like that...this is kind of like being able to determine the difference between a can of beer and a bottle of beer...

The lens looks like a re-badged Tamron...the lettering, as well as that unusual barrel shape...looks a lot like the Tamron 17-35 f/2.8~4 LD. LD is Tamron means (Extra) Low-Dispersion glass...LD Glass.

 

[e.rose]

Well then it's definitely a Canon lens because I've *used* it already, haha.

But the weird thing is that all the hits I come up with on Google are for Nikon lenses... and they all have that weird "XR" in the title... but I don't see it on the lenses in the pictures... and it's certainly not on *my* lens.

 

[Derrel]

zOMG..."how can I tell if this piece of meat I've already eaten several bites of is steak or hamburger?"

EDO = "Enhanced Digital Optic Design "

XR= crop-body image circle size

 

[e.rose]

zOMG..."how can I tell if this piece of meat I've already eaten several bites of is steak or hamburger?"

HENCE... my "can nikon lenses be used on a Canon camera without an adapter" question... because CLEARLY if the answer to that question is "no"... then it's a Canon lens... if the answer to that question was "yes"... then further investigation was needed. :greenpbl:

 

[Patrice]

Promaster Digital EDO AF Aspherical LD (IF) 11-18mm 1:4.5-5.6 Φ77 (what the hell is that symbol of the circle with the line through it called, anyway?

Any help you can offer would be welcomed!!!

Some of this stuff you very likely already know. Sorry ahead of time for the redundancy.

Promaster digital: the digital part likely means optimized for crop sensors, like Nikon's "DX" nomenclature.
AF: auto focus
Aspherical: non spherical lens element to help the image focus on a flat plane
LD: low dispersion glass elements to control the separation of the light wavelengths and thus control aberrations
IF: internal focussing mechanism so the lens does not change length with focussing and the front element does not rotate
11-18: zoom range
1:4.5 - 5.6: the maximum aperture at the minimum and maximum focal lengths
77 at the end is the diameter of the filter threads

hope this helps.

 

[unpopular]

Isn't some tamron stuff also manufactured by samyang? I think just about every brand has at least one line of lenses built by them.

 

[e.rose]

Promaster Digital EDO AF Aspherical LD (IF) 11-18mm 1:4.5-5.6 Φ77 (what the hell is that symbol of the circle with the line through it called, anyway?

Any help you can offer would be welcomed!!!

Some of this stuff you very likely already know. Sorry ahead of time for the redundancy.

Promaster digital: the digital part likely means optimized for crop sensors, like Nikon's "DX" nomenclature.
AF: auto focus
Aspherical: non spherical lens element to help the image focus on a flat plane
LD: low dispersion glass elements to control the separation of the light wavelengths and thus control aberrations
IF: internal focussing mechanism so the lens does not change length with focussing and the front element does not rotate
11-18: zoom range
1:4.5 - 5.6: the maximum aperture at the minimum and maximum focal lengths
77 at the end is the diameter of the filter threads

hope this helps.

Yeah, I was really only confused about the LD, IF, and where the other websites were getting XR from. But your post *was* helpful, so thank you

 

[e.rose]

Isn't some tamron stuff also manufactured by samyang? I think just about every brand has at least one line of lenses built by them.

No clue, haha.

 

[Crollo]

Your frickin' lens is a damn auto-focus wide angle lens designed for digital Canon bodies with a frickin' aperture range of 4.5-5.6 and a thread mount diameter of flipping 77mm. Your damn lens is not a XR lens simply because it doesn't have freakin' XR written on the lens anywhere... You may not put a mother humpin' Canon lens on a Nikon body or vise versa without a flipping adapter.

If you have any more dang questions, go ahead and ask them and I'll freakin' answer them.