Which digital SLR?? Which lenses??

[Chumpy]

Hi
I'm considering buying a digital SLR.

One thing I got told was that some of the cameras allow their 'normal' lenses to be used in their digital SLR's, whilst others need to have 'new' digital lenses.

Which manufacturers / cameras allow use of their 'normal' SLR lenses?? and which need new digital SLR lenses??

I presume cameras which make use of 'normal' lenses have many lenses already in the market, which can be purchased cheaply in the second hand market??

Thanks

 

[Holly]

Finding the right camera for yourself is (I discovered this myself) Is about you going into a camera shop and *feeling/holding* the camera and testing it out.. I recently went into our camera shop and played around with a few camears... Canon, nikon, olympic etc... Well out of them all the Nikon felt MOST comfortable to me..

Also this will probably be moved to Q&A forum You will get more answers / reviews there

 

[benhasajeep]

The thing about lenses is some are for digital cameras only. Except for the high end Canon DSLR's the other dslr's have a smaller than full frame sensor (Canon, Pentax, Nikon, have smaller than 35mm film frame). So they have lenses that are specially made so that they produce a picture circle just big enough for the digitial sensor. If used on a film camera (or full frame digital). You would get a vignetted shot on the film.

Now they also make lenses that are Digital and film compatable. These are basically normal film lenses with some extra coatings to help prevent ghosting or reflections from the digital sensor. They will work on film or digital cameras no matter the sensor size.

I know Nikon allows just about any lens made from the 70's to now to work on their dlrs's. The AF lenses work as they are supposed to on the digitals. Nikons manual focus lenses will also work. But you will not get metering information. Nikon has the best interchangability of any of the manufactures. Nikon dlsr will use any Nikon AI, AI'd, AIS, AF-D, AF-s, or G lens made. The only thing to watch out for is their DX lens line. They are for digitals only. If used on a film camera they will have too small of a film circle. Manual lenses on the dslr will of course be manual focus and metering will be disabled. For example on my D50 a manual lens you get no f stop information on the camera and the camera will not meter. But it still allows you to focus with the lens wide open and when you press the shutter it will stop down the lens to the setting on the aperature ring.

Another note is with an adapter. You can even use nikon lenses in manual mode on Canon AF film and Digital cameras.

I have had a Nikon F-100 for about 7 years now and can use my lenses on my D50 and Canon 20D. I also have some nikon manual lenses that will work on both in manual mode.

 

[Big Mike]

You can't go wrong with Canon or Nikon. As mentioned, Nikon DSLR cameras can use just about any Nikon lens from the last 30 years and Canon DLSR cameras can use just about any Canon lens from the last 18 years.

I agree with Holly, go into a store and hold the cameras. See which one feels best to you. In terms of image quality and general camera goodness, again, you can't go wrong with Nikon or Canon.