Old ~ New

[AAT]

I have a question that Im hoping to get a answer too.
Im updating myself to a digital camera. I have not made a purchase yet.

I have a 27yr old 35mm film Cannon AV-1 with 50mm,135 lens and a 500mm quantary lens
Can ...could... any of these lens be used with the digitals of today?
What about the flash...speedlite 155A?

I have been told that they are useless and I will have to start from the beginning with lens, flash, tripod too....again.
Im so new to the digital age... Im still learning that the cameras today..have computer software? I have to get photoshop too, flashcards, storage media,


I suppose I am hoping that the old lens are still usefull.... just not in auto mode.

Thanks
AAT

[eduardofrances]

Some manufacturers like pentax developed an adapter for older lenses, but i havent heard that of canon, Newer Cameras uses EF and EF-S lenses, you should try contacting Canon to ask this, I think I have heard of Adapters but not made by Canon...

[Rhys]

Those lenses are FD mount. None seem to be very expensive. Certainly Quantaray's are the cheapo end of the market these days. None will fit the Canon EOS system. There are mounts-converters available but I understand that they won't allow infinity focus.

I'd forget them and if I was going to go Canon then I'd get Tamron lenses from KEH.com (secondhand).

Don't buy cheap lenses as you'll regret it afterwards and you'll still have to buy better lenses. It works out more expensive that way. The cheap way is to buy good lenses in the beginning. I recommend the Tamron 17-35 f2.8, 28-75 f2.8 and the Sigma 70-200 f2.8. Don't get the Canon 18-55 kit lens. It's an awful lens.

As far as selling your current Canon kit goes, I don't really think you'll get much. It's not an antique yet. It's at the stage where nobody wants them, nobody'll pay much for them and there are too many around for them to gain value. Maybe in 50 years or so they'll be worth a ton of money.

[AAT]

Thanks for the response,
Ive checked around...I found you can use some of the canon lens from the 70s-80s-90s, only certain ones with restrictions or losses. No thanks.
I will be starting from the ground up with a new digital camera & all extras...sigh.
Makes you wonder if digitals will be out of use/fashion in 25 yrs.

Now, that Im free to go to others... on to the daunting task of...which brand.
Thanks again for the help.
AAT

Those lenses are FD mount. None seem to be very expensive. Certainly Quantaray's are the cheapo end of the market these days. None will fit the Canon EOS system. There are mounts-converters available but I understand that they won't allow infinity focus.

I'd forget them and if I was going to go Canon then I'd get Tamron lenses from KEH.com (secondhand).

Don't buy cheap lenses as you'll regret it afterwards and you'll still have to buy better lenses. It works out more expensive that way. The cheap way is to buy good lenses in the beginning. I recommend the Tamron 17-35 f2.8, 28-75 f2.8 and the Sigma 70-200 f2.8. Don't get the Canon 18-55 kit lens. It's an awful lens.

As far as selling your current Canon kit goes, I don't really think you'll get much. It's not an antique yet. It's at the stage where nobody wants them, nobody'll pay much for them and there are too many around for them to gain value. Maybe in 50 years or so they'll be worth a ton of money.

[Rhys]

well, on the question of brand...

Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Olympus and Pentax all make digital SLRs.

Nikon seems restricted to 6 megapixels (mostly) and a 1.5 crop factor.
Canon comes in various sizes 8 - 16 megapixels and comes full-frame or cropped with different crop factors.
Minolta has a built-in image stabiliser and a 1.5 crop factor.
Olympus had a self-cleaning image sensor and is a different image format: 4:3 instead of 2:3.
Pentax claims backward compatibility with all their previous lenses including screw mount and takes AA batteries.

I went for the 8 megapixel Canon XT. I still have leanings toward other cameras although I can take pretty nice pictures with my Canon. As somebody who takes pictures occasionally, it seems that the Pentax with its AA battery support would have been good. Having said that I have the Canon batterry grip which allows me to use AA or funky Canon batteries. Nikon is resricted to funky Nikon batteries. In fact all except Pentax are resticted by a funky battery type.