Pros/Cons of EF and EF-S Lenses

[acpryor]

Greetings... my 1st post after visiting for sometime...

I'm getting ready to purchase a new cam, lenses, etc and have a newbie question:

What is the difference between EF and EF-S lenses? Aside from the smaller number of EF-S lenses available, I'm not sure how they differ. I'm assuming it has to do with the mounting, perhaps the "S" models only mount to digital cams versus the "non-S" mountable to both? Is this right? And what are the pros/cons of one over the other?

(I did a search on the forums for this info and couldn't find it. If it has been discussed in detail, please direct me to that thread. My apologies for perhaps bringing up something you all have discussed before.)

Also, I value all you all have to say, so the more honest opinion, the better. I hope I can be a valueable contributor in the future.

Thanks everyone!

AP

[Will display camera/lens info when obtained after PMA]

[Rhys]

Greetings... my 1st post after visiting for sometime...

I'm getting ready to purchase a new cam, lenses, etc and have a newbie question:

What is the difference between EF and EF-S lenses? Aside from the smaller number of EF-S lenses available, I'm not sure how they differ. I'm assuming it has to do with the mounting, perhaps the "S" models only mount to digital cams versus the "non-S" mountable to both? Is this right? And what are the pros/cons of one over the other?

(I did a search on the forums for this info and couldn't find it. If it has been discussed in detail, please direct me to that thread. My apologies for perhaps bringing up something you all have discussed before.)

Also, I value all you all have to say, so the more honest opinion, the better. I hope I can be a valueable contributor in the future.

Thanks everyone!

AP

[Will display camera/lens info when obtained after PMA]

EF lenses will work on film and digital cameras. EF-S lenses only work on cropped digital cameras eg 20D, XT.

[acpryor]

Thanks for the reply.

Is one preferable to the other? Why/Why not?

[TenD]

EF-S lenses only fit 3 cameras in Canon's lineup, the 20D, Rebel, and Rebel XT. If you have or plan to have any other camera in Canon's lineup then avoid EF-S. The EF-S lenses have a protrusion on the back that will not fit into the standard EF mount, but any EF lens will fit on an EF-S mount. The S stands for "short back focus" with the idea being to put the back element closer to the sensor plane resulting in a smaller, lighter, less expensive lens. So far none of the goals have really been realized. A couple of the EF-S lenses are quite fine and a couple are less than fine, their weight and size is maybe marginally smaller and lighter than the EF lenses but not much. The biggest advantage of EF-S is allowing for Ultra Wide lenses for 1.6x crop cameras.
Edit: 02-24, Ok now they fit 4 of Canon's cameras, and Canon has introduced a new EF-S lens the 17-55 f/2.8. With the intro of this new lens I am thinking Canon is going to hold on to the EF-S/1.6x format for a while.

[mhutchinson]

It is true, EF-S lenses are rumored have less weight and size to them (usually a little shorter). A great advantage of the EF lens is that it will work on all EOS formats and you are not locking yourself in to the EF-S camera format if you ever want to move to a non-cropped format.

The only EF-S I have for my 20D is the one that came with the camera.