lens ?

[mick0613]

looking into getting a xti 400d I already have several lenses from my rebel 35mm camera and was told that they will work but will change focal point ,is that a big problem ? the 2 I use the most is a 35 -80 and a 70-300 so I figure that I really dont need to buy a lens with it but wanted some opinions about it .

[JTL]

looking into getting a xti 400d I already have several lenses from my rebel 35mm camera and was told that they will work but will change focal point ,is that a big problem ? the 2 I use the most is a 35 -80 and a 70-300 so I figure that I really dont need to buy a lens with it but wanted some opinions about it .Your lenses will work. The rule of thumb is: ANY EF lens will work on ANY EOS body.

Your 35-80mm will be like a 56-128mm lens and your 70-300mm will be like a 112mm-480mm lens on the XTi. That's because of the sensor size in the XTi smaller in relation to the size of a 35mm frame. To do the conversion, take the focal length of the lens and multiply by 1.6.

Which 70-300 do you have? There are several.

Also, since by going to the XTi, you're losing out on the wide end, you may want to look into getting a wide angle lens. If you get the XTi with the kit lens (18-55mm...which will be equivalent to a 29-88mm on you film camera), you have good focal length coverage.

[griptape]

Yeah, EF mount is EF mount. Just multiply your focal length by 1.6. So 35mm x 1.6 = 56. 80 x 1.6 = 128. So your lens will have similar image quality, but will be a 56-128 lens instead of a 35-80.

[mick0613]

the 70 -300 is a quantaray, has been very good , have gotten some great shots with it

[JTL]

the 70 -300 is a quantaray, has been very good , have gotten some great shots with itI might as well warn you in advance. Soon, lots of folks are going to start suggesting that you spend thousands of dollars (or many hundreds at least) and upgrade all of your lenses. Don't let them make you feel bad about what you have. Shoot your gear and enjoy it. And when/if it's ever time to upgrade your lenses you'll know it. :)

[TheWengler]

Well you should probably add something on the wide end since that's what you're losing by moving to a cropped camera, even if it's just the kit lens. Unless of course landscapes don't interest you. If that's the case, you're already good to go.

Edit: I guess JTL already said that. Now you have one more opinion.

[coldrain]

I am betting the quantaray is quite a few years old, and it will probably give electrical compatibility problems on a EOS DSLR, since they are a bit more picky about the quality of the signals. It will most likely give a "Err 99" error when it tries to close the aperture when you try to take a photo, forcing you to switch the camera off and on again.

Older Sigma lenses (and your quanthing is made by Sigma) are incompatible, you can try it out. Set an aperture like f8 or f11 and try making a photo.

Another issue, with your 35mm camera you only looked at most photos on small prints, and the prints always get automatically color corrected in the print labs. So you never noticed that the 70-300 you have is not all that great.
If it works on your XTi/400D you will notice that the results will be more disappointing, as you will notice things like a bit lack of contrast, softness and such because you look at digital photos much closer on a computer.

So bear that in mind.

If the 35-80 is a Canon lens, it will work fine.

But, the conversion factor due to the smaller than 135 film sensor will alter the focal length as follows:
35 x 1.6 = 56mm
80 x 1.6 = 128mm
So you will lose your wide angle. And a you will gain at the long end. 300mm becomes 480mm. If you mind using wide angle, the cheapest way to gain wider view angles is to get the Canon EF-S 18-55 kit lens with your camera. Or the newer 18-55 with IS.
If you want to spend more, the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX DC Macro will offer a bigger max. aperture and a bit better optics than the kit lens, but costs around $420.

If your quanthing proves to be incompatible (Err99), you basically have two options:
Get the better but cheap Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 APO DG Macro, for around $220.
Or get the very good Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6 IS USM for a bit over $500. This lens is optically the best 70-300 class lens you can get on any camera make at the moment, and offers image stabilization.