SLR lenses question.

[gforceg]

Good afternoon, I'm planning to buy a digital SLR before long and if possible I'd like to be able to use the lenses I already have with the new body.

My current SLR is a Canon EOS 500N, about a 1999 vintage and I use the standard Canon 28-80mm lens and also a Canon 100-300mm zoom with it.

Does anyone know if these lenses will be compatible with a new Canon digital SLR?

Thanks in advance.

[nellyleelephant]

Any EOS EF lens will work with any EOS body, film or digital.

EF-S lenses (which yours aren't) will not work with Full frame digital, APS-H, or your film body, only crop sensor bodies.

So yes, they will work!

[gforceg]

Thank you, that's good to know!

[Republik1980]

Short answer: Yes, they'll fit.

Longer answer: Your new Canon DSLR will have one of two sensor sizes - APS-C or Full Frame. The latter is the same size as a 35mm slide (36x24mm) while the APS-C or "crop" sensor is 1.6 times smaller in both axes, with a sensor size of around 22.5 x 15.0mm.

Lower-end DSLR bodies will have the APS-C sensor (1100D, 600D, 60D, 7D) while the upper end will have a full frame sensor (5D series, 6D, 1Ds/x series).

Your lenses will behave exactly the same on a full frame body, but on a crop body the effective focal length will be increased by a factor of 1.6 - so using your 28-80 on a crop body will give you a focal length range that's equivalent to 45-128mm on a full frame camera.

This is why there are specialist wide lenses for crop bodies - i.e. the lovely Canon 10-22. These are referred to as EF-S lenses.

HTH