Canon Lenses Question

[Iron]

Ok so Im looking at getting the 50D or 40D. My question is once I get my lens collection and I want to upgrade to a full frame sensor like a 5D or 1D will the ef / ef-s lenses fit on the 1D or 5D or will I have to start all over.

[brmill26]

EF lenses work on all Canon cameras made from 1987 to now. EF-S lenses will not work on full frame cameras, but Canon only makes a few of them. I personally avoid them for that reason.

[Iron]

is there another reason to avoid the ef-s line? are they not as good quality??

[AshantiGianna]

I wouldn't say so.

[brmill26]

They're similar in quality to most of the non-L EF lenses. There are no L EF-S lenses, though. So apples to apples, quality should be similar from either an EF-S or standard EF lens.

[tayl0124]

To add to this question is it not true that the ef-s lenses have the size matched whereas the ef lenses have a magnification scale. For example my efs 18-55mm is actually 18-55 whereas my ef 55mm is closer to 70mm??

[mjs1973]

To add to this question is it not true that the ef-s lenses have the size matched whereas the ef lenses have a magnification scale. For example my efs 18-55mm is actually 18-55 whereas my ef 55mm is closer to 70mm??

No. A 50mm lens, is a 50mm lens, no matter what you put it on. If you have an EF-S 50mm lens, and an EF 50mm lens, you will get the exact same image if used on the same camera. If you are using a camera with a less than full frame sensor, you have to figure in the X factor no matter if the lens is EF or EF-S.

[tayl0124]

What is the purpose of an efs lens than??

[mjs1973]

What is the purpose of an efs lens than??

Because EF-S lenses only need to produce an image circle large enough to cover the smaller sensor, the lenses themselves can be made smaller, lighter, and less expensively.

If you want a super wide lens for an APS-C sized sensor, you are pretty much stuck with an EF-S type of lens. I know Canon makes an EF 16mm lens, but put that on a camera with an APS-C sized sensor, and your super wide angle lens isn't super wide anymore. If you go with something like the 10-20mm EF-S lens, you can now get a super wide angle lens for your APS-C camera.

I'm not trying to say you should buy EF-S lenses, just trying to point out that there are some legitimate reasons for them. If you think you will be shooting with a FF camera in the future, I wouldn't invest in EF-S lenses.

[brmill26]

I don't want to sound like I'm knocking EF-S lenses b/c almost all of them are great. But the purpose of the EF-S line is to make cheaper lenses for consumers. Part of the reason they're cheaper, as Mike said, is b/c they're smaller since they only have to cover the smaller crop sensor. This is the same reason there are no "L" EF-S lenses, b/c they're not built to professional standards. But that doesn't matter for 95% of their target market.

The only lens that would be necessary to get an EF-S would be a superwide, as Mike said. A 10mm on a Canon crop sensor = 16mm, which is the widest rectilinear lens you can get as far as I know. You can get some fisheyes that are wider, such as the Peleng 8mm (which would be a crazy 8mm on full frame,though you get a circular image, not full coverage), or basically a 12mm full coverage fisheye on a crop sensor.

[rich s]

They work on non-full frame cameras...they are needed on crop cameras.....10-22mm for wide...Rich

[tayl0124]

I don't want to sound like I'm knocking EF-S lenses b/c almost all of them are great. But the purpose of the EF-S line is to make cheaper lenses for consumers. Part of the reason they're cheaper, as Mike said, is b/c they're smaller since they only have to cover the smaller crop sensor. This is the same reason there are no "L" EF-S lenses, b/c they're not built to professional standards. But that doesn't matter for 95% of their target market.

The only lens that would be necessary to get an EF-S would be a superwide, as Mike said. A 10mm on a Canon crop sensor = 16mm, which is the widest rectilinear lens you can get as far as I know. You can get some fisheyes that are wider, such as the Peleng 8mm (which would be a crazy 8mm on full frame,though you get a circular image, not full coverage), or basically a 12mm full coverage fisheye on a crop sensor.

So that being said, and 18-55mm ef-s is not really an 18-55mm than, because it can only be used with a crop sensor, which magnifies it??

[straightarm]

So that being said, and 18-55mm ef-s is not really an 18-55mm than, because it can only be used with a crop sensor, which magnifies it??

Yes it is an 18-55, because that is the range of its focal length. As others have said the focal length of a lens is a characteristic of the lens alone and not the body on which it's mounted

[opus]

let's turn that question inside out and ask it again.


IF: you can only use an EF-S lens on a cropped sensor,

AND: a cropped sensor uses a magnification scale,

THEN: an 18-55mm EF-S lens will never give you an actual 18-55mm focal length. It will be magnified by an X factor (in ALL cases).

Is this a logical deduction?

[Loupey]

let's turn that question inside out and ask it again.


IF: you can only use an EF-S lens on a cropped sensor,

AND: a cropped sensor uses a magnification scale,

THEN: an 18-55mm EF-S lens will never give you an actual 18-55mm focal length. It will be magnified by an X factor (in ALL cases).

Is this a logical deduction?

I know what you're getting at, but look at it this way, it's still an 18-55mm no matter what and a manufacturer can't just change the "name" of it.

The difficulty for many, I think, is that people are constantly trying to equate one format with another. Instead, an APS-C shooter should just "know" how a 50mm will work for them and not how it would compare with full-frame shooter.

People, it is a different format. Like medium format, 4x5, point-and-shoot, 110 instamatics, 126 (remember those? or were they 125's?), ... No one questions why digital point-and-shoots have 7mm~21mm lenses and the like and how those compare to focal lengths used on full-frame (24mm x 36mm) dSLRs.

[tayl0124]

except that the output/picture taken with this lens can never be the stated focal lengths. Another question maybe will help with this question is this. Do all canon cameras that will except an ef-s lens have the came crop factor???

[Loupey]

except that the output/picture taken with this lens can never be the stated focal lengths.

I don't know what this means. Are you saying that my 50mm that I take off my 5D and put on my 50D now takes images that are no longer with a 50mm?


You're mistakenly combining two different concepts (sensor size and focal length) into one. Think of this: you're standing in front of a large wall-sized window enjoying a beautiful mountain scene. You could look at the entire scene or concentrate your view on one small postage size section of it. The view from the window didn't change. But if you now enlarged that small postage size section to the size of the window itself, it appears that you just performed a large "crop factor" magnification (which, in fact, you did). A full-frame, 1.6x, 1.5x, 1.3x, or any other format is simply the size of the image section being taken from the total image provided by the lens. The image provided by the lens doesn't magically change.

[tayl0124]

Let me describe what I was trying to say. Lets take 2 camera's. one full frame or film slr, and one crop sensor slr sitting side by side. Lets also say that I have an ef-s 50mm and an ef 50mm. I can use both on the crop sensor slr, but only the ef on the full frame/film slr. From what I have read they will both give me the same image on the crop slr, but if you compared those images to the 50mm on the FF slr the FFslr will shoot a wider shot(actually 50mm??). Whereas the ef-s 50mm will never be able to achieve the actual 50mm shot(maybe not the right words to describe it, but you get my drift). The question is why wouldn't they just say the ef-s 50mm is a ef-s 80mm. And all this is because the ef-s lenses as far as I know are only available for cameras with a crop sensor. Read this article, some usefull info about crop sensor cameras/lenses

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography...nd_lenses.html

[Loupey]

...The question is why wouldn't they just say the ef-s 50mm is a ef-s 80mm...

Because it's NOT AN 80MM lens. It is a 50mm lens mounted on an APS-C format camera.

Look, I took the time to read your link. The author states this near the beginning:

"So why does the format size matter and what effect does it have on focal length? Well the answer to the second part of the question is "none". The focal length of a lens is the focal length of the lens. Whether you mount that lens on a 35mm camera, a medium format camera of a large format camera doesn't change its focal length. All 35mm lenses and lenses designed for use on APS-C DSLRs are marked with their true, actual, focal length. "

Read on. We've been saying the same thing here.

[CaraRose]

The actual lens is the same in EF-s and EF. In fact, if you do something that I highly do not recommend, like this guy-->

http://metku.net/index.html?sect=vie.../efs/index_eng

You can mod the mount to fit a full frame sensor (I have my doubts on most people's ability to do this without destroying the lens). This guy doesn't change the focal length of the lens, just the mount.

[straightarm]

The question is why wouldn't they just say the ef-s 50mm is a ef-s 80mm. And all this is because the ef-s lenses as far as I know are only available for cameras with a crop sensor.

One very good reason is if you want to perform depth of field calculations, you need the true focal length not a 35mm equivalent

[straightarm]

let's turn that question inside out and ask it again.


IF: you can only use an EF-S lens on a cropped sensor,

AND: a cropped sensor uses a magnification scale,

THEN: an 18-55mm EF-S lens will never give you an actual 18-55mm focal length. It will be magnified by an X factor (in ALL cases).

Is this a logical deduction?

No no no!

You're mixing up focal length and angle of view.

The focal length is a characteristic of the lens alone

The angle of view depends on the lens's focal length and the sensor size of the body on which it's mounted.

Imagine a 50mm lens that coul be mounted on a medium format camera such as a Haselblad, a full frame 35mm camra and an APS-C sensor body, and had a large enough image circle for all 3

On the medium format camera it's a wide ngle

on the full frame camera it's a standard lens

on the APS -C camera it's a short tele

But in all cases the focal length is 50mm

[USRoute12]

I am thinking about buying the Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM lens for my Canon XSi, instead of the more expensive EF-S 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS lens. Is there any disadvantage in using the slightly older EF lens rather than the more modern EF-S version?

[straightarm]

I am thinking about buying the Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM lens for my Canon XSi, instead of the more expensive EF-S 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS lens. Is there any disadvantage in using the slightly older EF lens rather than the more modern EF-S version?

Yes. You'll be losing 10mm at the wide end and that's quite a significant amount to be losing. On a APS-C camera, 28mm is virtually a "standard" lens. 18mm is nice and wide

[tayl0124]

Yes. You'll be losing 10mm at the wide end and that's quite a significant amount to be losing. On a APS-C camera, 28mm is virtually a "standard" lens. 18mm is nice and wide

however if you ever decide to upgrade to a full frame camera and don't keep your aps-c camera around, you will not be able to use the ef-s lens. Personally I would go with an ef lens whenever possible. however I already have a lens that goes as wide as 18mm. My kit lens.