Film to digital switch

[Shirley]

Does Canon have any digital SLR camera bodies that accept film SLR lenses? And, are there any disadvantages of using the 'old school' lenses with the new technology?

[Mig]

All of Canon's DSLR bodies accept the standard EF lenses. Because most of the digital sensors are smaller than film (except for the pricey 1Ds), there's what's referred to as a "cropping factor." The Digital Rebel and the 10D have a cropping factor of 1.6, the 1D Mark II has a cropping factor of 1.3, and the 1Ds is full frame, so it has a cropping factor of 1 (in other words no crop). The cropping factor is multiplied by the focal length to give you it's 35mm equivalent. What this means to you is that if you have a 1.6 cropping factor and a 70-200mm lens, you end up with an effective 112-320mm lens. A wide-angle 35mm becomes an effective 56mm. So it's good if you like to shoot tele, but if you like to shoot wide, you may have to look at new lenses depending on how wide you want to go. I just went to the 10D and I absolutely love it, but because I like to shoot wide I ended up buying a Sigma 12-24mm (19-38), which I also love. the Sigma can also be used on my EOS 3. My test shots with the 10D/Sigma 12-24 combo are here Hope that helped.

Danielle

[kamboura]

Shirley... Just a quick note... the 12-24 lens I can only find in Canada in a couple of stores, and they are about CA$1,000. Keep that in mind when budgeting the price of the DSLR body (these range from CA$1,200 for the digital rebel, to CA$2,000 for the great 10D, and then upwards to about 1D MII at about CA$6000, and the almighty 1DS at $10,000). You can always get an Sigma 18-50 (29mm-80mm equiv.) for about CA$200, but I would imagine this lens would show a bit of distortion especially in larger prints (above 8x10).