Help!

[tnt625]

Help! Just getting started and looking to buy a 35mm SLR. I was fortunate enough to have been given about 5 lenses from a relative, however i need to buy a camera body. Way new to this, will these lenses fit any camera? obviously want to buy a camera that the lenses will fit to so that i dont need to buy them. but how do i know what camera to buy??

thanks in advance!

[Xia_Ke]

Hi tnt, welcome to PR Your lenses are going to have specific mounts so they won't be able to use just any camera. Any chance you could post what lenses you have?

[tnt625]

i can post the lenses... how do i know?
two are sears lenses, i'm not sure how to tell other then that... haha help again?

[Xia_Ke]

Do you have any Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus, or other major camera brands? Any writing on the lenses could help. Or do you know what brand camera they were originally used with?

[tnt625]

no brand on any of the lenses... i'll have to find out what they were originally used for. fiancee has an old minolta (he was originally given the lenses when he first bought his camera by a relative) and they fit on the minolta. ill have to see what brand camera they were bought for in the first place. thanks!

[Xia_Ke]

If they fit on the Minolta, then there's your answer. I'm not familiar with Minolta cameras so I'm not sure what the compatibility is between models. Are they manual focus or auto focus lenses?

[tnt625]

i believe they are auto focus. are lenses typically only made for one brand or do they tend to work on others? (like i said, way new to this)

[Xia_Ke]

No worries, far from an expert myself...LOL The major camera brands will all have their own specific mounts. Then you have non-manufacturer lenses such Tokina, Tamron, Sigma, Vivitar, Sears, etc that all make/made lenses to work with different camera makes. Do you have any pictures of the lenses you could post so we can try and confirm the mount and point in the direction of a camera body?

[another view]

Hi and welcome - if they'll fit a Minolta camera than that's the only thing they'll fit (not Nikon, Canon, etc). I don't know much about Minolta either; they might have two different styles of lens mounts like the older Canon FD and newer EOS (which are not compatible with each other). Any Minolta experts here? It would help if you could post a picture of the lenses you have.

[freygr]

Sony purchased Minolta, So the lenses will fit the Sony DSLR or a Minolta film body. Depending on the lens you may or may not have full function as far as the Auto Focus, Auto exposure etc.