Choosing the right lenses... can I use a film lense on a digital SLRcamera?

Hi Everyone,
I want to buy the Canon EOS 400D camera. I also have the old Canon
Rebel film SLR camera. Can I use the same lenses I used for my film
camera with my new digital camera? Or do I have to buy special lenses
for my digital SLR? I don't have a ton of camera knowledge and
appreciate your help.

 

All of your current EOS lenses should work properly if they are Canon brand.
Some Sigma lenses need to be "rechipped" to function with the latest EOS
mount cameras.
The only difference between using your lenses on an EOS 400D compared to
a Rebel film SLR will be that they seem to be "longer" by 1.6x, ie: your
50mm lens now seems to be an 80mm lens when used on a 400D.
This is because the sensor in the 400D is roughly two-thirds the size of
a 35mm film-frame, the rest of the image is cropped off in-camera.
Hope that helps.

 

And the answer is "Yes," in another way too. If you are into legacy
35mm film camera lenses, you can get adapters that will allow you to
use quite a variety of old lenses with your new Canon EOS camera. They
work beautifully, and you can get some great glass inexpensively
because nobody wants old manual focus lenses. The bottom has pretty
much dropped out of the market for legacy lenses.

Nikon, Vivitar, Pentax M42 screw mount, Pentax K, Olympus OM, Contax/
Yashica, they all work great on a Canon EOS camera. (Alas, the big
thing that won't work is the old Canon FD lenses. The spacing is
wrong, and you can't get infinity focus.)

If you want the Focus Confirmation function to work, you need to get
an adapter that contains a chip that lies to the camera and tells it
that you have an electronic lens attached. Then you will get the
focussing help. There are many such adapters for sale on eBay. (It's a
shame that Canon won't just give it up and make the Focus Confirmation
always work with any lens. There is no technical reason that you need
a chip to lie to the camera for you . It's just corporate policy,
apparently to encourage you to buy new lenses.)

 

That is really sad!