Digital Camera Lenses Homepage

Question: Traditional vs. digital camera lenses are they interchangeable?

(Posted by: Ryan M on 2009-08-12 17:47:21)

I am a little behind the times and am still using a 35mm camera. anyway I'm thinking of going digital but does anyone know if traditional lenses will fit a digital camera?

Posted by: Trung on 2009-08-12, 17:54:24

Depends on what mount and how old the lenses are. If its a canon EOS lens then it should work fine. Nikon F mount will require a body with built in focus motor. Minolta AF lenses work fine with all Sony alpha bodies.

Posted by: Elbert on 2009-08-12, 18:26:53

Pentax will work with all their lenses. Screw in M42 lenses will need an adapter though.

Posted by: keerok on 2009-08-12, 19:05:40

Not all the time with most brands. Nikon in particular uses the same mount but with various degrees of modification. You have to be very careful on what type of lens to connect to what type of body. The same can be said to Canon. Other brands like Olympus changed their mount completely when they went digital. This is Pentax land you are venturing into. Pentax digital bodies will mount all of the lenses Pentax (and other compatibles) has ever made. Of course you will need an appropriate adapter for the screw mounts and the medium format lenses but they will work. I believe most other brands have an adapter made for the Pentax screw mount. If ever an old film lens will fit a newer digital body, expect some loss of automatic functions.

Posted by: singletrack65 on 2009-08-12, 20:26:22

Canon EOS film lenses (EF) work on all digital SLRs. Canon digital only lenses (EF-S) won't fit on film, early digital (D10, D20 - different than 20D), or current full size sensor cameras. Nikon: all the mounts are exactly the same, but compatibility varies. Nikon F lenses - not to be used without then modification. Then OK for pro models (manual only) Nikon AI & AI-S: OK for pro models (manual only) Nikon AF, AF-D, & AF-G: OK for all models, but won't AF on low-end SLRs (D40, 40x, 60, 3000, and 5000) Nikon AF-DX: APS-C sensor cameras only, BUT will fit all cameras (with vignetting). Nikon has the option of setting full size sensor SLRs to only utilize the portion of the sensor that corresponds to the APS-C portion (reduced resolution, of course + mag factor of 1.5x) Nikon AF-SW: will fit on all, but only focus on later film bodies (D90 & later) as well as all digital) Nikon Pronea lenses: Totally worthless for any non-APS camera. There are a few exceptions based on lenses, but they are specialized enough you'll probably never deal with them. Minolta AF: Now works on Sony. Some lenses have issues. Pentax: All lenses can fit, but low-end DSLRs may have problems with non-AF lenses. Olympus: They have an adapter to put old OM lenses on their DSLRs. The new Pen E-P1 uses a new mount, but there are (or are expected in the near future) adapters to allow you to use almost any other brand's lenses but in manual focus & manual settings only.

Posted by: KLynn on 2009-08-12, 22:04:17

They are with most brands as they were saying. I reccomend taking your lenses with you to shutterbug, best buy or a similar store where they know what they're talking about and asking them which cameras they are compatible with. Chances are they will work with most, but not all. Good luck!