Canon EOS 50 Lens compatability

[Jimmy999]

Hi, please help a new member!!!

Can anyone tell me if the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III telephoto lens is fully compatible with my EOS 50 SLR?

Have found one for sale at £110, and want to take some landscape shots...

[Steve]

Jim,

Welcome to ukexpert.

Most here seem to use digital cameras but I hope someone can remember back to info on their old film gear.

I still have my old Pentax film 35mm.. but I can't think of a reason to use it v digitals these days sadly.

I looked up what info I could on that film camera.. and I see they can be bought at very low cost on ebay.. here is one for £25:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=270124701704

...I also looked up what seems to be the lens you mention, and I can see what seems to be an advert for a new one at £31 at present...:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=140122869949

Whether individual adverts like these on ebay are real and above board I can't say of course..

Details on how well one truly works with the other though...I can't think where to find that...I did try searches for info on both together but came up empty really...

I see you have uploaded a couple of photos from a 3mp Olympus camera...it makes me wonder if you have considered spending the hundreds of pounds on a bang up to date digital package rather than the lens you have in mind... but that's just me and how I think on such things..

Sorry if this message doesn't help... but welcome again to ukexpert...

Steve

[Jimmy999]

Cheers for the reply Steve...

Lens is indeed similar to the one i've been looking at - I'll watch and see where the bidding goes with interest...

As for upgrading digitally - I've considered this a few times - i guess i'm a sucker for the old 35mm, and am loathe to underuse what was in it's day a quality and pricey SLR. I just dug it out of the cupboard after using the Olympus for a few years and wanted to make use of it more and always wanted an additional lens to the 28-80mm stock lens.

Besides, the wife is agreeable to a new lens much more than she is to a new Digital!!! (Tho i'd love a DSLR!!)

Jimmy999

[Steve]

Jimmy,

I know nothing of this model.. but this is the sort of thing I wondered about:

http://www.jessops.com/Store/s48531/...)/details.aspx

....at £149 it is another Olympus, a make you have chosen for digital before.

It has the equiv of a 38-380 lens.. and on some modes that can even be the equiv of 38 - 570..

It is more than twice the pixel resolution you have now..

You seem to like climbing etc.. I can imagine a bag of camera lenses would be a real pain in that situation, where one camera with a fitted lens that I assume does not let in dust might have a lot going for it.

Using this camera all the time will have no film and developing costs and will not mean scanning for digital images etc etc.

...and of course you'll still have the old film camera and you can still look out for bargain lenses on ebay for it..

Just my way of looking at such things as I say.

Steve

[Brian]

Jimmy

All EF lenses are compatible with EOS cameras, film or digital. The only exceptions are EF-S lenses.

The 75-300 will act like a true 75-300 on a EOS film camera, with the sensor conversion factor it would behave like a 120-480 on a EOS digital camera.

Brian

[Jimmy999]

Thanks Brian - most helpful...

Steve, thanks for the research on my behalf, have looked at the Olympus you suggested and am very tempted - I agree with your thoughts of scanning eBay for cheap 35mm add ons too (so does the wife!)

Your views on pros / cons of Digital Vs DSLR ? Any opinions from readers welcome...

Jimmy

[Steve]

Jimmy/Brian,

I'm not so sure about that information re the EOS range and the lens to be honest...

My view never having looked at either of the items mentioned was just the common sense one.. ie that some of the abilities of the lens might work and some might not... I assume that lens can do things with the latest digital cameras it may not be able to do with a 10 year old or more model etc...

Also that idea that all EOS cameras would change the conversion factor in the same way.. my understanding is that the reason lenses are different on some digital cameras is that the sensors are generally smaller... but the EOS range seems to include various size sensors... so the notion that they all make a lens 120-480 also doesn't really sound right to me.

So....I guess I'm saying I'd need convincing to believe both those ideas.. and even if they are correct... the point is perhaps that views and opinions online can be right or wrong... and I wouldn't bank on them either way...

Brian works with lenses much more than me due to his astronomy interest.....so maybe you can comment Brian and say if you are truly sure every aspect/feature of the lens will work with a very old film camera design... and that the lens will behave the same on an EOS 5 and an EOS 400D as you suggest. Personally I don't think that effect will be there with the EOS 5D...as the sensor is full size.

Lastly... you ask Jimmy for views re DSLRs and non DSLR digital cameras... the big advantages of the non DSLRs are they are often not going to get dust inside them in normal usage.. where DSLRs seem to almost always do so. They are also going to cost a lot less. They are going to also weigh a lot less. They will always have all their abilities available quickly, without lens changes etc. They will not need a large heavy bag to be carried around.

Also you can get them onto aircraft without going over hand luggage limits. Also you can often take them into various events where a large DSLR with lenses would see you turned away.

Also they will allow you to take photographs using the screen on the back to compose and take your photos.

DSLRs over them.. well camera companies are still making DSLRs to very high standards and charging a lot more for them, so you can get a better quality camera with a DSLR perhaps.

Years back an SLR was great and the thing to get wasn't it. These days for someone interested in photography the decision to get a DSLR is nothing like as clear cut in my view..

If DSLR users can make a case for why they are better to carry around and what their advantages are I'd find that interesting as I'm sure you would.

I gave myself a budget for a DSLR a year or two back now.. but I've been unable to find one that I felt was good enough to meet my needs. One or two models now allow using the screen to compose photos, and one or two are taking their first steps towards dealing with dust...but I'm not awfully impressed....and I expect much better models to come along yet.

Just my thoughts off the cuff....do please feel free to totally ignore them...

Steve

[Brian]

Jimmy

The information regarding EF lenses and their compatibility with EOS cameras comes out of the EOS magazine I receive quarterly, so assuming their information is correct you should be OK with the 75-300.

I have a EF 35-80 III kit lens I got with my EOS 300 film camera, it was brought out in 1995 and works perfectly on my EOS 350d, although the quality isn't brilliant.

The 75-300 III was brought out in 1999 and is still in production, so I would assume the quality of the lens is quite good, Canon's RRP for the lens is £199.99.

Steve

You're right about the sensor size, their are various sensor sizes so the conversion factor would be slightly different for each camera. I was just using the information from my own camera.

Brian

[Steve]

Brian,

I know I'm right... Goes without saying really... I wish....

Re a magazine saying something.. that normally means it is wrong doesn't it...

I think mags often print some of the biggest nonsense known to man...the same as newpapers.... and TV news come to that. 'The facts' are so often wrong aren't they... With a lot of mags the writer may often be a very young man who knows nothing much about anything, and who guesses....in my experiece... and I've written for mags myself.

Anyway though, I think you maybe missed my point on that...Jimmy asked if the lens if FULLY compatible with the camera.. that could be taken to mean that everything the lens can do works fully with the camera...

A lot of lenses can be fixed to an older camera.. but that wasn't the question... it was is it FULLY compatible..

So.. are you 100% certain that every function on that lens will work on that very old film camera? I know you think it probably will, but are you 100% certain.

If not please say so.. because if you advise someone to buy something/do something and they lose hundreds of pounds because what you said was wrong then legally and morally you'd possibly need to give them their money back wouldn't you?!!!

One of the reasons I bother to say what I said in this thread is to try and ensure nobody misleads anyone else here....often that can happen accidentally.. and we are all totally responsible for what we say and do online... and giving wrong info or advice can be a serious error. Its not my problem is Jimmy sues you....but I do my best to help ensure there is no misunderstanding in cases like this..

I always remember the poor guy some years back who stopped to help someone change a tyre out the kindness of his heart, and he put the jack in a slightly incorrect spot and it damaged the expensive car.. he ended up being sued by the motorist and paid a very large sum of money to fix the car. Wrong advice or damage done while just trying to help someone can be serious stuff...and it is annoying that so many people get held responsible/to account for help they give freely....

Steve

[Brian]

Steve

I see where you're coming from, not having owned either that particular camera or lens, I wouldn't be 100% sure if they were compatible.

If it were my money I'd buy the lens, but it isn't, so that's up to Jimmy to decide whether he buys the lens or not.

If he wants peace of mind an email to Canon support may be the best option.

Brian

[Jimmy999]

Thanks for your input guys - and don't worry, i'm not about to sue anybody!!
Very good points made from both sides, I have already sent an email to Canon and await a reply as we speak - I'll let you know their response.

Decisions made? Well, none as yet, but i'm leaning towards the Digital compact area - I quite like the look of the Fuji Finepix S6500FD, at 6.3Mp, not too shabby and has 10x Optical zoom, £180 or thereabouts...Am still considering the Olympus Steve mentioned in his earlier post too. I think i'll head into Jessops at some point and have a play and see which feels more to my liking, i think the boss'll let me budget around £200

[Steve]

Jimmy,

Thanks for the good natured sounding reply etc.. we do tend to discuss the meaning of life etc here a little........as we have a great community of friendly folks here...and the possible but unlikely ramifications of unintentional wrong info/help has to come up now and then.

I wonder if Canon will reply to you... if I wrote to say a TV manufacturer and said would my 15 year old TV work with my 10 year old DVD player of the same make I'd expect a reply saying that they neither know nor care... Customer service staff tend to often be very young, and to know only what is on their computer system don't they...

Do let us know what they reply...with cameras/lenses and with Canon maybe the reply will be the complete detailed answer you seek.

Re the camera...

I started out with a 1mp digital camera when they came out. Then I moved to a 3mp one when they came out. Then a 6mp one when they came out, and so on. Today 9mp or 10mp seems the norm when buying new.

I still mainly use a Panasonic FZ30 and it fits my needs well. The current model in that range is the FZ50. It has 12x optical zoom, a great anti shake system, and it is 10.1mp I believe.

Looking around for a price and details I found this below.. saying they can be had for around £290. I don't know anything about the company advertising them though.. I did check Jessops but they seemed to be at £399.. which is just seems sad..

http://www.ukdigitalcameras.co.uk/prod.asp?i=3520

There are lots of cameras out or coming out that have these sort of specs....for me personally I'd want about 8mp as a minimum now...with 10 or more better still.. and I'd want anti shake.. and I'd want a great lens... and there are probably quite a few makes and models around for me to choose from.

What I normally suggest when folks ask for thoughts about what camera to get is that they make a list of their needs/wants from a camera, like anti shake, megapixels, lens, sensor, memory type, and so on.. and then list the cameras that meet those needs and wants and choose the one they like best.

When I've done things that way I've always been very happy with my purchase.. because it is what I want and need.. and I'm not trying to just follow the crowd nor to copy what someone else did.. If I did that I'd probably just go for a DSLR straight away. I didn't go that route yet because I can't find one that can match up to all the items on my needs/wants list....I keep hoping something will come out that does, as I'd like a truly great digital camera.. and I suspect they will bring some of those out down the line.

Steve

[Jimmy999]

Cheers Steve, all good input. I'll let you know how i get on. What do you think of the photos I've posted?

[Steve]

Jimmy,

If a photo goes live and on display it means we think it meets the criteria for inclusion here... I think nearly everything you've uploaded is live, apart from perhaps one or two possibly out of focus looking images.

Generally to me your photos look like they often have neat subjects and composition... but as if they need a better camera. The resolution of them is what we used to see a few years back at 3mp. Photos taken with the digital cameras coming out these days do look more detailed and clear and sharp etc I expect you'd agree.

So.. I'd predict that if you get your new camera and take a few neat shots with it, you'll find folks here giving them points and you may get into the running for Spot Prizes etc..

What I think of photos isn't all that important here, I tend to get one vote the same as others on most things.. so for instance with the monthly photo challenge competitions for subscribers to win medals etc.. they are decided by voting each month...

I hope you find the community here as great as I do.. and go on to make a lot of friends here etc. Among the subscribers here we have everyone from Uni students to the retired... and it is a great mix of great people..

Steve

[Jimmy999]

Cheers Steve, new camera will be on the way in August - Birthday time, will continue to upload similar pics as and when taken.

Jimmy