topic Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's? in EF & RF Lenses

Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

GRANNYLALA — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:20:50 GMT

Do all Canon lens" fit all Canon camera's?

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

cicopo — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:06:04 GMT

NO. I'll assume you're asking about modern lenses & will explain. Canon lenses that can auto focus come in 2 mounts. EF & EF-S.

EF mount lenses fit both full frame bodies & crop body cameras (Rebel series, 10D thru 70D & 7D)

Lenses specifically designed for crop bodies ONLY use an EF-S mount due to the concept that the sensor is considerably smaller & therefore the light path through the lens can also be smaller. This allows building smaller & lighter lenses for the crop bodies.

Much older lenses didn't have internal electronics & used another mount.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

Skirball — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:06:29 GMT

No, crop sensor cameras (all Rebel cameras, 40/50/60D, and the 7D) can take EF or EF-S lenses. Full frame cameras (all 1D, 5D and 6D) only take EF lenses.

The mirrorless camera (EOS-M) use EF-M lenses, but can use EF and EF-S with an adapter.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

amfoto1 — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:53:44 GMT

Older manual focus Canon FD and FL lenses cannot be used on newer Canon EOS cameras either. FD and FL lenses date from the 1960s through the early 1990. There are adapters available, but Canon's older mount lenses are generally are only marginally usable on the later mount cameras, if at all.

Previous posts are correct:

The current Canon EF lens mounting system for EOS cameras was first introduced in 1987. It incorporates electronic contacts to operate the autofocus and control the aperture in the lens. This type lens is usable on all EOS cameras, including film and all formats of digital sensors.

Canon EF-S lenses are a variation of that mount, only usable on the APS-C crop sensor cameras beginning with the Digital Rebel (300D) in 2003. These are special lenses designed to complement these smaller sensor cameras, including all the Rebel (xxxD and xxxxD) line, 20D through 70D, and 7D. These lenses will not fit 10D, D60 and D30 or any of the earlier DCS digital or EOS film cameras. Nor can they be fitted to 5D series, 6D or any 1D series models.

So, in other words... APS-C cameras, which are the bulk of the DSLRs that Canon offers, can use virtually all modern lenses: both EF and EF-S. Meanwhile, full frame and APS-H size sensor cameras are a bit more limited, to EF lenses only.

There are also many third party lenses made in the EF mount. Some of these are full frame capable (i.e., usable on all Canon cameras). Others are "crop only", designed for use on the APS-C sensor size cameras only. The "crop only" lenses use the same EF mount, but if put on a FF camera, they will vignette strongly.

Incidentally, a good deal of other manufacturers' vintage manual focus lenses can easily be adapted for use on modern EOS cameras. It's possible to use old Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Leica R and other lenses, via some simple adapters. Of course they remain manual focus only, and the aperture is also manually controlled. More info on adapted vintage lenses here.

Finally, just within the past year or so a couple EF-M lenses have been introduced, which are another variation on the EF mount. These are designed for and only usable on the mirrorless EOS-M model (so far).

***********
Alan Myers

San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

ThomasSellberg — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 05:24:28 GMT

FD and FL lenses can be used on EF mount cameras (EOS camera) with an adapter. I have one from Fotodiox and have had no issue with them the drawback is no communication between camera and lens. So you have to use manual mode and set the ISO and shutter on camera and use the aperture ring on lens to set aperture...

Otherwise use only EF mount lenses on EF mount cameras.

Tom

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 17:39:10 GMT

"... the drawback is no communication between camera and lens."

And horrible QA.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

ngongha — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 14:14:46 GMT

hey guys. i ahve a canon 70D and a canon 5D mark III, which adapter do i need to use the 70D lesnses on the 5D mark III

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

TCampbell — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 15:50:17 GMT

You posted to a rather old thread, but...

The 5D III has a "full frame" sensor and uses Canon EOS "EF" lenses (it can also use all of the specialty lenses such as the TS-E, MP-E).

The 5D III cannot use EF-S or EF-M lenses -- nor is there any adapter that would let you use them (you wouldn't want to even if such an adapter existed.)

The "S" in EF-S stands for "short" back-focus.

A lens projects a round "image circle" into the camera which not only completely covers the area occupied by the sensor, but also spills off a bit on the sides (the lens is round even though the sensor is rectangular). That diameter of that image circle needs to be larger than the diagonal measure of the sensor size.

All EF lenses project an image which is large enough to completely cover a full-frame sensor which measure 36mm x 24mm and has a diagonal measure of just slightly more than 43mm. But a camera with an APS-C crop frame sensor measures about 22mm x 15mm and has a diagonal of just under 27mm. So the EF lens is projecting a much larger image than necessary (the diamter of the image circle is 16mm larger than it needs to be.)

Canon designed the EF-S lenses to project images which are just large enough to cover the size of the APS-C sensor, and by doing this everything can be smaller and the back-focus distance can be shorter and the complete design reduces the expense of the lens and means they can offer you that lens for less money than you'd have to pay for an EF lens of the same focal length.

ALSO... since the angle of view will be a little narrower when using an APS-C camera at any given focal length (as compared to a full-frame camera's angle of view) the ranges for a typical working zoom lens would be more versatile if the entire focal length were shifted a bit shorter. This is why you can find a working zoom for a full-frame camera such as the EF 24-70mm and yet a working zoom for a crop-frame camera is typically 18-55mm (such as the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM).

The EF-S lenses have the identical mounting coupling -- even the pin-outs for the lens control are identical. The difference is that the rear-most element on the lens protrudes back so far that it actually projects slightly into the camera body. This is a problem for a full-frame body.

On a crop-frame body, the sensor is smaller and that means the reflex mirror can also be smaller and needs less space to swing clear of the light path when you take a photo. So there's room for that rear lens element to protrude slightly into the camera body.

On a full-frame body, the sensor is physically larger and that means the mirror needs to be larger and it needs more room to swing up when you take a photo. If a lens element was protruding into the camera body, the mirror would hit that lens element and result in damage.

To keep this from happening, Canon designed a bit of a lip on the full-frame bodies which is not there on crop-frame bodies. If you attempt to mount an EF-S lens on a full-frame body, the rear element will hit that lip and you'll notice you can't even get the lens to seat on the mounting flange.

The bottom line is... even if it would fit, you would not be happy with the images (which would be black at the edges and corners.)

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

ngongha — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 16:01:29 GMT

thanks guys. this was really helpful

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

debraellsworth — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 15:09:23 GMT

Is there an adaptor that can make a EF S lens work with an EF Camera?

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

TCampbell — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 15:36:22 GMT

@debraellsworth wrote:
Is there an adaptor that can make a EF S lens work with an EF Camera?

No. And there are several good reasons for this. There are actually ways to make it work, but it's a bad idea.

The "S" in "EF-S" indicates the lens has a "short" back-focus distance. The rear-most element on the lens is positioned farther back than a typical "EF" lens and actually protrudes into the camera body.

This is not a problem for any camera with an APS-C size sensor. Since sensor is smaller, the reflex mirror is also smaller. It doesn't require as much space. Since the EF-S lens protrudes slightly into the camera body, that mirror still has plenty of space to swing clear when you take a shot.

But when you try this on a full-frame camera such as 6D, 5D series, or 1D series, the sensor is larger and that means the reflex mirror also has to be larger. That mirror would hit the rear-most element of the lens when it tries to swing up -- that would be very bad!

To fix the problem, the entire lens really needs to be shimmed out forward a bit. Mounting a lens on an "extension tube" would actually work. But this creates TWO new problems.

#1 The lens is designed to rely on a 44mm distance from the lens mounting flange (where the lens mates to the front of the camera body) to the image sensor. If that distance changes, the lens focus will not work accurately. You could still focus, but may find that you have to focus manually ... auto-focus may be unreliable. When you use an extension tube, the entire focus range of the lens shifts closer and that means that the lens will no longer focus to infinity.

#2 EF-S lenses were designed as a cost-savings for APS-C size cameras. Since the sensor is physically smaller, the image circle projected into the camera body by the lens doesn't need to be as larger. So an EF-S lens actually projects a smaller circle. To do this requires less glass and it allows for a lens design that can produce a very high quality image at a lower price. But if you try to use such a lens on a full-frame camera you'll find that it can't produce an image that fills the frame all the way to the corners (well... it may be able to with a long enough extension tube, but see problem #1 above.)

This means you've got a mirror-collision problem and an inadequate image circle problem (causing severe vignetting around the edges of the frame.) And in trying to solve that problem it produces a focus distance and focus accuracy problem.

If you have a full-frame camera, make sure you get "EF" lenses. It's really not worthwhile trying to adapt "EF-S" lenses.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 00:24:13 GMT

I am sure it could be done. It probably has been. But it would not result in very good photos. It simply is not worth the effort or trouble.
The formats are just too different.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

amynjax — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 19:30:59 GMT

Hi! I am VERY new to photography. My mom gave me her old EOS 650 witrh several lenses but I really want to go digital. I want to know if the lenses I have for the 650 film camera will work on the 650D or will I have to buy all new lenses? Thanks!

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

cicopo — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 19:58:01 GMT

Without know exact model numbers most likely they will all fit & work. However the more modern versions will likely be a better lens due to faster auto focus or sharpness of the lens but what you have should be a good start at learning photography & where your interests go.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 00:28:52 GMT

Look for EF or EF-S in the name of the lens. Like EF 50mm f1.8 STM or EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

cicopo — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 00:42:12 GMT

They will be older (likely pre EF-S) and only Canon brand wear that as part of the description. 3rd party lenses do not use EF or EF-S in their description.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 00:51:53 GMT

If memory serves me the 650D isn't that old. It is the other world version of the T3i (?) or T4i (?) or a close copy. Maybe 5 years old. I don't mess with APS-C anymore so I really don't know.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

TCampbell — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 16:07:42 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:
If memory serves me the 650D isn't that old. It is the other world version of the T3i (?) or T4i (?) or a close copy. Maybe 5 years old. I don't mess with APS-C anymore so I really don't know.

That should be the T4i. The way I remember it... is that the T1i was the 500D (I had a T1i so that one sticks in my head). Then add "50" for each generation... e.g. the T2i was the 550D, the T3i was the 600D, and the T4i is the 650D.

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

cicopo — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 16:46:13 GMT

It says EOS 650 & that's a film camera introduced in 87.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_EOS_650

Re: Do all Cannon lens' fit all Canon camera's?

ebiggs1 — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 06:19:08 GMT

" I want to know if the lenses I have for the 650 film camera will work on the 650D..."

But the he wants to know it the lenses will work on a 650D. And that is a T4i. (thanks to Tim C.) So the EF and EF-S is still accurate.