do new AF lenses work with older AF film camera

[scottatl]

My daughter is in high school photography and they needed a film slr camera.  I picked up an elan 7e body for 35 bucks.  I put on my lens from my newish digital rebel and it fit okay but does not seem to auto focus.  do I need to purchase an older af lens or should this work and either i am doing something wrong or the body is not working right.

I have seen many posts about older lenses on newer cameras but not the opposite.  

[kvbarkley]

What lens?

It is an EOS EF-mount camera so it should work, but it won't work as well as anything made today.

You might to try cleaning the lens contacts with a non-abrasive eraser.

[ebiggs1]

"You might to try cleaning the lens contacts with a non-abrasive eraser."

I urge you to not do this. It rarely to never works or helps.  It is very easy to do more damage than good.  If you must, use a qtip and very little alcohol.

[Waddizzle]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

"You might to try cleaning the lens contacts with a non-abrasive eraser."

I urge you to not do this. It rarely to never works or helps.  It is very easy to do more damage than good.  If you must, use a qtip and very little alcohol.

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I would not recommend doing that much, not unless you could see some sort of foreign substance or discoloration. The chance of doing more harm than good is high, even for such a seemingly simple task.

The friction on the contacts from the mere act of mounting and dismounting a lens is enough ot keep them clean of foreign objects.  This is the main reason why cleaning contacts never works or helps.  It's because the contacts are already clean.

[kvbarkley]

From an old camera you just got at a garage sale that hasn't had a lens on it in years? I would think that cleaning the contacts is one of the first things to do. On my camera that I use regularly? I agree with you, it won't help.

[ebiggs1]

"I would think that cleaning the contacts is one of the first things to do."

The very mild agents like alcohol don't really remove anything. In all the years, decades rather, I bet I have not seen cleaning the contacts help or work more than two or three times and then it may have just been a coincidence. I don't discount that there might be some circumstance where they actually do need to be cleaned, "The friction on the contacts from the mere act of mounting and dismounting a lens is enough ot keep them clean of foreign objects.  This is the main reason why cleaning contacts never works or helps.  It's because the contacts are already clean."

"The chance of doing more harm than good is high..." and a damaged contact is a real problem.  I have seen people use pencil erasers, scotchbrite, harsh chemicals and much worse to try and clean something that didn't need it in the first place.  I and my argumentative friend are in total agreement on this one.

If you must a qtip and a drop or two of alcohol, that's all.

[kvbarkley]

In this case, some deoxit might also be called for.

[wq9nsc]

Any of the EF lens will work but NOT the EF-S lens designed for APS-C sensors.   So if you have an EF-S lens, it won't be compatible with the Elan 7.

Otherwise the new EF lens work fine with the older EOS film cameras and can produce beautiful results.  I shot some film last year using my old EOS 650 with my new EF-200 F2 and EF-300 F2.8 lens and not surprisingly good glass on an older film camera produces really nice results.

Rodger

[scottatl]

looks like I have one EF and one EF-S.   The EF-S does not fit but the EF does fit.  The EF does not autofocus on the Elan.  I put the EF back on my rebel and it did autofocus so the lens seems fine.    I will look for an elan manual, maybe I am doing something wrong but I think I have all the setting right. 

this is the lens i have.

Does film need to be in to make it autofocus??

BTW, i really appreciate the help, as you can tell i have no idea what I am doing.  I also have no idea why they are teaching film in high school, but that is another subject. 

[ebiggs1]

"Does film need to be in to make it autofocus??"

No.

That lens would not be the best choice to use on the Elan unless you have good light. Like outdoors on a sunny day.  If you try it in those conditions I bet it will AF just fine. I will guess the Elan's battery is good and up to the task?  If the battery is weak or not fully charged it might cause the lens not to AF. Check out the battery first.