lens compatability

[79]

I have a 35mm eos rebel s II, and would like to find out if a digital camera of the same kind, would be compatable

with the lenses I have now?

[cicopo]

your lenses should be EF mount for that body & that means they fit the current line up which list they use either EF or EF-S mount lenses. Most of Canon's current offerings use those but not the EOS M series.

[TCampbell]

As long as they are Canon brand lenses, you should be fine.

Canon digital SLR cameras are made in versions that fall into two different sensor sizes.  

The "full frame" bodies have digital sensors which are the same size as a 35mm film camera.  These cameras uses Canon EOS "EF" series lenses (as well as a few specialty lenses such as the tilt-shift lenses and extreme macro-photo lens).  The 6D, 5D series, and 1D series bodies use the EF lenses.

There's also a "crop frame" variant that uses an APS-C size sensor.  APS-C is "Advanced Photo System - Class" size film.  That film was a bit smaller than 35mm and the digital counterparts likewise have smaller sensors.  Since these smaller sensors are less expensive, the camers tend to be more popular.  All Canon "Rebel" series bodies, as well as the mid-range bodies (these have 2 digit model numbers) such as the 60D, and 70D... and also the 7D series bodies all use the APS-C sensor size.  The cameras can ALSO use the same Canon EF series lens line (and would be compatible with EOS film lenses) but since the sensor is physically smaller, Canon came out with the EF-S series just for these cameras.  The EF-S lenses are smaller and lighter and project a smaller image circle into the camera body (large enough to fully cover an APS-C sensor... but not large enough to cover a full-frame sensor.)   This means all these bodies can use EITHER the "EF" or the "EF-S" series lenses.  The full-frame bodies cannot use the EF-S lenses.

There are also 3rd party lenses... and those "might" work, but there's a catch.  Canon doesn't actually publish the interface specs for the electronics on the EOS system.  3rd party lens makers reverse-engineer the workings ... often through some trial and error.  This means they may produce a lens which works well-enough to be compatible with every camera that they've ever used for testing (meaning cameras currently in production at the time the 3rd party lens maker introduces the lens)... but as Canon comes out with newer bodies and takes advantage of other features that the 3rd party lens maker hasn't seen before... you may find that those lenses no longer work correctly.  In other words... it's not unheard of for someone to buy a 3rd party lens which works fine with their current camera... but when they upgrade to a newer body years later, they find that the lens no longer works correctly.

The Rebel "film" camera uses negatives which have 24mm x 36mm frames.  A Rebel "digital" camera uses a sensor with an approximately 15mm x 23mm sensor size.  Thsi means that when you attach the SAME lens you used on your Rebel film camera to a newer Rebel digital camera, you'll notice the image seems cropped in and enlarged a bit (because it is) but the lens will work fine.  You'll just need to get used to the notion that all the focal lengths seem to be zoomed in a bit more than you are used to with your film camera.