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How to choose my lens

idanidan123
Enthusiast

I own the 70D, and I just want to know how can I know which lens will work with my camera, because I've heard that not all lens work with every canon DSLR. I already have the 28-105mm and the 90-300mm and they work perfectly.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

Canon EOS "EF" lenses (no suffix after the "EF") can be used on ANY Canon EOS camera body... film or digital... full-frame or crop-frame.

 

Canon "EF-S" lenses can be used only on cameras that have an "APS-C" size sensor (such as your 70D).

 

A few years back Canon launched a mirrorless line and there is a small number of lenses which are designed to be used exclusively with those mirrorless bodies.  They are labeled "EF-M" lenses.  

 

A Canon "mirrorless" camera can use any of the EF-M lenses, and via an adapter it can also use Canon EF-S lenses or Canon EF lenses.  In short, it can use any Canon EOS lens.

 

A Canon camera with an APS-C sensor can use any Canon "EF-S" lense AND can also use any Canon "EF" lens.

 

A Canon camera with a full-frame sensor (or a Canon EOS 35mm film camera even though these haven't been made in years)  can use any Canon "EF" lens (but cannot use the EF-S or EF-M lenses.)

 

There are a few specialty lenses such as the four different tilt-shiift lenses (designated as "TS-E") and one speciality macro photo lens called the "MP-E".  These can be treated like "EF" lenses which means any Canon EOS camera can use them.

 

 

 

So what's the difference?

 

The sensor inside a full frame camera measures 36mm x 24mm.    That's a diagonal measure of just over 43mm.  So as long as the lens projects an image circle into the camera body which has a diameter at least 44mm across then the image can completely cover the sensor (no vignettting in the corners).  Canon "EF", "TS-E", and "MP-E" lenses can all do this.

 

The sensor inside an APS-C camera (like your 70D) measures roughly 23mm x 15mm.  That's a diagonal of about 27mm.  It turns out the "EF-S" lenses were specifically designed for these cameras.  The lenses and it's optical elements are all smaller and it projects a smaller image circle into the camera body.  This allows Canon to reduce size, weight, and even cost... WITHOUT sacrificing optical quality.  However... since they only project a smaller image circle, the image projected into the camera body is not large enough to completely cover the size of a the larger "full frame" sensor.   Canon also pushes the lens elements back closer to the sensor (they can get away with this since the reflex mirror inside the camera is smaller and doesn't need as much space to swing clear).  A full-frame camera has a larger mirror which needs more space... and would likey crash into the rear-most elements.  For this reason, Canon designed the mount so that an EF-S lens will not actually mate properly with a full-frame body.

 

The mirrorless cameras, of course, have no mirror at all.  So the lens' optical elements can be even closer... allowing for an even smaller and lighter lens without sacrificing optical quality.  So these "EF-M" lenses can ONLY be used with the Canon EOS M series camera bodies.  However... since they're all EOS cameras and lenses, they know how to "talk" to each other.  This means with a simple adapter that holds the EF-S and EF lenses at the proper distance from the sensor (each lens is optimized for a specific back-focus distance) it is actually possible to use any EF-M or EF lens with a Canon EOS mirrorless camera (but that adapter module is needed. 

 

There are also 3rd party lenses.  Often the 3rd party lens maker will indicate if the lens is intended for use only with APS-C cameras or if it is designed for full-frame or APS-C cameras.

 

If you do NOT intend to go to full-frame then there's no advantage to buying full-frame lenses (in fact there's a disadvantage because focal length ranges are a bit different.).   If you know that you definitely DO plan to go full-frame in the future, then you may want to stick to only EF lenses.  

 

Just be aware that a normal 1x zoom is achieved on YOUR camera at roughly a 28mm focal length.  So things like the 28-135mm lens offers a "normal" focal length through a telephoto length ... but absolutely no "wide-angle" capabilities at all when used on a 70D body.    

 

A lens such as a 24-70 or 24-105 offer only a very very slight wide-angle (not much) when used on your 70D.

 

A lens such as the 16-35mm or 17-40mm zooms WILL offer some wide-angle through a rather mild amount of telephoto when used on your 70D... but on a full-frame camera those lenses will range from very-wide to moderately-wide.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

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23 REPLIES 23

kvbarkley
VIP
VIP

That is a crop sensor Camera, so all of Canon's current (non-M) lenses will work with it, both EF and EF-S.

Isn't is a better choice to get EF lens because of when I'll be moving to full frame ?
Also, I'm asking this question because when I compare cameras, I often see that some cameras have more available lenses than others.

In other words, if you change the scope of the question you will get a different answer. You made no mention of full frame in the OP.

 

What lenses are "available" for any camera probably has more to do with marketing and what lenses are available at the time, rather than compatibility.

All Canon crop cameras have the same lens mount. All of them can use both crop lenses (EF-s) and full frame lenses (EF).  

 

All full frame Canon cameras have the same mount and they can only use full frame EF lenses.  They can't use the EF-s lenses. 

 

The mirrorless M lenses won't fit full frame or crop dslr cameras but you seldom see them anywhere anyway. 

 

There are 3rd party lens makers like Sigma, Tamron, etc but remember they also make both crop lenses and full frame lenses.    Be sure not to get a crop lens if you want full frame as they use different lettering systems (DG, DX, etc).  Also be sure any 3rd party lens you buy is the "for Canon" version since they make versions for other camera brands too. 

Scott

Canon 5d mk 4, Canon 6D, EF 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS mk2; EF 16-35 f/2.8 L mk. III; Sigma 35mm f/1.4 "Art" EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro; EF 85mm f/1.8; EF 1.4x extender mk. 3; EF 24-105 f/4 L; EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS; 3x Phottix Mitros+ speedlites

Why do so many people say "FER-tographer"? Do they take "fertographs"?

So you're saying it's just meant for marketing, and basically any canon camera is compatible with any lens, unless the lens isn't for FF camera but the camera is FF, or the other way around, like the EF and EF-S thing.


@idanidan123 wrote:
So you're saying it's just meant for marketing, and basically any canon camera is compatible with any lens, unless the lens isn't for FF camera but the camera is FF, or the other way around, like the EF and EF-S thing.

No, what Scott  is saying is exactly what he said, and he couldn't have put it more clearly. Go back and read it carefully, and plan your purchase (if any) accordingly.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA


@idanidan123 wrote:
Isn't is a better choice to get EF lens because of when I'll be moving to full frame ?
Also, I'm asking this question because when I compare cameras, I often see that some cameras have more available lenses than others.

Why will you be moving to full frame?

 

What does full frame do for you that an APS-C camera doesn't?

 

The question you need to ask yourself before you assume you need a full frame camera. Just because people on the Internet say you need one doesn't make it true.

 

A full frame camera in addition to being larger and heavier to begin with, requires larger, heavier and generally more expensive lenses.

 

Modern APS-C sensor are so much better than when even the Canon 5D Mk II was introduced. Today there would be no reason to choose a 5D Mk II over a 70D, 80D or 7D Mk II. So other than as a status symbol, why do you really want a full frame camera?

People don't tell me I need a FF camera, it's just that most of the time when I want to take a photo, I don't like how to sensor is cropped and I don't see the whole scale of my potential photo. Actually people have told me there's really not such a big difference, but I really want the entire scale of my photos, and not just a cropped version.


@idanidan123 wrote:
People don't tell me I need a FF camera, it's just that most of the time when I want to take a photo, I don't like how to sensor is cropped and I don't see the whole scale of my potential photo. Actually people have told me there's really not such a big difference, but I really want the entire scale of my photos, and not just a cropped version.

Ah. Is it that you don't like the fact that your viewfinder "crops" the picture, in the sense that it shows you less than you're actually going to get? That is indeed a problem with many cameras, but it's unrelated to the difference between full-frame and APS-C ("crop frame") sensor sizes. While it's true that a full-frame camera is more likely to show you exactly what you're going to get in the picture, there are "crop frame" cameras that do so as well. The 7D and the 7D Mk II do, and there may be others. So while a total solution to your problem may require a new camera, it doesn't necessarily have to be a full-frame camera.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
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