Help Me Understand...Please!

[annie]

Can somebody please explain the difference in lens for me, as in the difference between EF and EF-S, and the red dot and the white square. I find all this techie stuff confusing. 

 

And can you explain in plain English....my poor head is spinning...!

[geodar]

hi annie,

ef lens is the standard lens mount on the canon eos slr film & digital range of cameras.

ef  = electro-focus.

automatic focusing on ef lenses is done by an electric motor built into the lens.

 

efs lens is for digital cameras only.

 

red dot & white square - these are used to match up the lens fittings to the camera body quickly.

red dot - ef lens & white square for the efs (digital only).

 

so basically you can use ef lenses on digital and film slr cameras, but the efs lens can only be used on a digital camera.

hope this helps

geoff

[annie]

See...when it's put in plain English I can grasp it...! So basically with my Canon EOS I can use either.

 

Thanks Geoff xxx

[annie]

So does the 50mm F1.8 for my Canon only come as EF....?

[Leon]

I bought mine the other week and mine's an ef

[annie]

Thanks Leon...that answers that one then xxx

[Guest]

 

efs lens is for digital cameras only.

 

geoff

Not strictly accurate Geoff

 

EF-S is for cameras with APS-C sensors (smaller than full frame). EF lenses can be used on cameras with APS-C sensors but not the other way round. Because the APS-C lenses would not provide an image that would cover a full frame sensor Canon have made them incompatible with EF mounts.

 

The non- digital mount was FD (Canon have never said what this meant).

Edited January 9, 2014 by Bill

[annie]

That has thrown me into confusion again..

 

So with a Canon EOS 500d should I be looking for EF or EF-S, or was I right in thinking either will do?

[Black Pearl]

If you have a Canon with a 1.6x crop sensor you can use either EF or EF-S - bodies like the 500/600/700/50/60/70/1000 ranges.

If you have a Canon with a Full Frame sensor you can only use EF - bodies like the 5D and 1D

EF lenses have a red dot.

EF-S lenses have a white dot.

I think just as a simple remainder as to what you are about to put on your camera and whether you should be doing so.

[annie]

So I can use both...sorted. Thanks BP..

[NannyFerret]

My son has used my old Canon EF lenses on his new Canon digital camera Annie and they worked OK.

 

 

 

For Nikon users.

On Nikon Digital cameras if you use the AF lenses then you have to focus manually, so you have to have AFS to focus Automatically.

 

I have heard that you can use a Nikon lens with adaptor on a Canon camera, but not a Canon lens on a Nikon camera.  Anyone, please correct me if I am wrong .

[Black Pearl]

With regards to auto focus on Nikon bodies then it is down to the models. The lower range bodies don't have an internal focus motor - to keep down costs - so you will only get AF with a lens that has the motors built in - designated at AF-S - Silent Wave Motor.

Might sound odd but all Nikon lenses for quite some years have had this so its not really an issue unless you have older ones. Nikon assumes you will want a higher range body if you have invested in a collection of their glass.

All the higher end bodies have the motor built in and will give AF with any AF lens. The top end cameras will even work with much older manual focus lenses (without AF of course) giving most metering modes and even TTL flash.

 

As to swapping lenses around brands then yes you can fit a Nikon lens onto a Canon body - though you lose any sort of electronic connection/AF/metering etc - but not really the other way around. The reason being is Canon have a larger depth to their bodies - the distance from the lens mount to the sensor (or film in older cameras) than Nikon use so you can fit an adapter plate in-between and still get the lens to focus to infinity. Technically you could put a Canon lens on a Nikon body but you would lose the ability to focus to infinity. 

 

While not common this does go on and a quick search through Flickr groups will show results, give advice and give solutions.

[NannyFerret]

Ah, Thanks for that, BP.

I had been under the impression that you couldn't use the Canon on the Nikon body at all, which is why I gave them to my son, but still, I've never been any good at manually focusing, and it's even worse with the cataracts, so I rely on my green thingy and bleep.