Will my Canon EOS digital lenses work on a Canon 35mm film SLR?

Question

I've collected a bunch of lenses for my EOS 30D, but now I'm taking an intro photography class that works entirely in film. Will my lenses be backward compatible with a 35mm Canon Rebel?

Answer 1

If your film body is also from the Canon EOS line, which is every SLR they produced after 1987, your lenses will continue to work. Canon's older film bodies (before 1987, such as the A1) used a different lens mount system. The old lens mount system was called FD and the new one is called EF.

But since the 30D has a cropped sensor, you're probably (also) using some Canon EF-S lenses, such as the Canon 18-55mm, the 17-85mm, the 17-55mm, etc. Canon's EF-S lenses have a smaller image circle than regular lenses. These lenses produce massive vignetting (black edges) when used on a film SLR. This becomes most noticeable at the wide end of the zoom. The same is also true for third party lenses that were 'made for digital', such as the Sigma DC line and the Tamron Di ll line. So check - you might need a different standard zoom/ wide angle zoom. All of Canon's primes and tele-zoom lenses are fine.

Best wishes with the class!

Answer 2

All Canon EF lenses fit on both 35mm and digital.

Answer 3

Yes, except for EF-S lenses which are exclusively for Canon's APS-C DSLRs only.

Answer 4

Yes they'll work.