canon body

I pretty much don't know really anything about digital slrs but I would like to upgrade to one. I have a canon rebel (film) camera right now and a few lens to go with it.
I talked to someone at a camera store here and they said for me to use my lens correctly (??) i would need to get a body with 'full frame'.
What does that mean, and what body do you guys suggest? I am in no way a professional photographer, but I like to fool around and take lots of photos though.

thanks

Your old lenses should work. Unless you have some old school Canon lenses without the usm, everything should be fine.

The only thing that will change is the observed depth of field. The sensor on the digital cameras is smaller than 35mm, full frame lenses are designed to project the image onto an area equal to that of the 35mm frame. When you shrink the size of the sensor recording the image, the edges get cropped off.

With canon I believe it is a 1.6 crop factor, so a full frame lens of 50mm will "become" an 80mm lens on the digital.

I use full frame lenses on my nikon with a dx sensor all the time.

They do make full frame digital sensors, but right now they cost quite a bit more. So it sounds like your camera salesman wanted to get you to spend more.

check out the Canon 5D... look for it used or refurbished on ebay or craigslist... should be around 1300-1800. It's full frame and should work with all your old lenses similar to how your 35mm camera does.

If that's a bit too crazy, you can start out at the lower levels... the crop sensor cameras by canon are all good too... I have an XTi and really enjoy it. I have a 9 month old daughter and take millions of pictures and have produced some nice results.

The XTi can be found used/refurb for around 300-350 for the body
The XSi is the newer version of the XTi and features more Megapixels, liveview, bit more color range, and can be found for about 450-550 for the body

The XXD series... Canon 40D is the previous model and 50D is the newest model is a mix between professional and consumer digital SLRs. Currently they run about twice the price of an XSi... however, a used/refurbished 40D is a brilliant camera for the money. Could pick up the body for around 699 refurbished and it's head and shoulders above the XSi in pretty much every way.

The XD series of cameras is for the professional and are full frame which has better legacy lens compatibility. They are expensive as hell but produce the best images. The 1D Mark III is like 7 grand and the 5D mark I is like 2000 and the 5D mark II is like 3000.

Hope this helps, feel free to message me if you have any other questions.... also check out this forum... http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=9

thanks for the info.

I think i will be looking into the XTi or XSi. That 5D is way to much for me to spend on it.
My lenses are pretty new (8 years old or so) but I'm not paying like 2000 for a camera body to get the full frame effect thing.

can you explain this crop factor a little more to me, from what fiji says i take that as my film lenses will "gain" zoom when used on the digital body? my one lens is up to a 300mm so with the 1.6 factor would it in theory turn into a 480mm?? or am I confused and not understanding this right?
also, the edges getting cropped off, is this really noticeable in your photos or is it not something to be too concerned about?

thanks

08cwgti said:

my one lens is up to a 300mm so with the 1.6 factor would it in theory turn into a 480mm?

Click to expand...

Basically yes, your 300mm will now give you the zoom of a 480mm. As far as the edges go, what you see in the viewfinder is what you get in the picture.

Its not like you have to factor in edges that aren't going to show up in the photo.

All that is happening is the extra "zoom" cuts down on how wide of an angle you will get. (ex that 300mm is going to have a wider field of view than the "480mm")

For guys that shoot lots of big telephoto shots, like bird photographers, the extra "zoom" helps them out.

But it hurts you in the wide angle department, since your full frame 12mm lens is now going to give you the field of view of a 19mm.

as long as the SLR lens are EF mount they'll work on the DSLRs.

there is actually a really good article about crop factor in popular photography this month and it really isn't just a simple focal length X crop factor = new fancy focal length...but i'm not going to get into it.

Seems like your question has been answered. So I will give ya a tip you might know already.
Stay away from camera stores.lol There are very few good camera stores out there that charge decent prices. Google B&H photo. It will save you A LOT of money. Put it this way, a lens that I will be buying is $140 cheaper at B&H then at ritz camera. (I have a deep hatred for ritz camera.lol)

B&H is great. www.bhphotovideo.com.

I've spent about $1000 there :S