Expert: Akshay Singh Jamwal - 10/14/2009

Question
QUESTION: I am thinking about going digital and giving up on I'm,, will any of my equipment that i have for my 35mm stuff work with my new digital stuff..

ANSWER: Hi Gerald.

What 35mm equipment do you have? Without knowing what it is, I can only guess. Is it autofocus equipment? What brand? Nikon? Canon? Minolta? Pentax?
Nikon's F mount is the most backward compatible of all, but depending on the lens in question there could be limitations there as well.

If you've got autofocus equipment, then the chances are good. If it's manual focus equipment, then you might or might not be able to use it. Some older manual focus lenses could actually damage a modern SLR.

I'd love to help you further, but I need to know more about what equipment you're talking about to give you a more informed answer.

Please feel free to post a follow up or ask another question.

Regards,

Akshay.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: canon, nikon,, and all the equipment is autofocus

Answer
Hi Gerald.

Your autofocus lenses should work with a modern DSLR. How old are the lenses you have? If they were made within the last 15 years, you shouldn't have any problem at all. In other words, any AF lens (Nikon's nomenclature of its currently produced lenses) will work with a Nikon DSLR and any EF lens (Canon's) will work with any Canon DSLR.
Bear in mind that you can't use Nikon lenses on Canon bodies or vice versa.

Personally, I'd advise you to stick with one brand and hawk off the other. If, say, you've got more Canon equipment, stick with that and sell the Nikon. It would be nice if equipment from one manufacturer could be used with another, but since these manufacturers have their own proprietary lens mounts, batteries and other accessories, keeping two different brands of SLR+lenses can get to be a little confusing.

There's a nice compatibility chart for Nikon here:

http://www.nikonians.org/nikon/slr-lens.html

It also has information about the nomenclature Nikon uses to describe their AF lenses.

I don't have a comparable link for Canon, although the following link will be helpful:

http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html

Hope that helps.

Akshay.