lense adaptor

[Vicki]

HI! my story; I loved the pics I used to take with my Tamron 28-200 lense w film. Now I have a Digital Cannon Rebel xsi eos 450. Im always disappointed in my pics. which exact lense adaptor can I put on my Digital Cannon body that will enable me to use my old Tamron Lense? iv been searching the internet, its a bit overwhelming! any recommendations/opinions/ tips would be great!?!   Thanks

[Bob Atkins]

Depends on what your film camera was. If it was a Canon EOS then the Tamron lens should work OK.

If it was something else, then I'd need to know what it was.

[Vicki]

thanks for your response, my old camera was a Pentax zx-50 with of course the Tamron lense.

[Bob Atkins]

I think that's the Pentax K (af) mount. You can find adapters like this one:

Pentax K to EOS adapter

However you won't have any autofocus and you'll have to manually set the aperture, so it's not going to be very convenient.

The only way to get autofocus and automatic aperture control is to buy a lens designed for use on EOS cameras like this one

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Ultra Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

or this one (which would give you a wider range and a wider widenagle view):

Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

The 18-200 is quite a bargain right now since it's only $187 after the $100 Tamron mail-in rebate.

[Vicki]

thanks for the info, went to those links; great for that size lense. however after reading everyones posts on the 50-1.8 sounds like that would be a good one to have also. sorry if this is a dumb ? but does the size (width) of the glass lense make a difference in the quality of pics? my old Tamron was a 72 mm should I look for a lense that size?

[Bob Atkins]

Nope, the lens filter diameter is not really related to the quality of the lens, except that lenses with larger filter sizes (larger front elements) are typically more expensive, and more expensive lenses tend to be higher quality. Cheap lenses with large filter sizes are just the same as other cheap lenses!

The Canon EF 50/1.8 is indeed a very good lens for the price. It makes an excellent portrait lens on a camera like the Rebel Xsi

[Vicki]

Great! Im going to get the 5o/1.8! thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, its so hard to find camera people to talk to. The 2 shops in town have closed up, thanks to the big box stores! anyway thanks again for this site, Im learning lots!

[jamisan]

you say "I am always disappointed in my pics". In what way are you disappointed, I have the Rebel XSI with the canon 28-135 IS USM and the canon 70-300 IS USM and I am very happy with most of my pics.  Of course with film you always looked at your pics as prints, are you getting some of your pics printed or just looking at them on a monitor.