Digital Body and Old Lens Compatibility

[AgedTyro]

I have some SLR lenses that fitted an old Chinon CP-6 body, for 35mm film.

They are:-

Chinon 35mm Wide Angle Automatic SLR Lens
Pentax-A SmC 1:1.7 SLR Standard Lens
Vivitar 28-200mm Zoom SLR Camera Zoom Lens

Please tell me if all or any of these lenses would fit a
modern digital SLR body, and if so which models.

Would any of the lenses' functions be compromised on a modern digital body?

[Stormsong]

Hello AgedTyro, I have a Canon A1 35mm-film camera that is the better part of 30 years old which I use on occasion, as it is still a fine piece of equipment. I finally bought a DSLR about three years ago. I have a beauty of a telephoto zoom, the Canon FD 100-300mm, which is made of metal and not the plastic of most of the lenses of today. I bought a ring adaptor via the internet last year and have used it on my digital camera particularly for sports/action shots.

The only problem is that the ring adaptor does not have electronic points thus you have to use the manual modes and manual focus. I have a problem of over-exposure, as I think there is not full contact between the ring adapter/lens on the DSLR body, but I overcome this problem by under-exposing by a few stops. It could be that my old telephoto 100-300mm lens needs to be calibrated (it too is about 30 years old), and thus it is over-exposing, but I don't have any other problems. It is damn heavy though!

I am not sure whether you can buy adaptors with electronic points, I have not investigated this yet. The same adaptor that I bought allows me to also use my 28mm Tokina on the Canon 400D, with no problems at all. Hope this helps a bit with your query.

Regards,
Denise

[AgedTyro]

Thank you, Denise, for your very comprehensive reply. I am not familiar with Canon equipment. What make and model of DSLR are you using?

[Stormsong]

Hi, AgedTyro, I am currently using the Canon 400D; I have a Christmas wish list with higher spec models on it, but it will probably only remain a wish list!
If you are interested in getting ring adaptors, you could do an internet search with your DSLR model+ring adaptors, that may work.

[amk1977]

Hi AgedTyro,

By the most compatible DSLR with old glass is are the cameras that use the 4/3 mount, such as Olympus and Panasonic. I had an Olympus E-510 which I had a crazy amount of lenses for.

The best thing to do is go onto ebay and type in the mount type that you have (I'm guessing its the Pentax PK) and then the word adapter. It should bring up lists of items. From there you'll be able to see which cameras the lenses can be used on with an adapter.

[fluffchucker]

I gave up photography some 10 years ago, but am now looking at buying a dslr, possibly the Canon D60, mainly because of the flip screen
My 35mm camera was a Canon EOS 50e for which I had 2 lenses; Canon EF 80-200 1:4.5-5.6 & Tokina AF 20-35 f3.5-4.5
Would these lenses be suitable for the 60D & work properly

[amk1977]

Provided the lenses are EF mount there should be no problem at all with using them on the 60D.