I am shopping for a 35mm SLR camera now. And I will be shopping for a new perfessonal level digital camera in a year or two. I want any lens I buy to be useable on digial camera. What digital cameras are offering this feature? Is there a brand I should stay with?

-- Duane Vasquez (CheaperXdz@aol.com), August 08, 2000

Answers

Duane:
While your choices are limited there are a few out there. Nikon, Fuji and Canon all make cameras that accept either Nikon or Canon lenses. The Fuji S100 Pro uses Nikon lenses. Not every lens - but most of them. Your biggest concern though is focal length. The current spate of cameras have imaging devices that are smaller then a 35mm frame. This gives your lenses a focal length factor of 1.5 to 1.7 times their current focal length. This means a 50mm lens on a 35mm body will be a 75mm lens on a digital one. This is a bit unfortunate - but currently a necessary evil. It's no major concern for normal lenses up through telephoto - however if you shoot a lot of wide-angle subjects this can prove to be expensive. A decent wide angle lens needs to be around 17mm and rectilinear (not fish-eye!)
Such lenses are difficult and expensive to manufacturer - and they pass the savings on to you.... er ... you know what I mean.
Des

-- Dan Desjardins (dan.desjardins@avstarnews.com), August 08, 2000.