Hi, I am planning to buy an SLR camera. I am confused with these EF and AF lenses. What is the difference between these two? What type of lenses is best suited for Canon Rebel 2000 camera. Can I go for Canon EF 28-200/3.5-5.6 lenses? Thanks and Regards, Ravi.

-- Ravi Kumar (nedunuri@yahoo.com), September 18, 2001

Answers

The current product line of Canon EOS lenses are all designated as EOS "EF" lenses, and the "EF" designation refers to the type of lens mount found on all EOS cameras. "AF" denotes whether or not a given EOS EF lens is an "Autofocus" lens, and I do believe that among the current line of EOS EF lenses, only their EOS EF "tilt/shift" lenses are not autofocus lenses, but instead, they must be manually focused. To learn more about the evolution of Canon's 35mm cameras, lenses, and related technologies, visit http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/

-- kurt heintzelman (heintzelman.1@osu.edu), September 18, 2001.

In the Canon line, I think that EF stands for Electronic Focus. In other brands (Nikon, Minolta etc...), AF stands for Auto Focus. Sure, a 28-200 Canon EF lens should work fine with a Canon Rebel.

-- Rodger B. (rb643@yahoo.com), September 18, 2001.

EF is also the name given to the physical mounting system used on EOS cameras. Thus, any "EF" or "EF mount" lens will fit on any EOS body (or the EF-M, but when was the last time anyone saw one of them?). However, third party lenses do have some compatibility problems with EOS bodies.

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), September 19, 2001.

test....

-- Colin Miller (miller.photos@att.net), September 19, 2001.

Just a slight correction. EF (Electronic Focus) denotes a Canon autofocus lens as well as electronic aperture stop down. The Canon tilt-shift lenses, which are manual focus only, are thus denotes as E (without the F). Hence, Canon's 24mm tilt-shift lens is called 24mm TS-E (not TS-EF).

-- Peter Phan (pphan01@hotmail.com), September 19, 2001.

Good point, Peter.

-- kurt heintzelman (heintzelman.1@osu.edu), September 20, 2001.

Yes, but the TS-E lenses are still "EF-Mount" lenses.

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), September 23, 2001.