Going from film to digital? You can still use your old lenses.
Moving from film to digital is a challenge, but even worse is the cost of abandoning a collection of lenses that won't make the move. In general, it's impossible to make older lenses fit a newer camera, but fortunately, there is a way to move Minolta film lenses to a Canon digital body.
Instructions
1. Understand the optical register. The major difficulty in adapting the lenses is the optical register, which is a technical term for the distance between the "film" and the lens mount. In an older Minolta camera, this distance is 43.5 mm, while in a newer Canon, the distance from digital sensor to lens is 44 mm. That half-millimeter is critical to proper focusing of the lens.
2. Remove the existing ring from the camera. Depending on the model, it's usually held on by four tiny screws.
3. Using the ring as a model for the Canon side of the ring, and a Minolta lens for the other, machine a replacement ring that's 43.5mm thick rather than 44mm.
4. Place the new ring on the camera body. For the original Canon Digital Rebel 300d, that's all there is to it. For some more recent models, the lens aperture pin will get in the way, and will need to be shortened a bit.
5. With the new ring in place, your Canon camera will be strictly limited to using older Minolta lenses. Autofocus will not work at all, though all other camera/lens functions should work fine. To return to using Canon lenses, simply return the original ring to its place
Tags: film digital, from film, from film digital, older Minolta, optical register