Camera lens on different camera bodies?

[Msmotu]

Hi,
I'm very new to buying camera equipment. Can a lens be used for different bodies. I was given a film camera, a Minolta Maxxum 3xi and a Quantaray lens. Can this lens be used for other camera bodies either film or digital?
Thanks for any help!

[PopsPhotos]

Some can and most can't. If I remember correctly, the Minolta Maxxum was rather picky about the lenses it would accept, which made those lenses unusable on other makes of camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minolta_AF

Pops

[Colin Southern]

Hi Msmoto,

Welcome to CiC - it's great to have you with us

My instincts tell me that it's a direction that'll probably lead to a lot of frustration & disappointment. I'd be inclined to just pick a main brand (Canon / Nikon etc) and start with some cheap lenses if it's all you can afford.

[inkista]

If it's a Minolta AF lens (i.e., the Quantaray mounts and works OK on the Minolta 3xi), it can be used on the Sony Alpha dSLRs. Adapting it for any of the other dSLR mounts, though, is likely to not be worth it.

The dyxum.com website has a lot of information on lenses that can be used on Sony Alpha/Minolta AF.

With Colin, though, I think that a single Quantaray lens is probably not a great way to choose a camera mount system that you're eventually gonna sink a few thousand dollars into.

OTOH, I love using adapted Olympus OM, Contax/Yashica Zeiss, and Leica-R lenses on my Canons.

[Msmotu]

Thanks for the helP!

[Sunray]

Hello,

first I do not know anything of minolta cameras. I own a Canon, a 40D that has a chip that is as large as an APS-C film.
Canon has two main series of camera lenses.
One (Canon EF) is made for full frame cameras (regardless if 35mm film or digital sensor). These lenses can also be used on digital cameras with a smaller chip size (mosly APS-C size).
The other one (Canon EF-S) is designed for the smaller APS-C sensor an CAN NOT be used on FULL FRAME cameras (regardless if 35mm film or digital sensor).
I mostly buy EF style lenses because if I get a full frame camera sometimes I will be able to use my lenses.
Nikon has something similar. If you buy a new lense just keep in mind that there are different lense series out there.

Bye
Robert