For the 35mm peeps out there...

[Betty Rage]

I have a bunch of lenses that never got used by me sitting in the basement, and was wondering what the best way to figure out what I could sell them for. I was also wondering if you can put a 35mm lens on a digital SLR camera.

I tried typing in the lens make and size in places like ebay, but it came up with a bunch of digi stuff, so I'm having a hard time comparing the prices.

Advice?

[c_rex]

a good many digital SLR's take lenses from the bodies of the old 'analog' cameras.  in addition to that there are adapters that allow placement of different sized lense sizes on different cameras.  So I'd see if you could find your lenses retail and do an honest assessment of how much use/damage they've incurred.  If it were me I'd baseline at about 1/2 of retail and price up or down based on 'average' condition.  Everyone has their own forumla of course.
Maybe if you posted a list of your lenses and their condition we could come back with suggested prices?

[Betty Rage]

Ok here's what I got:

2 Vivitar 70-300mm macro zoom lenses, 1:4.2-5.8, excellent condition

Minolta celtic 135mm 1:3.5, bayonet mount, excellent condition

Sigma 75-300mm, near excellent condition

That's what info I could get off the lenses themselves. I don't know a WHOLE lot about lenses so I hope this was all t he right info.

[the_Journeyman]

I use my old Quantaray & Tamron lenses that I used on my Nikon 35mm.  They work fine, but keep in mind they will be a little longer when fitted to a digital CCD, by about 1.5 I think.

JM

[Howie]

What camera(s) do they fit?  The used lenses that have the most value are the OEM lenses that fit cameras most people keep, ie, Nikons, Cannons and Liecas.  Aftermarket lenses for less popular cameras have close to no value.

[Betty Rage]

I'm not sure what cameras they fit, they were all given to me awhile ago and have been sitting in my basement.

no nikons or canons, but there are two vivitars, a minolta, and a sigma.

[the_Journeyman]

The Vivitar & Sigma could fit Nikons, Canon, Minolta etc depending on what they were made for ~

JM

[Dragsterhund]

If they are the Nikon F mount, then they will work on all current Nikon DSLR bodies, however some features, such as autofocus, may not work, but you'll still be able to use the lenses. If they are for Canon bodies, they wont work if they are the FD mount... Canon DSLRs only work with the EOS lens mounting system, so if the lenses were made before, say, 1990, they probably wont work on a new Canon body.

Journeyman is right too, the rule of thumb for using film lenses on digital bodies is multiply the focal length by 1.5 to get the effective focal length on a digital body, so a 50mm lens on a film body will ACT like a 75mm lens on a digital body... which is why most digital kits come with something around a 30mm lens.