With the rise in popularity of mirrorless cameras, many people are looking to make the move from DSLRs to mirrorless cameras.
By making this change you might be considering if you can still use your current DSLR lenses on your new mirrorless cameras and luckily there are ways to make this happen.
To save you time, below is a quick graphic showing you a compatibility chart between EF/EF-S lenses and the EF-M and RF mounts.
EF/EF-S lenses are Canon DSLR lenses and the EF-M and RF mounts are mounts for Canon mirrorless cameras.
The short answer is:
Yes, you can use Canon EF/EF-S lenses on mirrorless Canon cameras, but you will need to use an adaptor.
All Canon EF and EF-S lenses are DSLR lenses so Canon DSLR lenses can be used on mirrorless cameras with an adaptor.
Whether a crop factor is applied depends on a number of factors, but if there is a crop factor it is 1.6x for Canon mirrorless cameras.
This post focuses on people with Canon DSLRs and EF/ EF-S lenses moving to a new Canon mirrorless camera with either the EF-M or RF mount.
For example, you might want to use EF or EF-S lenses on a Canon EOS M50.
Read on to find everything you need to know when using these Canon DSLR lenses on mirrorless cameras.
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Table of Contents
Which Canon Mirrorless Cameras Can Use EF And EF-S Lenses?
Canon has two mounts within its mirrorless line. They are the EF-M mount and the RF mount.
It used to be the case that the EF-M mount was just for APS-C sensor cameras, and the RF mount was just for full frame sensors.
E.g The Canon M50 Mark II is not a full-frame camera so you would not use RF mount lenses, but you would use EF-M lenses.
This has changed slightly now so that the RF mount is more versatile, but you still can’t use RF mount products with EF-M products.
Canon has now released some RF-mount cameras that are APS-C sensor cameras along with lenses (RF-S lenses) to match. I’ll go over this later in this post.
Regardless of whether it is an EF-M or RF mount, Canon has made it possible to use all EF and EF-S lenses with all of Canon’s new mirrorless cameras with the use of an adapter.
What Lens Adapter Do I Need?
Luckily there are quite a few options when it comes to lens adapters to make your EF/ EF-S lenses work with your mirrorless Canon camera.
Just make sure you do get one which is designed for Canon products since there are various adapters out there for different uses.
For example, you would not want to buy an adapter which allows you to use Canon lenses on Sony mirrorless cameras as those are designed for the Sony mirrorless cameras with the Sony E-mount.
Here are some options that are suitable for Canon lenses to be used on Canon cameras:
EF/EF-S To EF-M Mount
Canon Lens Mount Adapter EF-EOS M
Viltrox Canon Lens Mount Adapter EF-EOS M
EF/EF-S To RF MOUNT
Canon Drop-in Filter Mount Adapter EF-EOS R with Variable ND Filter
Commlite Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R
**Make sure you are getting an adapter which matches your camera’s mount type.
What Happens If I Use An EF-S Lens On A Full Frame RF Mount Camera?
As you know EF-S lenses are designed for use on APS-C crop sensor cameras so you wouldn’t normally be able to use them on full frame DSLRs.
However, with the use of an adaptor you can actually use EF-S lenses on any RF mount full-frame mirrorless camera.
You just have to remember that the camera will automatically crop in to compensate for the APS-C lens and only use a portion of the image sensor.
What Is The Crop Factor When Using An EF-S Lens On An RF Mount Camera?
Similar to using a standard Canon crop sensor DSLR, the crop factor when using EF-S lenses on an RF mount camera is 1.6x.
This applies whether you are using an APS-C or full frame RF mount camera.
Keep in mind that when this crop is taking place, the camera is only using a portion of the full image sensor so you are losing a lot of the pixels.
In fact, you lose roughly two thirds of the pixels.
Let’s look at one RF mount camera as an example:
Canon EOS R
The EOS-R sensor with 30 megapixels becomes 11.6 megapixels when using an EF-S lens with the adapter.
As you can see you need to consider image quality when using adapters to use EF-S lenses on RF cameras.
What Happens When I Use An EF Lens On An RF Mount Camera Body?
This depends on whether the RF mount camera is a full frame camera or a crop sensor camera.
At the moment the 3 RF-mount cameras are:
- EOS R
- EOS RP
- EOS R10
- EOS R7
The EOS R (released 2018) and EOS RP (released 2019) are both full frame cameras, but in 2022 Canon released the EOS R10 and the EOS R7 which are both APS-C (crop sensor) cameras.
EF Lens + Full Frame Sensor RF Mount Camera:
If you use an EF lens with an adaptor on a full frame RF mount camera (EOS R or EOS RP), then there will be no crop factor applied.
You will be utilising the full size of the full frame sensor in these cameras.
EF Lens + APS-C Sensor RF Mount Camera:
If you use an EF lens with an adaptor on an APS-C RF mount camera (EOS R7 or EOS R10), then there will be a crop factor applied of 1.6x.
This is because the sensor is smaller than the image circle of an EF lens so the camera will need to crop the image to the size of the sensor.
What Happens When I Use An EF Lens On An EF-M Mount Camera Body?
As with standard APS-C Canon DSLRs, an EF lens will just work the same, but have a crop factor applied.
EOS M cameras have a crop factor of about 1.6x which mirrors that of the APS-C DSLRs in Canon’s EOS lineup.
What Happens If I Use An EF-S Lens On An EF-M Camera?
As with a crop sensor DSLR, using an EF-S lens on an EOS-M camera will just have a 1.6x crop factor applied.
Can I Use EF-M lenses On RF Mount Cameras?
While it would be nice to be able to just use all Canon lenses interchangeably, it’s not that easy.
Similar to EF-S lenses not being used on full frame Canon DSLRs, you are unable to use EF-M lenses on Canon RF mount cameras.
If you want to future proof then go straight for an RF mount camera if you have the money because the RF mount also has APS-C cameras as of 2022.
You cannot use RF mount lenses on EF-M bodies and you cannot use EF-M lenses on RF mount cameras.
If you want to use both APS-C and full frame lenses that are interchangeable on mirrorless Canon cameras, then go for an RF mount camera.
The RF mount has both full frame and crop sensor cameras as well as lenses for each type of sensor. Luckily you can use all RF lenses and RF-S lenses on all RF mount cameras.
If you consider this it does seem that Canon will slowly discontinue all of its EF-M mount products over time in favor of its RF mount products.
Now you should know everything you need to know about using Canon mirrorless cameras with EF and EF-S lenses.
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