Meghan Noecker wrote:

What I will do is buy a digital body and then one lens at a time.
Unfortunately, It will be a long time before I can replace my best
lenses. My 85mm f/1.2 lens is about $1200 used in the autofocus
version. So, I have to stick with manual focus to use that lens.

While there is a EF version of the 85mm/1.2 available, it
is not as good optically and with slower AF than the 85mm/1.8,
which is one of the lenses recommended earlier.

BTW, the 85mm/1.8 and the 100mm/2.0 are among the sharpest
lenses Canon has to offer, the 50/1.4 falls into the same
category.

Also, I love going to a nearby wildlife park, but I usually spent
$50-100 each time on film and processing. I have a great 150-500mm
f/5.6 lens. I've also got a nice 400mm f/5.6 that I can easily
handhold while on the tram ride. And I also have a nice 80-200mm f/2.8
lens. All of these have the recessed rear lens allowing use of the
1.4x teleconverter. These 4 lenses are the mainstay of my business.
Yet they are all pretty spendy, 2-3 times the cost of the manual focus
lenses, and that's used.

It sounds like you are not going to spend $4k to $8k to get a
Canon 1Ds or 1D mkII, so if you want to do Canon DSLR, you
are talking either a 10D, 300D, or a used D60 or D30. All of
these bodies have a cropping factor of 1.6, so you'll only
need 300mm of focal length to approximate the same angle of
view of the 500mm on your FD system.

I would say you have plenty of options even if you're on a
budget.

200mm/2.8 (equivalent 320mm FOV)
200mm/2.8 * 1.4 gets you 280mm/4.0 (equivalent 450mm FOV)
200mm/2.8 * 2.0 gets you 400mm/5.6 (equivalent 640mm FOV)

The 200 2.8L sells for $635 at B&H, and combined with the
1.4x ($280) and 2x ($280) it would exceed the capabilities
in speed and long focal length of your current 150-500 lens,
it would also get you a decent 450mm FOV at f/4 which is one
stop faster than your current 400/5.6. It does not quite
get to 700mm (150-500mm with 1.4x), but almost, and it is
a stop faster. So this $1200 set might replace the
150-500mm and the 400mm lenses, assuming that your use the
long end of your 150-500mm more than the short end (you
have the faster 80-200 for the 150mm range).

Alternatively, you could look at the 70-200/4L ($550)
plus 1.4x to cover 115-450mm FOV (115-320mm FOV at f/4
and 320-450mm FOV at f/5.6). This would set you back
$830, but it won't quite cover the same range as your
150-500mm.

The 80-200mm 2.8 would be more difficult to replace
(there is no 50-125mm 2.8 in Canon's lens lineup
which would replace your lens). One approach would be
to get a 50mm 1.8 ($75) or 1.4 ($295) combined with a
85/1.8 ($325) or 100mm/2 ($370) or 100mm/2.8 macro
($450).

The only not-so-expensive, but still usable zoom
lens that would could that range is the
28-135/3.5-5.6 IS lens ($394), but it is way slower
that what you are used to, although it offers image
stabilization.

I suggest you calculate how much your FD glass will
sell for, add $100 (for the FD to EOS adapter), and
I'm thinking it would be very close to paying for the
EF lenses suggested above (e.g. 50/1.8, 85/1.8,
70-200/4, 1.4x for $1230 new).

Lars
--
.~. Lars Michael
/V\
/(_)\ http://www.larsmichael.com/
^^ ^^