The Canon T3i /600D camera accepts EF and EF-S mount lenses which is great because the camera will support wide range of Canon high-quality lenses. Canon EF-S is newer and designed for digital SLR that use APS-C sensor. It’s usually smaller and lighter than their EF counterparts. Canon EF lenses have been around for years and were originally used with film cameras. The Canon T3i /600D support these ‘older’ EF lenses so owners get the best of both worlds. This is one of the advantages that Canon has over Nikon’s entry-level DSLRs. Nikon’s only support autofocusing with AF-S lenses , not their older lenses while Canon can support newer and lenses.

Several Canon lens acronyms :

  • EF -  Canon uses for it’s standard lens mount. All EF lenses will fit on all EOS bodies.
  • EF-S - for lenses which only cover the area of APS-C digital sensors and which can only be mounted on bodies with an EF-S compatible lens mount
  • USM - Ultrasonic focusing motor. Fast and silent operation
  • IS – Image Stabilization , to reduce blurs when using slow shutter speed
  • L – “Luxury” , professional grade lenses
  • Macro – the lens is optimized for macro photography

and , list of  popular Canon EF-S lenses:

Popular Canon EF lenses:

3rd party compatible lenses

Other vendors also offers large range of compatible lenses for Canon T3i/600D so you can have different options to choose. 3rd party lenses usually cheaper but their build quality is not as good as Canon’s. Some of the camera vendors are Sigma , Tamron and Tokina. Make sure you pick the compatible lens for your Canon camera eg: Sigma for Canon , or Tamron for Canon.

Browse 3rd party lenses for Canon T3:

 

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