Question
A reason to use older lenses is to save money on bigger zoom or other normally expensive auto-focus lenses.
Is this still something people do?
Answer
Yes, there are. Most DSLRs are backwards compatible with lenses of film DSLR from the same brand. The main exceptions are Olympus, Panasonic and Sony.
Canon changed its mount completely when they introduced autofocus, so you will have less luck there.
Nikon manual focus lenses are compatible with higher-end bodies (D90, D300S, D7000, D3S, D3X, etc). Compatibility is not universal though, so not all MF lenses will work, you'll have to look up each case separately.
Pentax is known by many to have the highest-level of legacy compatibility. Most MF lens in the K-mount will work on all Pentax DSLRs. As an awesome bonus, all those lenses will benefit from stabilization provided the DSLR bodies. You only have to enter the right focal-length manually into the camera. If you are considering long zooms (when you said 'bigger') then this is huge.
Sony acquired the Konica-Minolta and its DSLRs are compatible with MF focus from the Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha (depending on where in the world you are) generation. Like Pentax, stabilization is provided by the body too.
Olympus and Panasonic use an all-new 4/3 mount which has no legacy lenses. However, if you consider the new Micro Four-Third SLDs (mirrorless cameras) they can support just about any legacy lens using an adapter.
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