EOS apprehension

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I bought a used eos 650 and replaced it with a620 less than 75 us total gave them both to nephew telling him to sell the 650 to by what ever he could.I thought the auto focus was to slow in low light with a2.8 seemed to hunt to much and the battery life was to short.Replacement was an EOS1 with bp e1 which Istill have and now a EOS1V with bp grip .I like using aa batterys much better. I did have an Elan 7 with bpack which also went to nephew with same instructions sell 620🙂

The 620 is not a bad model, though, and was a lot more expensive than its 650 sibling when new. It features a 1/4000 top speed instead of 1/2000 and also a 1/250 flash sync. Also multiple exposure capability was introduced, which was absent from the 650. Autofocus and frame rate were both improved for the EOS630 AKA EOS600, although, strangely, the shutter reverted back to 1/2000 max and 1/125 sync speeds.

The early EOS models are great value for money today and with a decent Speedlite such as the 430EZ or 540EZ offer a lot of versatility for very little money. As long as the shutters are clean and goo free, the only other issue may be rapid battery discharge from the LCD illumination circuit (from memory). I greatly prefer a manual focus SLR (usually something old and German) but, whenever I need autofocus or no-brainer perfect indoor flash fill my 630 or EOSRT are the first cameras I reach for.

Canon's own online museum site has a great potted history of each model, original prices (usually in Yen), and specifications, brochures etc.
Regards,
Brett

 

[Spanik]

Must put a film in my RT. Or maybe there is still one in it?

 

[Speedfreak]

Interesting to hear your flea market stories.

Whenever I am there I see only junk and if it´s camera related the sellers ask ridiculous prices for crap.

So where are those flea markets where you find Summicrons for 20 Euro?

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

With flea markets etc you can't rely on one discovery each time you visit but there are certainly bargains out there and silly prices.

Off the cuff I'd say that something like a third to a half of my cameras over the years were bargains. But I'd expect about - perhaps - 1 in 5 or 10 visits to the market to produce a bargain. I do a weekly "sweep" as we draw money and then shop and, if visiting town for some other reason. Yesterday, f'instance, I saw a nice mju-III zoom in a box with case and manual, a Canon P&S, a Zenit (no surprise), some 52mm filters and a flash slave unit. The Zenit was too dear for words but I'd have grabbed the others if I wanted them, but didn't. Got home and remembered that the Leica (?) takes 52mm filters and I'd have liked a CP one and kicked myself. Still, it might have been dirty and too dirty to clean but looked OK...

Added as an edit: go late lunch time in my part of the world and they'll all be thinking about packing up and dropping prices. That's when the silly prices really start. It also pays to check camera bags and ERC's carefully; battered old cases often contain gems. And there's camera bodies without lenses and vice versa. You have to take a long term view and be prepared for the odd mistake. Meaning don't pay too much. A couple of ponds is what I'd see as too much simply because I won't cry as I throw the Nikon in the bin...

Also you have to know what you are looking at; 30's Leica bits & pieces come in this category.

Also, look at ebay's completed sales and you'll be amazed at what doesn't sell for pennies when something identical went for a really silly price. I have also noticed that something opening for pennies and with an early bid on it will often sell for the next bid because dealers will happily bid the opening price on dozens of things and then leave them. I guess it pays off if they make a couple of dozen 99p bids daily and win half a dozen. So I bid 5p more and sometimes get it...

Regards, David

PS And always check for corroded battery chambers.