No love here for old Canon SLRs?

[mfunnell]

I've noticed an up-tick in, um, unRF activity around here and also noticed something else - people do seem to talk frequently about old Nikon and Olympus (and even, just recently, old Contax) SLRs - but nobody seems to have a favoured or favourite Canon.

Is there a reason for that? There's no shortage of love for old Canon RF equipment so it isn't a set against the company, per se.

Sure, I can think of a few reasons for lack of love myself:

• Canon's manual-focus FD lenses don't really work so well with more modern cameras, since Canon dropped them like live grenades when they went with the EOS system.
• Early Nikons were Just Better than the early Canon SLRs, so Canon had to play catch-up during the very earlies.
• Canon seemed to be more oriented towards "shutter priority" than "aperture priority" in their metering displays (in manual mode, most old Canons meter with the assumption that the shutter speed is what you choose while the aperture selection is what you vary).
• Canon tended to more plastic and electronics in many of their not-pro-level models, rather than metal construction and concentration on "the basics".

Or maybe their lenses aren't rated as highly? I dunno...

I don't have an axe to grind here on behalf of old Canon's. I like my OM-4T a lot for AE and slower-paced manual operation and I really like my Nikon FM3a and FM-2n plus lenses.

The only old-style Canon SLR I've had, 'till now, is a "beater" AE-1 Program with an off-brand (somewhat wobbly) "macro" (it isn't) zoom. Bought very cheaply for experiment rather than use. But fairly recently I picked up a very clean Canon New F-1, and some lenses, for silly-cheap money (I hope) that I haven't had a chance to use yet. I'll rectify that Real Soon Now. Until then, though, I see no obvious reason to think not-well of the Canon gear. The camera feels like it's been carved out of granite (or something heavier) and the lenses feel pretty well made.

Who knows? Maybe the photos will look like cr*p (even in comparison to the others I take) but somehow I doubt it. Canon was pretty popular back in the day so they can't be that bad, can they? (Maybe I'm in for a nasty shock.)

But, again, where's the love for Canon manual-focus cameras? And why aren't they loved?

...Mike

 

[Sparrow]

... not really, I only stretch it as far as Nikon because of the 105/2.5

 

[Krosya]

Why not - I like my Canons. Used to have T90 and AE--1P, and still have A-1 and EF. And several lenses. I for one could never get into the whole Nikon thing. Tried a few times and while I understand that they are good cameras, just didnt feel right to me. But than again, I dont care for Leica M2, M3 or M6, but prefer M5 and Hexar RF, so - go figure.....😉

 

[Darshan]

I used to use the Elan 7, really liked it but got averted due to it's size. Now I don't have any EOS lenses (sold them with my XSi) left, so thinking about selling it.

 

[Keith]

I've honestly never really liked Canons of any description ... old or new ... SLR or rangefinder!

 

[Thardy]

I have a couple of Canon Élan 7e that I shoot when I'm in the mood to shoot film.

Dont judge the photographic world by the few people on this obscure board.

 

[Keith]

I have a couple of Canon Élan 7e that I shoot when I'm in the mood to shoot film.

Dont judge the photographic world by the few people on this obscure board.

Few? ... 42,000 registered last time I counted! 😀

I think Canon actually make very good cameras but they certainly don't seem to inspire passion the way Olympus and Nikon do around here.

As cameras they seem to be the taxi of the auto world to me.

 

[DC1030]

I own a F1 and an EF, real good reliable cameras, the canon lenses (50 1.4, 35 3.5 etc.) are as good as the nikon ones. nikon had an advantage because they started to offer pro cameras in the 50s, canon startet in the 70s..
the F1 has a metering system that was more advanced then the one that nikon offered at that time.
have fun with the F1, it will provide a very good image quality!

 

[mfunnell]

As cameras they seem to be the taxi of the auto world to me.

Yikes! I hope they're more reliable than Sydney taxis 😱

...Mike

 

[Keith]

Yikes! I hope they're more reliable than Sydney taxis 😱

...Mike

During a recent trip to Sydney I was saved by a cabby when my GPS couldn't seem to find the address I was looking for! 😀

I can't complain about the reliability ... I have ten boxes of Kodachromes shot in the early nineties in Nepal with an AE-1 Program that actually got buried in the snow one day after leaping out of my carry bag and tumbling 100 metres down an icy slope!

And I have an A620 that has never let me down in the five years I've owned it. 🙂

 

[gavinlg]

I for one am a big canon fan. The F1 models are gorgeous, and the FD L primes are seriously underrated and super sexy. Even the normal FD primes are seriously underrated. I've never used a nikkor lens that I've loved.

As far as stuffing around their user base is concerned - nikon is just as bad as canon dropping the FD mount. Canon released their first real full frame digital camera in 2002 - the 1ds, and Nikon denied that they were going to follow and release a full frame DSLR for almost the next decade, when suddenly they released the d3 in 2009ish. During the period when the 1ds line and the 5d line were out, Nikon lost so many photographers simply because they wouldn't admit they were going to make a full frame dslr. Also, nikon had basically no fast AF USM primes in 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135mm until the last 2 years. Canon has had all of them - and all of them are superb, for nearly the last 20 years.

I'm not saying that nikons are bad - but I definitely have a preference for the canons way of doing things.

 

[dexdog]

I grew up using canons- still have 2 FTBs and an AE1-P. Don't use them much anymore, but have 6 thousand slides and negatives that I made using these cameras. Really love the FTB- built like a tank, mechanical shutter, very reliable. When I shoot film these days it is always with a rangefinder Canon or a Contax RF

 

[Pherdinand]

no. no love for ol dcanon slrs.

 

[mtargz]

My limited experience with Canon's old SLRs is this: They never "moved" me.

I have an old AE-1 I found hanging out of a dumpster, and while it's probably as good an MF camera as I could want, it doesn't "do it" for me. The action, the controls - I don't feel any love going on. A friend's FTb (she also has a 50mm f/1.4 to spice it up) is better, but still lacks anything "special" to make it stand out. Even a run-off-the-mill Ricoh XR-S excited me a little more when I got it.

Compare it with my Pentacon Praktica SuperTL1000 (phew!), which is a simple camera - stop-down metering and "the basic" 1/1000-1s shutter - and yet brings a smile to my face with very click. The winding-stroke feels just right, my fingers fall into place on the stop-down lever and shutter with an ease and comfort that just make me want to keep shooting the thing. The sound of the shutter firing is addicting - I try finish a roll at the end of shooting, just so I could "exercise" it a bit in the morning. It's a cheap camera, nowhere as highly-regarded as their cousins from Pentax - and yet I'm absolutely smitten by it. With the aid of some lovely lenses (the fantastic SMC Tak 50/1.4 I rescued from some mutilator, the ultra-sharp Zeiss Pancolar, my Russian portraiture-glass), I can't ever see myself leaving this kit.

Compared to this experience, other SLRs I've tried only pale in comparison. But who knows, I've yet to taste an OM or F-series Nikon.

 

[dave lackey]

Never bonded with Canons at all... but I wouldn't turn down an AE-1 for a knockabout camera!🙂

 

[Ronald M]

When i was in college, a friend who went to RIT had some ancient Leica screw mount and a Canon RM which was brand new at the time.

You would think someone who went to Kodak photo college could tell the difference and he could, the old Leica took way better pics.

Later in the 70`s, brother in law had an EF and A1. Really beefy well made cameras. The images were sharp, but unimpressive.
As were my Pentax images from all the Takumars and SMCT , had a dozen of them all new. Sharp but unimpressive.

Then I got the Leica bug. Those made impressive images.
Still have the Leicas.

 

[redisburning]

there's really only a handful of exciting canon lenses to me...

55mm f1.2 SSC aspherical and the 35mm f2 concave

canon (and nikon) to me exemplify test chart mentality. if that's your thing, boy are they good at it. if it's not, well time to go olympus 😀

 

[Nikon Bob]

I never had a strong urge to own a Canon SLR for some unknown reason. The Canon P that I own I like very much.

Bob

 

[raid]

I have been extensively using Canon SLR cameras since 1982. I started out with a Canon AE-1, then upgraded to A-1, then F1n and then T90. The rest of th Canon SLR cameras did not appeal to me at all. I have two cameras of each (F1N and T90), and I have lenses from 7.5mm to 500mm. I did not sell a single lens when the autofocus modernization came along, followed by digital cameras. The Canon SLR camera were very well built, and many of the lenses are first class by any standard.

For many years, I would travel with:
F1N+ 80-200
T90+ 28-50
and then have in the bag a 24mm lens. I got some of my best images with this lens trio. I would first read about the lenses in Shutterbug magazine, followed by an intense search in Shutterbug for a good bargain. It kept me smiling throughout my garduate studies. My room mate would ask me why I was reading the ads and kept on smiling. It was difficult to explain to a non-photographer all the joys of imagining I had those lenses and cameras.

My favorite two lenses are the 85mm/1.2L and the 500mm/4.5L.


I placed the heavier lenses on the F1N while I pampered the T90 with the smaller and lighter lenses (relatively speaking). The T90 + 300TL flash combo was a wonderful match made in heaven. It made flash photography very easy to master.

The T90 and the F1N shared a feature which very few other cameras had at the time. Both had spot meters. I am still using a spot meter with RF cameras.

Canon FD is a great camera system.

 

[zauhar]

My first camera (it was actually my Ma's but I used it the most) was a Canon TX, purchased at the PX of the base where my Dad was stationed.

It had a simple TTL metering system, and worked reliably for many years. It was an inexpensive bare bones camera, but I liked it a lot.

Randy