Canon EOS-3 35mm Film Camera
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- Battery Type: Lithium Battery
- Film Type: 35mm
- Lens Mount: Canon EF
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great high end amateur/pro camera with some quirks
Pros
tough body, excellent AE, many custom features
Cons
Eye controlled focus doesn't work for me
Recommended it?
Yes
I've owned a Canon EOS-3 for 9 months now. I also own a Canon Elan IIe and a Pentax K1000.
The EOS-3 is a pro level camera that features 45-point eye focus (pioneered in the A2E and later in the Elan IIe) and advanced exposure including TTL Flash.
I equipped my EOS-3 with the optional battery pack/handgrip which includes main controls configured for vertical usage.
This is an extremely capable camera. The autoexposure is extremely accurate even in difficult situations (such as backlit subjects). The best part is the amount of control you have over this camera. It offers many custom functions, and you can change the shutter and aperture controls at 1/3 stops, something very useful if you're shooting a lot of slides.
It works with all EOS system lenses (Canon and 3rd party) and is the first Canon body that can autofocus even when the minimum aperture of the lens is f/8. This means that you can use the Canon 300mm IS lens and a 2x converter and still retain autofocus, something that you can't do with any other Canon body including the 1 series.
The camera's autofocus system is incredibly fast, even with non USM (Ultra Sound Motor) lenses, and very accurate. One of the reasons I upgraded from the Elan IIe to the EOS-3 is because the Elan IIe's autofocus was frustratingly stupid, it would go into hunt mode (where the lens is focusing in and out looking for the right focus) way too much. The EOS-3 almost always focuses in the right direction, and stops perfectly (the elan often went past good focus and then had to shoot back) so it's really great for action shots. It's low light focusing capability is also impressive.
The controls are extremely well designed including a backlit LCD screen and a very information rich viewfinder. With the optional grip the camera is just as easy to use vertically.
It's a bit heavy, being made of metal and dense high impact plastic. This is a body you don't have to worry about dropping so it should last. The weight can be a little limiting tho. I went out on Halloween last year and shot 12 rolls of film during the "parade" (really a street party) in SF. Afterwards my right arm was in quite a lot of pain. And I was only using a fairly light 50mm lens.
The hyped eye-control focus simply doesn't work for me tho. This was never the reason I purchased the EOS-3, but I got used to the very simple, but completely effective Elan IIe eye-tracking functionality and was disappointed that I simply can't get the EOS-3 to calibrate to my eye. I have never even been able to complete the calibration not to mention being able to use the eye-control focus on the run.
Even if it did work for me, I think the autofocus area isn't big enough to make that amazing of a feature. I prefer the old and tried method of pointing the center of the camera at the object I want in focus, pressing the shutter button halfway to autofocus, then reframing before pushing the button all the way in for the shutter release.
I would almost like to see Canon release an EOS-3 without the eye-control. It would probably knock off $200-300 from the sticker price.
I have heard that others have had great success with the eye-control and I myself have seen the Elan IIe work flawlessly (I especially like the Elan IIe's aperture preview "switch": you simply look at the corner of the frame at a little trapezoid) but I simply have not been able to make it work.
Was I disappointed? No, because as I said before, that's not why I bought the camera. I wanted really good through the lens flash auto exposure, fast focusing, and a rugged body. I got all that and a lot of extras that I've since started relying on (having 1/3 stop resolution is really fantastic, and the super fast 1/8000 second shutter speed makes possible some very interesting action shots).
Like the 1 series, the EOS-3 also has interchangeable backs, focus screens, tons of remote options, a slew of transport controls and other professional features that really allow you to customize your photography.
I recommend this camera to anyone who is serious about 35mm photography, especially if you already bought into the EOS system. I definitely do not recommend it for the casual consumer or a gadget monger who wants the camera for it's eye-control. Get an Elan IIe instead and save almost $1000.
Addendum (5/12/00):
I took addam's advice and recalibrated the camera in several different light situations. He's right, that was the key to making the auto focus work better. However, it's still a little glitchy, once in a while getting the wrong sensor to light up, also, I still think that the actual area that you can do this inside is way too small to be truly useful. When the eye can be tracked across the entire viewfinder is when I will start hailing this feature.
The EOS-3 is a pro level camera that features 45-point eye focus (pioneered in the A2E and later in the Elan IIe) and advanced exposure including TTL Flash.
I equipped my EOS-3 with the optional battery pack/handgrip which includes main controls configured for vertical usage.
This is an extremely capable camera. The autoexposure is extremely accurate even in difficult situations (such as backlit subjects). The best part is the amount of control you have over this camera. It offers many custom functions, and you can change the shutter and aperture controls at 1/3 stops, something very useful if you're shooting a lot of slides.
It works with all EOS system lenses (Canon and 3rd party) and is the first Canon body that can autofocus even when the minimum aperture of the lens is f/8. This means that you can use the Canon 300mm IS lens and a 2x converter and still retain autofocus, something that you can't do with any other Canon body including the 1 series.
The camera's autofocus system is incredibly fast, even with non USM (Ultra Sound Motor) lenses, and very accurate. One of the reasons I upgraded from the Elan IIe to the EOS-3 is because the Elan IIe's autofocus was frustratingly stupid, it would go into hunt mode (where the lens is focusing in and out looking for the right focus) way too much. The EOS-3 almost always focuses in the right direction, and stops perfectly (the elan often went past good focus and then had to shoot back) so it's really great for action shots. It's low light focusing capability is also impressive.
The controls are extremely well designed including a backlit LCD screen and a very information rich viewfinder. With the optional grip the camera is just as easy to use vertically.
It's a bit heavy, being made of metal and dense high impact plastic. This is a body you don't have to worry about dropping so it should last. The weight can be a little limiting tho. I went out on Halloween last year and shot 12 rolls of film during the "parade" (really a street party) in SF. Afterwards my right arm was in quite a lot of pain. And I was only using a fairly light 50mm lens.
The hyped eye-control focus simply doesn't work for me tho. This was never the reason I purchased the EOS-3, but I got used to the very simple, but completely effective Elan IIe eye-tracking functionality and was disappointed that I simply can't get the EOS-3 to calibrate to my eye. I have never even been able to complete the calibration not to mention being able to use the eye-control focus on the run.
Even if it did work for me, I think the autofocus area isn't big enough to make that amazing of a feature. I prefer the old and tried method of pointing the center of the camera at the object I want in focus, pressing the shutter button halfway to autofocus, then reframing before pushing the button all the way in for the shutter release.
I would almost like to see Canon release an EOS-3 without the eye-control. It would probably knock off $200-300 from the sticker price.
I have heard that others have had great success with the eye-control and I myself have seen the Elan IIe work flawlessly (I especially like the Elan IIe's aperture preview "switch": you simply look at the corner of the frame at a little trapezoid) but I simply have not been able to make it work.
Was I disappointed? No, because as I said before, that's not why I bought the camera. I wanted really good through the lens flash auto exposure, fast focusing, and a rugged body. I got all that and a lot of extras that I've since started relying on (having 1/3 stop resolution is really fantastic, and the super fast 1/8000 second shutter speed makes possible some very interesting action shots).
Like the 1 series, the EOS-3 also has interchangeable backs, focus screens, tons of remote options, a slew of transport controls and other professional features that really allow you to customize your photography.
I recommend this camera to anyone who is serious about 35mm photography, especially if you already bought into the EOS system. I definitely do not recommend it for the casual consumer or a gadget monger who wants the camera for it's eye-control. Get an Elan IIe instead and save almost $1000.
Addendum (5/12/00):
I took addam's advice and recalibrated the camera in several different light situations. He's right, that was the key to making the auto focus work better. However, it's still a little glitchy, once in a while getting the wrong sensor to light up, also, I still think that the actual area that you can do this inside is way too small to be truly useful. When the eye can be tracked across the entire viewfinder is when I will start hailing this feature.
