35mm film body

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cid

cid

"light is defining shape"
Nov 27, 2012
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#1
Hi,
few past weeks I started to think about nice older body for 35mm film. Unfortunately I have no idea where to start, or what to be aware of and I found lot of them really cheap on ebay ::)
Right now I have only one requirement - EF mount, so I can use my current lenses...

Any ideas and advices are welcome.
Thanks
 
#2
The only ones commanding real prices these days is EOS 1V, which means great film bodies like EOS 3 and EOS Elan 7N are real bargains. I have/had all of the above, and EOS 3 would be really all one needs. Try to find one with the battery grip for that cool look and faster AF speed.
 
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#3
i bought a rebel g (ef mount)for about 20 bucks on ebay, Ive seen more of em for far cheaper(a buy it now for 5 recently, not sure if its even cost efficient for the seller at that price!). I havent finished the roll of film yet so I cant tell how good it is, and I really have no experience with film, but it seems capable, small & accepts my lenses with no problem so far.
 
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#8
If you can find one, the EOS 1nRS is a wonderful camera. It has a pellicle mirror so that there's never a blackout when the mirror flips up as there is on most cameras. Great for shooting sports or for seeing if someone blinked when you take a picture at a wedding. Wish I'd not sold mine.
 
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#9
In digital the camera bodies have different sensors and processors, so the camera itself will determine picture quality (along with lens of course). With film bodies, the film and lens determine the quality, so a good film will give you the exact same quality whether it is in an entry level Rebel or a top professional 1V or 1N. So in terms of quality, you cannot go wrong.

One of your main considerations will be do you want a large and heavy body (more robust) or a small and light body. I am tall and have large hands, so I actually prefer the feel of a larger body. That is one reason I never upgraded my (film) Elan2e to an Elan 7 series, because they made the bodies smaller. Eventually I bought a used 1 because everyone was going digital and I got it cheap and then I upgraded it to a 1N that someone actually gave me for free. If you like a robust camera, 1N or 3 is the way to go (the 3 has eye control focus). If you want something lightweight, Elan2 or Elan2e (latter has eye control) if you want a bigger feeling body or Elan 7N or 7Ne (latter has eye control) if you want a smaller feeling body.
 
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#11
I just remembered one other consideration to look for. If you want to do multiple exposures (2 or more shots on the same frame of film), make sure you have a body with that feature. It can come in handy and is typically the main thing I still use my film camera for. Here are some recent double exposure samples that I just posted in the gallery http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=15641.new#new .
 
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#13
MrFotoFool said:
In digital the camera bodies have different sensors and processors, so the camera itself will determine picture quality (along with lens of course). With film bodies, the film and lens determine the quality, so a good film will give you the exact same quality whether it is in an entry level Rebel or a top professional 1V or 1N. So in terms of quality, you cannot go wrong.

One of your main considerations will be do you want a large and heavy body (more robust) or a small and light body. I am tall and have large hands, so I actually prefer the feel of a larger body. That is one reason I never upgraded my (film) Elan2e to an Elan 7 series, because they made the bodies smaller. Eventually I bought a used 1 because everyone was going digital and I got it cheap and then I upgraded it to a 1N that someone actually gave me for free. If you like a robust camera, 1N or 3 is the way to go (the 3 has eye control focus). If you want something lightweight, Elan2 or Elan2e (latter has eye control) if you want a bigger feeling body or Elan 7N or 7Ne (latter has eye control) if you want a smaller feeling body.
Click to expand...

+1

It also depends on your budget. You can generally pick up a used 1n or 3 for much cheaper than a 1v. However, if you're looking for Canon's flagship film camera (faster AF, best weatherproofing, and highest max FPS), then the 1v is the one. It took some patience, but I was able to snag an almost like new copy on eBay with included PB-E2 booster for only $575 shipped.

On a side note, I have never used the eye control technology (e.g. on the EOS-3), but from the reviews I've read it is a fairly niche feature; you wouldn't want to use it for all scenarios because its reliability isn't ideal under EVERY circumstance. I'm assuming you can turn it off when needed, though...
 
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#15
Thank you all for great tips, I'm aware that film body is mainly only about autofocus (if it have some, right? ;) ) and build quality and rest is up to film, so it looks like EOS 3 is ideal for me. I checked some reviews, and I can't wait to try it with my 24-70 II ::)
1V looks great too, but I don't feel like spending so much money on film body, which I want (right now) only as an experiment.

Can you also please recommend some films? I would also appreciate some sample photos and maybe some good and bad experiences, thanks
 
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#16
cid said:
Thank you all for great tips, I'm aware that film body is mainly only about autofocus (if it have some, right? ;) ) and build quality and rest is up to film, so it looks like EOS 3 is ideal for me. I checked some reviews, and I can't wait to try it with my 24-70 II ::)
1V looks great too, but I don't feel like spending so much money on film body, which I want (right now) only as an experiment.

Can you also please recommend some films? I would also appreciate some sample photos and maybe some good and bad experiences, thanks
Click to expand...

Well, I'm new to film so take this with a grain of salt...but it largely depends on your ISO needs and whether you want to shoot in color or B&W; it also depends on whether you plan on printing and/or scanning the film.

If you are looking for color and would prefer a smoother image or you're shooting with ample light, the Fujifilm Velvia 100 comes highly recommended pretty much everywhere. Now if you're looking for B&W and prefer a little texture/grain, I've heard only great things about Ilford HP5 Plus 400 and it costs only $5/roll.

Also, check out this thread (especially Sw1tchFX's post), which I found doing a quick google search:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/film-discussion-q/292614-35mm-color-b-w-film-recommendations.html

Keep in mind that some film are more forgiving when pushed than others, so that may be another factor to look into. I'm sure someone here with more experience will be able to chime in...
 
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#17
cid said:
Thank you all for great tips, I'm aware that film body is mainly only about autofocus (if it have some, right? ;) ) and build quality and rest is up to film, so it looks like EOS 3 is ideal for me. I checked some reviews, and I can't wait to try it with my 24-70 II ::)
1V looks great too, but I don't feel like spending so much money on film body, which I want (right now) only as an experiment.

Can you also please recommend some films? I would also appreciate some sample photos and maybe some good and bad experiences, thanks
Click to expand...

As far as I remember, the main difference betwixt the 1V and the 3 was that the 1V has capable of storing a bunch of metadata (largely the same data as you get from the EXIF Data on a digital body). It was primitive, I recall it being in the form of CSV, and you had to keep the leader of the film roll, which contained body number and roll number on it.

Anyway it was cool back in the day before digital. It does not work on computers that are running a newer OS than XP. Canon was truely ahead of their time with the metadata.
 
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#18
Film EOS prices are rock bottom. It's a great time to buy.

And as there is no great difference between anything below the top tier there is no excuse not to buy the most recent you can (not to mention less wear and tear, more shutter life etc)

Avoid avoid avoid at all costs:

anything pre E-TTL. This means look for a EOS 300. EOS 30. EOS 3. EOS1V (or the more recent versions therof)

In fact if you get a 300x or 30v you will actually get E-TTL II which will work with select recent lenses to give you even better flash results.

Anything prior to E-TTL (EOS 1n, EOS 5 / A2e, 620 etc) will only work with your flash in A-TTL mode, which is prehistoric off the film metering as it exposes. E-TTL is preflash metered off the subject and far superior.

I currently have the EOS 3, though I recently had an EOS 300x. I would say get a AA grip for any film EOS you buy, the exact model required will depend on the model of EOS you go for, but as photographic Litihium batteries become more expensive and difficult to find a grip will be very useful. I have a PB-E1 on my EOS 3 which also gives it a little speed boost. The PB-E2 is worth the extra if you get a 3 as it perfectly mirrors the controls of the 3 / 1V.

As with any EOS camera I would recommend seeking out one with a pentaprism as opposed to a pentamirror.
This rules out most low end very cheap plastic bodies, but makes the 30, 33, 3 and 1V a good choice. Pentamirrors are crap enough on rebels, but dreadful on full frame.

The 3 is laid out like a current 1 series. Very intuitive to use after a wee leaning curve, the eye control is superlative (in my opinion) and you get AF at f8 etc. It does 99.9 of what the 1V can do (slightly less viewfinder coverage, no viewfinder blind, no EOS link, plastic outer casing but still weatherproof and plenty tough) but adds ECF and is around a third of the price. This also makes it a lot more expensive than very decent midrange bodies like the 30's (a 30v would be my midrange pick)

One caveat with almost all EOS bodies. Most of them use an IR frame counter for film advance and rewind. This fogs IR film. If you are using IR film you may want to look elsewhere or pay the extra for the 1V (there are other IR compatable EOS film bodies, but all pre-E-TTL)

Good luck from a very happy 3 user!

Films:

Reala 100. Nice for skin tones. Fairly readily available.

Ilford XP2 Super. ISO400 Chromagenic film (black and white, but can be processed in a colour lab, so 1hr negs / tinged prints possible. Very nice grain structure. Works great with yellow or orange filter to boost contrast a little.

Reala 800. Your low light friend. Go much faster than this and things get really quite grainy.

Velvia 50. Saturated fine grain transparancy film. Use with a polariser. Beautiful. It's like the colour is turned up to 11. Not to everybodies taste, and not for portraiture, but a film you have to try at least once.

others that may be trickier to get:

Fuji 160S really nice portrait film

Agfa Scala (probably impossible, as is processing) a brilliant black and white transparancy film.

Kodakrome 64 (again probably impossible, I've heard of some companies doing very limited batches of processing, a lovely film but probably not worth the hassle)
 
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