Canon EOS 1000(f)n / Rebel II
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| Pro | Cheap second hand entry to AF cameras. Has a pentaprism viewfinder so it's lighter than many entry level cameras of today.
Reasonable choice of control (AP,SP,M,P) with the possibility to stop up or down manually. It can use partial metering for strongly backlit subjects- but I have not as yet had any prints back using this feature. AF assist in low light is via a red LED - unlike the E30 which uses a 'strobe' effect from the inbuilt flash/strobe. Apparently not a popular effect with portrait subjects . | ||
| Contra | Slow ext flash sync (1/90) . The AF system is very rudimentary and struggles if there is no clear vertical contrast. Plastiky feel but still heavier than most modern entry level cameras. | ||
| Thoughts | Very pleased with this bargain (£80 including zoom lens - not a brilliant one but sufficient). I am using it to evaluate thw Canon system as a possible alternative to my trusty Pentax P30-T if and when I need to move to digital. Recommended as a beginners camera. Point and shoot is possible but there is enough to go at for learning basic techniques. | ||
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| Pro | Cheap but provide great results! A nice entry in the AF-world. And you can turn off this stupid beeps (as well as the self-timer melodies)! | ||
| Contra | Functionalities are yet limited: no DOF preview, slow flash sync, very noisy shot (it wakes up my baby every time)! | ||
| Thoughts | This was my first AF camera. I learned the basics with a wonderful Voigtlander (about 30 years old, fully manual, but with a nice metering system built-in). Very cheap when I bought it in 1995 (very last units). I've just bought a 2nd-hand EOS 50E (Elan IIe) for as less as 150 USD! Great features while keeping all the lenses and external flash (thanks to the EOS system). I'll keep my 1000FN as a backup body. | ||
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| Pro | - Great features when it came out in 91 (1/2000, - DEP mode, Soft focus mode ...). - Though all cheap plastic, quite resistant. Never let me down in 10 years. - Very good ergonomy, good handling. Fast and quiet autofocus (with USM lens) | ||
| Contra | - No real spot metering. - Very bad 3 zone evaluative metering (photos often under or over exposed). - Flimsy feeling (though it turned out to be resistant. - Slow and noisy film advance (1ph/sec) - Does not allow enough control (autifocus, and metering are imposed by mode you are using) - No automatic braketting. - No depth of field test. | ||
| Thoughts | Nowadays, it's a good, cheap 2nd hand camera. It is perfect for the amateur who wants something better than a point and shoot compact camera. It's also a good introduction to the canon eos reflex system. Becoming more ambitious, I sold mine and bought a Minolta Dynax 5. What a difference ... night and day !!!! (and 10-11 years separating them ...). | ||
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| Pro | Great for travel; awesome little piece of equipment | ||
| Contra | plastic; vulnerable to weather elements;too much electronics | ||
| Thoughts | I'm a professional photographer and enjoy vacationing. I use my Rebel II only on manual,(Sunny 16 rule)because the auto functions broke;repairs are too costly, it's cheaper to buy a used Rebel II body; However, my photos are always sharp,consistent and colorful. My recommendation, take advantage of the camera's EOS mount, and buy the best lens you can afford. | ||
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| Pro | superb performance,with the available features | ||
| Contra | auto bracketing,dept of field preview. | ||
| Thoughts | I was using my rebel s II camera from past 4yrs ,Now the problem is that out 36 snaps I am going to get only 3 or 4 snaps,in between only 3/4 or 1/2 of the frame covered or fully blanked,even if utilised with the flash the rresult is same.please suggest me the problem with my camera,my e-mail Id is [email protected]. | ||
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| Pro | Great features, simply i love this... :) | ||
| Contra | 1 fps maybe slow, 1/2000 maybe slow, but ok for me. | ||
| Thoughts | Good!!! :) | ||
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| Pro | I bought my Rebel SII in early 90s. Great camera.Used it for weddings without any problems. Most of the time I use external flash instead of built on flash. Good for backup body when using my EOS Elan. | ||
| Contra | Flash sync to slow. Upper shutterspeed of 1/2000th to slow. Im spoiled with my Elan now. | ||
| Thoughts | I will stick with the EOS series of cameras. Nikon, well your paying for a name. And paying to much. The EOS series have alot of room for the professional and amerature to play with without feeling poor. | ||
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| Pro | Light and cheap, fine as backup body | ||
| Contra | Slow X-sync, No DOF-preview, but remember, its design dates nearly 10 years back | ||
| Thoughts | Body is more durable, than most critics claim. I used it for 6 years without problems. The plastic lens mount endured some very heavy third-party tele lenses. In my opinion, better built than REBEL 2000. When using M42 manual lenses, you ve got to switch on AV 1.0 to get correct exposure. | ||
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| Thoughts | I used the EOS 1000FN for approx. 1 year. It was a fine camera to start with SLR fotography, and it was pure luck for me this was an EOS camera. For slide photography you better take a camera with better light metering system, but at the time I used this camera I was taking negatives and there you have enough exposure range so it does not worry wether the camera meters the scene as you want. The main reason for selling the camera was the very faible autofocus. Having only one vertical sensor, the camera often was not able to focus on objects having faint vertical contrast. The AF was also very slow: I intended to buy an EF 100-300mm/4.5-5.6 USM lens, but this lens ultrasonic motor was too fast for the AF of the EOS 1000. So I bought a cheaper EF 75-300 with micromotor. | ||
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| Thoughts | I have used an EOS 1000FN for 7 years ; it has been stolen in Berlin. This camera is really great (and not expensive as second hand, 100 USD) for beginners to intermediates.
In usual conditions, the light metering is OK, with/without the flash. In the case of big contrast, it has a slight tendance to overexpose ; at the contrary when you make photos inside a church for exemple it will underexpose (therefore use a correction of + 1 stop).
What I would have prefered is a selective measurement covering a smaller part of the image.
By doing some 40 films/year, I have noticed some problems : - connection between the battery and the battery compartment (a signal of empty battery appears, even if it is full) which can be solved by cleaning (fastly) with a paper these 2 parts each 3 films. - the selection wheel is sometime hard to turn. - no problem with the sand, but in the mountains at temperature close to zero, the autofocus is deficient (the motor is OK but it cannot find the right focus, and the 35-80 and 80-200 given in the set don't have a manual focusing !) The construction does not include metal, anyway I found it very good ; I have used several zoom of different brands (200-400, 17-35 ...) with metal binding (plastic receiver in the camera) without problem. | ||