Yay! 35mm SLR action.
 

Yeah, this Canon Rebel that I won a auction for on ebay, just got here today. That guy is fast also, I paypaled him tuesday, and it's here today, thrusday.

It looks very good, no scratches on the lens or anything, and it works fine (took me a while and some reading through them manual to figure out some basic stuff, ) but I haven't ran any film through it yet, so I'm not giving him feedback until then.

To be honest, it's actually TOO weird, it looks PERFECTLY new, cosmetically, as far as scratches go, and thats nuts, considering it's a camera thats been out since like 1994.

Oh yeah, the main gripe I have about it, is that the lens is a 35-105mm Canon lens, which is nice, but the closest it can focus is something like 3FT, and thats BAD. I have to have it to be able to focus closer. Is there anything I can add on to the lens to help this?

Thanks.

One's person's zoom lens may or may not be the lens he or she wants or needs. Personally, I prefer non-zoom manual lenses: 50mm, 100 and 135. However, I may buy myself a 70 to 150 zoom to take along on trips. Although I find a 50 very usful, I find myself using short tele lenses more often. I had a 35mm, but dumped it yesterday fo a song, because it's not as useful as a 28mm nor was it sharp.

The lens you have should be just fine to start off with. Learn about lenses before dishing out more money. There are a number of lens test websites to see which lenses are good, and which are not so good.

3 feet isn't bad. What do you want? A macro lens? What do you want to shoot? How do you want to shoot? What kind of film are you going to use? B&W or color? (Exaggerated color? Which colors? realistic color? Sharp detail?) Etc. I'm just testing out some Fuji Press 400 ASA film, that my local cam shop gave me.

On another note, although I own Nikon gear, and have owned Leica and Zeiss stuff, I think that Canon make high quality lenses. With Leica and Nikon, there are a lot of dogs, and are overpriced. With the older Mintolta and Olympus lenses, there were many good ones. And they can be found very cheap on the used market. But you now own a Canon, so it's a good idea to do a little research to see what's out there and what's good, in the Canon line.

Thanks, Frank. Eh, well I guess 3FT isn't that bad, but I don't like the fact that I can't focus on my cat when he's sitting on my lap, but I guess I can live with it.

Another thing, I can see some dust speckles all over when looking through the viewfinder. It's not on the lens, because when I change the focal length, they stay there, and plus they are in focus. Should I get it cleaned? It's obviously on the mirrors or whatever on the inside...

Thanks.

Dust in the viewfinder or on the mirror (which slaps up) will not show up in the pictures---this dust is for your eyes only. It's dust or dirt in the lens that would be a worry. Also, check the rear lens element for nicks and scratches.

Thanks.

Alright, another prob. I was just messing with it and releasing the shutter a few times, even though I don't have any film in it, and earlyer it was working fine, but now when I release the shutter, it "locks" up, with the shutter open, and it flashes the dead battery symbol on the LCD. It didn't do this earlyer. However, when I take out the battery and put it back in, it closes the shutter and advances the film, and then says the battery is brand new (full charge). Hmm, whats the deal? I tried cleaning off the contacts on the battery, but it probably just needs a new battery, eh? Why does it say it's fully charged and operate everything fine when its taken out and put back in? I'm going to email the guy and ask him how old the battery is, so that I know if it's the battery or the camera.

I would buy a new battery, pop it in, and then see if that solves the problem. Or, check out the charge on the battery---by taking it in to a cam store---a good cam store.

Frank, This guy is QUICK, I emailed him, and 5 minutes later he responded. He said "I wouldn't be suprised if that battery is 10 years old."

That pretty much figures out my problem, heh.

Alex,

there are two way to reduce your focus distance. the first, best and most expensive is a macro lens. Canon make two that would suit you a 50/2.5 and a 100/2.8. The 50 is the cheapest and for shooting your cat on your lap would be the best, you could shoot an ear or an eye . If you want to shoot flowers and bugs etcthen the 100 is the best choice. The cheaper option is to get a set of extension tubes. These go between your lens and camera and move the lens away from the film plane therefore shortening the focal distance. They usually come in a set of three but sometimes you can pick them up individually second hand.

Filmwise, for starting our I would use some 400, either Kodak Gold or Fiji Superia. Both these films will give you flexability and nice colours and are great all-round films. Fuji press 400 that Frank mentioned is almost the same as Superia, infact it's pretty much impossibe to see the difference, but it costs more because it has 'professional' on the box.

Thanks Adrian.

Yikes...maybe this is why it doesn't release the shutter? SLR experts?

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-...5/shutter2.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-...5/shutter1.jpg

I will admit, I breifly touched it with the tip of my finger, because I saw that glue looking stuff on there, and I was going to see if I could get it off, but then I realized that it was the shutter (DOH!) and I instantly pulled my finger away. Could it possibly jammed up? I have no knowledge of how them are supposed to look, so I am wondering if thats normal? After I "touched it" I did remember releasing the shutter a few more times, successfully, so I better just shut up and replace the battery and hope for the best. :D


..that brings me to the question of how can the battery have enough power to operate the camera, operate the AF lens, and show a full charge on the indicater, and instantly go dead when I release the shutter? I'm driving myself nuts, heh.

Yikes, this makes me question the reliability big time. I got brave and pulled the lens off when it was "locked up" and moved the mirror up and it fired perfectly, and keeps doing so. Apparently the shutter was stuck or something. Yikes.... but the shutter still doesn't look right, it takes a second for it to bounce back into place, and once again, I don't know if thats normal or what, but it seems it would let light through or something to me, and it like slides down on slower speeds, wouldn't that screw up the picture?

Here's a quick little video clip of it:

(weird audio echo for some reason)

ftp://24.209.61.85/shutter.wmv


Obviously, the only way to know for sure, is to run some film through it, which I will be doing tomorrow or saturday.

I got ripped off.

Thanks, Adrian (about your take on the Fuji Press). When it comes to color print film, I'm far from being an expert to notice the differences say between 400 ASA Fuji and 400 ASA Kodak. For me its more the lighting, lens and framing that makes the color snap (it's the lighting that I usually have trouble with---screw up).

When I was younger, I used to know a guy that only did cows. Every cow pic you can imagine, but always with that same strange cow stare. You know the one.

That's lubricant, caused by a leaking shutter bushing, in the jpeg's you linked to. This is a common problem with older cameras. Canon's do seem more prone to it than other brands. If your camera has lubricant on the shutter blades (check by opening the back and looking at the shutter) it's days are numbered. It usually a $90 to $125 repair.

Take the lens off and look at the mirror. Do you see any black residue on the front edge of the mirror? Check your negs or prints for any unusual colors, it may indicate a light leak.

As Frank pointed out don't worry about the dust too much. Take of the lens and look through the camera at a brighter light source. You see the dust on the focusing and up in the pentaprism. It will not effect your pictures, so don't worry about it.

Do not attempt to clean the mirror, shutter blades, of focusing screen (the semi clear plastic above the mirror). Don't clean, don't touch.

Don't worry about the battery yet. Try a new one. Lithium batteries will act strange right before they die. Probably nothing to worry about.

Alex, is that a welding job on your SLR's shutter? Rust? Oh, Jeff might be right.

I watched your video. Your camera has major shutter problems. Do not fire the shutter any more or you may trash the shutter completely. As it stands now your camera needs to have the shutter bushings (or bearings, same thing in a camera) replace and the shutter blades cleaned. Like I said in my first post, about $90. If you continue to play with the camera, you'll probably destroy the shutter, about $150 to $175. That's more than the cameras worth.

Don't waste any money on film and processing. Your pictures won't turn out with that shutter.

S**t. S**t. S**t. S**t. S**t. S**t.

Thats what I didn't want to hear.

Yeah, thats lube I see on the blades there.

No residue on the mirrors.


I'm going to see if I can find some local repair shop, and see what they can do. Not only can't I afford a $100 repair, but I wouldn't even spend that on this if I had the money.

Oh well. I'm going to ask for a refund and stuff from him, and see what he says, and i'll take it to Ebay if he doesn't.