Cannon EOS 700

DCC · Oct 9, 2022

I'm a beginner when it comes to film cameras. I picked up a Cannon EOS 700 at a rummage sale and it appears to work properly. Is it a good beginners camera? If so, what type of film should I get to start taking pictures?

Strodav · Oct 9, 2022

Sorry, I have not owned that camera, but a few other film cameras. Did it come with a lens? I would pick up some B&W film to start with. My favorite Kodak Tri-X 400 in 35mm. Download and read the users manual. Pay special attention to how to put in a battery, how to load film, and how to reset the camera to factory settings. Put in a fresh battery. According to Wikipedia, that's a 6V 2CR5 battery. It supposedly has a pop out reversible dial (first time I've seen that). You'll have to read about how that works, but I'd put it on the shutter priority side. Set the dial to P, so the camera picks f stop and shutter speed for you. The owners manual should show how to take pictures using auto focus in P mode. Don't expect a lot from your first roll of film, it's mainly to test the camera and get a feel for how to use it. Send the film into a photo lab ordering 4 x 6 prints. That shouldn't be too expensive.

Is it a good first camera? Personally, I would recommend starting with a used digital camera as your ongoing costs are minimal where film and processing can add up pretty quickly. With that said, I love film and still shoot film, but not near as much as digital. If you are serious about photography, I'd go online and search for beginner photography classes. You might want to check out Film Photography Classes . Another option is to take a smartphone photography class as you probably already have a camera in your pocket. This will give you the basics of the exposure triangle and rules of composition. What you learn is applicable to film photography. Good luck!

webestang64 · Oct 10, 2022

Manual...... https://www.cameramanuals.org/canon_pdf/canon_eos_700.pdf

DCC · Oct 10, 2022

Strodav said:
Sorry, I have not owned that camera, but a few other film cameras. Did it come with a lens? I would pick up some B&W film to start with. My favorite Kodak Tri-X 400 in 35mm. Download and read the users manual. Pay special attention to how to put in a battery, how to load film, and how to reset the camera to factory settings. Put in a fresh battery. According to Wikipedia, that's a 6V 2CR5 battery. It supposedly has a pop out reversible dial (first time I've seen that). You'll have to read about how that works, but I'd put it on the shutter priority side. Set the dial to P, so the camera picks f stop and shutter speed for you. The owners manual should show how to take pictures using auto focus in P mode. Don't expect a lot from your first roll of film, it's mainly to test the camera and get a feel for how to use it. Send the film into a photo lab ordering 4 x 6 prints. That shouldn't be too expensive.

Is it a good first camera? Personally, I would recommend starting with a used digital camera as your ongoing costs are minimal where film and processing can add up pretty quickly. With that said, I love film and still shoot film, but not near as much as digital. If you are serious about photography, I'd go online and search for beginner photography classes. You might want to check out Film Photography Classes . Another option is to take a smartphone photography class as you probably already have a camera in your pocket. This will give you the basics of the exposure triangle and rules of composition. What you learn is applicable to film photography. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply. I do have a Sony pocket digital camera that I've owned for a while and I like using it. I've never taken any classes but am looking forward to learning to use the Canon. I paid $10.00 for it at a rummage sale. My wife said it probably wouldn't work. I hope she's wrong. It did come with a battery that I had to put in the camera. After reading the manual to familiarize myself with the camera I attached one of the two lenses it came with and all of the functions seemed to work, short of loading film. Fingers crossed.

Warfarin · Oct 10, 2022

I have one of those cameras and never used it. When I bought it I wanted the lens that it came with. I had thought it would be a great camera for my wife (very inexperienced) to take film pictures with. She didn’t want to. I just dug it out to look at it. It is a solid camera like all the others in the series (650, 620, 750 etc). It is a shutter priority camera like the old AE-1 but flip the dial and you get Pict modes. I think the only reason I haven’t used it is because I like aperture priority or manual mode. You can use the pict mode to manipulate the camera and kind of get some aperture control. There are of course no advanced features like bracketing etc. I think I may actually take it out for a spin. As said before film photography can get expensive so only you can judge if it it worth it to you or not. I also shoot digital and have a Sony P&S to carry around. I hate using my cell phone. Although they do take good pictures. I just find a balance that works for me between using film vs digtal. B&W isn’t a bad suggestion. I like Ilford HP5+. Long story short use it until you want something that does more.