This Old Camera: Canon EOS A2. Very Predictable Of Me.

Um. Oops.

Technically this was not supposed to happen but at the same time, it is wholly predictable based on my track record. Have recently been impressed with these SLR era AF Canon EOS lenses out front of a vintage digital full frame EOS body I have grown quite fond of.

As good as that camera is it raised a question hailing from that fevered little corner of my brain that remains obsessed with film.

Yeah… But what would these lenses do with some film behind them?

Knowing myself well and the fact that film gear can get pricey quite quickly I set up some ground rules and a wish list in advance.

• $100 or less.

Ok. I had one ground rule. What of that wish list?

• 1/8000s shutter speed would be nice.

Ok. I had one wish list item.

The rest was up in the air. Honestly, I am pretty open to any 35mm film camera. I have found something to appreciate about even the worst and weirdest on the market. Looking at you Konica AiBORG. Finding an inexpensive EF camera body was easy. KEH is filthy with them. To confirm the specs I happened upon the very impressive Canon Camera Museum. After I nerded out for a bit looking up old camera original prices and release dates I got down to business and looked up the offerings on KEH. Sorted by ascending price and stopped when I reached EX grade for $100 or less with a 1/8000s shutter speed. Oh, and I ignored all models with the dreaded “surface sticky” note. Yick. Just no. Anyhoo. The winner? The Canon EOS A2.

That is it. Order away… Then I started watching/reading reviews. Watched one. Read one. I am good. Pretty much what I expected of an SLR of this era. Very capable. Pretty much put it out of my mind until it arrived. Then it arrived. First thoughts.

• While not melee weapon in a pinch sturdy it has a good feel/weight to it.
• Pretty sure I have not seen a 2CR5 battery before but it was easy enough to find.
• Controls seem well laid out and fairly intuitive. Except…
• Numbered Custom Function mode menu defies interpretation.
  • Required a trip to Canon’s website where to my surprise they still have downloadable instruction manuals for their film cameras. Nice.
• In that manual I dealt with my first two questions…

1. Why isn’t this thing autofocusing?
   • Tested to see if back button focusing was on and yes it was when I pressed the <*-CF> button.
   • Figured this could be turned off using the CF mode menu and I was right.
2. What is with the power switch on the back if it is not the main power switch?
   • Right. Off is “L” on the mode dial like all Canon cameras… which I have a bad habit of forgetting to use.
   • It turns the back dial off. Handy so as not to accidentally adjust the exposure, which is its default function, but it has sufficient resistance that I will leave it on for now.

Back to the Custom Function menu. 16 choices. Wow. I will not list them all here but I was impressed. In addition being able to set up back button autofocusing you can turn on leaving the film lead out on rewind and increase the speed of the film rewind for example. After playing around with the choices I turned on the film lead and left everything else off. A few notes comparing it to the 5D that do not quite qualify as cons.

• Dials feel a bit plastic-y compared to the later digital 5D. A bit unexpected if I am honest. Had near the reverse experience with the Maxxum 7/7D twins. Not a huge difference. Far from deal breaker territory. But noticeable.

• Takes a bit more grunt to move the mode dial off of lock than feels comfortable to apply, but I am adjusting.
• Fewer focus points? But enough to get the job done. Especially because I most often use center point/recompose focusing with DSLRs.
• …yeah. That is all I have got. Carrying on.

That is it. All good. At this moment, much like the EOS 5D before it, I see no reason to upgrade to a pricier SLR. It has the one thing I was looking for, 1/8000s shutter speed. And that is just so I could get as much background blur as possible in daylight with faster films.

There have been some pleasant surprises.

• Though made years earlier the AF on this SLR feels a bit quicker than that of the EOS 5D DSLR. Could just be my film bias talking but it is at worst just as fast as the (relatively) newer digital counterpart.
• I mentioned customizability but by default I like the fall under thumb exposure lock button and focus point adjustment buttons on the shoulder shared with the 5D.

So as mentioned with the Pentax *ist before it…

…I gladly welcome the EOS A2 into the fold.

Here are some categories swiped from the *ist post.

Fashionably Plastic-y

While not a two tone silver with black affair…

…I rather like its plain Jane monochramatic livery.

Lens Selection

While it does not play along with every single lens made for a Canon SLR ever made like the venerable K mount, Canon did have a nice long run with the EOS mount. And if one were so inclined you could use these lenses with AF on newer Canon RF mirrorless cameras with an EF to RF adapter (As I have done before.)… …and same goes for Sony bodies, if you pick up a SIGMA EF to FE MC11 (As I have also done before.), but that does not interest me. At the moment anyways. We will see if that lasts.

So you can use a ton lot of lenses with this camera.

Also similar to the Pentax *ist:

This camera is also one of the most feature-filled, capable, no sacrifices, and dare I say… normal film cameras I have ever used. No sacrifices asked.

And unlike the Pentax *ist these cameras are relatively plentiful. And if this exact model is not available there are plenty of other analog EOS options that share the same features.

This camera is full-featured. More so than about any other film camera I own or have owned. To wit:

• No dedicated shutter dial but it is easy enough to set with the back dial, and it bests the *ist’s 1/4000s top shutter speed by reaching 1/8000s.
• Has a full range of common modes as one would expect along with a bunch of automatic modes I have no plans on messing with.
• Mulitiple exposure mode where you can set the number of exposures, up to 9.
• Single and Servo AF are on deck as well as all of the expected exposure modes.
• Bracketed shooting where you can set the exposure variance.
• Informative display screen on top plate.
• While auto film speed reading is a common feature you can also manually set the ISO if you wish.
• Built-in flash. The digital 5D does not offer this.
• Quick and accurate AF.

So what of the downsides…

For the price, I have nothing really given the images it can produce.

So why do I say this was very predicable of me?

I have a pattern of acquiring analog and digital solutions with shared native lens mounts, no adapters needed.

• Maxxum 7/7D twins.
• SIGMA SA-7N and sd Quattro.
• Pentax *ist and K-1.

So once I acquired the 5D this A2 is no surprise really. And like the Pentax twins above this combination retains the same sensor size on both. As an honorable mention the same trick could be pulled off with a Nikon D700 and many Nikon SLRs. But as I have mentioned before I have a real soft spot for the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM that started me on this path. Plus D700s are a bit more dear in similar condition. A case can be made for it of course, but for this exercise, the price is right at or less than $200. As much as I adored the Pentax K-1 once it served its purpose as a coping mechanism I let it go once I admitted that it was a bit much for how I intended to use it. More than $1,5000 is main system territory, not knock about digital camera territory. Same outcome as the medium format 645D/645N pairing. Only the analog camera remains. Canon? Both cameras combined cost just shy of $300. So Canon it is.

Now on to sample images. Used three different films and all three lenses. Will share more from each roll with dedicated analog therapy posts. Just a few pibs from each roll here. Black and white developed with Cinestill df96 and color developed using Cinestill CS41.

Last time around with the SIGMA SA-7N and Pentax *ist I ended with some crazy talk by comparing them to some big hitters. But in retrospect that was the SIGMA Art glass and Pentax nostalgia pixie dust talking. Still a valid argument here, but I will cool it off a bit. To quote the Pentax post:

Strip away the vaunted brand names, Titanium and other unobtanium materials, and outlandish specs with the right lens affixed there is no film camera I have or have used that is capable of creating a better image. In addition, most of those cameras have some of the features that this camera has, but none have all of them.

Still true here. Strictly subjective. But one could do worse for a whole lot more money.

Happy capturing.

-ELW