I love my EF. One clarification regarding the batteries: the camera has a built-in bridge circuit which will automatically reduce the voltage of SR44 1.5 volt cells, down to 1.35 volts. So no adapter or Wein cell is needed. Really a sleeper of a camera.
The EF is one of my most favorite cameras of all time. I have 3 currently. My original purchase was from 1980 when a customer wanted to trade in for an A-1. The A-1 is a great camera, but the EF is vastly better built. In regards to the batteries, the EF will work fine with PX635 as stated else where the EF has a bridge circuit voltage regulator. 625 alkaline cells are less expensive and drop in without the need for an adapter. The EF has one of the smoothest film advances in any camera and the shutter release is buttery smooth. The only things lacking are a manual exposure warning in the viewfinder, if you are using early FD lenses without the locking aperture ring you could take it out of Shutter Priority unintentionally. It would have bee nice if it had the "lollipop" match needle arrangement like the FTb for manual exposure settings. You mention the dedicated flash units; the Speedlite 133D , which employed the Canon Auto Tuning (CAT) system. Highly advanced for the late 60's and early 70's when it was introduced. Unlike today, when we wanted to use flash in the early 70's we had to find the distance to the subject and divide the guide number to determine the f-stop. Slow and involves math 😞. The CAT system allowed you to focus and the adapter ring A2 or B2 would make adjustments to the flash for proper exposure. It wasn't until the late 70's that the auto thyristor flashes came on to the scene and it wasn't until the 80's when we saw TTL flash make it's debut. Also, because of the vertical travel Copal shutter, the EF has a maximum sync speed for flash is 1/125 sec. This was an improvement over most other cameras of the time. Thanks for all of your reviews and showing off the vintage cameras that are marvels of mechanical genius.
Still have my Canon EF. Purchased it used in 1977. It comes with circuitry to compensate for alkaline or silver oxide batteries. So no extra stuff is needed. Still use it once in a while. Never had any problems with this camera. Also, after inserting the film, just close the back door and wind til the counter shows "1". No dry-firing needed.
As mentioned, although designed for mercury cells you can use silveroxide or alkaline batteries. I use Varta LR9, they fit perfectly without the need for adapters. It's a very nice camera, I took it in recently on two trips, with a FDn 50 1.2. That's a nice combination. I bought it a year and a half ago for €40
I have one of these and I will say. The giant shutter speed dial is an underrated feature. I can rather easily change shutter speeds with my index finger without having to rearrange my shooting position.
One thing about the EF that maybe not many people know is about the two different mat screens that it comes with. The bigger amount of them was build with an mat screen without a splits prism, but around the serial number of 34xxxxxx sometimes a bit earlier the got a new mat screen with splits prism. The "newer" mat screen is quite a bit brighter than the older one. I have owned both of them but sold the one with the older screen. If you want to get one with the new Screen, just get one were the Numbers start with an 4XXXXX that you will safely get the newer screen. As mentioned in the comments you dont need an battery adapter! very nice! The EF is just a nice Camera! Its a sexy oldF1. Its truly a real Canon Gem!
The AE button primarily is because the auto exposure is set up for landscape orientation with more emphasis on the upper area of the scenery (sky detail) than the ground. If you wanted to take a portrait orentation shot you would first measure the scene in landscape then press the AE button then recompose in portrait. (The AE program is incapable of knowing you have flipped the camera to portrait so the emphasis will be on one side of your image).
Thanks for the video. I recently purchased this camera and it is definitely a workout to carry. I think this is the heaviest camera body I own. Love your videos. You have inspired me to go back to shooting more film. I'm a true fan of yours.
The camera has a voltage regulator, The EF is the only camera in the manual focus Canon line of the 1960s and 1970s (which includes the FTb, the F-1, and the FT) that can be used with common 1.5 volt batteries without modification to the internal electronics.
Thank you for your review. The shutter speed priority mode was very advanced at the time. Canon had to work much more ambitious with the transmit tools in the lenses. It was a good plateau for the later introduced Canon A-1. All the other manufacturers - Minolta, Pentax, Nikon - had to style up entirely when they introduced shutter speed priority.
Great review! I think there is another feature that i didn't hear. Because it has such long shutter speeds the EF has a mirror lock. Mirror Lockup is a two-step process. First set, the Self-Timer Lever to its Stopped-down Metering position (toward the lens mount housing), hold, then turn the 'L-M' lock lever, located on the lower part of the self-timer to the 'M' position. The mirror will stay locked up till you reverse the 'L-M' lever setting, after taking the shot.
According to Canon themselves, EF was intended to be used by elderly people, hence the bigger shutter speed dial and semi-auto shutter priority exposure Also to me the actual genius feature is you don't need to needlessly do blank shutter firings from S to 1, simply just wind the film advance lever until 1 and you're good to go
The flash setting on the EF is for a specific "CAT" system that fits on the front of specific lenses and allows the camera to know the distance to the subject so that the F-Stop will automatically be chosen (this would be for a flash in maximum power setting and a known guide number). The only thing the hot shoe will do is trigger a flash or more commonly in the early 70s they had those horrible bulb flashes that burnt wire wool!! but that would be a slow shutter speed like 30th or 15th second! I think the EF is 1/125th electronic flash sync. Some flashes can be set so that they measure the flash light coming back towards them from the subject and automatically change the duration of the flash (they don't change the F-Stop on the camera and therefore don't need the EF to be in the CAT flash mode
I think that one of the battery compartments is just for the exposure meter, and the other one is for the electronic shutter (I might be wrong here!) and as someone has already mentioned we don't need any converters as the camera will auto adjust for everyday 1.5V batteries
One of the days, you gotta give us a slide show of some photos along with the excellent commentary😊 The EF and the Fujica Compact Deluxe are my two favorite "hidden gem" cameras. They both are relatively unknown (thus a cheaper price), they use modern batteries, and they have a relatively unique and comprehensive feature set. I've owned two of these EFs, but sadly the electronics seem quite fragile and both died after 20-30 rolls. As someone mentioned, the camera automatically adjusts the voltage. Perhaps thats part of the weakness in the electronics. Or perhaps I just had bad luck. Jeffrey - in case you're not aware, the battery holder on these is a bit flakey and can ground to the body. I recommend using electrical tape on the underside of the battery compartment to prevent that failure. I had to do that on my second EF to repair it. I moved to a New F1 after my 2nd "Black Beauty" EF died. I continue to keep an eye out for an EF from a low-humidity place like Arizona with a clean battery compartment. With my glasses these days, nothing beats the New F1 with the "J" laser matte focus screens paired with the rotating speed finder. IMO the eye relief and waist-level functionality is unmatched among all it's peers. Sure, the F3 has AE lock, but that ugly LCD and no screen rotation really decides it for me 😁 Cheers
The Compact Deluxe has been on my wish list for a few years. It was made in small numbers, and I've never found a decent working example. The ones I did find were not cheap.
@@andrewrothman7805 I finally scored a mint condition copy from fleabay back in January for peanuts. That was a lucky strike after three years of bidding 😁 I did a full tear down cleaning and replaced the light seals. It replaced both my Yashica GX and Canon QLs. Now I own the Compact Deluxe and GW680III. I may still add a Super Six to give me three rangefinder framing options.
I love to shoot my EF, the Lightmeter is absolutely awesome! In my Opinion one of the best Batterypowwered Cameras ever. Of course, the 1950s Kodak Retina Folders are from another World ... maybe you could make some Videos of these?
Hello sir. I'm looking help with information about a camera I recently purchased. Ive been through RUclips but very little has been said.. The camera is a Pentax ME F. All I've found out so far is it was released in 1981. I bought it for £10 UK money along with 3 lenses and full kit bag of the usual extras.. Any help would be greatfully appreciated... Best wishes, David from Northern Ireland..
I love my EF. One clarification regarding the batteries: the camera has a built-in bridge circuit which will automatically reduce the voltage of SR44 1.5 volt cells, down to 1.35 volts. So no adapter or Wein cell is needed. Really a sleeper of a camera.
Thanks for that info, very ingenious, how did they think of that!? Very convenient not having to use an adapter to reduce the voltage!
Are you saying I can just stick a pair of SR44 1.5v batteries into my EF without any kind of size/shape adaptor?
@@Funkteonyes!
The EF is one of my most favorite cameras of all time. I have 3 currently. My original purchase was from 1980 when a customer wanted to trade in for an A-1. The A-1 is a great camera, but the EF is vastly better built.
In regards to the batteries, the EF will work fine with PX635 as stated else where the EF has a bridge circuit voltage regulator. 625 alkaline cells are less expensive and drop in without the need for an adapter.
The EF has one of the smoothest film advances in any camera and the shutter release is buttery smooth.
The only things lacking are a manual exposure warning in the viewfinder, if you are using early FD lenses without the locking aperture ring you could take it out of Shutter Priority unintentionally. It would have bee nice if it had the "lollipop" match needle arrangement like the FTb for manual exposure settings.
You mention the dedicated flash units; the Speedlite 133D , which employed the Canon Auto Tuning (CAT) system. Highly advanced for the late 60's and early 70's when it was introduced. Unlike today, when we wanted to use flash in the early 70's we had to find the distance to the subject and divide the guide number to determine the f-stop. Slow and involves math 😞. The CAT system allowed you to focus and the adapter ring A2 or B2 would make adjustments to the flash for proper exposure. It wasn't until the late 70's that the auto thyristor flashes came on to the scene and it wasn't until the 80's when we saw TTL flash make it's debut. Also, because of the vertical travel Copal shutter, the EF has a maximum sync speed for flash is 1/125 sec. This was an improvement over most other cameras of the time.
Thanks for all of your reviews and showing off the vintage cameras that are marvels of mechanical genius.
Still have my Canon EF. Purchased it used in 1977. It comes with circuitry to compensate for alkaline or silver oxide batteries. So no extra stuff is needed. Still use it once in a while. Never had any problems with this camera.
Also, after inserting the film, just close the back door and wind til the counter shows "1". No dry-firing needed.
As mentioned, although designed for mercury cells you can use silveroxide or alkaline batteries. I use Varta LR9, they fit perfectly without the need for adapters.
It's a very nice camera, I took it in recently on two trips, with a FDn 50 1.2. That's a nice combination. I bought it a year and a half ago for €40
I have one of these and I will say. The giant shutter speed dial is an underrated feature. I can rather easily change shutter speeds with my index finger without having to rearrange my shooting position.
The Canon EF is truly a fabulous camera! Battery adapters is actually not needed. Use modern batteries, it works just fine. 😊👍🏻
One thing about the EF that maybe not many people know is about the two different mat screens that it comes with. The bigger amount of them was build with an mat screen without a splits prism, but around the serial number of 34xxxxxx sometimes a bit earlier the got a new mat screen with splits prism. The "newer" mat screen is quite a bit brighter than the older one. I have owned both of them but sold the one with the older screen. If you want to get one with the new Screen, just get one were the Numbers start with an 4XXXXX that you will safely get the newer screen. As mentioned in the comments you dont need an battery adapter! very nice! The EF is just a nice Camera! Its a sexy oldF1. Its truly a real Canon Gem!
The AE button primarily is because the auto exposure is set up for landscape orientation with more emphasis on the upper area of the scenery (sky detail) than the ground. If you wanted to take a portrait orentation shot you would first measure the scene in landscape then press the AE button then recompose in portrait. (The AE program is incapable of knowing you have flipped the camera to portrait so the emphasis will be on one side of your image).
Thanks for the video. I recently purchased this camera and it is definitely a workout to carry. I think this is the heaviest camera body I own. Love your videos. You have inspired me to go back to shooting more film. I'm a true fan of yours.
The camera has a voltage regulator, The EF is the only camera in the manual focus Canon line of the 1960s and 1970s (which includes the FTb, the F-1, and the FT) that can be used with common 1.5 volt batteries without modification to the internal electronics.
Martin, I really enjoyed your EF video. It's what spurred me to buy mine. Now I just have to try my hand at 510 pyro.
@@andrewrothman7805 Its a really well made no fuss SLR, the best part, not expensive to buy
Thank you for your review. The shutter speed priority mode was very advanced at the time. Canon had to work much more ambitious with the transmit tools in the lenses. It was a good plateau for the later introduced Canon A-1. All the other manufacturers - Minolta, Pentax, Nikon - had to style up entirely when they introduced shutter speed priority.
i have the ef also. i had it CLA'd. thanks for going the operation and specs.
Great review! I think there is another feature that i didn't hear. Because it has such long shutter speeds the EF has a mirror lock. Mirror Lockup is a two-step process. First set, the Self-Timer Lever to its Stopped-down Metering position (toward the lens mount housing), hold, then turn the 'L-M' lock lever, located on the lower part of the self-timer to the 'M' position. The mirror will stay locked up till you reverse the 'L-M' lever setting, after taking the shot.
According to Canon themselves, EF was intended to be used by elderly people, hence the bigger shutter speed dial and semi-auto shutter priority exposure
Also to me the actual genius feature is you don't need to needlessly do blank shutter firings from S to 1, simply just wind the film advance lever until 1 and you're good to go
The flash setting on the EF is for a specific "CAT" system that fits on the front of specific lenses and allows the camera to know the distance to the subject so that the F-Stop will automatically be chosen (this would be for a flash in maximum power setting and a known guide number). The only thing the hot shoe will do is trigger a flash or more commonly in the early 70s they had those horrible bulb flashes that burnt wire wool!! but that would be a slow shutter speed like 30th or 15th second! I think the EF is 1/125th electronic flash sync. Some flashes can be set so that they measure the flash light coming back towards them from the subject and automatically change the duration of the flash (they don't change the F-Stop on the camera and therefore don't need the EF to be in the CAT flash mode
I think that one of the battery compartments is just for the exposure meter, and the other one is for the electronic shutter (I might be wrong here!) and as someone has already mentioned we don't need any converters as the camera will auto adjust for everyday 1.5V batteries
You're wrong. They are both needed for the camera to work at the correct voltage.
One of the days, you gotta give us a slide show of some photos along with the excellent commentary😊
The EF and the Fujica Compact Deluxe are my two favorite "hidden gem" cameras. They both are relatively unknown (thus a cheaper price), they use modern batteries, and they have a relatively unique and comprehensive feature set.
I've owned two of these EFs, but sadly the electronics seem quite fragile and both died after 20-30 rolls. As someone mentioned, the camera automatically adjusts the voltage. Perhaps thats part of the weakness in the electronics. Or perhaps I just had bad luck.
Jeffrey - in case you're not aware, the battery holder on these is a bit flakey and can ground to the body. I recommend using electrical tape on the underside of the battery compartment to prevent that failure. I had to do that on my second EF to repair it.
I moved to a New F1 after my 2nd "Black Beauty" EF died. I continue to keep an eye out for an EF from a low-humidity place like Arizona with a clean battery compartment.
With my glasses these days, nothing beats the New F1 with the "J" laser matte focus screens paired with the rotating speed finder. IMO the eye relief and waist-level functionality is unmatched among all it's peers. Sure, the F3 has AE lock, but that ugly LCD and no screen rotation really decides it for me 😁
Cheers
The Compact Deluxe has been on my wish list for a few years. It was made in small numbers, and I've never found a decent working example. The ones I did find were not cheap.
@@andrewrothman7805 I finally scored a mint condition copy from fleabay back in January for peanuts. That was a lucky strike after three years of bidding 😁 I did a full tear down cleaning and replaced the light seals. It replaced both my Yashica GX and Canon QLs. Now I own the Compact Deluxe and GW680III. I may still add a Super Six to give me three rangefinder framing options.
@@jw48335 I have and love the Super Fujica Six. A very modern (for its time) folder. Really a great camera.
I love to shoot my EF, the Lightmeter is absolutely awesome! In my Opinion one of the best Batterypowwered Cameras ever. Of course, the 1950s Kodak Retina Folders are from another World ... maybe you could make some Videos of these?
Awesome and truly inspirational review!
Greetings from Sweden
Bought mine in Örkelljunga in 1975.
Hello sir. I'm looking help with information about a camera I recently purchased. Ive been through RUclips but very little has been said.. The camera is a Pentax ME F. All I've found out so far is it was released in 1981. I bought it for £10 UK money along with 3 lenses and full kit bag of the usual extras.. Any help would be greatfully appreciated... Best wishes, David from Northern Ireland..
I wonder why serveral companies didn't paint the rewind knob on black cameras. It makes the cameras look much worse.
I think I could KILL to get one, so to speak.
I'm searching one in good condition for years.
AKA The Black Beauty. The little brother to the formidable Canon F-1.