Canon ESO 630 Film Camera - Super Frustrating UGH!

Today I took out my EOS 630 film camera for the first time. It was an exercise in frustration. Hopefully there's someone who remembers this 1989 beast and can answer my questions. I have been taking pictures since 1972 and am used to both film and digital worlds.

 

Yesterday I put a new battery in the EOS 630. It came to life as expected. I put the 35-105mm Canon on it and it focused and the shutter worked. Good start.

 

Today I put a roll of HP-5 B&W film in it. I shoot my HP-5 at ISO 200. I could not figure out how you set the ISO speed manually. I read the manual. It said it could be manually set but didn't say HOW to do it. UGH! How does one set the ISO manually on the EOS 630?

 

1. Every character on lcd lights up until I lighty press the shutter button then I can see what is set, then after a few seconds everything lights up again. Is this normal? Or is my EOS 630 defective?

 

2. When I press the MODE button and then turn the control wheel as per the manual, nothing happens. Am I missing something? It seems to be stuck on P.

 

Photography is simple. All you need to control are 3 variables: Shutter speed, aperture, and film/sensor sensitivity. Yet looking at the EOS 630 they have made it extremely hard to do so. And the manual is NOT very clear.

 

Thanks for any help that you can give me!

Today I took out my EOS 630 film camera for the first time...

 

Today I put a roll of HP-5 B&W film in it. I shoot my HP-5 at ISO 200. I could not figure out how you set the ISO speed manually. I read the manual. It said it could be manually set but didn't say HOW to do it. UGH! How does one set the ISO manually on the EOS 630?...

 

Here you go...

 

http://flynngraphics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/EOS-630-Manual.pdf

 

See page 29.

Thanks. I read & tried that. It ONLY works for film that does not have DX coding. My HP-5 film HAS DX coding which I want to override. That does not work.

 

Also on page 69 of part 2 menu 3 doesn't work either.

 

https://www.cameramanuals.org/canon_pdf/canon_eos_630.pdf

 

So how do you OVERRIDE what the EOS sets the DX film speed to? I am ready to toss it into the trash. UGH!

If you put a piece of tape over the DX code on the roll of film, it may make the camera think that the film doesn't have any DX codes and allow you to set the ISO manually. My first EOS camera was an Elan IIe, whereby such ISO adjustments were quite easily done.

If you put a piece of tape over the DX code on the roll of film, it may make the camera think that the film doesn't have any DX codes and allow you to set the ISO manually. My first EOS camera was an Elan IIe, whereby such ISO adjustments were quite easily done.

 

Thanks. That occurred to me but why should I have to do that to adjust the ISO?

 

I found a note on Ken Rockwell's site for the EOS 650/620 that says:

 

"If you want to force it (ISO) manually, flip down the rear door, hold down the two ISO buttons, look at the top LCD and spin the dial." That works with my EOS 650 and I need to test it with the 630 when I have a roll of DX film in it. Now why isn't that in the 630 manual? It's easy to do with the 650.

 

Canon EOS 620 & EOS 650

 

I will post my results when I load a roll of film again in the 630.

Ok, tested Rockwell's tip on my 630 with HP-5 and it worked. Problem solved. Thanks to all.

Ok, tested Rockwell's tip on my 630 with HP-5 and it worked. Problem solved. Thanks to all.

 

Rockwell’s tip is the same as what is in the manual. I found out many years ago that the camera will set DX ISO when the film is loaded, but you can always use the 2 buttons to change the ISO to whatever you like.