Is upgrading to a T-90 worth it?

[jeffrey_winn]

Greetings!,

 

I've had Canon T-70 camera for about 20 years and I've been pretty

happy with the camera most of the time. I've learned to deal with a

few of the quirks of the camera, but like most T-70 users I've been

frustrated at times as well. I've always wondered if upgrading to a

T-90 would be worth it, or should I place this money into different

lenses or film?

 

The recent drop in prices for T-90's and other FD gear has brought

this question to my mind. Most of my photos are just the usual

family stuff. I've been happy with the Canon FD gear and I'm always

trying to improve. Also, as my kids get older I find my photo

opportunities are changing and becoming more varied. For example

I've used the a 300mm for both outdoor sports, and indoor dance

recitals.

 

My current crop of lenses include a Canon FD 28mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8,

100mm 2.8, 300mm 4.0, and two Vivitar zooms 28-90 Series One, and

Vivitar 80-200 4.0. For flash I use a Canon 299T.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Jeff

[pensacolaphoto]

Jeffrey: The T90 is considered one the best manual focus 35mm SLR cameras produced. I use two T90's and I find it a pleasure. Watch out for T90's in need of overhaul. If a T90 is not being used for some time, the electronics may fail and there is an error code on the screen EEEEEEE. Repair woild be very costly; more than the cost of buying a T90. Ask for a return warranty before buying a T90.

[dirk_dom]

I have seven Fd bodies: Two F - 1's, two A - 1's, two FTb's and a T90.

 

Since I have the T90, I haven't used the other bodies any more. It's simply an unbelievable camera.

 

I think the most valuable things in the T9O are its multiple metering possibilities, I mostly use the spot metering.

 

Get a TL 300 flash: it works incredibly.

 

I shoot a few frames with the T90 almost daily, I believe it wards off thedreaded EEEE HELP syndrome.

 

There are T90 reviews on the net: read some.

 

I paid $ 400 for the T90, in very good condition, in a 2nd hand photo shop, three years ago

 

I paid $ 120 for a mint TL300 flash on ebay, a year ago.

 

Also bought myself a screen without microprisms because I shoot a lot of macro. That was expensive: $ 120.

 

Bye,

 

Dirk.

[conrad_ohnuki]

I started off with a T70 but was always annoyed with the lack of spotmetering and dodgy ergonomics. I upgraded to the T90 a year ago and haven't touched the T70 since.

 

Goodies that the T90 has over the T70:

 

Spotmetering, so much better than the unreliable partial mode.

 

TTL flash!!!, 1/250 flash sync, second curtain flash sync,

 

30-1/4000 shutter instead of 2-1/1000 is a help with long exposures.

 

DOF preview button.

 

T90 has A priority!

 

And, joy of joys, the T90 viewfinder shows f-stop AND shutter speed!! number one irk of the T70, composing the photo then having to take your eye from the viewfinder to see the shutterspeed on the top display while guessing where you were trying to meter.

 

other random niceties: viewfinder blind, film window and you can turn the continuous film advance and safety shift off. Mine also has leader out rewind.

 

 

But above all the T90 sits wonderfully in the hand and the batery compartment lets all you fingers wrap around the grip. The trade off is that it's much largera nd heavier....but you get that, and the T70 is like trying to comfortably hold a small housebrick.

 

short answer: yes, very much so.

[peter_white2]

I've never used a T90. I'd be a bit nervous about buying one due to the expense of servicing it. The New F-1 is a very rugged camera with no history of problems. Perhaps you should look for one of those instead. Mine's been great for 20 years.

[kunihiko]

I had been using T90 for 17 years untill it died. I've been using New F-1 for about 10 years. I was using both in same time. Both are great cameras, but are different. I think upgrading to T90 from T70 makes sense, to F-1 from T70 is another story.<BR>

Honestly, I miss my T90 sometime, but I wouldn't go back. Because I can't be sure on possibility of servicing in the future. When my T90 died, I sent T90 and New F-1 to canon service in the same time. New F-1 came back having some parts replaced, T90 didn't make it.<BR>

Now my EOS3 dose what T90 was doing. I keep New F-1 with FD lenses, because FDs are smaller and lighter than EFs and I like that. That's why I still love the FD line.<BR>

If you found a T90 in very good condition and reasonable price, yes T90 is worth it, but been prepared for switching to EOS is another choice. Ofcouse, this is just my personal opinion.

[jeffrey_winn]

Thanks for the good information. I'll be on the road for the next few days, and I hope to return to do some reading of the T-90 reviews. My fear is getting a T-90 that needs a lot of work right off the bat. But, I also think I might regret not picking one up at these low prices.

 

I read a good article in Shutterbug about shooting with film and then scanning the negatives if you are going to go Digital. This article really hit home, as this is what I've been doing to an extent. I'm not ready to shellout the big bucks for a digital SLR, and I've seen too many so so photos from the point and shoot variety of digital camera. So I plan to use my Canon FD gear for the foreseeable future.

 

More later...

[catcher]

If you try to buy one, just be sure to ask questions and you shouldn't have any problems. Especially if getting off of ebay, make sure the seller has actually turned the camera on in the last week or so, fired a couple of dozen frames (even if without film in the camera) to be sure there are no errors or blinking arrows in the LCD display, and cycled through all the functions. Makes sure battery contacts are cleaned. You should be fine. Except for autofocus or digital, I don't know why one would need any more camera than the T90.

[peter_szwed]

I used an AE-1 for 25 years before it was lost in a flood. As a replacement I considered a digital SLR. The cost scared me off, that and the fact that I wasn't ready to give up on film photography yet. I settled on an EOS-3 with a 28-135mm lens. It still turned out to be a mistake. The camera is great but I really dislike auto-focus lenses. Instead of the EOS-3, I should have bought a T-90. The T-90 has everything I like on the EOS-3, 1/4000 to 30 sec. shutter speeds, shutter or aperture priority, multiple metering patterns, and multiple exposures. The only thing the T-90 doesn't have is a mirror lock-up feature. You can't have everything, can you? Is the T-90 worth it? Absolutly! It is the pinacle of Canons FD line. It's not the robust FD camera, that title probably belongs to the F-1 or F-1n, but it is the most versitle. And once you use a T-90, the T-70 will seem downright awkward to use. Good luck.

[hk_doggie]

Definitely. I started off with a Canon AE-1 Program, during the years I have bought several bodies: new FT, FTbn, FTb, new F-1, T70, T90. They are all great cameras to me.

FTbn is the simplest mechanical camera, gives you the basic control: manual and shutter speed priority. And you will never have to worry about the camera quit under cold weather.

F-1 series, definitely a legend, but I will keep it just for the classy look of the body.

T90 is the king. I can't really ask for more from it..of coz, one can say that itﾒs lack of features like mirror lock up, vertical grip shutter button, e-TTL...etc. Still, IMHO, T90 should have the name T1 or something with the 1. I haven't used a Leica R-9 or Contax RTS-III, I donﾒt need them, T90 is and always will be a pro body, thaﾒs it.

 

It won't let you down. I don't see any way you can bang out more from $150.

[dirk_dom]

It's certainly worth buying a T90, as it's probably the best manual focus camera existing.

 

It can however suffer from the EEEE HELP syndrome, which is due to stuck shutter magnets and then needs repair.

 

It seems that to avoid this problem, you have to pop off a few frames a week every week, with or without film in the body.

 

It's important, that, when you buy a T90, the previous owner has used the camera regularly and hasn't kept it unused in a closet for ten years and sells it like that. The least you can ask is that he puts new batteries in and tries it out in all modes. Certainly ask for a return warranty.

 

I bought my T90 in a 2nd hand photoshop. That's more expensive than on ebay, but I could try out the camera for a few days and had a half year warranty on it.

 

The T90 can be modified internally to leave the film leader out when rewinding. I think this is an extremely useful option and I have it. Ask for this when deciding to buy if it 's important to you. Not that it's such a big deal: you can buy a little tool to coax the leader back out of its cassette.

 

Bye,

 

dirk.

[chris_thomson]

After the T90 your T70 will seem little more than a toy. The T90 is truly a wonderful piece of equipment.

 

I use mine for shooting concerts and mountain bike races. The built in motor drive and spot metering are two very important features for me. When I'm in less of hurry shooting still lifes or architectural work I use my New F1. To me the F1 is a work of art. One of the simplest, most capable, and durable cameras I've ever owned.

 

It's a wonderful time for film shooters. Both of these cameras can be had for quite a reasonable price and there's still plenty of good T90s out there. Plus you can't beat the prices on quality FD glass these days.

 

I've purchased three T90s on Ebay so far. One of which had the locked up shutter. Seller said it worked fine of course. I paid 130.00 for it then relisted it and got 105.00 back. Only difference was that I let the seller know what they were buying. Definetly ask questions if you intend to go this route. The other two I purchased

are still clicking away just fine.

 

Chris

[peter_evans4]

<p><em>It seems that to avoid this problem, you have to pop off a few frames a week every week, with or without film in the body. / It's important, that, when you buy a T90, the previous owner has used the camera regularly and hasn't kept it unused in a closet for ten years and sells it like that.</em></p><p>Yikes. Over twelve years ago, I stuck my F-1(n) in a closet and forgot about it till about eleven years ago. It worked/works just fine.</p><p>I don't mean to knock the T90; I'm just glad to have read this warning.</p>

[w_byrn]

Hey! stew gotz!! with a designer named named Luigi Colani how can you go wrong.Ergomatic to the next level,feels great in the hand.The data back 90 has a wonderful intervalometer and the data command back 90 can store and recall exposure settings,flash,time,date and film speed on as many as 9 rolls of film.The ML-2 Macro Ring Lite 2 with a guide number of 36 feet and operating as a fully automatic TTL flash is also a great feature.I like to use the infra red remote release LC2 for cordless opreation.It operates up to sixteen feet away.Of course there is a view finder door you can close for this.It helps with prevent camera shake too.The electronic cable release 60t3 and some longer ones also can be used in place of mirror lock up.The T90 also has a ten second and a 2 second shutter release setting in the camera.To photograph big birds landing like Cranes I like to use a two second delay shutter release an automatic shutter cable taped to my pan handle on my tripod head and a 800mmL@5.6 FD lens on the T90.I keep one hand on the focus knob and one on the pan with a finger on the shutter release so when the shutter is triggered I have two seconds to pan/tilt-compose and focus.I was going to rig up a foot petal shutter release but this works well.I have the spot meter in the 2 1/2 % area mode.

The spot meter system has a button you can hit that allows you to meter one place and recompose and shoot within 30 seconds before it defaults.It will also allow you to average two or three spots.There is a scale inside the viewer on the side that shows the readings and the variences so you can decide if the films lattitude can handle the spread.The highlight and shadow control metering system allows for up to four EVsteps in half stop increments.

There is DX code reading and exposure compensation settings for ASA.The viewfinder gives a countdown of the last ten exposures on a roll of film.

Whats not to like about the T90 ??Don't put the FL series lenses 19mm@3.5 or the58@1.2 or you will damage the camera.And some other FL lenses don't work with the cameras light metering system and require a seperate hand held meter or put on a FD lens take a reading and put the FL lens back on.The spot metering system is not compatable to linear polorizers but circular are o.k.

One time while shooting 8x10 format in Zion Park my spot meter battery wore out and I had no spare so I slapped a 100mm FD lens on the T90 and used the spot setting at 2 1/2 % setting and had some great Provia film exposures on sheet film. walt

[ben_hutcherson]

I recently upgraded to a T90 from both a T70 and A-1. Although I will keep both, I much prefer using the T90 to either of the others.

 

The big reason I bought the T90 was for the TTL flash, although I've found that I've used this even less than some of the other features of the camera. What I do use very frequently, though, is the multi-spot meter, which lets you average as many 8 readings at a time and then do a final tweak on them using the highlight-shadow control.

 

I had originally planned to buy mine on Ebay, but I ended up with one from KEH. I compared prices, and found that most Ebay auctions were going for more than the low-priced ones available at KEH. A KEH bargain condition camera is easily comparable to what most Ebay sellers would call excellent or maybe even mint condition(mine just has a little bit of brassing on the strap lugs and a smooth spot where the right thumb normally rests).

 

Best of all, you get KEH's 14 day no-questions-asked return policy, and their 60 day warranty. I sent mine back the day after I got it as it suffered from the same shutter problem many have described, and received a replacement with no problem. Total cost was less than $200 for the camera and 300TL flash.