jarosÅawbrzeziÅski

Yes, Adaptall-2 was a neat system that still proves its value even on digital cameras. I have hardly any experience with Contax/Yashica lenses but I still use Contax G1/G1 system and most of the Contax G lenses are excellent performers.

Best

Jarek

I must agree regarding the quality of the Tamrons. As Adaptall-2 lenses, they are also imminently practical for somebody like me. I have a few systems that do not have more than just a couple or three lenses, but I have Adaptall-2 mounts for them. One system I just bought into has no lenses -- the camera I bought, a Contax 139 Quartz, came with an Adaptall-2 Tamron, so I was all set with that camera because I now have a Yashica/Contax Adaptall-2 mount for it. Of course, one of these days, I'll have to buy a Contax lens for it -- just to see if they really are such legendary optics. I'll probably get a T^ 50/1.7 cuz even those are fairly expensive.

 

Now in the above case, what the photos show is not only the quality of the Tamron optics, but just as important, my EF exposed the subjects absolutely correctly in Shutter Priority Auto. Also, one would expect, given the lenses' wide open apertures, that the EF's focusing screen will give a bright easy-to-focus view, and so it did. Gives me confidence with that camera that it will perform as expected.

Great captures. I remember dreaming of the Tamron 60B. Of the three lenses you mentioned I had only the 01B in the old days. Those Tramron lenses were truly excellent.

Great work!

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Jarek

Just the other day I found some pics I shot with one of my EFs a few years ago. We had a tree removal outfit remove three dead pine trees from our backyard. I used my EF and three Tamron lenses to record the process. The Tamrons were the 01B 24mm f/2.5, 30A SP 80-200mm f/2.8 LD, and 60B SP 300mm f/2.8 LDIF. The images were scanned on my Epson 4990 flatbed scanner, set to 3200 ppi. The photos were reduced in size for display here, else nothing has been done to them.

 

I set the EF to Shutter Priority and fired away.

Heh. I have a minty old F-1 and I still couldn't resist scoring an equally clean EF, just to have it more than to use it.

It is a as nice to have as to use one. I have a stock of Fujichrome Velvia and Agfa Scala films and regularly take photos with the EF.

Best

Jarek

Interesting review, it does sound like a great camera but having been gifted a near mint F-1 I don't think I'll ever need to get one (GAS Permitting).

Can I just say however that the image of the reed bed that your shared with the review is stunning - I'd be happy with that on my wall.

 

Cheers!

Thanks a lot. All those photos have been taken in recent two years and not far from where I live.

Best

Jarek

Do you have any experience with the X-E2s?

Is the difference between that camera and the X-E3 enough to justify trading up?

I would almost (but not quite) trade up just for the Acros mode, since I do mostly black and white with the X-E2s anyway.

Unfortunately no, so I cannot offer any advice. A hyper-critical friend of mine, who owns the original X-E1, told me the X-E3 did not offer enough to tempt him to trade up.

Best

Jarek

I was loaned a Fujifilm X-E3 for the weekend and wrote a review jointly with a friend who still uses X-E1 and is very fond of the X-E series. The review at my blog is in Polish but photographs and their captions should be self-explanatory. Here is a link to the entry:

https://towarzystwonieustraszonychsoczewek.blogspot.com/2017/09/fujifilm-x-e3-uliczny-sztukmistrz.html#more

And here is a summary of the review in English., which you will also find at the end of the entry:

Fujifilm X-E3 - a street conjurer of APS-C format

Owing to its small size and weight, X-E3 is an excellent camera for travel, documentary, street photography and it will work very well as a second – or third - body for wedding photographers. The design is minimalistic, pure form styling with fluid lines is exemplary, and metal construction is great. Ergonomically, the camera misses the mark, but classic rangefinder Leicas, which used to rule the world of reportage photography for decades, did not fare any better in this respect. The touchscreen will be certainly a „love or hate” affair, but control by touch can be switched off. Autofocus is truly improved upon it its predecessor, and JPEGs straight from the camera will make most users happy. X-E3 is the best camera in X-E series by a safe margin. Is it the best Fujifilm mirrorless camera yet? Well, it depends on who the end user is. For those who like the image quality from, and styling of X100F, but prefer interchangeable lens solutions, an X-E3 with a prime is an answer. As X-E3 and X-T20 share a lot of internals and have a similar price, the choice between the two is up to individual preferences; for example whether we want a smaller body with rangefinder styling, Bluetooth, a joystick for AF point selection and an offset viewfinder (X-E3), or a bigger one with SLR styling, tilting LCD screen and central viewfinder (X-T20). My first close encounter with a Fujifilm product showed that it definitely is not the company’s ambition to satisfy all needs with a single camera, true to the thinking that a Jack of all trades is master of none. And although I have recently seen a camera that defies such thinking, I have to admit that with X-E3 Fujfilm created a camera that will be hard to beat for a certain, specific group of users.

Best

Jarek

An excellent review! I've been looking to acquire an EF for a long time so it is encouraging to know good ones can be found out in the wild.

Thanks. For me it feels like time stands still. The EF body I bought last year performs as well as the one I had in 1980s/90s.

My EF's electronic shutter doesn't work either, but it sure was a great camera. One can still use it on manual speeds though. The electronically timed long exposures were very cool for 1973.

They were indeed. Again I am surprised at how lucky I have been with Canon Fd system cameras - never had one malfunctioning.

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Jarek

I have been unlucky with the Canon EF. Both the cameras I have do not meter or work in auto mode. The shutter works great at all manual speeds down to 30 seconds. But no meter. My guess is that the flash/normal switch is not working correctly and the camera is stuck on flash mode.

 

Very disappointing because one of the two I own is in beautiful near mint condition.

 

I would not mind seeing some of the service manual or teardowns if you want to share.

Unfortunately I have neither. Perhaps somebody else at the forum owns a service manual and will kindly share it.

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Several years back I purchased a mess of old Canon SLR repair manuals from a retiring camera repair tech. Looking at these manuals, the EF has very little in common with any of the F-1's. They probably share the same FD aperture mechanism, and screws and washers, but that may be it. The basic "platform" of the camera is different as is the shutter, meter, film advance mechanism, etc. And Rick is right, the EF is a repairman's nightmare, dealing with all of the 1970's electronics.

I am lucky, because I am no repairman or engineer so i just use cameras and I have never encountered a faulty Canon FD camera and I have had my share of them in my lifetime: 3 EFs, 3 T-90s, 1 F-1, 1 New F-1, 1 AE-1 Program, and - well I stand corrected - an AL-1 QF with a faulty battery door latch.

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Jaros, I went Google-searching for images of Canon EF internals and found a few, well hidden amongst countless shots of modern EF gear. Disassembling an EF looks like a most delicate operation with the plethora of age-embrittled flex circuits and soldered wires. And within the metering circuitry is a Toshiba mosfet component which can be destroyed by even minor static electricity discharges. I think the technical term for working on an EF is "WOWZA".

Thanks a lot. Then the fact that there are still working EFs around is nothing short of miracle.

The EF has different electronics and a Copal vertical shutter instead of the F-1's horizontal titanium light slicer. Perhaps these cameras share some common parts but they seem like two very distinct designs underneath (almost) matching tuxedos.

You are probably right although I think it would uneconomical for Canon not to use soem shared components across F-1 and EF. I guess the f-1 to EF relationship is s little like Nikon F2 to Nikkormats.

Handsome it was, but the EF's original market placement was as a wealthy amateur's camera. It had some great features like the silicon metering system and shutter priority AE, but I think its lack of a motor drive and user-interchangeable focusing screens demonstrate that Canon never intended it as a competitor to the F-1 or other system cameras. Further, I do not believe the EF comes anywhere close to the F-1's professional-quality ruggedness and reliability. Indeed, none of the three used EFs I have owned was ever 100% functional, something of a first for Canon products in my long experience! Even old Canonflexes can arrive ready to play, and that is saying something.

I have had three different EFs at different times and each was in perfect working condition but of course YMMV. It was not intended as a competitor to F-1, as it was a crippled F-1 with some value added. My point is - if you can find one today in perfect working condition, it may outlive you.

I must be very lucky with Canon FD cameras - I have had 3 T-90s and none has developed the sticky shutter problem.

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yes .. composing and recomposing

Here is the link to EF's manual; page 50 explains the details of stopped-down metering:

http://www.cameramanuals.org/canon_pdf/canon_ef.pdf

Although mine developed the dread shutter magnet freeze, I like the T90 (link) as well as any camera I have ever owned.

 

Mind you, for the traditional form, there is a great deal to be said for the A-series.

I am not downplaying the A-series. Actually my first Japanese camera ever was AE-1 Program and I still think it is a little big camera and an easy recommendation for today's silver halide lovers. I wrote an extensive review of T-90 in June and it is available at my blog - alas, in Polish only. But there are a lot of digitized slides taken with it and a variety of FD lenses so if you want to have a look at them, here is the link:

Towarzystwo Nieustraszonych Soczewek: Uwaga: Analog! Canon T90, czyli Powrót starego przyjaciela

I have so far successfully avoided going earlier than the "A" series in Canon cameras in my GAS, but appreciate ones like the EF especially. Thanks

"A" series are the middle-of-the-road approach. I think a pair of T90 and EF work perfectly. T-90 is mostly like a motorized A-1. EF is like simplified F-1 - you get the best of both worlds.

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How do you compose and recompose on canon EF with 50 1.8 FL lens ?

I don't know if I understand you correctly - do you mean by "composing" and "recomposing" metering and locking the metering?

At my blog I posted a review of Canon EF, which I used to own in late 1980s/early 1990s and recently have repurchesed on the wave of renewed love for silver halide photography. The review is in Polish but at the end I added an extended summary in English. The review recapitulates generally known things about lovely EF and my experiences with the camera and adds some digitlised slides taken with it within the recent year. Here is the beggnining of the summary and you will find the rest at the end of the post at the following link: Towarzystwo Nieustraszonych Soczewek: Uwaga, Analog! Canon EF, czyli mroczny cień z przeszłości

"Canon EF – a dark shadow from the past

Manufactured between 1973 and 1978 as a "baby F-1", Canon EF shared its professional brother’s tank-like construction, but lacked support for motorized film transport, interchangeable viewfinders or focusing screens. However, it had a few aces up its sleeve, making it a more advanced camera than a plain F-1 body, like shutter priority exposure mode (besides the expected metered manual one) via lockable averaged centre-weighted metering performed by a silicon photocell and a unique among Canon's 35mm SLRs Copal Square vertical-travel metal blade focal plane shutter with long exposures (from 1 second to 30 seconds) electronically controlled, and shorter ones (1/1000 second to 1/2 second) mechanically controlled, allowing it to operate even with dead batteries. Better than that: EF was unique among Canon FD system SLRs in having a built-in voltage regulator that reduces today’s 1.5V batteries to 1.3V – the voltage of long-banned in the EU mercury batteries. Consequently, unlike e.g. Canon F-1, whose metering is offset by higher voltage of present-day batteries, EF lightmeter is always spot-on."

Best

Jarek