Canon took a giant risk, but won big, when they built a lens mount from the ground up for their auto-everything SLR system. This, the EOS 630, is an early example. Check my updated review here.
Tag Archives: Canon EOS 630
Bridge in the woods
Canon EOS 630, 50mm f/1.8 Canon EF II
Eastman Double-X 5222
2018
It was a cold, gray day when I visited Flowing Well Park in Carmel. I’d never been before; I was surprised to find a small trail in there that led across this footbridge.
If you’d like to get more of my photography in your inbox or reader, click here to subscribe.
single frame: Bridge in the woods
.
Operation Thin the Herd: Canon EOS 630
Auto-everything film shooting isn’t normally my bag. I’m more a match-needle, twist-to-focus kind of guy. But even I have to admit, sometimes there’s charm in letting a camera do the grunt work.
The EOS 630 is a very early EOS camera, dating to about 1989. I’ve only shot this camera once before, that time with the pictured 35-80mm lens. I shot my former favorite (now discontinued) b/w film, Arista Premium 400.
I reached for black-and-white film this time, too: Eastman Double-X 5222. But I used my sweet little 50mm f/1.8 Canon EF II lens.
It was gray and cold most of the time I had film in the EOS 630. I’ve never shot Double-X in those conditions and I was surprised by how muddy everything turned out.
These photos are from Flowing Well Park on 116th St. in Carmel. That bridge there carries 116th.
I got a little sun one afternoon and in a spare 30 minutes I took the EOS 630 out on a walk around downtown Fishers. I’ve photographed this area so much over the last year that if you were to look through the photos you’d watch the area change rapidly. It’s heavily under construction. New buildings go up all the time.
Which means parking is becoming a problem. Fishers is solving it with parking garages. I’m not a fan.
The EOS 630 kept metering for the shadows, I guess, because the highlights were nearly washed out. Tweaking exposure and contrast in Photoshop helped a little. And lest you think that it’s only new buildings in Fishers, a few of the old houses do remain, tucked into alleyways and along side streets.
One old house was converted into a little tea room. This is its gate.
To see more photos from this camera, check out my Canon EOS 630 gallery.
I wasn’t enamored of the EOS 630 the first time I shot it. But I’ve used several more auto-everything SLRs since then, enough to know that this really is a pretty good tool. Focus was always right and exposure was at least good enough. I wished that the body were a little smaller and lighter, like the later EOS Rebel cameras. If I have to shoot a camera this bulky, I might as well reach for my semi-pro EOS A2e. It’s a much better camera. And for that reason, this EOS 630 must go. There’s room for at most one EOS SLR in my collection.
Verdict: Goodbye
Get more of my photography in your inbox or reader! Click here to subscribe.
Wall
Canon EOS 630, 50mm f/1.8 Canon EF II
Eastman Double-X 5222
2018
I took the EOS 630 all over, shooting whenever I had a little time and good enough weather. I hadn’t been to Crown Hill Cemetery in a while so I made some photographs over there. This low retaining wall borders the military portion of the cemetery. That 50/1.8 resolves pretty well on the Double-X.
If you’d like to get more of my photography in your inbox or reader, click here to subscribe.
single frame: Wall
.
VDGN
Canon EOS 630, 50mm f/1.8 Canon EF II
Eastman Double-X 5222
2018
Vardagen is a T-shirt and coffee shop in one of Fisher’s few remaining old buildings downtown. I go in there about once a week, for cold brew in the warm months and Cubans when it’s cold.
They like to stylize their name as VDGN. This is the back of their building and the building next to theirs.
Upcoming in Operation Thin the Herd, my Canon EOS 630. It’s an early example of Canon’s EOS series of SLRs.
If you’d like to get more of my photography in your inbox or reader, click here to subscribe.
single frame: VDGN
.
