Many of the British pubs picked up on the exposure problems and some commentors on both this and the photo.net site have mentioned underexposure problems. Has Canon publically commented on this or rectified it via a recall, etc.? Any feedback/comments on the exposure system and/or problem from those who have the 3?

-- james (albanyjim1@aol.com), April 18, 1999

Answers

I'm not in the mood to delete posts this morning, and I'd rather not find out that I need to tonight, so everybody calm down. I can't stop flame wars via email, but I would like to hear that the people who participate in this forum are civil to each other when the communicate off forum. I hope I don't get some hairbrained idea to make this another "example thread".

As much as I hate to cop out on this issue, exposure is subjective. Without knowing how they tested exposure, I can't judge the tests. Even then, what is acceptable to them may not be to me. Use a few films, and learn how they need to be exposed in your camera. Never trust a meter until you test it yourself. Does that mean I feel the results with the EOS 3 are acceptable? No, it just means that I will suspend judgement until I get one (and I'm in no hurry to do that), and if I find a problem, send it back for repairs. As several of us have said in the past, magazine test are about as useful as... well we have a saying in the South about BOAR HOGS......

-- Brad (bhutcheson@iname.com), April 21, 1999.

I have received no response from the Canon thru my dealer, on this question. I have checked my meter against my 1N and a spot/incident meter with no evidence of underexposure. According to one website the metering diffences are noticable at the metering stage, the author compared his readings to a companion's readings with a F5. The meter in my EOS 3 appears to be slightly under, approx. 1/3 stop, from looking at test slides. In POP PHOTO's test of the EOS 1N it was noted that the 1N's finr spot meter is 1 stop under, which I was able to confirm by metering with different patterns. To rectify this I link the slightly larger spot meter to the focus point. Many comments I've seen attribute the 3's purported problem to either pilot error or an preproduction body. If anyone has more info I am interested in hearing from you.

-- Dave Mitchell (mitchell@effectnet.com), April 19, 1999.

Canon, Inc. in Japan has done extensive investigating and testing into questions about metering with the EOS-3, and determined that there was no general problem affecting EOS-3 production since the camera was launched in December. We've seen a report or two in foreign magazine articles, and heard from some customers saying they were getting results different from what they previously had, but we've also had some members of Canon's Explorers of Light program (sixty-five of the most renowned and influential pros in the world) who have had early production samples say it's got the best metering they've ever seen in an SLR.

-- anonymous (flash@go.com), April 19, 1999.

And yes, I'm sure these Explorers of Light also got their EOS-3 units off-the-shelf from B&H.

-- rene (renequan@bigfoot.com), April 19, 1999.

The cowardly John Shonit (shonit@leahey.com) obviously does not have the courage of his conviction. Not only did he post anonymously and list a fake email address, he had the chutzpah to send me a rude message and then block off my being able to send him a reply. A bigger coward I have never seen.

-- rene (renequan@bigfoot.com), April 20, 1999.

I've read a few magazin articles by now which compare the three new $1200 -1400 cameras from Canon, Nikon and Minolta. While one found bad metering on a Canon one other found the bad meter on a Nikon. Go figure. Buy whatever your heart desires and return it if you're not happy. Surprisingly, in all articles the Minolta always won all comparisons.

-- Volker Stiller (stiller@biology.utah.edu), April 23, 1999.

I've had my EOS 3 for four weeks now, and shot many rolls of a couple types of film. I'm not a pro, and I haven't run exposure tests, so take this as purely anecdotal.

I love this camera. I've made wonderful exposures in tough lighting, and some poor exposures in easier lighting, and suspect that the camera and I share credit for some of both. Even with a great metering system you can't turn your brain off.

I hope others have had similar fun results.

daryl

-- daryl burtnett (djburtnett@nols.edu), June 02, 1999.

Took my EOS 3 in to the Canon repair centre here in South Africa, the technician was very friendly and explained that the problem was with the AE exposure map when the camera had a slower than f3.5 lens attached (this would mean that people with 'L' lenses would never experience the under exposure). He reprogrammed the camera via the hot shoe, although he did say that my unit was metering pretty much on target and did not need the reprogram. He also tested the shutter speed, and that was also dead on.

-- Julian Radowsky (julianr@iafrica.com), August 06, 1999.