I have just been on a trip with new EOS3. I took over 35 casettes of fuji 35mm slides(400 & 100) Unfortulately only those taken on my EOS50 came out correctly exposed. 23 taken on the EOS3 (new camera to use so used the most) came out 1 stop underexposed. OK Trannys don't have latitude of print but if I had use Neg film I probably wouldn't have noticed the problem. I shot off a roll with bracketing (wish I'd had time to do so before the trip)and have confirmed the exposure error. The readings in viewfinder matched a hand-held so I thought I was going to be OK. I estimate I have wasted the cost of another EOS3 body on both the cost of the trip and the loss of photos, not to lost pictures. I have had correspondence with another user who had the same problem. I believe that a Professional camera should be accurate to the DX code of the film and then we can override as required. Shurely we shouldn't have to manually set a lower ASA each time we load a film! If so lets remove the DX code feature so we can go back 20 years in technology. Are we the only 2 people with this problem? Would like to hear from others with similar experience.

-- Lawrie Weston (westonl@melbpc.org.au), November 17, 1999

Answers

There's a "well known" (or at least often reported) problem with some (but not all) EOS-3 bodies which seems to result in about 2/3 stop underexposure. Canon can reprogram the cameras to eliminate this.

My Elan II (50) runs about 1/3 stop under. I usually reset the ISO, but if I forget it's usually no big deal.

Like you say, it's always a good idea to test any new equipment before taking it on a trip to avoid such nasty surprises.

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.

I recently purchased an EOS3 and found that my slides (Velvia) were also slightly darker than I expected. I have been using the EOS1 and 1N for years with no similar problem.

-- Troy Wildhart (wildhart6@hotmail.com), November 18, 1999.

Unfortunately this is also a problem I have experienced with my EOS 3. I have been shooting with my 3 corrected for 2/3 underexposure for about 9 months now. I shoot 95% spot metering, so this calibration is simple and easy. But I also found my EOS 3 to be only 1/3 underexposed while using evaluative matering. This was a major headache when switching between metering modes.

I agree that a pro level camera should be properly calibrated, but I also know that properly calibrating a camera's meter has been going on for a long time now. Many camera bodies have and will continue to be calibrated wrong upon purchase. Correcting with a simple change in ISO will always correct this, simply and efficiently.

I personally have put off sending my camera in for correction because of the horror stories I have heard about sending equipment to the Canon Service Factory. I have heard the turnover rate for repairs can be two to three months. Unfortunatley my EOS 3 broke down and lost focusing ability last week, and just today I mailed it to the closest authorized Canon repair facility. It is still under warranty, and they can fix the meter problem while they have it. I love the EOS system and won't lose faith now. It is just a shame that $1300.00 can't assure you that you won't get one of the few bad eggs.

Anyway, you can correct in ISO or send the baby away to be recalibrated. Either way, the up side is that the meter works either way!

-- Rob Pailes (rpailes@peganet.com), November 20, 1999.

This 2/3 under exposure is a well documented "problem" of the EOS 3. Apparently this problem was corrected on EOS 3 cameras manufactured after 10 March 1999. The code from which you can see when the camera was manufactured is in the film compartment. The cure is a software upgrade, which is done from a computer via the hot shoe of the camera. Upgrading the software is a simple procedure that took 10 minutes without dismantling the camera.

-- Nico Smit (nico@anp.co.za), November 20, 1999.

The problem with resetting the ISO is the results it has on flash exposure. The people that reported this problem in the past have said that the TTL flash exposure was right on, so if you reset the ISO you have to also set flash compensation to compensate for your compensation. Ain't photography fun?

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), November 20, 1999.