# Disintered Canon EOS 500N (Rebel G): any suggestions?



## JohanCruyff (Jun 1, 2016)

Centuries ago, my parents bought me a film SLR. I liked its viewfinder, but I was too lazy to learn how to use it: I shot in Full Auto mode. : : : 
In 2004, I bought a Canon Powershot A80, and the film camera was soon buried in my cellar. :-[ 
In the meantime, after a Powershot S5, I learnt (more or less) something about shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc. 
I bought a 5D classic (used), then a M and now a 70D.
Sunday I disinterred (exhumed?) my film camera.
I read the manual, and discovered that the camera has an exposimeter, 3 (three!) focus points, no AI Servo, 1/2000 minimum shutter speed, and a built in flash (Canon full frame bodies with built in flash DO exist! ;D ).

I bought two 123 batteries, and the camera seems alive. The kit 28-80mm lens doesn't focus, but it's not a big deal: it seems to be (or to have been) cheap, and I can pair my 500N / Rebel G with 4 L lenses and with the 50mm STM.
I ordered a B/W roll (Ilford HP5 Plus 400), and Amazon.it will deliver it to me in one week (is there only one warehouse in the whole Europe?).
I plan to take a few family portraits, and... what else?
I also realize I'm a complete ignorant.
A few doubts:
1) Do film camera need to be checked for AF microadjustment?
2) What if I put a 400 ISO film in the camera, and then choose (mechanically) to shot at 100, 200, 800 or 1600 ISO?
3) How can be the lowest eligible ISO be just 6 (six)?    
4) How will this experiment impact on my coolness 8) ? Will legions of women harass me as soon as they discover that I shoot film? Should I wear one earring in order to look even more like "an Artist with the capital A"? Should I also stop taking regular showers?  

[I think I'm afraid that this will disturb some of the Canonrumors forumers, but I won't print my pictures in a dark-room: I'll take my roll to one of the few shops that still takes care of this].

Thank you for the suggestions, my fellow friends from Canonrumors.


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## Valvebounce (Jun 1, 2016)

Hi Johan. 
A while back I dug out my EOS 1000Fn, another FF with not so much pop up, but pull up flash. I used it to baffle my 8yr old niece, "where can I see the picture I just took?" After explaining that when everyone else in the room was her age we had to wait a week *after* we *finished* the roll of film, all 36 shots before we could see the results. The look of absolute astonishment on the face of one of the instant gratification generation was priceless, needless to say I missed that shot! :
I'm going to find a roll of ancient film out of the cupboard and let my niece run it through the camera and hope that it is not too deteriorated and maybe we get some shots out of it just for her to see the difference. 

AFMA, not sure if your camera has this or whether it is only the digital era bodies that have this, I would imagine waiting for the film to develop to set the AFMA would be expensive. Probably a make do or send the lens and body to canon for calibration. 

Not sure about the ISO thing, I think this would be equivalent to dialling in some +/- exposure. 

Would that 6 be an ASA number? I seem to remember vast differences in the numbers for the same speed film. 

No idea about this last question, not much idea about the others either!

Cheers, Graham.


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## JohanCruyff (Jun 1, 2016)

Thank you for sharing your experience.  
I noticed that ISO (or ASA?) can vary from 6 to 6400 (http://photonotes.org/cgi-bin/camera-lookup.pl?camera1=*&camera2=*&camera3=*&camera4=*&camera5=eos500n) .
I bought a 400 ISO film, but I wonder what happens if I shoot @ 6400 ISO in Aperture Priority mode: will I get a noisy image but with a shorter shutter speed, or will the shutter speed work independently, thus giving me a overexposed picture? 
Time (a lot of time!) will tell.


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## Pancho (Jun 1, 2016)

Concerning ISO set-up on Film camera, you can adjust it with a reasonable difference compared to the film native ISO.
With HP5 films, I already set my camera at 1600ISO. The result was so-so, quite grainly...
But 2 things are mandatory:
- Never change the ISO seting in the middle of the roll. The roll must be entirely exposed at the same ISO.
- Tell the shop that will process the film that you have exposed at xxxx ISO. The time to develop the film has to be adjusted accordingly. And cross the fingers that they will not forget to adjust the time... In fact, I have only done that when I was developping myself the films in the dark room...


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## unfocused (Jun 1, 2016)

Wow! I can't believe how quickly things change and basic knowledge is lost.

The ISO is baked into the film. If you have ISO 400 film, it should be shot at ISO 400. If you have ISO 25 film, you shoot it at ISO 25. 

Now, you can "push" film a little. That means, you could shoot a roll of ISO 400 film at ISO 1600, but you will need to extend the development time. The time varies by the developer you are using. The instructions for the developer should give you a guide for pushing the film, but be aware it's very much a trial and error thing.

Some custom labs may push the film for you, but you need to check with the lab beforehand to see if they will do so.

Since all of the film roll is going to be developed at the same time and temperature, you must shoot the entire roll at the same ISO.

Understand that film has a lot less latitude than digital. Yeah, you can push a roll of film to 1600 ISO, but you will get significant increases in the grain. Don't expect 1600 ISO film to look like 1600 ISO on your digital camera.

Generally, it's really best to shoot the film at the speed it was designed for. Pushing film should really be reserved for emergency situations when you don't have any other choice.


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## JohanCruyff (Jun 1, 2016)

@ Pancho
@ unfocused
Thank you for your suggestions! I think I'll stick @400 ISO, and experiment something _extreme_ like pushing ISOs in future tests.


Edit: 
One more doubt: is it possibile to change lenses before the end of the roll? Do I have to pay particolar attention, or the general rule of the DSLR (avoid wind+dust) apply ? 
Thank you.


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## ajfotofilmagem (Jun 1, 2016)

You can exchange the lens with a film inside the camera. At worst, the dust would dirty only one frame of the film, and not affect the other 35 frames. On the other hand, should avoid strong light hits the shutter during lens exchange.

Give up "facilities" such as AFMA, and the supreme luxury of changing the ISO between one shot and another.


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## mrzero (Jun 2, 2016)

Yes you can change lenses mid-roll. As noted above, you can't change ASA (ISO) mid-roll and pushing or pulling a roll is more advanced than you need to get. Just buy different rolls. Some later models allowed you to change the roll of film mid-roll by rewinding with the end of the roll still out, then reloading it and shooting blank frames (lens cap photos) until you got past your earlier shots. I don't think the Rebel G does that, but I think my Elan 7N does... The kit zooms are workable for daylight, but your 50mm/1.8 is a great lens to run with.


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## JohanCruyff (Jun 2, 2016)

@ ajfotofilmagem
@ mrzero


Thank you for your advice!  


I agree: my 500N is small and light, despite being "full frame", so my 50mm STM couples with it much better than my 24-105 F/4 IS.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 3, 2016)

At least some of the older cameras had mechanical AFMA. There was a set screw under the sub mirror that adjusted it and thus changed the distance to the AF sensor,this could correct for focus like the electronic AFMA. Canon used to adjust bodies to match lenses that way. I've adjusted a older body that way and if went from poor AF to right-on. 

I don't know if your camera has that adjustment. I should look at some of my old SLR's to see which have that type of adjustment.


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## AlanF (Jun 3, 2016)

Go the whole hog and develop the film yourself to get the real film experience. All the gear is available cheap on eBay. It's dead easy - I was able to do it as an 11-year old kid, before most of CR were born, even making up my own solutions and not using kits. You will have real fun.


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## Deleted member 91053 (Jun 3, 2016)

I had a 500N for a short time, geat camera that gave me excellent results with my 24-105 F4L. It went when the EOS 3 arrived!


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## JohanCruyff (Jun 5, 2016)

Thanks to all for your kind suggestions.  

The roll arrived earlier than expected, and I started experiment.


The main shock is not being able to see what my pictures will look like. Well, the 5D classic LCD gave just a vague idea, but it was better than no idea.
Further shock: no depth of field preview button!  Maybe more expensive camera models used to feature it?


Further question: I shot a couple of pictures with my 24-105, then three or four more with my 50mm F/1.8 STM, then a wife's candid portrait with the 100mm F/2.8 L... 
Will the roll show something similar to exif data (at least aperture and shutter speed) or not? Maybe film shooting requires a bloc-notes?


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## privatebydesign (Jun 5, 2016)

dilbert said:


> JohanCruyff said:
> 
> 
> > ...
> ...



There were some 135 format film cameras that recorded the EXIF on the edge of the film. The 1V stored it to memory that you could download to a computer and printed a 'roll number' on the leading edge of the film.

Neither was a very good solution as the film couldn't be cut because it cut through the EXIF printing and for the 1V they never maintained operating system support so you were always behind.


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## JohanCruyff (Jun 5, 2016)

@dilbert and privatebydesign


Thank you.


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## tron (Jun 6, 2016)

Canon EOS 620 + Technical Back E : It recorded data for up to ~ 360 shots. You could use Interface TB and a ... very old PC to print these data!


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