ECF
Handling with Booster
AF quality and IS
Excellent flash capabilities
Great sealing
1st class flash
Booster is lovely - vertical controls and balance perfect
Highly customisable
Rewind is very fast

I'd love it to be as quiet as the new EOS 30E/7

ECF works great, even with glasses. AF speed is very good, especially with fast glass. Sports focus tracking is truly impressive; coupled with the marvellous PBE2 the sports performance is superb. (if you use Lithium AAs, you get 6fps)Vertical handling is instinctive - you will never remove the booster. The viewfinder is nice and bright, with lots of info - exposure scales very well thought-out. Heavily splashproof. Construction is burly (polymers are a much better idea than metal strength-weight) Flash photography is astonishing.
If this camera was whisper quiet like the 30E/7E, I'd call it perfect.
Lots of custom functions enable you to really set up the camera the way you like it - do not underestimate how useful this is.
I got it for £750 from Park Cameras and got a free £300 flash on promo from canon, which makes the VFM excellent. (i've also reviewed the 550EX flash)
Even if you're thinking of getting a 30E and a flash, get this instead and you'll never look back, unless you need something unobtrusive and whisper quiet.

Similar Products Used:

50E
30E
1N

very durable body
easy to use
fast focusing
to good for the price,nowadays.

af focus could be sharper

This is one camera photo journalists should cary around,it's been 3 years since i've had this body and have taken over 40,000 shots with it without a problem touch wood.I have two lenses the 17-35mm ef and the 35-350mm ef a good combination for any situation.
Recommend this camera to all amateurs and pro's.

Customer Service

never needed thank god

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olympus om101
yashica 109mp
contax aria
nikon f5
and various canons...

Auto focus, Metering, Flash, Weather proof.

Only one to date, on/off switch catches on belt buckles and switches camera off. When you are in a real hurry and this happens you press the shutter and nothing happens you asume you are out of film and open the back and fog roll. This happend to me at rock concert where the noise was so loud could not hear the rewind and so dark could not see the display panel. The flimsy door cover on custom functions.

As a reluctant 35mm user ( have used Pentax 6X7 for twenty years) this is the best camera I have ever used. The metering is 99% acurate. The 550 flash is foolproof I leave fill flash on all the time. Image Stabalizer lenses are Magic and work even well over Canons recomended shutter speeds. Iwould recomend this camera to any photographer whatever field working in.

Customer Service

Superb

Similar Products Used:

Nikon F5, Minolta Dynax, Canon 1n

-Excellent AF
-Handles excellent in diverse weather
-Multi spot exposure rules!
-7fps with Booster

-Side door is not sturdy enough
-ECF doesn't work well with my glasses
-Mirror slap is just a bit too loud

I have to say I was a little hesitant on this purchase...I mean I loved my Elan IIE, but know that I faced my fears I have to say I love this camera. If you a beginner though stick with Canons excellent lower end models such as the Elan IIE and 7E......only because it takes awhile to understand all the features of this great camera, but whats the use of all the great features if you don't understand the basics?.....so take your time and learn and have fun!

Customer Service

Contacted once prior to buying, and they were the best!

Similar Products Used:

Elan IIE

Autofocussing system
Custom functions
Speed
Overall quality

A bit complicated, but worth learning

A great camera, but not for beginners. The auto focussing system is incredible, so there is little need for manual. The light metering system is also superb, although if you want to, you can set your f-stops at 1/3 increments (nice feature). I loked at the Nikon N90s, as well as other Canon EOS cameras (such as the EOS 1v and 1n), but found this to be the best. I use a Canon 28-105 f/3.5-4.5II, a Canon 75-300 f/4-5.6 III, and a Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX Aspherical HSM. together, with this body and these lenses, I can meet all my photographic needs If your lookign for a great camera, and dont mind spending a little extra, you can't go wrong with the EOS 3

Customer Service

No need for it yet

Similar Products Used:

Canon A2E
Canon EOS Elan IIE

AF
custom features
Lenses

Price of assesories
doesn;t imprint info on film
eye controlled focus

I should have researched more on this camera before I bought it, I played with the Elan 7 and thought why not send a few hundred more, get a pro camera that should be better. I was wrong the mirror slap is LOUD,the eye control focus is bad ( I had the elan 2 e and never had a problem) I have calibrated it several times in different lighting and it is still not accurate, no built in diopter(I wear glasses and i can never see the whole viewfinder,which I have been getting a lot of miss-composed photos). Also I understand it is a Pro camera, but 50 bucks for a cable release and if you want the full 7fps and vertical shutter button you have to pay a total of 800 dollars for the PB-E2 and NI-H battery and charger, that is outrageous as far as I am concerned. Since I have a lot of money invested in the lenses, I have to stick with canon, guess I will have to wait for the EOS 4 to see if these problems are solved.

Customer Service

Have not needed so far

Similar Products Used:

Elan II E, Nikon 2000, minolta 700

Most of the features of 1v, plus eye-controlled focus.

Side door

I've had a 1v for a year and wanted a backup/2nd body, decided on the 3 because it was able to share accessories and had many of the same features at half the price. Eye-controlled focus was not a major selling point but I've experimented with it enough to be marvel that it works at all. When Canon came out with the 1v it seems like they fixed the minor problems with the 3 like the side door. Except for the ECF and the weight, the 1v is obviously superior, but the 3 is still a very good or great camera.

Customer Service

Not needed yet.

Similar Products Used:

1v, Rebel 2000

a solid build camera with perfekt handling (especialy with the booster bp-e2). eye control is a great help focussing on moving animals. no problems with the precision after configuration.

loud mirror, and missing aktiv eye control without pressing the button again (like new eos 30), difficult for people with glasses

for my personal use the perfekt camera with little weaken (no camera is completly perfekt!). i would buy this camera again. shifting by the thumbwheel, eye-control, perfekt handling even in upright format (with bp-e2) and so on. the autofokus reacts very quick and exact. following moving objects was up to now no problem for the camera (f.e. flying eagles, running tigers).

Customer Service

not needed yet

Similar Products Used:

f100, eos 30

Fast focusing
Fast Meter
Build Quality
Controls very accessable
Fit in the hand
Metering

Side Door
A little loud
Eye Relief

A truly great camera. I read these reviews and took quite q while to change cameras. I used a 630 for 10 years. I switched to an Elan IIe. I don't even remeber why but my 630 became may backup body. Some things were faster but others seemed slower. I never really loved the camera. I shoot a lot of children and sport shots. Lots of pictures were just off by 100ths of a second. With the Eos 3 everything happens so much faster. I try to get 1-2 pictures per roll that I would like to have more than just a snapshot. I think I am now at 2-3 per roll. Seems like a little bit but it is 50% to double the pictures. When I am really trying hard to get something special it is so much easier than with the IIE.

I would hope anyone looking at this level of camera would not be concerned about the people who complain about plastic. I heard the same thing when I bought my 630 in 1987. Well I have dropped it so many time that I have broken three good lenses snapping the lenses in half and so far the 630 plastic body has never had a problem. The Eos 3 is much stronger. Plastic is no issue.

If I have one complaint that they could change would be the eye relief. I can see all of the frame but I have a hard time seeing all the info in the viewfinder. On the IIe I took the eyepiece off. I have not done the with the 3 for fear of metering problems

I have missed a couple of pictures because I have tended to get more creative and forget to change back afterward. I did not change things as much with the IIE. For a beginner photographer I would reccomend the 7e as it could get overwhelming.

If this camera stored data like the 1V and had a little more eye relief it would be a nearly perfect camera and I haven't even bought the 550Ex yet. I would reccomend it to any one who wants to have a serious camera.

Similar Products Used:

Eos 630
Elan IIE

Great metering
Multi-spot metering is awesome
Wonderful ergonomics and user interface
Autofocus is terrific
Build quality very high
Very customizable
ETTL Flash
IS lenses

LOUD!!!
The access door tends to catch on things
The on/off switch tends to catch on things
Accessories very expensive

This thing is a monster. I have dark dark brown eyes and the eye control focus works even when I am wearing sunglasses. The metering is excellent, the ETTL flash system is a dream come true. I shoot a lot of theatre and I wish this thing was as quiet as an A2, but snapping pictures off... it just feels great and sounds great, such a nice camera to use. The layout of controls is terrific - it is a very fast camera to operate. The ETTL flash system is excellent - it is like having portable daylight usually. I wish the 45 point area focus was spread across more area of the viewer, and I wish that d*** side door had some sort of catch on it, but these are minor complaints when one considers the features and usability of this camera.

Customer Service

Haven't had a problem yet...

Similar Products Used:

Canon A1, F1
Eos Elan II, 1N, 630
Nikon Fm2