light weight, so many funtions, advaned flash system, enough film advance speed...

see my summary

I'm very disappointed in this body... huh... I used Contax N1 with Vario Sonnar 24-85 3.5-4.5 N lens, Leica R6.2 with 35 Elmarit and 90 Elmarit, and Contax G2 with Biogon 21, Planar 35 and Sonnar 90. Someday I decided to discard N1 system for simple and convenient shooting with reliable TTL flash system and fast AF. Therefore, I bring my N1 set to local camera shop and bater for this EOS3 set(body with one zoom and 550EX) This is my first Canon... I never used Canon since I had taken Yashica Electro 35, 20years ago... EOS3... AF speed is slower than F100 and cannot focus at vertical lines with my EF28-105 3.5-4.5 USM II lens. Instruction manual reads F2.8-4 lens have 1 cross sensor focus frame at the center of screen, but it doesn't operate with the lens. It can take horizontal lines only. I don't want 45 focusing frame not to operate properly. One operates perfectly is better... I payed about 920dollars for this thing, but this is just mass of plastic. I miss F100's metalic and robust feeling. And Images thisc amera make is somewhat under exposed and blurred by its inaccurate metering system and tremendous mirror shock... I regret to purchase this camera instead of Nikon F100... Curiosity is always the root of my misfortune...

Customer Service

not yet...

Similar Products Used:

Pentax MX, Nikon FM2, F80D, F3HP, F100, Leica R6.2, Contax N1, G2, RX, RTS3 etc...

Fast AF,light camera, make 50mm f1.8 go fast! easy to use and ETTL gives good lighting.

Eye control and to get 7 frames per second you have to buy a NI MH pack ( battery) which is expensive to get.

The EOS 3 is a good camera to have. I bought it in 1999, I got the EOS 3,Power booster E2 and 550 EX flash. I have used it in wedding, bridal shows, macro, people,sports and church. The Auto focus is fast thanks to the computer chip that has a 32 bit Risc processor, which make focusing on the subject very fast (except the EOS 1V much faster). U.S.M is fast. I was at a football match (Rugby league in Australia and esle where) I had the EOS 3,Power booster E2 and 75-300mm F4-5.6 U.S.M. I put in I.S.O 400 film 36 exp, and set 3 frames a second. The camera was great to handle. Got great action shots (especaily close ups) Did not need 6 fps, fast focusing did the job at 3 fps. The power booster is like the V 8 engine attached to the camera. I do not like Eye control, when I have to focus with my eye, it does work but it can get it wrong and strain the eye, I do not use it. I have read that people do not like the sound the mirror makes when it flip up when taking the shot. For me I like it, the noise it makes says is working fine, if there is no noise or change it means it time to go to the canon repair shop! The body of the EOS 3 is light becuase of the plastic so it is easy to carry and the handgrip is good because of the rubber so the hand has a good hold. I have found out any part of the plastic body gets damage it is cheaper to get it fix compare with the EOS 1V where it is metal and it is expensive to replace. I had the camera for three years and it has done a very good job. Its a real professional camera to have. If you are thinking to get one then go :) Michael from Australia

Customer Service

Good service and helpful

Similar Products Used:

EOS 5. EOS 630 and EOS 1N RS

Comfortable, good AF.

noisy, AF in lowlight conditions

Very comfortable camera, really fits into your hand. Quick and great AF in conditions with enough light, a bit slow when it's dark. Eye-focus isn't very great, but i know others who can use it. Noisy.

Customer Service

-

-Build -Shutter speed -AF speed (AI Servo) -Different ways of selecting AF points

-No dioptre control -No battery level indicator permanent in display

I was looking for a second camera to use with my EOS 300. I thought long and hard what to buy. After reading a lot of reviews on this site and others, I decided to check the EOS 3 out. I was looking for a camera with more speed than the EOS 300, so the choice had to be the EOS 1V or the EOS 3. In China I could buy both but the price/quality ratio was in favour for the EOS 3, so I decided to buy it. The camera is really superb. Altough I like the Eye focus, I hardly ever use it. What I really like is the AI Servo mode. It is really very quick. And when shooting birds or sports it gives sharp pictures every time. Combined with a shutter speed of up to 1/8000 and a big aperture lens like the EF 200 f2.8 L, you really get outstanding pictures with beautiful blurr. Often people complain about the weight of this kind of cameras. The weight is actually the good part. The combination of a very responsive shutter release and the weight of the body, makes that the camera is well balanced. The camera is easy to operate and the Custom Function are a blessing. For example, I normally use the camera with only 11 AF points instead of 45. Selection is now much quicker, but you can alter this at any time with the C.F.s.

Similar Products Used:

EOS 300 EF 35 f2.0, EF 50 f1.4, EF 85 f1.8, EF 100 f2.8 Macro, EF 200L f2.8 II, Speedlite 420 EX

Well balanced with pbe2. Very solid build. (fall from my bag at 1m50 ;o( and nothing was destroyed Some said Plastic ? Let me laugh...). Fast focusing with L lenses. Faster than 1n. Some guys says that eye control is bulsh***. Yes it's true but you can do without....

Batteries killer... Some rarely under exposured pics dunno why...

Well, about 2 years ago, i've bought this big camera. Why ? The 1n was too old, 5 was not focusing so fast and 1v was not available at shop. My old 600 si minolta was not good for sports. I decided to buy 3 with the new 420 ex.

Customer Service

The small button to change lenses jump 3 meters in front of me... Argh it was guaranteed but they ask me to pay 80 euros for repair.

Similar Products Used:

Eos 1 and 1n, 5, 30,

innovative 45 points focusing areas pro specifications Focusing speed is faster than then EOS1N

High pitch shutter noises Eye-control focusing does not work for all people.

The main reasons that I bought this camera are the novel 45 points eye-controlled focusing area and the pro-specifications. The eye-control system works very well with me either wearing contact lenses or glasses. However it is highly sensitive to the positioning of your eye at the eyepiece. Any small misaligment will mess up the pupil position recognition algorithm achieved through eight infra red diodes. Canon does not state anything about long term health issue of exposing your retina/cornea to constant doses of low infra red light! I think they ought to reassure the safety of IR sensors to the customers in instructional booklet. I would say the AF system works extremely fast with wide aperture lenses. With slower, mass-consumer graded lenses with max aperture of F5.6, the central 7 cross-hair sensors work Ok under low-light conditions, but the remaining 38 horizontal sensors will struggle hard to detect objects dominated by horizontal lines because they are sensitive to vertical lines. The autofocusing points selection are usually but not fool-proof. It tends to focus on the nearest object, the most contrasty object or/and objects closest to the cross-hair sensors. With this mode, it often mistakenly focus on the background instead of your target in fast snap shots if you let the camera pattern recognition algorithm to decide what to focus! The AI system will get confused if there are multi-objects in sport situations like the presence of several running football players. Overall I am very impressed with this high tech AF system but sometimes I miss the good old methods of manual focusing with my Contax system. Human brain is still far clever than AI system. For sport and candid street photography, I can use the full potential of AF system but for portrait and landscape, I don't see any use of it. The body has beautiful curvy contours and tough polycarbonate outer shell reinforced with fibre-glass and aluminimum chasis, sand and moisture sealed. But it feels plastic and lacks the heavy armoured feel of my titanium/aluminium Contax AX. Shutter noises are much higher than the Contax bodies. Viewfinder is OK not remarkable in term of brightness. Muit-spot metering is extremely useful. I will never need to carry my additional 1 degree spotmeter for my night photograhy. I am glad Canon got rid of those sport, landscape,macro etc program mode

Similar Products Used:

EOS 30E/Elan 7 EOS1000FN Contax AX Contax Aria Mamiya RZ67 Pro Bronica ETRSI

FAST AUTOFOCUS, PRECDITIVE FOCUSING, REALLY IMPERMEABILITY,SPOT AND MULTI SPOT METERING.

NOISY SHUTTER

I HAD THIS CAMERA FOR TWO YEARS. AUTOFOCUS IS FAST AND THE FOCUS TRAKING, FOR FAST SUBJECT IS VERY OK. VERY INTERESTING IS THE MULTI SPOT METERING (WITH MAX 8 SPOT METERED). IS NOT TO HEAVY AND IS A PROFESSIONAL CAMERA PROTECT FROM UMIDITY AND RAIN FOR OUTDOOR.

Customer Service

NEVER NEEDED

Similar Products Used:

EOS-5

Fast autofocus. Can also focus on less light than Elan 7e. ECF works very well for me since Elan IIe and the one for EOS 3 works the same except you don't see those boxes until it's activated, It took me about 3 days to get used to it after that works great. I use pro Canon L lenses (Canon 28-70 2.8L , Canon 70-200 2.8L) and it feels that this body can really handle the weight of those lenses compare to Elan IIe/ 7e. Metering is right on the money. I shoot slides and I didn't see any problem with it.

Weight when the PB-E2 is attached. I wish they had the BP-E1 w/ shutter button. I like the weight of Nikon f100 w/ the vertical grip attach.

Bought this camera as an upgrade from Canon Elan 7e. What a huge difference not just in build but also handling.

Customer Service

never needed.

Similar Products Used:

Rebel G Elan IIe Elan 7e

ease of use, simplicity, quick, quiet focus

none that I can think of

I bought this one as a jump into the high end from a Pentax ZX-5. I looked at Nikons as well and liked the way the EOS3 felt in my hands. It just feels good! I'm impressed with the ease of the controls as well. It's just so simple, anyone can go right to it! Would not trade it for anything else!

Customer Service

not used

Similar Products Used:

Nikon F100

Eye Control Focus Feel/Handling Quality Intuitive controls

Only thing I would wish for would be a built in flash.

I bought this camera as an impulse purchase a little over a year ago, but rarely used it because I also have an EOS A2 that I preferred to take on trips, because of its built in flash. This year, however, I decided to take both cameras with me on a two week vacation to Europe, and I quickly rediscovered why I bought the EOS 3. The eye-controlled autofocus is fast and quiet (at times I found myself double-checking the focus because I didn’t realize that it had focused so quickly and quietly). The area covered by the 45 focus points is broad enough for creative composition. The overall feel of the camera is excellent. It's light enough to carry with while walking and sight-seeing all day, yet it feels sturdy and professional.

Customer Service

Haven't had a reason to use them.

Similar Products Used:

EOS A2 EOS Elan II EOS Rebel EOS 630