muzzled-songbird

[muzzled-songbird]

Canon Demi EE17 Review

Specs

In 1966, Canon released a film camera because they haven't invented digital cameras yet. The Canon Demi EE17 is a half-frame 35mm zone-focus rangefinder-style camera with a fixed 30mm f/1.7 lens. It's a perfect little guy who I love.

The viewfinder is not coupled to the lens, and there's no hot shoe, just a cold shoe and an X contact for flash sync. But are any of us truly born sinless in a world where the common grocery store stocks forbidden fruit.

The camera features a shutter-priority mode, where the user may set the shutter speed, and the camera's coupled light-meter will select an appropriate aperture. The light-meter can be set to do +1 and +2 stops overexposure, but not underexposure. This is because in 1966, everyone was too shaken by England winning the world cup to imagine a better world, one with 800 speed film.

The shutter speed goes from 1/8 to 1/500 of a second. The camera also has bulb mode. The camera can go from f/1.7 at the widest, down to f/16.

At 445 grams and 117 x 71 x 48 mm, this camera is a heavy but little guy.

Body and Handling

I think the camera might feel dense thanks to maybe, a bunch of metal in it. However, it's probably more annoying to keep in a pocket than an Olympus Pen, since the lens looks like it protrudes more.

It's probably simple to zone-focus even for people not used to it. Simply opt for the slowest shutter speed possible based on lighting conditions, subject movement, and the steadiness of the user's hands. This will result in the widest useable depth of field and allow for, probably, enough of the scene to be in acceptable sharpness.

The camera viewfinder shows the currently selected aperture, as well as the currently selected focus distance using a few pictograms.

Mountains indicate the focus is set to beyond 10 meters. An impossibly happy nuclear family indicates 3-10 meters. And finally, maybe unfairly by me, a strangely shaped head indicates 1-3 meters.

The user may choose to simply look at the focusing ring to use the more granular distance markings available. Adjusting focus probably feels really good with the focus lever, though I can only imagine.

I bet manual mode would be extremely annoying on this camera, because the aperture ring looks like a pain in the ass to adjust.

In Use

In use, I would probably just set it to auto. I feel like it would be easy to carry around in a large-ish jacket pocket, and definitely easy to just toss in a bag. Unfortunately, I have no way to know because my copy is STILL IN REPAIR LIMBO AND MY CAMERA REPAIR GUY GHOSTED ME AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sample Images

THIS IS WHERE I'D PUT SAMPLE IMAGES, IF I HAD THEM

img: holding my Canon Demi

[muzzled-songbird]

Me not working hard?

Yea right picture that with a Kodak EasyShare M590

And better yet, go to Times Square

Take a picture of me with a Kodak EasyShare M590

[muzzled-songbird]

chlorine blue :)