Canon EOS 700 35mm Film SLR Camera Review

I’ve never used a film SLR as terrible as the Canon EOS 700. It is truly one of the most bizarre, backwards camera bodies I’ve shot. And yet, the results I got from it are… fantastic?

Recently, I went hunting for the cheapest possible SLR body that uses the Canon EOS EF mount. Unlike Nikon, which stuck with the F mount for decades, Canon made a fresh go of it in the late 1980s with an entirely new lens system. That system went on to become Canon’s storied DSLR line. It was only recently usurped by the mirrorless Canon RF mount.

This means, unlike Nikon, you don’t need a complex chart to figure out if any lens is going to work with any particular camera. For the most part, all Canon EOS EF cameras work with all Canon EOS EF lenses, including autofocus.

And like many out there, I have a ton of wonderful Canon glass I bought for previous DSLRs sitting around collecting dust. Why not get a film camera that can take advantage of it? And while I’m at it, why not spend as little as possible getting the oldest and cheapest camera I could find since everything should be compatible?

Well, the camera I found is the EOS 700, an entry level camera released in March of 1990. This thing predates even the first Rebel (Kiss in Japan) cameras. It’s about as bottom-of-the-barrel as it gets for the EOS EF system.

It’s awful. It’s weird. Yet it works where it counts and can take amazing pictures with some of the best glass ever made.

Handling and Ergonomics

I love odd film cameras, and the EOS 700 is one of the oddest SLRs I’ve encountered. At first glance, it looks like a normal camera. In fact, it almost looks kind of handsome and businesslike with a no-nonsense name and matte black finish. But the second you pick it up… something is off.

Because it feels like the camera equivalent of a contemporary art piece. What are fingers? How do they work? How do you hold a camera? Do you really need a lens? These questions and more are going to run through your mind as you attempt to wrangle this unfathomable shape.

The grip has spots where I guess you’re supposed to put fingers, but it doesn’t make any real sense with human hands. Worse, the grip is too big, so when you wrap your fingers around it, they don’t have anywhere to go. You end up mashing them into a tiny crevice between the lens and the grip. The bigger the lens, the less room you have.

The EOS 700 is clearly a first draft of what would become the Rebel line, and you can see how the grip was changed in future versions of the camera to make it possible for human hands to hold.

It’s impossible to get a good one-handed grip on this camera, making it a constant drop hazard. Making matters worse, the EOS 700 has a brittle plastic lens mount. Be extremely cautious when mounting a heavy piece of L glass to this thing, as the lens is going to be way heavier and studier than the camera itself. Always keep a hand on the lens and don’t depend on the camera (or any strap connected to it!) to hold the weight.

Dude, Where Are My Controls?

The second thing you’ll notice after the bizarre grip is that there are almost zero controls or dials on the EOS 700.

There’s no typical PSAM switch – you can either set your shutter speed, or you can put it in auto. As far as I can tell there’s no exposure compensation dial. There’s no aperture control mode or a way to adjust program.

At first I thought that maybe the EOS 700 depended on some early version of EF lenses that had an aperture ring to control aperture, but no, EF lenses never had aperture rings. This camera just doesn’t let you control aperture in any way.

I’ve never used a SLR camera missing so many basic controls. If you don’t trust the auto mode, the EOS 700 is not for you. This feels much more like a point-and-shoot than a proper SLR body.

Wondering what shutter speed and aperture the camera is picking for you? Keep wondering. In the viewfinder, there’s no information except for the letters ‘AE’ lit up and a dot confirming exposure. As far as I can tell there’s a single focus zone. The EOS 700 says deal with it.

If you don’t use program, you can instead select a shutter speed on the dial. However, in the viewfinder the AE icon remains. It just blinks. And before you ask, there is no LCD screen on the top of the camera to refer to.

Image Quality

The lack of controls or information was maddening, as I had no idea what the EOS 700 was getting up to while I was shooting. I had no choice but to let the camera take the wheel and pray that my developed film would turn out.

And, uh, as I said before, the EOS 700 did a fantastic job. The film I got back was perfectly exposed, even in some challenging situations. Focus was mostly solid, with only a few shots soft.

I paired the EOS 700 with some great modern glass like the 24mm L and 105mm L lenses along with fresh Kodak 200 film, and honestly, if I didn’t meticulously track what roll came from which camera, there’s no way I would’ve been able to tell that roll apart from the ones I shot with my trusty Nikon F100 on the same shoot.

Well played, EOS 700, well played.

The Mystery of the Red L

Does anyone know why old Canon cameras has a red L icon for ‘off’? I’ve looked around for the answer and haven’t seen anything. If you know, send me a message on Insta or an email and I’ll add it here. You fine folks out there who love retro cameras are way smarter than I am. [Update: thanks readers for your emails! The red L means ‘Lock’]

Extra ‘Features’

There’s very little happening on this camera, but you do get a built-in flash. One of the only switches on the camera lets you turn it on and off. When on, if the camera decides it’s dark enough to need it, the flash will pop up and fire. Unusually, the flash also automatically closes itself after taking a photo, something I don’t think I’ve seen on other camera bodies with flash built into them. As for the results of the flash, the images I used it with turned out fine (though I think one of my lenses may have been large enough to have caused a shadow).

Film advance is automatic but isn’t going to win any awards for speed. There’s no obvious way to rewind a roll of film early. Like in most Canon bodies, it will wind through the whole roll upon loading, automatically rewinding bit by bit as you take photos.

There’s an annoying beep whenever the camera focuses. I turn this off on any cameras that do this, but I can’t figure out how to silence the EOS 700. The EOS 700 chooses to scream, and you will deal with it.

Build

Despite looking serious, this is a cheap plastic camera. The fragile plastic mount makes me super nervous. It just makes it too big of a risk to use with any decent/heavy glass (do as I say not as I do). There are cheapo plastic mount Canon EF lenses from this era that would probably be a better pair for this camera, but limiting which lenses you can use kind of defeats the whole purpose of using a Canon EF camera.

Also, speaking of the plastic mount, the usual red dot is missing. There’s an indentation where the dot should be, but in practice, it’s much harder to see when you’re attaching lenses. Thankfully Canon fixed this in the future Rebel models.

The shutter feels heavy and thunky. The film advance sounds kind of like a VCR. This is all standard for the era, though how much this appeals to you will depend on your tastes. I think it’s kind of charming.

Batteries

The Canon EOS 700 uses a battery type I have literally never encountered before – the 6 volt 2CR5. It looks like the kind of battery pack that’d be included with a video game controller ten years ago. This crazy thing has a plastic housing holding it together and is definitely not something you’ll easily find on the shelf of your local CVS.

I have no idea how long the battery lasts because to test that out would require me to use this camera far longer than I ever want to. Considering that only the lens and a tiny AF indicator need to be powered, I would assume it’d last a long time if you’re not firing the flash.

At least you don’t have to worry about an alkaline battery destroying the camera when in storage, but still, make sure you have an empty battery compartment before putting the camera in storage.

Know that’s going to require a bit more work than usual, because you need a flathead screwdriver to get into the battery compartment. That’s right, there’s a giant screwhead on the side of the camera you’ll need to turn in order to open the battery compartment. So while it’s nice it won’t accidentally open, it makes swapping batteries a pain.

Recommendations

Should you get the EOS 700? No. Absolutely not. It sucks. Literally any Canon Rebel film SLR will be a better bet and cost the same (almost nothing if you’re getting it from someone honest). And those actually have controls!

That said, if you already have an EOS 700 sitting in the attic, there’s no reason you can’t use it to take great pictures. I mean, this camera can use the same lenses and film as the very best Canon film cameras, which means, at the end of the day, it can get the same results.

While I was genuinely shocked at how good the images I got from my EOS 700 turned out, this is still a curiosity best left to collectors. Or those who want a contemporary art piece on what it means to have real human fingers.

If you’re a brave soul, you can find the EOS 700 on eBay. Using affiliate links costs you nothing and helps me keep this site free for everyone, thank you!