Canon EOS 650

Canon EOS 650 image by Rolf F. (Image rights)

The Canon EOS 650 was introduced in 1987. It was the first EOS (electro-optical system) camera, ushering in an era in Canon SLR's that outlived the end of the film era and took the DSLR market by force, a line which is still going strong into the era of mirror-less digital system cameras, some of which now bear the EOS brand as well.

The 650 was a brand new auto-focus system camera, one that was not based on a previous lens mount. With this model, Canon essentially abandoned their manual focus FD camera systems that had been introduced in the 1970's. The EOS was, from the beginning, a full camera system with fast, hands-free auto-focus. The first EF lenses were noticeably lighter than previous auto-focus lenses, and were in fact lighter than many equivalent manual-focus lenses, due to the materials used in their construction. In manual mode, the lenses focus smoothly, with no feeling of turning gears, as the AF-MF switch mechanically disengages the focusing ring from the auto-focus gearing.

The EOS system is built around the EF lens mount. The initialism stands for either Electronic Focus or electrofocus, depending on whom you ask.

The 650 has a full range of shooting modes: Programmed auto-exposure, shutter priority (both as found on most previous Canon SLR's), aperture priority, depth-of-field priority (an advanced mode that allows the photographer to set a specific distance range to be in focus, thus setting shutter, aperture and auto-focus simultaneously) as well as fully manual exposure.

The shutter is a electronic, vertical metal focal plane capable of 30 sec to 1/2,000 as well as 1/125s with flash. The camera is powered by 2CR5 lithium battery rated for up to 100 36 exp. rolls.

Links

• Canon EOS 620 and 650 review at Ken Rockwell
• Canon EOS 650 at Malaysian Photography Website mir.com