Wyatt Ryan 10/1/19 Wyatt Ryan 10/1/19

Canon Sure Shot/Autoboy Review

The Canon Sure Shot is notorious in the film community, with multiple different models being made from 1979 to 1988. The one I had is the Sure Shot 2, which was produced in 1983 until 1986 when the 3 came out. Design and features changed drastically over the 9 years of production, and each model had their own little niche target groups.

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The Sure Shot/Autoboy series are the only point and shoot cameras by Canon that featured a 38mm f/2.8 lens. They used an older type of infrared beam to achieve correct autofocus, and from the many rolls I shot, it seems to work very well.

I’ll drop a couple facts about this camera before diving into the pros and cons of the camera in use:

Brand: Canon

Model: Sure Shot/Autoboy 2

Lens: 38mm f/2.8 (4 elements in 4 groups)

Features: Pre-focus, self-timer (no idea how to use the self-timer), and a FLASH!

It’s a simple camera, hence the type, point and shoot. I found mine at an estate sale for $10, and quickly nabbed it up. Besides some corroded battery terminals, the camera was in great condition for being 36 years old. The viewfinder is nice and clear, though the frame lines do blend into the scene on very bright days. It also features a focus scale on the bottom portion showing you where it is focused, either before the shot (with pre-focus) or after taking the shot. It just shows a person’s head, and a mountain, so not very helpful.

The grip is substantial enough for the weight of the camera, though I’m a fan of deeper grips on my cameras so carrying for a long time is easier to do. The grip itself is made of a good material that your hand can easily hold, and I don’t see it deteriorating any time soon. The camera does fit easily in a pants pocket, though it is very much the shape of a brick and can be a tad awkward.

Besides being an odd shape, the camera functions pretty well! The autofocus pretty damn accurate, though it is very loud. There isn’t a single thing on this camera that doesn’t produce a noise. This camera would not be good for street photography, as everyone within a 20 foot radius would be aware of it. Focusing? Winding noise. Shot taken? Loud click. Frame advance? Grinding noise. End of the roll rewind? Probably the worst noise I’ve ever heard come out of a camera; grinding and winding, it sounds like it’s breaking.

BUT, it does have a pretty great feature that does make it slightly more conspicuous if needed. As you’re taking a shot, if you hold down the shutter button, it will refrain from winding on to the next frame until you release it. This cuts down on half the noise, though pre-focusing beforehand would cut down even more.

If street photography isn’t your thing, I would highly suggest this camera. The lens is fantastically sharp, and it has the strangest and coolest flare I have ever seen. Depending on the angle of the sun, it will produce either a blue blob (below), or a curved blue wave of light (above).

If the shutter speed is going to be lower than 1/60th of a second like the photo above, a little red light will flash inside the viewfinder to serve as a warning. It will let you shoot still, but since it doesn’t tell you the shutter speed, you’ll have to guess if the shot is worth it or not.

The only manual feature of this camera is the ISO, which is found underneath the lens with the window on top. I believe the range is from 50 to 800, but someone please correct me if I’m wrong. I typically shoot ISO 400 films at 320 or 200, to allow for slightly more details in the shadows. I did shoot a roll of E100 through it recently, but have yet to get it developed, so I’ll find out eventually how accurate the meter in the camera truly is.

Overall, this is a great little camera. It’s easy to take with you anywhere, and it’s very sharp for being a point and shoot. I certainly wouldn’t have bought it for the prices it goes for now, but to each their own. I would highly recommend it for someone looking to get into film photography, because it’s not too expensive compared to other cameras, and the results are fantastic.

If it was a little quieter, I would have kept it. For now, I’ll continue playing with my Canonet QL17iii and Olympus XA2 (Affiliate link to eBay). If you’re interested in the XA2 review I have posted, you can find that here! If you’re looking to shoot something that is fully manual, I have reviewed the Leica M3 here.

EDit - 4/4/2024

I purchased an untested Canon Sure Shot/Autoboy 2 (Affiliate link to eBay) for less than $30 total after looking at the battery terminal and overall condition, and that gamble turned out perfectly. I’ve been using it for over a year now with next to no issues, so be on the look out for those!

And now, more photos!

Wyatt Ryan 6/27/19 Wyatt Ryan 6/27/19

Olympus XA2 Review

Let me start out this review by saying this; I never thought I would own a point and shoot camera. I went to an estate sale on my day off, looking for film cameras, and ended up leaving with two point and shoots, both from the same era.

The Olympus XA2 and all of its plasticky goodness.

The XA2 is not nearly as popular as its predecessor, the original XA. The XA put a little bit more of the exposure equation in the hands of the photographer, allowing them to choose focus distance, ISO, AND the aperture. The XA also had a slightly faster lens, with an f/2.8 instead of the XA2’s f/3.5 lens. While there are slight differences between the original XA and all its subsequent siblings, they all revolve around a 35mm lens in a very pocketable body. Most came new with some sort of flash unit attachment, which adds a little bit of length as it attaches to the side. The XA2 came with the A-11 flash unit, which I have, for the most part, left at home. The flash is like a bomb going off, usually providing a wonderful ‘deer in the headlights’ look.

The Body

Now that I’ve said my part about the flash, I’ll start with the body itself. It’s basically a plastic brick that fits in the palm of your hand, slides easily into any pocket, and does not draw any attention to the one holding it. The slider conveniently covers the lens, viewfinder, and light meter when closed, and also deactivates the shutter so you can’t accidentally take any shots. This small plastic brick houses a 35mm f/3.5 lens which is surprisingly sharp for it’s age. To keep the body as small as possible, they used a leaf shutter instead of a focal plane shutter. For those don’t know what either of those terms mean, just know that a leaf shutter is massively quieter than a focal plane shutter. The leaf shutter in this camera is one of the few things that isn’t plastic. Pressing the shutter button provides a quick click sound. Maybe the sound of a pen clicking, but much quieter? I’m not sure honestly, but it’s quiet.

The loudest thing about this camera is advancing the film to the next frame. Think disposable camera wind on noisy, and that’s exactly what this sounds and feels like. My particular copy doesn’t have the most consistent framing, but I have not had any shots overlap, yet. Besides pressing the shutter and selecting ISO sensitivity for the lighter meter, you can also shoot the focus range! The options are located to the left of the lens and show pictures interpreting the distance that the lens should about focus to.

Bottom - Head & Shoulders - 4 feet
Center - Full Body - 9 feet
Top - Mountain - 40 feet

This method is called zone focusing, and is essentially a guess as to where your subject is. If it’s bright enough out, it doesn’t really matter if you set it in the right place, though I usually leave mine in the default center position. Which reminds me, the tab for the focus resets to the center when you close the slider, handy, but also annoying at times.

So there are three different things you can control, focus, ISO, the flash (if you have it on), and firing of the shutter. There are a few things about this camera that I don’t quite understand. There is the red light on the front of the camera, and I have no idea what it does. I haven’t seen it light up at any point in time since I’ve had it. There is a red light on the inside of the viewfinder that lights up if the shutter will be too slow, but the front light does not light up with it? Superfluous red light cover to make it look better? Another thing I don’t quite understand was the addition of a tripod socket on the bottom. I can’t imagine any person, ever, mounting this on a tripod. The socket itself is plastic, so I’m not sure how many uses it could take before it breaks. Also on the bottom of the camera is a little switch for a self-timer (which would explain the need for a tripod socket), and the battery check. I have no idea if it’s just my camera, but when I turn the switch to battery check, it makes a horrendously high-pitched whining noise. It doesn’t sound right, but the camera works so I haven’t worried about it. I haven’t tested the self-timer, but I’m sure it’s something like two or ten seconds before it goes off. I’ll try it one of these days.

Shooting Experience

Now that I’ve covered most of the body, I’ll dive into what I like and don’t like about shooting with it.

First off, sometimes it’s nice not to have to think about what you’re doing. See something cool? Point, and shoot. These cameras are great for a quick capture, a moment. If that sounds like your perfect shooting scenario, go ahead and get one of these, because they’re perfect for it! Most of the time I am very methodical about what and how I shoot. This camera is simply fun to use, so it’s an appreciated deviation from my normal style. I wish I had a little bit more control like I could with the original XA, but I’m not sure it would be quite as enjoyable of an experience.

So far, the camera is quiet, fun, and easy to use. The thing I absolutely love about this camera is how incredibly portable it is. Back pocket, front pocket, fanny pack; you name it, and it’ll fit. I haven’t tested the durability of it, but you could take this camera along with you just about anywhere, and it wouldn’t add more than half a pound of weight.

Fuji Superia 400. My therapists building is incredibly photogenic in the morning light.

Portable, quiet, fun, and easy to use. It’s honestly a great camera, one of the only major complaints I have is the rewind crank. Remember when I said the camera is a plastic brick? So is the rewind crank. It feels like it is going to break the entire time I’m rolling up a finished canister of film. 36 frames feels monstrously worse than 24 as you have 12 more frames of resistance to fight back into the film canister. I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t broken yet. Another thing I despise about the rewind crank is how it’s engaged. There is a tiny little button on the bottom of the camera, it unlocks the gears in the camera that advances the frame. If you don’t press this little button in, you can still get the film rewound, but each and every sprocket will rip and tear, and your entire roll of film with essentially be destroyed. Any guesses as to how I figured this out?

Kodak Portra 400, wine tour in Wisconsin.

If this does happen to you, I wish you the best of luck in cleaning out the tiny little squares of broken film sprockets, and I hope developing it goes as smoothly as possible. I’m surprised I even wasted time developing that roll of film after how fucked it got. I ended up throwing the entire roll of film away, just glad that the camera could take pictures.

If it weren’t for the rewind crank, and the rewind crank button, I think this would be an almost perfect camera. But since I can’t get over the rewind crank, I’ll probably keep looking for a better point and shoot that will work for me better. My next review will be on the Canon Sure Shot, which is another point and shoot that I’ve enjoyed using these past couple of months. The review for the Canon Sure Shot/Autoboy can be found here! If point and shoot cameras aren’t really your thing, I have a review on the classic Leica M3 here.

TLDR: It’s fun and easy to use, get it, but be careful rewinding the film.

And if you purchase an Olympus XA2 (Affiliate link to eBay) through that link, I get a little bit of a kickback so I can keep making reviews like this! And please feel free to let me know other cameras you’d like to see reviewed in the future.

Now onto more pictures!

Fuji Superia 400, taken 5 minutes from my house.

Kodak Portra 400, parking lot of the place above after a lot of rain.

Kodak Portra 400, lake after the rain. Featuring Miah in her constant state of movement.

Wyatt Ryan 5/25/19 Wyatt Ryan 5/25/19

Cult Classics

These three cameras have some what of a cult following in the 35mm film community. Each one easily slips into a pocket without much fuss. Prices vary considerably between the three, but all will cost easily above $75 depending on where you purchase them.

Canon Sure Shot, Rollei 35s, and Olympus XA2.

The Canon Sure Shot is the most automated of the three cameras. The only thing you have control over (sort of), is the focus. The switch on the front allows you to “Pre-focus”, though it’s anybody’s best guess where it’s actually focusing. There is a small scale in the viewfinder showing you about where it’s focusing, but I really have no idea what the scale means in practice. Other than the pre-focusing option, all you do is point and shoot and hope that the photo turns out.

A little bit about the camera:

35mm film
38mm f/2.8 Lens
Completely automatic point & shoot (except for the pre-focus)
Decently sharp lens

The Rollei 35 S is completely manual and the most compact of the three cameras. It does have a light meter to help determine proper exposure but finding a battery for it isn’t the easiest; I’ve been guessing exposure. Shutter speed and aperture are controlled by the two front dials. Focus is of the zone-focusing style, which is basically guessing distance and hoping you get it right. This is the most well made camera of the three as well. 1960’s german engineering is something else.

A little bit about the camera:

35mm film
Completely manual
40mm f/2.8 Sonnar Lens
Most compact and extremely well built

The Olympus XA2 is a strange mix between the two other cameras. You must move the switch on the left of lens to determine where it will focus, so a much less accurate version of zone-focusing. Exposure is completely automatic. I feel most comfortable sliding this camera in a pocket since the lens is covered when closed. I’m not sure which one is quieter, this camera or the Rollei. Advancing to the next frame is the same as disposable cameras, with an edged wheel on the right side.

A little bit about the camera:

35mm film
35mm f/3.5 Zuiko Lens
Mix of manual and automatic
Easily the lightest of the three

I will write up a full review of each of the three cameras in the next month or so, going into more detail and showing pictures I’ve taken with each one. In the mean time, I’m going to hunt for a battery for the Rollei so I hopefully get some in focus shots.