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As of 2001, the EOS-1V is the top-of-the-line film body in the Canon EOS
system. This is probably the world's best film camera for sports photography
because it combines an intelligent 45-point autofocus system with a 10
frames-per-second exposure rate. In the Canon EOS-1 tradition, this latest
version is very tightly sealed against rain and dust. Also in the EOS-1
tradition, the EOS-1V is heavy and expensive, particularly if you want a vertical
shutter release, which is only available as part of a power booster.
Viewfinder
The EOS-1V has Canon's best viewfinder for eyeglass wearers. The eye relief is
even a bit better than the EOS-3 body. Image coverage is 100 percent, which makes
the EOS-1V ideal for producing film images to be scanned and presented digitally.
The viewfinder includes two LCD displays, one underneath and one to the right of
the image. The bar-graph scale for exposure compensation or metered manual covers
6 f-stops in 1/3-stop increments. Underneath this scale is an exposure counter.
With my eyeglasses on, I can see the entire image and both displays at once.
For photography without eyeglasses, the EOS-1V body includes built-in diopter
correction.
Handling
This is a standard Canon EOS body with two main control wheels and any EOS
user will be able to pick up the EOS-1V and start using it immediately. In manual
mode, one wheel controls aperture and the other shutter speed. In aperture
priority auto, one wheel controls aperture and the other exposure
compensation.
The camera includes a dedicated depth-of-field preview button at the bottom of
the lens mount.
Autofocus
Autofocus is fast and sure, even in low light. If you let the camera pick the
AF sensor(s) to use, generally it will make reasonable decisions. Selecting a
particular sensor requires pushing in a button on the back and moving one of the
control wheels. An interesting new feature on the EOS-1V is a "jump to my
favorite focusing sensor" button on the back of the camera. This enables you, for
example, to leave the camera in "camera picks the AF sensor" mode all of the time
but if you're getting frustrated by the body's decisions, push a button and force
the AF system to use the central sensor.
One wart: the EOS-1V lacks an AF-assist light. If you want to autofocus in
near-darkness you'll need to have an accessory flash mounted.
Metering
The EOS-1V includes your choice of metering modes:
a sophisticated 21-sensor matrix
old-style center-weighted metering
8.5% center spot
2.4% center spot
2.4% spot linked to focusing point
I found the matrix meter to be accurate enough for the vast majority of
situations.
Magic Features and Software
A standard EOS-1V body will print a "film ID" on the leader of each roll that
you expose. If, for example, you go off to India, you set the first two numbers
to "37" (your 37th project) and then the rolls that you expose will come out
"37-001, 37-002, 37-003, etc.". The body is also recording exposure details for
each frame but these are not printed on the film. Rather they are stored in the
EOS-1V's electronic memory and can later be transferred to a PC. At that point
you can correlate your physical film with its film ID to the records on the PC
hard drive.
The Custom and Personal Functions
The EOS-1V has 19 custom functions. To move autofocus from the shutter release
button to the AE-lock button, while disabling autoexposure lock, you need to
remember "custom function 4, setting 3". None of the camera's displays are
capable of giving any indication as to what "CF 4-3" actually does. You have to
carry the 142-page manual with you or some sort of wallet card summarizing the
custom functions. Four groups of custom functions can be saved and recalled
quickly using "personal function 0". For example, you could keep a landscape
photography group in Personal Function 0-1, an action sports photography group in
PF 0-2, etc.
There are an additional 29 more "personal functions" that seem similar in
character to the custom functions. These are not fully explained in the owner's
manual and indeed cannot be set with switches on the camera body. To set personal
functions, except for the custom function groups, you must purchase Canon's EOS
Link ES-E1 software product, install it on a computer, plug the EOS-1V into that
computer, and then use the computer keyboard and mouse.
What if you can't find your wallet card or owner's manual right before an
important project? The EOS-1V owner's manual is not available on Canon's Web
site, which is limited to brochures. Instead of copying the PDF files for their
manuals onto their Web site, as Minolta has done, Canon instead paid a graphic
designer to build a lovely page explaining how to purchase an owner's manual by
telephoning them.
Can this be engineered better? Sure. The Minolta Maxxum 7, at about one third
the price of the EOS-1V, includes a bitmap LCD display on the rear of the body.
The Minolta owner does not need to carry around a paper manual because the LCD
screen explains the Maxxum 7's custom functions in plain English (or four other
languages).
We'll have to wait for the EOS-1Z...
Alternatives
The
EOS-3 is substantially cheaper than the EOS-1V and
works just about as well. The EOS-3 does not have the 1V's sophisticated data
recording capabilities and its viewfinder is not quite as nice for eyeglass
wearers. If you want to lose a lot of weight and cost, consider
the Elan 7. Sadly, though, the Elan 7 does not focus very well in
low light. Also, the Elan 7 won't have the tight weather sealing or
industrial-strength reliability of the EOS-3 and EOS-1V.
You can also get the PB-E2 power booster
at Adorama. Adorama is a retailer that pays photo.net a referral fee for each
customer, which helps keep this site in operation.
I find some of the comments on Philip's review a tad too shallow. For starters, my 1V came with a small plastic card with a summary of the custom functions; plus, there is a paper with small stickers that allows the user to stick up to 5 or 6 small "memos" inside the palm door. So I think there is no need to carry the manual. Personally, I am glad that there is no LCD on the back, "a la" Dinax 7. Why? Because one of the reasons I have bought the camera is its weather proofing. I can envisage more than one situation where the back LCD would hit something and be broken.
All in all, this is probably the best EOS film based camera ever, which is to say a lot. I consider it to be a mix between the 1N and the 3, which is just about perfect. The 1N is still a great camera, but it was badly needing some updates for AF and flash metering. The 1V took care of that and then more. It is really a superb camera, with attention to every detail and with the small things that make a difference. For example, I have tested all the metering modes with a midlle toned subject, and all of them gave the right output for 100 ISO. So I know that I can spotmeter from the palm of my hand and open up 2/3 stop to get slightly saturated slides.
This summary review of the EOS 1V is quite accurate. There are a few things that are worth mentioning that were not discussed in the review.
The first is that the EOS 1V has a more accurate shutter than any other EOS camera and uses a new shutter brake technology to reduce vibrations and react more quickly than other shutters (which was necessary to get 10fps).
The EOS 1V also has a viewfinder block built in to the camera, you simply pull a little lever and the viewfinder is covered by an internal screen... all in all much more convenient then with other EOS cameras... if it isn't easy I don't use this feature... and the EOS 1V lets me do this, in order to assure that no light will hit the film plane through the viewfinder/prism... it doesn't happen often, and if it isn't easy to use (with the EOS 3 you have to take off the rubber viewfinder eye cup and put one of the ends of the camera strap over the shutter) you don't bother with this.
Another useful feature that was added to this camera is the often overlooked preselected focus point selector button which allows you to program any of the 45 focus points to be activated when you press the button. I personally use the central focus point (which is the most accurate). If i have the camera in Area-AF and am trying for example to take a picture of a moving animal which runs behind some obstructions (like bushes), which inevitably will "fool" AF systems at times, if the conditions aren't textbook. This button lets me easily switch AF modes and gives me the one most accurate focus point automatically with the touch of a button, as opposed to pressing the AF-mode button, and switching modes, then selecting that one focus point by pressing another button and turning the command dial on the back - very convenient and fast...
It is the small things like this that make the EOS 1V a step above the rest. Yes, it is very similar to the EOS 3... but there is just enough differences to make this the best camera around. But, like a fine wine, you pay a lot of money for small increases in perfection.
Canon EOS-1V is not supposed to be a camera for beginners. Instead of having many features, it gives a few but very precise ones. The handling is very different of the other Canon cameras. The 4 buttons option is very effective in real situations. There is no issue of constantly returning to the manual to check a doubt, if you are using professionally, you know previously what you want and what you need. This is not a display issue, but it is the camera by itself, the set of lens, the tripod, the light meter, the kind of films, the filters, etc You never stop a photo shooting to check the manual, gime-a-break!
If you want an easy going dont look for the real stuff. Canon EOS-1V is years ahead of Minolta, and sorry Peter, of your poor Nikon as also.
If you want an easy going dont look for the real stuff. Canon EOS-1V is years ahead of Minolta, and sorry Peter, of your poor Nikon as also
Please excuse this long comment, but there are a number of worthwhile points that dont seem to be mentioned anywhere else on the web. This information should be of interest to committed amateurs trying to choose between the EOS 1v and the EOS 3.
My picture-taking is a mixed bag of portraiture, candid, landscape and architecture, with a bit of close-up work from time to time. I own two bodies, an EOS 5 and an EOS 3, acquired more recently. Having got used to the much better handling of the EOS 3, its clear that the 5 wont do as a second body, so I must choose whether to trade it in for another EOS 3 or step up to a 1v. I currently have a 1v on loan so what follows is based on direct observation of the camera and the manual.
Like most people who dont make money from their photography, I treat my equipment quite carefully and reliability is never mission-critical. As others have said, if ruggedness is what youre after, its no contest -- get the 1v. Subjectively, it provides about the same step up in build integrity relative to the EOS 3 that the EOS 3 provides relative to the EOS 5, which takes some doing.
Physical construction aside, the handling of these two cameras is almost identical. The custom functions have the same numbers and mostly do the same things. There is one additional function to control the behaviour of the registered-AF-point button and an extra setting on one or two of the original options. EOS 3 users who use the popular settings of CF4-1 (AF assigned to *) and CF13-1 (horizontal AF sel using thumbwheel) will be right at home, although there is a new CF13 option that uses the thumbwheel to manually select the focus points around the outside edge of the AF area. Anyway, it would be no problem to switch between the two bodies without confusion. In my view, the new button for selecting the registered AF point (the centre one for most people) is nearly redundant with CF13-1, because one click of the thumbwheel in either direction serves the same purpose.
Aside from the headline features such as 100% viewfinder coverage, dioptre adjustment, eyepiece shutter, exposure data logging, marginally faster/better AF and marginally better metering, there are two near-trivial items that are very useful in the real world. Firstly, you can alter the long and short timeouts via the personal functions (meaning you have to have the PC-link software -- see below). Maybe other EOS users dont feel as strongly about this, but I find the exposure timeout to be a nuisance for tripod work and the Dep-mode timeout is an even worse irritation. Secondly, another personal function enables trap focus, meaning that you pre-focus the lens and the camera fires automatically when the selected AF sensor gets a lock, which would be invaluable for certain kinds of candid work and shooting moving subjects in macro.
There are a few other benefits that I personally dont feel very passionately about, but others may care more about: There is an M indicator that lights in the viewfinder to indicate manual exposure mode, which might save you from thinking that youre in one of the auto modes and butchering the exposure when youre trying to snatch a shot. There is a proper battery indicator. The film position sensor doesnt fog IR film.
As a final note on the benefits, the viewfinder is indeed better than the EOS 3s in a direct comparison, but theres not much in it. Spectacle wearers may have more to think about here, Im not in a position to judge on that point.
So much for the bouquets, now for the brickbats. If you prefer not to use a power booster, the frame rate in continuous mode is considerably slower than the EOS 3. I find the 3.5fps of the EOS 3 to be adequate for my needs, saving much bulk, weight, money and obtrusiveness. Surprisingly, the 1v is considerably slower than the EOS 3 when running on a 2CR5. I didnt time it against a watch, but it sounds like something like 2-2.5fps. Its about as noisy as the EOS 3, although there is a personal function that enables a silent mode if you let go of the shutter button quickly enough after the shot. (Most of the mechanical noise appears to be generated when the camera re-cocks the shutter, rather than the film wind-on.)
However, I couldnt try out the silent mode (or the trap focus) because these are not custom functions but personal functions (PFs) that can ONLY be enabled by the PC software. How brain-dead is this!? Not only does it mean that you have to go out and spend more money just to enable features that could have been provided as extra CFs, it also means you cant easily alter the settings in the field.
When re-loading a film into the body, there is no way to suppress the film-id imprinting, so any existing id will get overwritten, which is another oversight its hard to see an excuse for. Less importantly but somewhat oddly, there is no way to reset the film roll count on the camera -- maybe it can be done via the PC software.
There are a couple of final points that apply to anyone thinking about pairing a 1v and an EOS 3. Maybe somebody else can confirm this, but I suspect that the film-id imprinting before the first frame means that youll get incorrect registration if you take a partly exposed film out of one of the bodies and load it into the other. Also, the PF for extending the timeouts might make switching between bodies more awkward when the EOS 3 will still be running on the short timeouts.
In summary I agree with Matthews comment about fine wine -- the EOS 3 is a fine camera but 1v is just that bit finer in a lot of areas. The only outright wins for the EOS 3 are the ECF and the higher frame rate without a booster, while most of my complaints relate to features that the EOS 3 doesnt even have in the first place. However, for me, the main improvements are very much diminishing returns, and not worth the stack of extra cash that would be better spent on that 135mm f2L Ive been thinking about...
[I owe a big thank you to Aperture Photographic (www.aperturephotographic.com) for letting me take the 1v on a try-out at home; thats what I call personal service and Id recommend them highly to anyone who needs equipment or service in London. They keep an extensive used stock and offer new equipment at some of the best prices I have found in the UK.]
Most digital SLRs including Canon's 1D (a digital version of the 1v HS) allow custom functions to be set from the rear LCD. One notable exception was the original D1 (what were Nikon thinking). They definitely make setting and checking custom functions easy.
Given the cost of the 1V, a rear LCD would have been a nice. The should have thrown in the PC software for free too.
One other thing that would be nice would be a battery grip with vertical controls. Not everyone needs the power booster.
However, since the 1V seems to be much better for eye glass wearers, has 100% viewfinder coverage and an eyepiece shutter, I would buy it over the EOS 3.
This is one camera I would have gotten had I had the money at the time, but I ended up with an Elan 7 which suits me fine. With the 1V I like the idea of the bigger viewfinder and ability to use manual focus lenses and bellows on this body with adapters. Its also more rugged with my rough abuse on cameras, and water repellant in this rainy part of the world. The used prices of these cameras are becoming affordable and 1Vs are starting to appear on the market used. I don't think Canon will produce a new revised version of this body, 1Z if you call it. I have read that this camera can underexpose 2/3rds a stop compared to other models, but I'm unsure how common this is. I may get a 5D replacement come 2010. I still use film more even with having a digital P&S now. Instead of buying a 1V, I saved my money and got a used 1N with grip. If I still use film a lot in the next 5 years, I still may get me a new 1V, but I doubt that will happen now I have a 1N. At the moment used 1V bodies go for $600 to $1000 US used.
a quick question about my 1V. i recently purchased it refurbished from adorama. it was refurbished by canon, if that matters, and when i look through the view finder and set the focusing point to center it appears to be slighlty off center, but in further inspection it isnt. the thing is its not right in the center of the circle of the view finder, with or without a lens.
i know this sounds confusing.
im not sure if this is a big deal or not. i still have a warrenty on it. should i send it back to get fixed?
Hi Guys,
I have a problem, I live in Dublin, Ireland. And Canon has discontinued the Eos 1V-HS in Europe, along with the Charger NC-E2 and batteries NP-E2.
I am going to be out in Utah for the month of June, but any of the untied states websites Ive looked at have also either discontinued the product or do not have it in stock.
Does Anyone here know where I can purchase a New 1V-HS with the battery and charger? Or has it completely been discontinued?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Please email me on farrisgerard@gmail.com
Thanks again.
There is only one good thing about buying an electronic equipment 10 years after its first production. The price drops to 1/20 of the initial. As a happy previous owner of the EOS 5 and then EOS 3 cameras, I must say that the 1v is closest to perfection than anything else I owned in the past. There is indeed a certain difficulty to remember all the custom functions by heart, but who needs them anyway? In auto mode, the white balance is perfect, the shutter opens and closes like a marvel, and if I keep the center AF meter locked, I have perfect focusing at all times. So, until the day the film dies, I will keep this beauty in my bag...
Hi Nikos,
I do have the same beauty! It is absolutely "stunning" So accurate compare to the DSLR today. I used to be a film shooter and still do it. Digital is amazing but the white balance is something else sometime...
Film, there is nothing to struggle with. love the 1 V!
Eric
