Canon EOS 10S (1990)

Last May, Scott Smith was at the Utah Film Photography Worldwide Headquarters (my house) to develop some 4×5 sheets he’d shot with his newly acquired Graflex. We used a tank that would hold ten sheets and required over a half gallon of chemistry. I’m not doing that again. I’ll stick with 4 sheets in the Stearman Press SP445. Anyway, I digress. Scott showed me a Canon EOS 10S that he had purchased earlier that day. Both Scott and I have owned Canon digital gear over that past decade. He has sold most of his Canon gear but kept a Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS USM L-Series lens. Because the EF lens mounts were the same, he paired this lens with the 10S. While Scott developed film, I played with the camera. Autofocus and image stabilization worked as quickly as it would on my Canon 6D and I was impressed. The next day, I went hunting on eBay and bought a mint Canon 10S for $10, including shipping. In the last six months, the 10S has become one of my favorite cameras, and the closest I want my film and digital worlds to get to another.

Introduced in March 1990 by Canon, the 10S (10QD in Japan, 10 in Europe) is an autofocus 35mm SLR camera. The camera features a Multi-BASIS AF sensor. This sensor gives the photographer three autofocus viewpoints. Many of the design elements and features of the 10S still remain on Canon’s DSLR cameras. For example, the command dial is nearly the same: automatic and creative modes, P Program, TV Shutter Priority, AV Aperture Priority, M Manual. The LCD on the top displays your selection of focus modes like one shot, AI Servo, AI Focus. Shutter speeds are 30 sec to 1/4000th sec, bulb and flash sync up to 1/125th sec. Film speeds can range from ISO 6 to 6400. With the meter and exposure controls, the camera has 15 custom functions from autobracketing to multiple exposure. The automatic advance allows you to shoot 5 fps in One-Shot Autofocus and Manual modes, or 3 fps in AI Servo mode.

One thing I personally like is the camera design. Because I’ve owned 4 different Canon DSLR bodies over that last 11 years, the layout of the buttons and features are all familiar to me. When I want to change the f-stop, I quickly know where to place my finger. While three autofocus points don’t sound like a lot, the simplicity works. It makes the 61 selectable focal points on a Canon 5DMIV DSLR extreme overkill. I enjoy using Canon L-series lenses like the 24-105 f/4 and 70-200 f2.8. One thing I’ve learned over the last 4 years is I don’t like heavy SLR cameras. The 10S only weighs 625 g (1.4 lbs), but when you use a lens like the 70-200 f/2.8, you add another 1490 g (3.28 lbs). The 10S uses a single 6V 2CR5 lithium battery. Even though it’s a common battery, I paid more for the battery than the camera.

I’ve shot 4 rolls with this camera and will be posting the results over the next few weeks. Plus, next week I want to cover the most interesting part of the 10S, the Canon SLR Barcode Reader. Yes, think grocery-store-beeping-barcode reader.

Camera: Canon EOS 10S (1990)
Lens: Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS USM L-Series
Film: Kosmo Foto Mono 100
Process: Kodak D76 (1+1) 10:00 Min @ 20°
Scanner: Epson V600 Photo