How to Use a Canon T90 (with Pictures)

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

The Canon T90 is a professional roll-up SLR camera that, in the digital age, can be bought for less than some people would pay for a camera strap. Some might be slightly intimidated by the most advanced manual focus camera ever made. If that's the case for you, and you don't feel like going through a 126-page manual, this guide will tell you how to use one of these legendary cameras.

Steps

Part 1 of 2: Preparation

Step 1. Check the battery, if you have one inserted

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  Open the side panel, then press and hold the battery control button (indicated). Do not press the manual rewind button on the roll, which is located below it.

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  Check the LCD on top. It will show "BC". It will also show up to three bars at the bottom (each consisting of three small notches). If you see two or three, then you can rest easy. If you only see one, it might be enough for a roll, but it's a good idea to carry supplies with you. If you don't see any, then you should replace the batteries as soon as possible (although the camera will work fine until they are completely discharged).

Step 2. Replace the batteries if necessary

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  Unlock the battery compartment. The catch is located on the right side of the machine (when viewed from the rear). Pull the lever and rotate the latch counterclockwise.

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  Remove the battery compartment. The compartment is a bit flimsy, so don't yank it.

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  Insert the batteries into the compartment. You will need 4 AA batteries, zinc-carbon (the "heavy" cheap ones), alkaline or Nickel Cadmium. Canon does not explicitly mention the use of Nickel Metal batteries, so you can use them at your own risk. Make sure you insert them with the + and - ends facing right as shown on the battery compartment.

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  Reinsert the battery compartment. Towards the end you may need to apply some pressure on the battery compartment so you can snap it into place. It's normal. Rotate the latch clockwise to securely engage the compartment.

Step 3. Enter the goal

There are two types of Canon FD lenses, which are inserted in slightly different ways. Note that the red dots in the images are not perfectly aligned as the description suggests they should be; this was necessary to prevent the lenses from popping out while the pictures were taken… sorry.

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  Lenses without chrome locking rings:

  sometimes they are called "New FD" or "FD-n" lenses. Align the red dot on the lens with the one on the camera body. If you're looking at it from the front, grab the aperture ring and rotate the lens clockwise until it clicks (you will hear an unmistakable click when it clicks).

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  Lenses with chrome locking rings:

  align the red dot on the locking ring with the dot on the camera body. Gently twist the locking ring until it is tight enough. These lenses never fully lock, as New FD lenses do (and like most other cameras). Tighten it as much as you feel comfortable, but be careful not to over tighten.

Step 4. Set the lens aperture ring to "A"

In aperture priority mode, this is set by the machine, not by the aperture ring. If it is not already on "A", you will have to press a button to put it in position "A".

Step 5. Make sure the measurement stop switch is not pressed

It does not matter what its function is, but it is the switch on the right side (as seen from the front) of the lens mounted on the camera. If it is pressed as shown, push it towards the lens and then release it (the metering stop switch has its functions, particularly for using some non-Canon FD lenses on the T90, but if you are using lenses Canon FD you won't have to worry about it. This is the main cause of "EEEE EEE" errors).

Step 6. Turn on the viewfinder display

Open the door on the side again and check the switch at the top, called "FINDER". Rotate it to the central position, that is, on the filled circle. This will cause some important lettering to light up in the viewfinder, so you'll want to leave it on if you're not too low on battery.

Step 7. Load the roll

This procedure is mostly automatic. All you need to do is this:

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  Turn on the camera. Put the main switch in position "A", as shown in the image.

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  Open the back of the car. The buttons to do this are on the right side of the machine (if you are looking at it from the back). Press and hold the button marked "1" in the figure, while pushing the switch marked "2" down. The back will open.

• Insert a roll of film into the slot on the left. There is only one way it can be entered, so don't lose sleep on this thing.
• Be very careful not to touch the shutter blades. They are very precise and delicate components. Don't touch them, ever.

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  Pull out the roll carriage. Extend it until its edge reaches the orange index marker, as shown in the figure. Make sure the perforations on the film line up with the spools just to the left of the charge spool.

• Close the back of the car. The T90 will automatically load the film and set the correct ISO speed.

Part 2 of 2: Shoot

Step 1. Familiarize yourself with the three basic controls

We'll refer to two of these by their names later, so learn them now:

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  The main switch, which is not a real power switch (the camera is always on). This switch has two positions, L and A (respectively "Latched and" Auto ", or" Off "and" On ", for us mere mortals). you may press the shutter button inadvertently), then hold it to "L" while not using it.

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  The shutter button

  This will produce a "click".

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  The control dial

  This is the large dial that sits just below the shutter button.

Step 2. Select a shooting mode

Open the door on the right side of the machine. Below, you'll notice a switch with two positions, S-C and a clock icon. We will call it the "shooting mode switch", and we will refer to the large yellow button in the center as the "shooting mode button". These are your shooting possibilities:

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  Continuous mode, high speed

  This will cause the T90 to continue shooting after the film has been rewound starting at the next frame, as long as you hold the shutter button down, at a speed of 4 1/2 frames per second. You can use this setting in low light conditions, at shutter speeds that are too slow to get sharp hand-held shots 100% of the time (take multiple photos, pick the sharpest), or just because it sounds wonderful. Be careful, as this will burn 36-exposure film in about 8 seconds.

  To enter this shooting mode, turn the shooting mode switch to the S-C position, then press the shooting mode button in the center until an arrow appears next to the letter H on the left side of the LCD at the top.

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  Continuous mode, low speed

  Operation is similar to the above, but only advances at two frames per second. To enter this mode, turn the shooting mode switch to the S-C position, then press the shooting mode button until an arrow appears next to the "L" on the top LCD.

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  Single shot mode

  This results in a single shot for each single press of the shutter button, no matter how long you hold it down (the film still advances automatically). This could be useful if you are taking still images and are paranoid about wasting film. To use it, turn the shooting mode switch to the S-C position until an arrow appears next to "SINGLE" on the top LCD.

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  Self-timer

  This mode is most useful when shooting from a tripod at long exposures; the delay between the release and the pressure of the shutter will ensure that all vibrations caused by the pressure are dissipated. To turn on the self timer, turn the shooting mode switch on the clock icon, then press the shooting mode button to select the timer delay at 2 or 10 seconds (an arrow will appear next to the 2 or 10 on the LCD at the top, as you choose from these).

Step 3. Go outdoors

Looking at great photos is one thing, learning how to take them is another. But if you want to take your own, you need to get up, get your gear ready and go outside. To do this, you'll need to avoid some common habits and pitfalls that keep people in the house looking at photos (or worse, make them talk about taking more photos), rather than letting them go out and take. Forget about habits like not trusting your ability to take great photos, or believing that all good photos have already been taken; your perspective is unique and it is absolutely worth representing it in photography.

Step 4. Select a shooting mode

A knowledge of camera exposure can come in handy here. The T90 will automatically set the aperture, shutter speed, or both. This will depend on the mode you select. Then, hold down the "Mode" button while turning the main control dial. You will see different things, like "Tv, Av, Program", etc. appear on the top LCD. Here are the ones you need to be interested in:

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  P., for the automatic program. This will set both aperture and shutter speed for you, and try to find a combination that works for most people, most of the time. Once in P mode, rotate the command dial to switch between different combinations of aperture or shutter speed. It's called a program change. Note that this is NOT the same as Exposure Compensation (discussed below), where a shot is deliberately under or overexposed. It simply chooses different combinations (for example, 1/30 at f / 4, or 1/125 at f / 2, rather than the preset 1/60 at f / 2.8), while keeping the exposure unchanged. You can move two stops in each direction.

  (You may have noticed a "P" mode, but it is not the same as "Program". "Program" does not allow you to switch between aperture and shutter speed combinations).

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  Av, or aperture priority, means you rotate the main control dial to select an aperture, while the camera automatically chooses an appropriate shutter speed. Turning the control dial left will select a wider aperture (smaller f-number, i.e. shorter depth of field and faster shutter speeds), while turning it right will select a narrower aperture (the opposite of before).

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  TV, or shutter priority, means that you choose a shutter speed, while the camera automatically sets an aperture for you. This can be useful if you want to force a fast shutter speed to capture motion (or to avoid camera shaking), or if you want a slower shutter speed to blur motion (like those beautiful photos of blurry water you see around.). Once in TV mode, turning the control dial right will select a faster shutter speed, while turning it left will select a slower one.

Step 5. Set Exposure Compensation if you need it

The T90's sensor is relatively simple and centered in the middle (meaning it pays more attention to light in the center of the frame than it pays to light sources all around). It is not smart enough to know which light subjects should be kept light, nor which dark subjects should be kept that way. This is where exposure compensation comes in; this forces the camera to use a longer or shorter shutter speed (in P and Av mode), or a wider or narrower aperture (in TV mode) than it normally would, forcing it to overexpose or underexpose.

To set exposure compensation, hold down the exposure compensation button (labeled "EXP. COMP.") And rotate the main control dial at the same time. Each click on the control dial is a third of a stop, so you can force the shutter speed to be a third longer than it would automatically, for example. Rotate the dial to the right to overexpose, and to the left to underexpose. You will notice that the exposure compensation indicator on the top LCD changes, as shown in the figure. It shows "2", towards the right in the center, indicating double the normal exposure, or one stop.

Some examples of situations in which you will need exposure compensation:

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  Strongly backlit subjects

  You may want to add two stops of overexposure (so that the indicator on the LCD moves all the way to the right, in the "4" position).

• Snow.

  The T90 isn't smart enough to know that snow is snow, and that it should be kept bright, so it will attempt to expose it in a way that makes it gray. You may want to add two-thirds of a stop to one full stop, or even more.

• Clear sunsets.

  If you don't use some underexposure you will miss out on some nice details of the sky. Try underexposing by two-thirds of a stop if you're using a roll roll. This will also ensure that the shadows remain dark, as they should be.

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  Roll reciprocity

  Many films have problems when exposure times become very long; require additional exposure as shutter speeds increase. This is called "reciprocity failure". The now-dead Kodachrome, for example, required overexposure for speeds as short as a tenth of a second. Most films aren't that bad, but still require overexposure at longer speeds. Find the documentation of your roll; it will tell you how much extra exposure you will need.

Step 6. Press the shutter button very gently and look through the viewfinder

You need to take care of the following things in your viewfinder:

• Shutter speed.

  This is the shutter speed that you have selected (in TV mode), or that the camera has chosen for you (In P or Av mode). It is located at the bottom of the viewfinder, slightly to the left.

• Opening.

  This is the pair of red digits at the bottom of the viewfinder, just to the left of the center. Indicates which aperture you have set (in Av mode), or which aperture the machine has selected for you (in P or Tv mode).

• How many shots did you use.

  This is the indicator on the right side of the viewfinder.

• The split-image.

  You will see three circles in the center of your viewfinder. The innermost one is a split-image range detector, a focus aid which we will discuss later.

• The micro-prismatic ring.

  The second innermost circle mentioned here is another focus aid, and we'll talk about that later as well.

• Other things.

  If you see a "+/-" in your viewfinder, this indicates that you have set exposure compensation. If you see an "M" in the viewfinder, it means that you have skipped step 4 of the "Preparation" section.

Step 7. Focus

Rotate the focus ring on your lens. As mentioned earlier, you have two focus aids. The split-image in the range detector will make vertical lines appear as though they are split in half; when the image in your viewfinder is in focus, the vertical lines will merge.

The other focus aid is your micro-prism ring. When the subjects are out of focus, the image area inside the micro-prism ring will blink; when they are focused, it will stop blinking.

Step 8. Take your photo

Press the shutter button all the way down. The shutter will click and you can move on to the next wonderful subject to photograph.

Step 9. Continue shooting until your roll is finished

Once done, the roll will rewind automatically.

Step 10. Open the back of the camera and pop the roll out of its housing

Get your images developed, and don't forget to show them to the world!

Advice

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  The T90 has an excellent feature called "safety shift". This means that if you've selected an aperture in Av (Aperture Priority) mode that requires a slower or faster shutter speed than the T90 is capable of to get proper exposure, it will automatically be selected for you. a wider or narrower opening. Similarly, in Tv mode, if you select a shutter speed that requires a wider or narrower aperture than your lens allows, your choice of shutter speed will be bypassed, and the camera will automatically select a faster speed. or slower than the one you selected.

  To turn on your safety shifter, press and hold the two buttons labeled "SAFETY SHIFT" at the same time (as shown in the picture), until "SS" appears on your LCD at the top. To turn it off, do exactly the same thing until the "SS" disappears.

• The T90 is a car that is 25 years old; if something is not working as it should, and you are sure that you have performed all the steps correctly, take your camera to a specialist who can repair film cameras.