Breathing new life into an old SLR

camroc76

Hi All,

Have an old but very reliable Canon EOS 500n SLR to hand and want to as the title notes breathe some new life in the thing. It's in good (not perfect) working order abet needing a solid professional clean to the body (hasn't being used in 8 years or so).

Am guessing I am fairly limited to what i can actually do other than buy an additional wide angle lens and such.

Any suggestions appreciated

Silva360

You could try to have it converted into an infra red camera. I don't know it that's your thing, but it would certainly breath new life into it....

Silva360

Ps, I was assuming that this is an old second body, if it's not then forget my suggestion.

camroc76

Silva360 wrote: »

Ps, I was assuming that this is an old second body, if it's not then forget my suggestion.

Thanks Silva, want to keep it operating as is, but excellent suggestion never the less !

flyingsnail

The 500N is a film SLR and according to this (canon.com/camera-museum) it has an EF mount, that means it should be compatible with current EF (Not EF-S) lens. I would say get a roll of film and go have a play with it.

If you wanted to try infrared you don't need any modifications just a roll of infra red film

Uncle Ben

camroc76 wrote: »

Hi All,

Have an old but very reliable Canon EOS 500n SLR to hand and want to as the title notes breathe some new life in the thing. It's in good (not perfect) working order abet needing a solid professional clean to the body (hasn't being used in 8 years or so).

Am guessing I am fairly limited to what i can actually do other than buy an additional wide angle lens and such.

Any suggestions appreciated

I was actually thinking about this yesterday when I saw all of the snow around. I have an old Cosina C... with plenty of bits and pieces which I collected over the years. I used to love taking the slide film on it and the results were always first class with this little camera. It's probably worth nothing today however I'll give it a dusting off and a new battery and see what happens.

thefizz

I used to own this model, it's a good camera.

210

I have been trying for a while to coax some wide angle photos without success from my trusty and now reasonably old Nikon D80 digital camera. I also had my old nikon F 55 film camera in the bottom of a drawer. What I found is that when I put my 50 mm lens on the film camera the difference in view is pretty impressive with the old film camera giving a much wider angle of view with the same lens. I bought two batteries off ebay for a few quid and just need now to find where to pick up some black and white film. Then of course there is the small matter of where to go for developing. Been great fun so far breathing a bit of life back into the old camera & for cheap wider angle photos it's the way to go.

camroc76

210 wrote: »

I have been trying for a while to coax some wide angle photos without success from my trusty and now reasonably old Nikon D80 digital camera. I also had my old nikon F 55 film camera in the bottom of a drawer. What I found is that when I put my 50 mm lens on the film camera the difference in view is pretty impressive with the old film camera giving a much wider angle of view with the same lens. I bought two batteries off ebay for a few quid and just need now to find where to pick up some black and white film. Then of course there is the small matter of where to go for developing. Been great fun so far breathing a bit of life back into the old camera & for cheap wider angle photos it's the way to go.

Had a chat with a mate who had suggested using a tilt shift lens if I was going to use the ould thing for wide angle shooting, kinda pricey mind .
Thanks for the suggestions so far !

thefizz

camroc76 wrote: »

Hi All,

Have an old but very reliable Canon EOS 500n SLR to hand and want to as the title notes breathe some new life in the thing. It's in good (not perfect) working order abet needing a solid professional clean to the body (hasn't being used in 8 years or so).

Am guessing I am fairly limited to what i can actually do other than buy an additional wide angle lens and such.

Any suggestions appreciated

Why do you feel limited with this camera?

camroc76

thefizz wrote: »

Why do you feel limited with this camera?

To be honest, it hasn't being used in well over 8 years so it isn't a case of feeling limited, simply a case of not using it at all. Have a Canon 1100 which does the job just fine, just exploring the option on the 500n ! It has done a few tours of Oz and Asia, so don't want to get rid of it

thefizz

camroc76 wrote: »

To be honest, it hasn't being used in well over 8 years so it isn't a case of feeling limited, simply a case of not using it at all. Have a Canon 1100 which does the job just fine, just exploring the option on the 500n ! It has done a few tours of Oz and Asia, so don't want to get rid of it

All you can do is stick a roll of film into it and see if you like the experience.