can I just talk about the Canon T50 for a minute though? because wow, what a great camera that was (now sadly deceased, R.I.P.
). some pics I took with it:
it's the program mode from the AE-1 Program repurposed in a simple easy to use consumer oriented package. that's all it has, one auto-exposure mode. but wow is it one heck of an auto-exposure mode. this essentially makes it a point and shoot but like
a really feckin good point and shoot. it uses canon FD lenses, bloody brilliant by P&S standards. it has TTL metering, exceptionally accurate for a P&S. oh yeah and it's an SLR so every picture is exactly as you composed it when you took the shot.
it's made of black plastic, has a very lightweight feel and a very inconspicuous look to it which all adds to it's P&S like nature. you can't put it in your pocket but other than that it's very portable for an SLR.
the program mode is fantastic and will almost always do a better job of choosing exposure settings than you would. this is partly because of it's use of stepless shutter speed settings (or in any case the steps are very fine) which allows extraordinarily accurate exposure. and it seems to tend towards widest depth of field / smallest aperture which you may or may not like but it has the effect of keeping things bang-on sharp.
if the camera alerts you that it's out of it's exposure range you can actually take it a little further with it's simple manual mode. the camera locks to 1/60 of a second when you take the lens out of auto, so just estimate the EV value you are trying to attain and set the appropriate aperture and you should be able to go a few stops beyond the program mode.
it has some limitations like it cannot do bulb mode without the proprietary remote cable.
it's such a joy to use. the only things you need to worry about is composing the shot and focusing and quickly checking for exposure warnings. that's it.
I keep experiencing similar things with my Canon FD cameras. Admittedly I'm a noob when it comes to film, but I've found it difficult to get the film to wrap around the take-up spool properly. Sounds to me like that's your problem; it's just not winding correctly. Next time you shoot a roll, make sure you watch the rewind crank when you advance the film. If it's not turning then you know you have a problem.
I've already received my adapter for the FD lenses, which is very well built, looks promising. The manufacturer says that metering will still work with it, and even aperture priority mode will work, but I don't see how that's possible...it doesn't have any kind of electronic connection that I can see to transmit that kind of data. Guess I'll find out tonight!
