The camera that put full program auto-exposure into Canon's mainstream SLR line.
Program mode is the point of it. The camera sets both shutter speed and aperture on its own, and steps back to shutter priority or full manual when it is told to.
It is an electronic body, so without a battery it will not fire at all.
That combination, a program mode that asks nothing of the person holding it and a body sold in enormous numbers, is why it is so often somebody's first SLR.
Tips and observations from people who have used this camera.
My first camera and still one of my favorites. It's cheap, it's not hyped the way the Contax and Olympus compacts are, and it's just a genuinely good SLR. The FD glass behind it is a bargain and the whole thing is easy to live with. Two practical notes. The meter is center-weighted and runs optimistic, so bright skies or windows in the frame will underexpose everything else. I shot a lot of rolls trusting it straight and got thin, flat frames. There's no exposure compensation dial, so use the ISO dial and rate negative film a bit below box speed. And the battery: sometimes it lasts ages, but forget to flip the switch back to L and it drains fast. Fully electronic body, so no battery means no camera, not even a mechanical fallback. Carry a spare. Neither of those is a reason not to buy one. Get a good copy and it'll do everything.
