Canon T80

Canon T80 Review

Russell handed me the Canon T80 as the first - of hopefully many… - for me to head out and test shoot and suffice to say, he received a rather puzzled look in return. I was hopeful to jump straight in to all the good stuff; the cameras I had always dreamed of being able to afford but this had me somewhat taken aback.

After a bit of time fiddling around with it and browsing through an online manual I figured I had it all sussed out, simple and easy enough I thought, it’s basically an oversized point and shoot, right? So made my way out to give it a go. We had loaded a roll of Kentmere Pan 400 which is a firm favourite for me personally - contrast and grain are exactly what I aim for! 

Once I was out and had eyed up my first shot my hands went into autopilot mode and I was trying to find an aperture ring that wasn’t there, a focus ring that wasn’t where or what I was expecting it to be and I well and truly had to take a step back and rethink. I turned the camera on - might have forgotten about that initially - lined up my shot and half pressed the shutter release and so began the cameras attempts to autofocus. This is where my lesson really began! 

The camera searches and searches for focusing points and trying to take the shot before it found somewhere else to aim for took a little bit of getting used to, but once in the swing of things and used to its quirks, wasn’t actually too challenging. I shot through the roll within an hour or two taking a mixture of wide landscape shots as well as close ups to really explore what the focus was capable of.

It is genuinely a pleasant camera to shoot, surprisingly comfortable in hand and lightweight despite the bulky look, the lack of buttons and dials and easily accessible layout mean it can be shot one handed with little effort, the viewfinder is clear and bright with minimal interference or distraction. Definitely worth noting that it is absolutely not a quiet or discrete camera - once I had reached the last shot of the roll it started beeping at me ominously which certainly turned some heads on the walk back down to the shop, the auto-rewind even louder still! Overall pleased with the outcome of the roll, very grainy, which may not be to some people's liking, punchy contrast, again down to personal preference but particularly noticeable on this roll as it was a very bright overcast day with little cloud detail, causing a bit of a washed out look on some shots.

Technical Info:

Canon T80 shot using Canon AC 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 and 75-200mm f/4.5 lenses.

Kentmere Pan 400 developed in Tetenal Paranol S, Tetenal Indicet stop and Ilford rapid fixer.

By Sarah