Throwback Edit Version: I edited this in March 2025, checked the links and converted it to the new WordPress blocks format if needed.

When you are searching for Canon SLRs in Japan you are lucky to find anything other than a Kiss. This may sound interesting, but kiss after kiss after kiss can be quite tiresome. In the USA the same camera is called, the “Rebel”. So I guess a kiss is better than a rebel. Anyway, I was happy to find a 1000 QD…and then I found out it was basically a rebel and a kiss, bugger. Oh well, I might as well try it out.

I got the body for less than $10 and the lens separately for about the same. This camera was introduced in 1990 and has a built-in flash. There is nothing different or special about this camera. If you are looking for a film camera, this will do very well. But there are much cooler and sharper cameras around. The mode selection dial for Canon hasn’t changed much over the years and when you see this camera from 30 years ago, it seems familiar.

My example seemed to have a focusing issue as it sometimes struggled to lock onto my chosen target. However. it didn’t help that this was one of the wettest months I have ever known in my whole life and it is set to continue into the next. Each day seemed to have been rainy and dull. It made testing cameras quite difficult at times and quite depressing on the whole. For this test, I went to a park near where I sometimes buy cameras. For the rest of the film, I was stuck around my place of work.

 

Once the camera finally locked onto the subject, it performed really well. But due to the length of time it took for that to happen, I often got quite frustrated. I ended up chucking the camera and selling the lens. I don’t think I will buy another Canon SLR as I have an AE1 (famous last words) which I haven’t blogged about yet.