Having used small Canon EOS SLR’s as a travel / everyday camera for a while, when I came across this Kiss IIIL with it’s Panorama mode, I was rather interested. The Canon EOS line is very reliable, and I haven’t had many that don’t work, so it was worth a bid.

Won for around £7 for the body, and arrived a week or so later it is in really good condition, and as expected worked fine.

It seemed like a worthy upgrade to the EOS 500 and 300V - they are all basically the same, but with different bodies. The Kiss IIIL is the Japanese branding of the EOS 300, with the L version coming out in 2001. It features (in Canon’s own words) ungraded chic metallic charcoal grey body, enhanced metallic mode dial, a stainless steel shutter button and illuminated LCD panel for unencumbered operation at night! - It must be good then!

What drew me to this model was the Panorama mode. All it is really is a frame mask that creates the panorama shape by reducing the 36x24mm frame size to 36x16mm. As it is just a case of flicking the switch on the back, you can opt to get a pano at any time, and not have to changed the film mask before loading film. I don’t think there a that many options to get a camera with this. The Ricoh R1 does have it, but that is a point & shoot. The only other SLR’s I could find were some EOS500’s and Minolta’s Maxxum STsi.

Canon EOS Kiss IIIL - Fujifilm 400 - Tamron 28-200mm

I have to say I really like this feature - obviously it is not as good as a dedicated panoramic camera shooting full height negatives, but as a bonus it is great fun. Also the Fujifilm 400 film has really captured the late Autumn / early winter light well. Most of these shots were using the Tamron 28-200 71DE lens to give the ability to get wide and telephoto compositions.

This was the first frost of the year, and I shot nearly a whole roll of 36 in one morning - usually a film sits in the camera for weeks, but the light was incredible.

Canon EOS Kiss IIIL - Fujifilm 400 - Canon 100-300mm

You can see the reduction is resolution, but as long as you don’t blow it up too much it is not an issue.

The option of having this panoramic crop on top of the usual features is a real bonus, and I’m glad I got the camera. My only proper panoramic camera is the KMZ Horizont which is heavy, awkward to use and is really only a bit of fun with it’s distorted lines.

It is funny how a few years ago there was not a single Canon camera in my collection, but as time has gone by, they have really grown on me. I have now gone through most of the T range, and a good portion of the EOS range. This Kiss IIIL is one that will stay and that is largely down to that little panorama switch on the back!

Panorama mode on the Canon EOS Kiss IIIL

Folding fantastic Kodak 66…

Buying cameras for the name!