1st Camera Review on SCM - Canon Autoboy N150

1st Camera Review - Canon Autoboy N150

First thing first...I am not a professional photographer...I would say I am a camera enthusiast/hobbyist.

I primarily shoot at box speed and color negs. My favourite films are Kodak Portra 400, Kodak Gold 400, Fujifilm Proo400H, and Fujifilm Natura 1600. For black and white are Kodak Tri-X, Ilford XP2 Super 400 and Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100.

I am also not technical as in if they are features on the camera I just accept it as a bonus and see if it helps with my shooting.

What I look for in a camera is the look, feel and ease of use. How I will do the reviews is whether the camera will give me good or bad images. Hey! I am just pointing and shooting trying to capture what I see trusting the camera does it's job.

Some details I can find on the web the Canon Autoboy N150 was released in May 2004. It was also known as Sure Shot 150u in USA and Prima Super 150u in EU.

Its crazy how they could cramp this 38-150mm, f/5.6-11.3 lens (9 elements in 7 groups) all withing a 107 (w) x 58.7 (h) x 51.5 mm (d) body... its palm size.

Direct from the Canon Muesum - The camera incorporates a combined AF/AE (Auto-Focus/Auto-Exposure) CMOS sensor in its passive 3-point AiAF (Artificial intelligence Automatic Focusing) system. By linking focusing and exposure control to the zoom and focusing points, the AF/AE CMOS sensor makes possible finer exposure control and precise focus performance, while passive 3-point AiAF focusing enables the camera to accurately identify the main subject, even when it does not appear in the center of the frame.

What all that means is it should be bloody easy to focus and maybe have correct exposures.

This camera continues to be packed full of features if flash is turned off the system will turn on +/- 1.5EV exposure compensation. It has multi shooting modes like Auto, Action, Night Portrait, Portrait, and Macro.

Back in the day even with its plastic body this was tooted as a high end camera. Guess it would be with its very capable lens and all that tech in a small silver body.

Ok lets get down to the reviewing the camera:

Power: The camera takes 1x CR2 battery - widely available and it last a long time.

Design/Aesthetics: Personally I like the design its smooth curved places are right for your hands. All the buttons are clearly visible and placed ergonomically you are able to reach all the buttons with both hands easily. Using dual silver/chrome color scheme makes it sleek looking.

Feels: Its very light weight (200g) which kinda throws me off as usually premium cameras has a weight to them. You forget this camera is jammed pack with technology to make taking photos easy. I guess which the aim of Canon back in the day make the best P&S for everybody.

Use: Haha! yes, very very easy to use. Pop in the film close the door automatically reels the negs. I shot the whole time in Auto Mode and turned on flash only went I needed to. The viewfinder is big, bright and clear with frame lines to help you easily frame your shots. While shooting on Auto it always correctly selected the correct shooting modes shot a subject up-close it selected potrait mode. I zoomed in it selected macro... yup its awesome!

Conclusion: The camera is a keeper excellent for the travelling or the everyday. Hang it around your neck or chuck it in your bag and not worry about it. Nothing sticks out other than the lens tracking and retracting went turned on. So just get a case for the camera if you are worried it turns on in the bag. Yeah it may have zoom but you must have very steady hands to shoot anything. The camera is best used at it's based lens 38mm f5.6. The tiny built in flash is very bright perfect for indoors shooting.

The test film used Fujifilm Superia Premium 400 - Regular C41 dev and scan at Do! Film Labs - please check out the samples below.

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Trying out the zoom lens - Captured at the insection of George and Liverpool St directly across from Worldsquare - we see the 3 Wise Monkeys Pub.