Canon SureShot Owl

It's a seemingly lowly plastic point and shoot that punches way above its class in ease of use, image quality and fun.

The first thing you notice about the Canon Sure Shot Owl is the huge viewfinder. It’s big and bright and really does contribute to making this simple plastic camera a joy to use. The viewfinder is centered over and very close to the taking lens. Parallax is not an issue, even at the camera’s one meter close focus limit. On the topic of focuc, the auto focus is pretty good but can be fooled. You have to set your expectations.

Those of us used to modem DSLRs and mirrorless cameras may expect perfect precise focus of whatever is in the little rectangle in the middle of the viewfinder. That’s not how these old cheap point and shoots from the 90s work. The Canon Owl has a three zone system. This basically aligns with the “one bloke,” “bunch of blokes,” and “mountain” settings you see on zone focus cameras. I got several mis-focused closeups as well as a few sharp ones. If there’s a secret to getting every frame sharply focused, I never found it.

However the frames that were in focus were very sharp. The 35mm f3.8 prime on this little camera is very good! It was one of Canon’s early uses of “GMO” technology. It’s not a genetically modified organism. This GMO stands for “Glass, Moldable.” Molten glass is injected into a lens shaped mold rather than being ground into shape in the traditional lens making process. This method was later used to make some of Canon's amazing EF autofocus lenses. In the Owl's case the technology produced a nice little lens that renders sharp and snappy images on film. Especially on color negative film.

The first roll I ran through the Owl was Holga 400 black and white. The results were okay but the camera shines shooting color. When I loaded up Kodak Ultramax 400 I fell deeply in like with the camera. If you want that 90s direct flash look that’s all the rage, you don’t have to drop a couple of thousand bucks on a Contax. Get yourself one of these $30 deals, set the flash to “always on” and shoot subjects a meter and a half to three meters away. Seriously, if Dua Lipa ever finds one of these they’ll be going for hundreds of dollars. Invest early.

There are downsides. The Owl uses DX coding to automatically set ISO to either 100 or 400. No override, exposure compensation or manual settings are available. Luckily the auto exposure is almost always right as long as it’s not challenged. My copy came with a data back that I didn’t realize was still working. My first roll is imprinted with the wrong date. Also, the battery door turned out to be an Achilles Heel, which is why my Canon Owl is no longer my 2025 Frugal Film shooter. To be fair, I dropped the camera on a hard floor with the battery door open. I have to blame myself for its demise.

The word for a group of owls is a “Parliament. Canon’s Parliament of Owl cameras is pretty big, stretching from the original fixed focus species in 1994 to my PF from the turn of the century with autofocus, DX coding, motor wind and rewind and that devilish data-back. As far as I know, they all have three things in common: the big beautiful viewfinder, a prime 35 millimeter lens of some kind and they are all a Hoot to Shoot!

My Canon Sure Shot Owl PF was great until my negligence killed it. If I see another on a thrift store shelf I’ll probably pick it up. I recommend you do the same.