Would I buy it again?
Written: Aug 13 '01 (Updated Aug 14 '01)
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Pros: Advanced consumer-grade camera with good set of features. EOS-capable lens set. E-TTL flash.
Cons: Superceeded. slow, hunting AF. Ungainly DOF preview. "ARGH" on grab shots in default AF mode.
The Bottom Line: Was the choice a few years ago, but today, don't stop here. Pick something else, either above or below, depending on what you really need.
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| huntzinger's Full Review: Canon EOS Elan IIE Film Camera |
I've had a Elan IIe for four years now and I'm looking for an excuse to replace it. Part of it is because technology always moves forward, but part of it is that I was never really happy with some of its functions.
I should start by mentioning my photography background. I had ~20 years working with fully manual SLR's, and my other "daily driver" camera is a Nikonos-V (a professional grade underwater camera that lacks much automation). I've also spent some time with a Maymia 645Pro (professional grade medium format SLR). Except for the usual smattering of "Push Here Dummy" cameras, this camera was my first true autofocus camera system.
My typical compositions have been of static natural landscapes (particularly waterfalls), which partially explains why I was able to not really need an autofocus (AF) camera for so long. In this context, my general film preferences leaned towards slow, ultrafine grain, high saturation films...I consider ISO 100 to be a _fast_ film and I still have a couple of bricks of the classic Kodak Royal Gold (Ektar) ISO 25 film stashed in my freezer! :-)
My preference for slow film has lead me to favor fast prime lenses, to make up for their tendency to gobble up light, particularly for when I'm shooting 'general purpose' stuff such as people, pets, the backyard BBQ, etc. Stuff where I'm not going to be getting out my tripod.
I went shopping for a new camera partly because I wanted a broader lens selection and it didn't really make much sense to continue to invest in my old Pentax K-1000. I also felt it was time to gain AF and other automation for faster taking of photos of animals/peoples...the stuff that had less patience than a river or a rock to wait for me to run down through composure, focus, exposure, etc.
Features such as AF had been around for several years by this point, so I really expected a high level of performance, both in the speed of focusing, as well as the ability of the camera to not be easily fooled by moving subjects, etc...overall, a level of performance that was reasonably commensurate with the advertising hype.
I also knew I wanted full manual overrides for everything, faster lenses, and a broad range of focal length from the start. I did have a self-imposed budget, as I am only doing this for a hobby, so between all of these factors, I was looking for both body & glass that was above the mainstream consumer cameras but below the full-blown professional grade systems. I was pretty much looking at the first step down from professional grade cameras on any brand that had a good set of pro grade lenses to choose from, since a product's optical qualities and range is always more important in the long run than all of the electronic features.
I didn't have any installed base of lenses and this is important because it meant that I was able to consider equally the Nikon, Minolta and Canon product lines. At the time, Canon had a slight lead over Nikon in AF performance, and I strongly preferred the Canon's display & control layouts from a human engineering (Ergonomics) standpoint. Some may argue that Nikon had (& has) better glass, but this is only relevant at the top-top end...all manufacturers have a broad range of products from cheap consumer-grade to fully pro. This is where you look for "L" glass, "LD" coatings, etc. Bottom line is that you'll pay for good glass - at least as much as, if not more than however much your camera body costs.
I still prefer the Canon's control layout, but now that I have an investment in Canon EF lenses, I'm far less likely to switch brands for the forseeable future. YMMV.
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For the most part, it has been a good camera. Just not jaw-dropping "great".
There have been some bumps in the road and a few things I've found to be quite frustrating at times. I'm not really all that sure how many of them are unique to this camera versus all AF cameras. In hindsight, what I have found is that its really quite hard to truly assess the performance of any AF system when you're limited to playing with it inside a camera store with semi-static subjects, or even a short walk in front of the store...the only real test is to put some film through it.
The first of the things that I've been dissapointed in is the speed of the autofocus. Yes, it was pretty good for its time. But the marketing hype had placed my expecatations far higher than it was capable of delivering. My first heavy-duty experience with the system overwhelmed its abilities and revealed that the advertising of the wonders of AF were still a long way from reality. This was Lesson #1.
Overall, this camera is fine for getting portraits of cooperative family members and the like. But for wildlife and rapidly moving subject (carnival rides, etc), its marginal at best.
This marginality exists in two areas. The first was that this (and many other AF) cameras overlooks how easily manual override can be accomplished. Sometimes you have what I call the "I DON'T #@& CARE" posture on highly fleeting opportunistic grab shots. Sure, you can successfuly get grab shots by going completely manual everything, but that defeats the purpose of buying AF and Autoexposure. If its Bigfoot, if I can't have a perfectly focused/exposed photo, I want a fuzzy one, *NOW*. The problem with the Elan is that in its default AF mode, if it doesn't think the image is in focus, etc, it doesn't matter how hard you push on the shutter release, it simply will not fire. You get this in the Servo mode, but this mode doesn't give you the nice confirmational "beep" that its all ready to go...a set of trade-off's.
Lesson 2: when shopping for lenses, look for features such as fulltime manual override on focus...only a few of them have it.
The second marginality was that I've found that it is not atypical to be sitting and waiting, perfectly focused on a high-value subject (Bald Eagle) and waiting for just the right composition. If the desired composition is when the bird hunkers & spreads for takeoff, that motion fools the camera into doing a complete end-to-end seek and the photo opportunity is lost.
The other feature I use frequently is the Depth-of-Field (DOF) function with preview. The DOF is pretty straightforward, but instead of having a dedicated DOF preview button, to preview the scene, you have to look to the upper left of the frame to a special pixel recognized by the eye control feature. Perhaps its because I wear glasses, but it usually takes a couple of tries before the camera realizes that I'm asking for DOF preview...overall, using DOF becomes a slow, tedious process. I've also found that aborting a DOF photo composition requires resetting the DOF program to start again and the fastest way to try again is to crank the left hand control knob out of and then back into DOF mode, which resets everything so that I can start again. Lesson 3: if you use DOF a lot, get a body with nothing less than a DOF preview button.
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On lenses, I've settled in with the following:
50mm f/1.8 prime lens - - A very basic, reasonably fast lens that will fit my old, now rarely used, Cokin filters. Cost is around $100.
28-135mm IS f/3.5-5.6 zoom - - The IS stands for "Image Stabilization", which through a slower than normal shutter speed, allows this lens to act as if it were two stops faster. This lets me get away with shooting my slower ISO films. This is my general duty lens and it offers manual override on focus. A good price is around $500.
75-300mm IS f/4.0-5.6 zoom - - Another IS lens. No manual override. A good price is also around $500.
FWIW, I did consider the 100mm-400mm IS lens, and it is a beautiful lens, but it was bigger and heavier than what I was generally willing to backpack with. I may still end up with one, but probably only if it matches up well with a 1.4x extender.
I also have the 380EX strobe. It works. I do find its recycle time from a full dump to be "slow", but my basis of comparison is unfair: I've been spoiled by the wickedly fast 1.6 second recycle times of the Ikelite SS-200 underwater strobes that I have on my Nikonos-V underwater camera system.
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The final reason why I'm now looking to replace my Elan because I'm starting to look at extending my telephoto lenses beyond 300mm for wildlife photography.
The Elan, like all its lower consumer-based companions in the Canon product line, will only autofocus if the f/stop is f/5.6 or better, whereas the EOS-3 (and EOS-1V) go to f/8.0. This makes a difference in what combinations of "merely expensive" lens pieces will work, as opposed to the "horrifically expensive" options.
For example, a 2x extender on the otherwise very nice 300mm IS f/4.0 fixed telephoto gets you a ~600mm IS f/8 combination for under $2K, whereas all OEM Canon alternatives that keep you at f/5.6 or better will run over $5K, and may also require you to also lose two more effective stops by not obtaining the IS feature...ouch!
In the end, we're all different in terms of what we're trying to accomplish with our camera systems. What's important to me might not be important to you. If someone gave me an Elan IIe today, I'd accept it from them, as would I also accept a Rebel or whatever...I could use a backup body. But if my Elan IIe were stolen/lost today, I doubt that I'd go buy one, or the Elan-7: barring any further research or new models, I'd probably get an EOS-3 for its increased AF speed, higher f/stop performance and classical DOF preview button. The main thing is to get the current brochures, read through them, see who offers what, figure out what features are most important to you and lastly but most importantly, figure out what system of lenses you'll need to build up.
IMO, whenever you can, try to put your money into yourself, glass (lenses) and silver (film) instead of into software. The latter two are because all the fancy features in the world do you no good when you shoot fully manual, and no AF SLR provides good advice on composition and lighting. To help yourself use your equipment better, I've really been impressed with John Shaw's photography books, such as "John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide: The Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques", ISBN 0817440593. The important part is Shaw's chapter that helps you to really understand how your AF SLR camera "thinks" and I found that it really helped me improve my photography for unusual settings where I didn't have the luxury of rapid feedback (this year's example is here: http://www.webspan.net/~hummer/pic/close_seals.jpg )
-hh
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 500
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Epinions.com ID:
huntzinger
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Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Engineer, Scuba Diver, Underwater Photographer, Hiking, Nature Photo; 20 countries & 45 states
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