Canon EOS Elan IIE - The Intimidator; No Competitor Even Comes Close! Jun 10 '01 (Updated Jun 10 '01)

Author's Product Rating Product Rating: 5.0

Ease of Use: 4/5 Durability: 4/5 Photo Quality: 5/5 Battery Life: 4/5

Pros Advanced photographic capabilities without paying thousands of dollars, simple and straight-forward to use, ergonomic design.

Cons If you are a beginner, this might be a complicated camera

The Bottom Line On a limited budget? Look no further than the EOS Elan IIE! This camera can be bought at a relatively bargain price!

Full Review Everyone has a favorite blanket or something that makes them feel secure when they are away from home. For me, this is the Canon EOS Elan IIE 35mm auto-focus camera. My camera of choice when I go on vacations or weekend getaways is my trusted EOS Elan IIE.

When this camera was introduced in 1995, it shocked the photographic industry. During the 1980's it seemed like every auto-focusing camera came in one color, BLACK! Function dials were now buttons to be set using input wheels. Canon decided to buck the trend and designed a cool looking titanium colored top cover. The dials made a come back too.

CANON EOS ELAN IIE SPECIFICATIONS

Note - Due to the complex specifications of this camera I will list the important features that many photographers need to make a wise purchasing decision.

Compatible Lenses: Canon EF lenses Lens Mount: Canon EF mount Picture Coverage: 90% vertical, 92% horizontal

FEATURES

AUTO FOCUSING MODES

OTHER FEATURES (On Film Door)

Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) - In this mode you can adjust the exposure in +/-0.5 increments. When you are not sure of the correct exposure (sunsets, etc), you can use this mode to get a guaranteed properly exposed exposure. It will take three (3) consecutive exposures. The first will be the correct exposure; the second will be -0.5 underexposure and; the third will be +0.5 over exposure.

CANON ACCESSORIES SPECIFICALLY GEARED TOWARD THE EOS ELAN IIE

EOS ELAN IIE CRITIQUE

After five years of use, this camera has held up to rugged use. This camera will require studying of the instruction manual. I recommend you study this manual before taking it on a once in a lifetime vacation or important event. This camera is definitely geared towards individuals with a good understanding of photographic technical terms. If you are not quite up to par in these terms, I suggest reading the Magic Lantern� guides that can be purchased at any photographic retail store.

I highly recommend purchasing an external flash. The built-in flash has severe limitations and is only good for fill-in type of photographs or when photographing subjects within 15-20 feet of the camera. I would have liked to see a PC socket somewhere on this camera for professional flashes.

The eye control feature is a feature many will never use. You can easily use the Depth of Field mode instead.

THE DRAWBACKS

My camera has been repaired twice. It displayed “BC” or battery check after I depressed the shutter button. A switch within the flash assembly had to be replaced as well as several contact adjustments made. This service was performed under warranty free of charge.

Note: I have noticed when using several off-brand lenses such as Sigma or Tamron, it tended to lock up my camera. When taking pictures, the shutter would lock up and a low battery symbol would appear in the LCD. The aperture unit in the lens not communicating properly with the camera body causes this. Canon has the patent on the software that operates the lens auto-focusing system.

My recommendation would be stick with Canon lenses to avoid possible problems.

Rounding out this review is the issue of battery drain. If you experience battery drain, take both the camera and lens to the repair facility. The battery drain can be coming from either the body or lens.

CLOSE OUT SPECIALS

This camera has been retired by Canon and has been replaced with the new EOS Elan 7/7E. You can get a great deal on the EOS Elan IIE's as camera stores clear their inventory for new models. Although this camera comes in several kits forms by Canon, the lenses offered (EF28-80V USM or EF280-80II), are mediocre at best. I suggest you purchase the body only and go for the Canon EF 28-105USM or the EF28-135 IS USM lens which is the most popular selling Canon lenses. The body sells currently for about $429 or $399 for the non-eye controlled model (EOS Elan II).

For more information, go to Canon's web site at: www.usa.canon.com (800) 828-4040 or (800) OK-CANON

http://www.epinions.com/content_26525863556

 
eos_elaniie.txt · Last modified: 2010/06/16 13:42 by 127.0.0.1
[unknown button type]
 
Except where otherwise noted, content on this wiki is licensed under the following license: CC Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International
Recent changes RSS feed Donate Powered by PHP Valid XHTML 1.0 Valid CSS Driven by DokuWiki