1 year of experience with the Elan 7e
Written: Oct 15 '02
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Pros: THe only camera you might need from very beginners to semi-pro use
Cons: Craptacular 28-90mm lens typically bundled.
3rd party lenses not reccommended
The Bottom Line: Unless you have serious professional level demands (and in that case you aren't reading this) This camera is great for very beginners all the way up.
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| smoothdrrod's Full Review: Canon EOS-30 35mm Film Camera |
I bought this camera under discount at Circuit City, where I used to work, new for $300 bundled with the USM 28-90mm lens. This lens blows and I whole-heartedly recommend you avoid this lens like the plague or an ex lover.
The auto focus for this body when using any other lens than the 28-90mm canon lens is stellar. It is super quick and with ultra sonic lenses dead quiet. I have used personally a canon Élan 2e, EOS 3, and EOS 1. IT Auto focuses almost as fast as the much pricier EOS 3 and definitely faster than the Élan 2e. The AF on the Rebel series of bodies are no match for the Élan 7e.
Eye control works great. But most people only set one eye control setting for one holding position and leave it at that, which is their main problem. Eye control works great and is a god send courtesy of canon, but you have to keep in mind that you should probably configure two settings, one for standard holding position and another for when you are holding it sideways. It’s very easy to switch between configurations and you can program five configurations (for multiple users or eyes).
I do wish slightly that the camera featured spot metering, but if you have an external meter, this is no matter as the fully manual mode will allow any advanced amateur (Like myself) to set the proper exposure settings for what they want to capture. But I have found that this camera has NEVER let me down with its automatic exposure settings. Not once. It overall is excellent.
The night portrait setting on the mode dial is very interesting and makes for some beautifully blended background/subject shots. It’s really fun to mess around with when you first start out with photography.
The fully automatic mode is one I never really touched... I never really enjoyed the notion of letting some infernal machine take care of all the work. I have maybe snapped off 3 rolls of film in this mode, but the camera as I have said has never let me down.
I highly recommend you buy the body separately and then buy a canon 50mm f/1.8 II (about 80 dollars new) lens as your first lens. It may be cheap and have poor dust resistance, but the optics of this cheap lens are absolutely superb! There is an older version the Mark one which if you can find it used, costs about 100 dollars. AF with this body and any lens f/4 or faster is excellent. This camera features and ultra fast shutter with a shutter speed as fast as 1/4000 yes 1/4000 of a second. Only pros for the most part would need a faster shutter, and very few at that.
Avoid 3rd party lenses all together. They are a complete waste of times and the main reason in my eyes to buy Canon is their wonderful lens line up, which in my opinion is unparralled by anyone else in the 35mm photography industry. I have only used on Quantary 300mm f5.6 lens with this body, and it went back to the shop the very next week. It had, pardon the term, very poor optics. I had to stop the lens down to f/22 to not have any visible barrel distortion in the shots, contrast was poor, and AF with this lens was a joke. I have read similar things about other 3rd party lenses.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 300
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Epinions.com ID:
smoothdrrod
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Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 1 member
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