With its command dial and metering mode lever, quick control dial, AF mode dial, film advance mode lever and LCD panel, EOS Elan II/Elan IIe offers ad
With its command dial and metering mode lever, quick control dial, AF mode dial, film advance mode lever and LCD panel, EOS Elan II/Elan IIe offers advanced automatic exposure control for perfect color in any light - indoors or out, day or night. It's as automatic as you want it to be, but as much under your command as required to achieve a creative result.
I love this camera, because I mainly take sports shots and action sequence shots for skateboarding and BMX. Because the shutter speed can be set so high that all most all my pictures have turned out crisp and clear. I have sent in some of my skateboarding shots to professional photographers and gotten complements on how good the sequences turned out.
Its also really easy for beginners because the automatic setting makes it a fast, easy and good picture. But I prefer to use the manual setting because I feel like I have more control.
I am currently using Canon EOS 50E with Tamron 28-200 zoom. The camera seems to behave OK but at times becomes irritating. The camera freezes at 0 degree. The battery life is just hopeless. In my last experience on my trip to Sikkim, I cliked 3 rolls with a consumption of 3 sets of batteries. Infact the cost of batteries were more that the film cost. Only God can Help!.
Strengths:
Built
Weaknesses:
Picture quality much inferior that EOS5 my earlier camera which I lost.
My father bought this EOS50EQD back in 1995 when I lost his EOS1000n. Since then it is sitting most of the time until Sep 03.
I only use M, Av and Tv modes and I feel this camera is good enough for me as a beginner.
Eye control MUST be calibrated hornzontally and vertically in order to work well (I wear glasses). But sometimes it still misses.
With this camera, all you need to do is grab a lenses and go. It works as an point and shoot 35mm SLR, but it is nicely equipped for serious photographer.
I would get an EOS 3 or 1n as main unit and keep this one as backup body.
Strengths:
Convenient command dails.
Dail at the back of the camera.
Built in flash.
Red AF assist beam (better than EOS 7).
Supports E-TTL.
MLU.
Flash 2nd curtain.
DOF preview.
Weaknesses:
Missing * button in BP-50 grip.
Tripod mount not in center in BP-50 grip.
No dedicated DOF preview button.
Button in RS60-E3 cable is difficult to half-press.
No "TRUE" spot metering.
Not 100% viewfinder, I guess about 90%.
Perfect value for money! It cost me $250 (a used, 3 year old camera, perfect condition - not a scratch on it). I has all the things you need to take good pics - 1/4000 shutter speed, 2.5 fps, DOF preview, ECF and many other features. I wanted an EOS 5 instead, but after reading the specs i decided to take EOS 50 (EOS 5 is faster and all, but its max sync with external flash is 1/200 s!!! which is very SLOW). So I took EOS 50. And I'm very happy whith this choice! the pictures are great, AF is fast and precise and the camera feels good at hand. It is also extremely durable. A friend of mine owns one too (for 4 years now) and he's been through jungle in South America and congo(africa) with it and it never failed him.
Strengths:
Reliable, full of features, gives you ability to develop skills when you're on advanced amateur or semi-pro level
Weaknesses:
The only weakness is the person behind the lens:)
Similar Products Used:
Minolta 505 SiSuper 35mm camera - good for begginers.
A superb camera. Now replaced by the EOS 30 (in Europe), this represents excellent value on the secondhand market. Apart from one minor niggle, I would say this is a better used buy than a new EOS 30.
You buy these mid-market cameras because you appreciate the build quality over the entry level models. The features in entry-level cameras are good enough to produce images equal to anything you would get from this, or even an EOS 1. However, I have never regretted moving up from a 500N to a 50. I just enjoy using it more! You use it because you want to use it - you enjoy holding it in your hands. That's not something I got from the 500N, although the images themselves were the same, since I shot them through the same 28-105 USM lens.
Strengths:
Ergonomics
Metering (never a duff shot)
Quality of build
Metal mount
I could list all the features here, but who cares whether it shoots to 1/4000th sec or 2.5fps? I have an EOS 600 which "only" shoots to 1/2000th but can shoot as many as 5fps -- never needed to test these any of these limits in real life.
Weaknesses:
DoF preview is either eye-controlled (not great when you want to view the whole composition as well as stop down the aperture) or a using the exp.lock button (as a Custom Function) which loses the Exp Lock feature for DoF preview. This is the only meaningful weakness of this body - which has been corrected on the new EOS 30.