eye-controlled autofocus
relatively quite 2.5 fps drive
convenient controls
E-TTL flash metering with EX flashes
very good matrix metering

not very solid camera, although I had no problems so far
battery compartment is oversized, leading sometimes to the loss of electrical contact with a battery

camera is totally adequate for advanced amateur

Customer Service

???

Similar Products Used:

EOS 10

Lots of lenses from the EOS line.
Lots of functions for a non-pro camera.
DOF preview (use custom function C08, not the eye control)
Easy to use dails, helps a lot when you go to manual exposure, apature priority, shutter priority.
Eye-control.
Nifty remote.
Nice looking camera.
Good price for all the functions.

No spot meter (has some thing similar that uses 9.5% of the Feild of View).
Auto Exposures can be totally wrong in complicated lighted scenes.
Eye control takes time and practice to master.
Manual is very basic, needs to explain more.
I don't think it can take much abuse.

A great camera if you don't make money from photography or you're not an obsessed hobbiest. Solid performance, for it's price. If you're looking at the Rebel, but want to progress in photography, skip the Rebel and Get an ELAN II. I've had my ELAN for three years and put it in -50F at Alaska and 100's in New Mexico and never had a problem with it. Once you get to know it and treat it well (it's not made to take impacts), it won't let you down.

Customer Service

Never needed it.

Similar Products Used:

Canon Rebel, Nikon N70, Minolta Max. 7xi

Features and ease of use. It appears well made and other than a ghostly problem with the camera automatically switching off, I have not experienced any other problems.

Autofocus is not one of the Elan's strengths in my opinion. I have had some occasional problems with the camera turning itself off and not coming back on again. It appears to be within the filmside rotary selector switch.

Great value, but not a very reliable camera for field use.

Customer Service

I have not used Canon's customer service department yet.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon N90S

The dual command dials and custom functions are very easy to use and set.
The size of the camera gives some bulk to your body without being outrageously big.

The eye-controlled focus is somewhat limited with only 3 metering points.
LCD screen should be backlit.

I really love this camera!! When my plain Elan II got stolen, I quickly replaced it with this body.
I would recommend this camera for anyone from beginner to advanced amateur because it's easy to use, easy to build on, and can be as automatic as you want it to be and as manual as you want it to be.
Don't buy the 28-80 USM lens with this camera, at least get the 28-105 USM lens, the 28-80 USM simply won't do this camera the justice it deserves!! Good value for the price!!

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Canon EOS Elan II (without the eye-controlled function), Pentax K-1000

- Mirror Pre-fire
- DOF preview (yes, its useful)
- Big dial on back allows quick operation
- Full time manual focusing with USM lenses (useful with big glass)
- Light and durable

- At the price this body sells, none
- If you shoot sports photos 90 % of the time, you will possibly find the 2.5 fps rate inadquate

This is my first SLR, and when it came down to it, the only two choices for my medium budget were the Elan II and the Pentax ZX5N. While the Pentax did look like a good buy, Canon has a better offering of good and cheaper lenses in the US. The Elan is a terrific value at 350 bucks.

People should seriously stop complaining about the plasticky looks - unless you put your camera through hell everyday, you don't have anything to worry about. As for the spot meter, if you want to "FEEL LIKE A PRO", you should just bite the bullet and shell out for an A2 or EOS 3 etc. And if you really are a pro, you probably have a handheld meter anyways, so where is the problem ? For a casual photographer's use, the partial meter will be more than adequate. I have shot sunset scenes on slide film using the partial meter, and it suffices for situations like these (casual photography). Like I mentioned before, if your work is critical and really requires a spot meter, you'd probably be wise to invest in a handheld incident meter. Overall, the best deal on the market. Go for the Elan II E if you feel eye controlled focusing is important. I'm happy with this body and investing in better glass...

Customer Service

Have not had to use

Similar Products Used:

None

Weight
Availability of Canon and 3rd party lenses and accessories

Bulky, but not solid
Complicated
Eye Control AF unreliable
Depth of Field preview hard to use
Noisy
No spot meter
AF never seems to lock on the correct subject

What a terrible mistake, how I long for my old Olympus OM, I wouldn't have replaced it if it hadn't broken. I don't know what made me think the Elan IIE (EOS 50E over here) was right for me, but I'm now thinking about trading it for a manual Nikon or maybe and OM4Ti if I can afford it.

Customer Service

Good but slow (2 weeks to repair)

Similar Products Used:

None (Only ever used manual cameras before)

excellent "feature to cost ratio"

Flash sync permanently set to Slow Sync. Therefore indoors you are unable to use the Aperture Priority mode without a tri pod.

I believe this Camera is all any photographer needs. By purchasing this camera you are left w/ extra cash for Lenses (it's the GLASS that really counts). If only Canon had implememnted a Custom function which enables the user to choose between normal flash sync and slow flash sync. This is definately still the best Camera body out there in this price range. All other manufacturers are playing catch up to the Elan IIe. Just look at the new Nikon N80. Notice any similarities?? hehe

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Nikon F70
Nikon F90
Canon Rebel 2000

Eye focus feature is cool....works well in daylight shoots.

Overall heft and ergonomics...not easily used from a tactile point of view...need to look at the settings.

For the last year, I've been on a quest to upgrade/replace my old Nikon EM and move into the AF world. The Elan IIeQD is feature rich; I chose it to make use of the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens. However, It ends up being too bulky for my needs. The XTSi is a great camera for the $$$, very feature-rich, and comes in an extremely compact package for what you get. The F100 was awesome, but also turned out to be more camera than I need. At this point I will end up with an N80 or a smaller-bodied Canon to continue use of the IS 28-135mm zoom.

Customer Service

None needed.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta XTSi QD, Nikon F100

Fairly portable. Smaller that the A2 and is a good, fairly inexpensive base for quality lenses.

No real spot metering though it is usually fairly easy to do without. I wish it had a dedicated depth of field preview button.

If you are short of money for a new setup (or just don't need a super tough body and 5+ fps), this might be a good choice for your camera. It will do almost everything you will need in day to day use and then some. You can then spend extra money on better lenses. I wish it had a more complex metering system but this one seems quite good. While I have fairly large hands, it fits pretty well and is comfortable to use. This camera offers a lot for it's price. Ultimatly, I chose this camera because I liked Canon's lens system and it was a good compromise between price and features.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Older Canon FD manual focus cameras

Fast, accurate with USM lenses. This camera fits like a glove in my hand, all the controls are placed well. The knobs and dials which replace work better than the push buttons on other SLRs. E-TTL flash works very well with 380 EX.

Metering could be more advanced, 6 segment metering is outdone even by the lower end Rebel models. Partial metering is adequate for my uses, but spot metering would be more convenient. Eye controlled focus is not fast enough for sports photography. It is hard to focus manually.

In my opinion, has the best feature to price ratio of any EOS camera. Spot metering and better evaluative metering would have been the iciing on the cake. No other camera in its price range can match it in terms of ease of use and features.

Customer Service

None needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikon N70