eos elan ii or a2

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i'm thinking about getting a new body to replace my eos 100qd. the 2 in my range is the elan ii(newer) and the a2(more pro features). what do you think?

-- howard shen (howardshen@graphic-designer.com), February 25, 2000

Answers

I have the ElanIIE and chose it over the A2E because:

- eye-control focus works whether you hold the camera horizontally or vertically; A2 is horizontal only.

- by the way, eye-control is a GREAT feature and well worth the extra $50. I have written about its many advantages in answers to questions in this forum - check them out if you're interested, but briefly: you never have to aim off to use AF then recompose and shoot--you simply look and the camera really does respond to your eye; you can lock exposure using eye-control by looking at a midtone in the frame sometimes without re-aiming; you can also control your depth-of-field function using your eye.

- the A2E does not offer the advanced flash features of the Elan: (when used with a Canon EX series flash ONLY) such as the ability to synch at ANY speed up to 1/4000 of a second; ETTL, which is better than TTL (a Canon technician told me that the Elan / 380EX is giving pros better flash exposures than they get with the top of the line 1N body and 540EZ flash, and Popular Photography said ElanII/380EX delivered the most natural mix of flash and ambient OF ANY SYSTEM THEY HAD EVER TESTED); flash exposure lock; and second curtain synch.

Eye-control has made me faster and more able to capture the "decisive moment"; the advanced flash features are giving me great results and the ability to use flash in many situations which I couldn't with the A2 or, in fact, most other cameras on the market.

Good luck, Roy

-- roy kekewich (roykekewich@yahoo.com), February 26, 2000.


If you're not interested in Eye Controlled Focus (ECF) as is suggested by your stipulating the EOS Elan II and A2 (rather than Elan IIe and A2E), then my vote would be for the A2, mainly because the A2 offers the option of five autofocus sensors, as well as greater viewfinder coverage and diopoteric adjustment of viewfinder.

-- kurt heintzelman (heintzelman.1@osu.edu), February 27, 2000.

FWIW to you, the Elan II displays the exact under/over exposure in metered manual, whereas the A2 does not have this feature (unless you go with the European cousin of the A2 which is the EOS 5). I am very pleased with my Elan II, however I wish it had a tighter circle for spot metering.

-- Yuri Huta (yhuta@essential.org), February 28, 2000.

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