Hi, I am planning on buying a 7e and Tamron 28-300 AF lens (that's for my wife, who doesn't like to change lenses...). Will that combination work OK? Am I losing any of the features of 7e by combining it with a non-Canon lens? Tom

-- Tom Kuzniar (bucior@yahoo.com), November 27, 2000

Answers

It should work. Most compatibility problems have been with older lenses and newer Cameras. The compatibility problem may bite you later if decide to upgrade camera bodies in the future though.

As far as what you will loose: It doesn't have a USM focusing motor as most Canon lenses do, so it will focus a bit slower and noisier. It doesn't offer Full Time Maunual focusing (FTM) as the better Canon lenses do, so you will have to switch to manual focusing to touch up the autofocusing. This lens, along all other 28-200 and 28-300's, is also not very sharp at the long end.

Pop Photo has a lens test on this in the current issue (December ?) and they even made mention of it's soft images at 300mm, and they almost never offer honest criticism of lens sharpness. They are either improving their testing/reporting, or the lens really is very soft at the long end.

Also at the long end the aperture is considerably smaller than Canon garantees will work with the Elan 7. I'm sure it will still work, provided the scene has enough light and sharp contrast lines, but will probably hunt back & forth a bit.

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), November 27, 2000.