Does anyone know if/when a replacement/update for the A2/A2E is expected?

Thanks

-- John Billings (john_billings@yahoo.com), January 03, 2001

Answers

As far as anyone knows, you're stuck with a choice between the Elan 7 and EOS 3. IMHO they won't be coming out with a true A2 replacement, though the EOS 3 price keeps dropping.

-- Steven Fisher (srf@srf.com), January 03, 2001.

Looks to me like there won't be one. There's not really enough room between the Elan 7 and EOS 3 to squeeze in another new model without hurting their sales. Though the 3 wasn't brought in as a replacement for the A2, that's how it looks like it's going to end up.

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), January 03, 2001.

Never...the A2 is God's gift to photographic excellence...it is eternal.

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), January 04, 2001.

If they sold the EOS-3 at the same price as the A2, it still wouldn't be a replacement for that great camera. The A2s combination of just the right features, reliability, durability, precision, and silence make it one of the best cameras ever made for day-in, day-out professional work.

My A2s have six years on them now, and they're still going strong. I read of a camera repair place that will replace the command dials so they'll never break again and install an analog manual-metering scale, a la the EOS-5, all for a very reasonable price. I don't know whether to go that route with my A2s, or sell them and get brand new EOS-5s for $500 apiece from B&H -- surely one of the best bargains in the history of photography.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), January 23, 2001.

Dave,

Care to share the name and contact info of the camera shop that will replace the command dial and add metered manual? Thanks.

-- Yuri Huta (yhuta@essential.org), January 30, 2001.

The company is Horizon Electronics. Here's a link:

http://www.horizon-electronics.com/

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), February 03, 2001.

Dave- why wouldn't you consider, price aside, the EOS 3 as a suitable replacement for the A2?

-- Steven Fisher (srf@srf.com), February 04, 2001.

If they sold for the same price, I would choose the A2. It has just the features I need, no more, no less. But more than anything else, it's the noisiness of the EOS-3. The A2 is nearly as silent as a Leica.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), February 04, 2001.

Canon makes two cameras worth considering: the Elan 7 and the 1v. If you want a nice, quiet, lightweight, amateur camera with a lot of features, which will do 75% of what the top-of-the-line will do, go with the Elan. If you want the ultimate no-compromise 35mm SLR camera, with everything done right, and are willing to pay for it and lug it around, go with a 1v (+ PB-E2). The 3 is a halfway house and the A2 is going extinct.

-- Craven Wier (sallee@redshift.com), February 08, 2001.