I just got my Elan 7 today from BH. It's a sweet camera, very fast and responsive, focuses well, I love the DOF preview, and the whisper quiet drive, rewind and the dull *pap* of the shutter release. The fit and finish are good throughout..

except for the film door/back. When closed, and I pick it up and hold onto the camera, with a light 50mm 1.8 or no lens, using my right hand on the grip, and my thumb behind, the door makes a little *pop* noise and moves an imperceptible .5, maybe barely 1mm or so. Upon closer inspection the metal pin for the hinge seems to be a little loose in the hole where it slides into.

It bugs me. I'm not sure if it lets light in, I'm needing to get the film back from my first roll through it yet. But it's a $430 camera, it shouldnt creak so... should it? The film door on my friend's Rebel G seems more stout, and dosent creak or make noise when he holds onto it with his ham fists and a weighty zoom on the front.

Why on an otherwise brick of a camera, do we see a door that is made of thin enough plastic that it dishes in barely, when I hold it?

So I have this paranoia now of the camera's door hinge making a good *creak* noise, and the plastic bits snapping from the modest wear, and the door falling off, while shooting.

Complain to Canon? Keep using it? Send it back to BH?

-- Peter Bednar (peterbednar1999@hotmail.com), April 05, 2001

Answers

I don't think it will hurt anything, since the pressure plate is spring mounted. For what it is worth, my 4.5 year old Elan IIE Quartz Date barley makes any noise, and I almost have to force it to do that. My EOS 3 is tight and dead silent as far as the film door is concerned, not that you would be able to hear anything over the motor drive.

-- Brad Hutcheson (bhutcheson@iname.com), April 22, 2001.

If you can push the camera back in you can move the film plane. Sharpness can really suffer if your film plane is off: I'd return it and hope the problem doesn't show up on the next one.

-- John O'Connell (boywonderiloveyou@hotmail.com), April 05, 2001.

I doubt that the film plane would be effected. The springs on the backing plate should more than compensate for the small amount of door movement. But of course, if your pictures are all a bit blurry...

I have had several Canon EOS cameras (as well as a couple of Pentaxes) that have exibited the same poor alignment of the door latch. In fact, my Elan IIe behaves exactly as you describe. It's disconcerting but never seems to cause any problems.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), April 05, 2001.

I have both the Elan II and the Elan 7, and both have this "problem". It bugs me also, but I've gotten some wonderfully sharp pictures with both cameras. Becuase my pictures are so sharp, I agree that it probably dones not affect the film plane.

-- Tom Thurston (TThurston@aol.com), April 05, 2001.

my E7 does this too and it really bugs me. on the other hand, my eos 5 has a "creaky" battery cover that is noisy whenever you squeeze the grip. these little nusances make more noise than the film drive!

-- josh (josh@neb.rr.com), April 22, 2001.

I've had the 7E for about 6 weeks and never noticed anythin about the door until your post. I checked the door and no problem on the hinge end at all, there is a small amount of movement at the top on the latch end. Mine is the QD version and the door itself seems quite strong and is not flexible. The pics so far have been fine and I love the camera. Since there don't appear to be any functional problems, it seems like picking the fly specks from the pepper to be too critical..!

-- Venado Loco (deertex@swbell.net), April 26, 2001.

I have an EOS 5 and there isn't a panel on it that doesn't move or creak etc. (excluding the vertical grip, which is satisfyingly solid). I haven't had any light-leaking or lack of sharpness problems. I think that it's funny that e7 owners are complaining, when all cameras (even the rebels) subsequent to the 5 have been much better than it, when the 5 was a semi-pro camera! I have handled 2 EOS 50e (Elan IIe), and they've both been a LOT more solid feeling than the 5. I think the 30/e7 will be similar to that. I certainly don't think Canon would take steps BACK on this front, as in the days of the 5, it was a major point in favour of Nikon. Next up for me, and EOS 3 I think.

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), July 09, 2001.

I have had my elan 7e for over a year and it does the same thing. It has not had any effects on the pictures. I though mine was the only one that did this. It is annoying but I can live with it.

-- Justin De Young (ndnfanjd01@aol.com), January 30, 2002.