I currently have a Rebel 2000. I use for both black & white and colors. I find myself wasting money because I would have to finish the current roll of film to switch to colors, etc ...

I am thinking of getting another camera which I can share the existing lens. Which camera would you recommend? How much will it cost? I currently don't have a flash. But if I do, will the new camera be able to share the flash as well? I am thinking of a higher end.

Thanks.

-- Tony T (videohobby@yahoo.com), July 02, 2001

Answers

Anything in the EOS line will be able to use lenses for Canon EOS. The only exception is that sometimes lenses not actually made by Canon do have problems on certain Canon cameras. In other words, lenses made by Sigma, Tamron, etc. may or may not work on a new camera, even though they will fit. They can usually be upgraded to work though. All EOS cameras will be able to use the same flash, but a Canon EX series flash would be recommended. All of the current EOS bodies above the Rebel allow you to rewind the film and leave the leader out to be reloaded.

Of course a cheaper alternative would be to buy a film leader retriever. Then you could rewind the film in your Rebel, mark the number of exposures, and put it back in later.

-- Brad Hutcheson (bhutcheson@iname.com), July 02, 2001.

Since the Rebel 2000 is one of the newest Canon bodies, most likely any lens that you now have would work with any other Canon body that you would buy in the near future. Same with flash, but like Brad, I would recommend a Canon EX series flash, or at least a flash capable of E-TTL metering.

The next step up from the Rebel 2000 is the Elan 7e. It's quite a jump up with more features and speed and I'm sure you would be happy with it. The only thing it doesn't have that I might find useful is a true spot meter.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), July 03, 2001.

The Elan 7 and 7e have tons of great features for about $450 and $500 respectively. One of my favorite features on my EOS 3 is the ability to leave the film leader out when re-winding the film; I do this frequently so I can load the film in later and finish the roll. I have been doing this for over a year and the function works seamlessly. The Elan 7 has the same feature.

If you are finishing each roll just to use it up then consider that your 'wasted' expense consists mostly of processing unwanted photographs. Film is relatively inexpensive compaired to the cost of processing and printing. If you rewind your film when you are ready to swap rolls you will not pay to process unwanted photos.

I use two Canon 550EXs and they work beautifully on both my EOS 3 and my wife's Rebel 2000, as do all of my Canon lenses and a couple of Sigma zooms. If you refer to both camera and flash when you say "I am thinking of a higher end", then the EOS 3 with 550EX is an ideal setup. A little reasearch will show you they were designed with each other in mind. The pair will cost you around $1250.

Good luck to you.

-- Derrick Morin (morin@navy.fttr.mil), July 03, 2001.

You could try listening to the film rewinding midroll and pop open the back just before the leader gets sucked into the roll. (there's a distinctive tick tick sound as the leader drags across the shutter area)

The drawback of this, of course, is you risk screwing up and exposing your film to the light, and you'd hate yourself. Having said that, I've never wrecked a roll of film so far, but who knows?

Incidentally, how about a more useful subject line? "What is your recommendation" is utterly meaningless - I almost wasn't going to bother checking the note itself. A brief succinct summary of the actual question is handier.

-- NK Guy (tela@tela.bc.ca), July 03, 2001.

I was brought up in the school of always carrying a film leader retriever in my camera kit. It may be somewhat of a lost art, but consider it the low cost "manual" version of what the upper end cameras can do for you automatically. $5.00 for a film retriever vs $500 for a new body...it all depends on how much loose cash you have lying around. :)

There's a knack for getting the film leader out every time, but with a little practice on a cheap throw away roll of film -- you will get the hang of it. I also carry a fine point permanent marker in my bag, to mark the film cartridge with how many exposures have been taken. When I reload the film, I always line up the film leader the same way on the take up spool, to prevent mis-registered frames when going through the automatic film processors.

With this technique, you can easily swap out B&W, high & low speed, color print & slide films as needed.

-- Hung James Wasson (HJWasson@aol.com), August 10, 2001.