Help. I am about to replace my Elan IIe body. The reason I want to replace the body is because of how slow the IIe is in focusing in low light. I often shoot in low light without flash using 1600 or 3200 film. My choices are:

Elan 7e or EOS 3 (+$200) EOS 1V (+850)

My concern with the 1V is the lack of ECF. After many years with my IIe I am addicted to not having to recompose my shots. I also honestly don't need 10FPS or the near underwater seal of the 1V. Any thoughts on whether the 3 or 7e is going to focus better in low light? Thanks.

--Louis

-- Louis & Pam (louispam@starband.net), July 30, 2001

Answers

The Elan 7 does not focus well in low light, your Elan IIe would be better. So that reduces your options to the 3 or the 1v.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), July 31, 2001.

I second Jim's suggestion. The Elan 7E is a great camera for most purposes and AF is wonderful in good light. Unfortunately, its AF falls short in murky light. Plus it lacks the near infrared AF assist light of the Elan II (it uses the pop-up flash instead). Canon AF specs are Ev 0-18 for the EOS1V, 3, A2, Elan & Elan II. The Elan 7 is 1-18, a loss of one stop. However, in practice I have found my 7E doesn't AF nearly as good as my A2 way before Ev 1.

Without an AF assist light, the 1V and 3 AF faster in low light than the Elans. However, it sounds like even an EOS 1V or 3 will need an AF assist light for the work you do. For that, the EOS 1V or 3 needs a Speedlite with the flash disabled (a CF will do this). I've found ECF on both my 7E and 3 doesn't work well in low light (the outer AF sensors don't lock on well). For best low light performance, use only the center cross sensor, it's the most sensitive.

My website: http://alaike.lcc.hawaii.edu/frary/

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), July 31, 2001.

Thanks for the input guys. I was able to get the camera dealer to lend me both the 1V and 3 for two days. I'm going to try and simulate my normal shootin environment and make a choice. I'm leaning towards the 3 from a cost perspective, although the 1V at $1250 (after rebate) may be too good to pass up. It's now down to the 3 at $775 or the 1V at $1250 (both after rebate). Of course I could shave some dollars with the grey versions.

-- Louis & Pam (louispam@starband.net), July 31, 2001.

Louis,

Out of curiosity, what kind of shooting do you do? Low light shots with no flash and with 3200 film sounds mightily intriguing! AND you need faster autofocusing? Let me guess...night time motorcross racing & a flash would blind the racers & get your press pass torn up? :)

In any case, I just wanted to point out that the body is only part of the answer. What lenses are you using? A truly fast lens such as a 50mm f/1.4 USM, 85mm f/1.2 USM or 200mm f/1.8L USM would give you significant wide open aperture gains, plus the ring-type USM motors are very fast focusing & give you full time manual focus override (the 50mm f/1.4 apparently isn't ring-type yet somehow still allows FTM). If you've truly got money to burn, the 50mm f/1.0L USM is the fastest EOS lens around. ;-)

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

Actually I'm shooting badly lit weddings where the bride and groom expect me to take action shots at the reception (dancing and such). I was having problems with the IIe focusing at all (even slowly) in low light. I usually use a Canon 28-70 F2.8L lens when shooting and at the ceremony am often using the Canon 75-300 f4-5.6IS. I am VERY excited to get my hands on the new Canon 70-200 F2.8L/IS. Just as a note.. I often can use flash at the receptions (and often remote flashes as well).

For example of the last wedding I shot you can go to: http://www.netsnapshot.com/pcw/getpw-cgi?&ACCOUNT=1151&KEY=0 and use the password: levitt

I am considering moving to some prime telephoto lenses for use at the ceremony. Because of the varying conditions at the receptions, I really need to be ready with at least a short zoom (hence the 28-70).

From a body perspective I ended up going with the EOS3. I am keeping the Elan IIe for shooting at the ceremony. The EOS3 is just too loud to shoot with it during quiet parts of the ceremony. That's the one thing that I don't like about the 3.

Thanks for your response!

--Louis

-- Louis & Pam (louispam@starband.net), August 10, 2001.