I intended to buy either a secondhand EOS50/Elan II or a brand new EOS300 (Rebel 2000?) to replace my Nikon F801s. I really like EOS50 very much and almost sure to buy it until I read numerous threads on a couple of forums regarding the battery shutdown problem.

Even though I've learned a number of solutions to the problem, I would be happy to know the following. It'll help me decide if I should take the chances or just buy the EOS 300 (chosen 50 mm f/1.8 for either body): i) How often (say, out of a roll of film)? Will it happen more frequent on heavy use of battery (i.e w/ build-in flash or IS lenses)? ii) Does it happen after few frames of continuous shooting or at anytime even after a gap of say, one minute from the previous shot? iii) When it occurs, what would one do? How long one has to wait before can start shooting again? iv) If the mirror locked up during this, will the shutter too? Thus giving a wrong exposure? How about film advance? Thank you.

-- Jee F. Ruz (jee@www.com), December 19, 2001

Answers

i have had the elan iie for about two years now and have never had that problem while shooting. the only time i have managed to have that problem is when i just continually shoot consecutive frames (just playing with it without film). it happens after about the 40th frame or so. all you have to do to reset it is twist the control knob to off and back on again. the reset is instantanious. also, the shutter doesn't lock up, it's just the mirror. it is really not an issue you should worry about before purchasing this camera. in fact, before i read your thread here i had never actually heard of people complaining of it. the elan ii is a great camera that i will continue to use for many years to come.

-- Jeff Nakayama (moonduck22@hotmail.com), December 19, 2001.

You could avoid the battery-lockup problem altogether by choosing a used Elan 7E / EOS 30.

A quick check at http://keh.com shows that a used EOS 30 is about $USD80 more than a used EOS 50. The $80 gets you metal top and front chassis, 4fps, ECF that really works, 7 AF sensors, 35 zone metering, and workable DOF preview, but you lose out on a red-patterned AF assist beam and one stop of AF sensitivity. See the review link database at the Elan 7E group

Choice is good :-)


-- Julian Loke (elan7e-owner@yahoogroups.com), December 19, 2001.

yes, but the elan 7 has that white autofocus assist light that everyone and their brother have been complaining about. the elan ii has a metal top and mount too. plus, the elan 7s pop-up flash is not as powerful as the elan iis. all i'm saying is you can't go wrong with an elan ii.

-- Jeff Nakayama (moonduck22@hotmail.com), December 19, 2001.

Typical problem is that after an exposure, the camera shuts down and shows low battery symbol. Turning camera off resets it back to normal. The cause is the battery compartment is slightly to long to fit the average 2CR5 battery. Solution is to tape a 2-3 layers of paper (index card does nicely) onto the bottom of the battery.

My Elan IIE had this problem in the first year of its life (1996), and still requires the "paper". Once I found the "paper" fix, it has never since failed.

For a serious photographer, the Elan II offers more control over AF and AE functions, brighter viewfinder, much better build, and faster flash sync than a Rebel. The eye control on the Elan IIE works, and the camera's low light focusing capablities are solid.

-- kenneth katz (socks@bestweb.net), December 19, 2001.

i don't think that it is the battery compartment that is the problem. i reckon it's the battery not being able to keep up with the camera's demand for power. if it was the battery compartment then the camera would lock up sparatically, but it only locks up after multiple frames. my advise is to go to a store and play with the camera. my guess is that you won't be able to make it lock up.

-- Jeff Nakayama (moonduck22@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.

I have had an Elan IIe for a few years now and I love it. It continues to be very durable and reliable even after years of abuse and travel to various corners of the globe. As I continue to add Canon lenses to my arsenal (right now it consists of a couple IS lenses, a couple primes, a couple tilt-shift lenses, a couple conventional zooms) I still don't have a desire or need to upgrade my trusty Elan IIe. (I think I will add a D30, though.) I will probably keep it forever since newer bodies are ditching the convenient and useful IR focus assist beam in favor of those annoying white-light lamps.

Regarding the battery problem, I had that issue intermittently pretty early on. I remedied the issue by taping a piece (or two) of card on the inside of the battery compartment door. The problem has never occurred since, and I did this quite a long time ago.

-- Peter Phan (pphan01@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.

I've owned an Elan IIe for slightly less than two years without experiencing any problems. I've always replaced the battery with one of the same brand as the original (sanyo) because I heard that some size variation may exist between brands potentially leading to the battery problems (someone please educate me if I'm off base on this).

-- William Boshoven (wboshoven@juno.com), December 20, 2001.

By the way, the Rebel 2000 is a poor substitute for an Elan II or 7 if you plan on growing in photography. The Rebel 2000 is a good starter camera but you may quickly outgrow it because it lacks some important features. Most notably, the Rebel 2000 lacks flash exposure compensation, sturdier construction and mirror lock up (actually it's mirror pre-fire). Also, the Rebel 2000 lacks a Quick Control Dial (on the back, very convenient for dialing in exposure compensation), and true DEP mode (where you can independently designated near-far depth of field points within your composition. With the DEP mode on the Rebel 2000, you can't independently choose near-far points. The camera does for you based on what falls under it's focus sensors). The Rebel 2000 also has a slower flash sync speed of 1/90s (versus 1/125s on the Elan) and it lacks any custom functions. The Rebel 2000 is a wonderful little camera, but the Elan II (or 7) is a better investment for future growth.

-- Peter Phan (pphan01@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.

IMO the white light on a EOS30 or Elan 7E quicky becomes redundant once you realise the quality of the built in flashes on SLR's is only really good enough for some fill in flash situations. I found that after using my first roll of film with some exposures using the built in flash, I really needed a separate Speedlight, so I bought a 420EX. My flash photography has since improved massively. The reason why the white light assist becomes redundant is that the speedlight has a powerful infrared assist light built in, (much more powerful that a EOS 50/IIE built in assist) and when you are operating in light conditions low enough to need focus assist, you are likely to be using a flash anyway. Remember you can turn off the white light assist on the EOS 30/7e through Custom Function 13. With this in mind the only advantage the EOS 50/IIe has over the EOS30/7e becomes doubtful. (Also, I recommend the use of a Stofen Omnibounce on your Speedlight, as the results are excellent, something you can't use with a built in flash.)

Hope this helps.

-- Sam Hassall (samhassall@aol.com), December 20, 2001.

I have owned my EOS50 for close to 5 years, travelled with it extensively and the only problem I had was the flash failed to work (£24 repair bill) Approx 2 years ago I also purchased an EOS5 (yes I have had to repair the dial) as my main body, and the 50 offers just as many features, In fact the 50 has one advantage in that the vertical grip also doubles as a battery compartment for either 4 AA or the original 2CR5 battery (I've always used AA's which is possibly why I have never had the "power" problem)

The 50 is certainly far superior to the 3000, and if you can find a good condition version at a comparable cost I'd certainly go for the 50 / 50E

-- tony (tony@army.com), December 21, 2001.

Jeff Nakayama wrote:
the elan ii has a metal top and mount too. plus, the elan 7s pop-up flash is not as powerful as the elan iis. all i'm saying is you can't go wrong with an elan ii.

Choosing an Elan II is probably not wrong, but that statement about the flash power is definitely incorrect. The built-in flash on the last two Elan models (EOS 50 and EOS 30) have the same coverage and the same power (GN=13m @ ASA 100). See: Canon Camera Museum

-- Julian Loke (elan7e-owner@yahoogroups.com), December 23, 2001.

I have owned the Elan IIe/EOS 50e for 4 years now and never had a single problem with it (put over 200 rolls thru it in that time). I bought the BP-50 2 years ago and was disappointed to see that the AA alkaline would only last 1-2 films. I now put NiMH rechargeable which work great.

In all an excellent camera, durable and very nice to use. Used a Rebel for a while and hated it (loved the small weight though) they're not in the same league...

-- Remi Lemarchand (remi_lemarchand@nospam.hotmail.com), December 24, 2001.