Hello Everyone,

I suppose all of us at one time or the other have dreamt of owning some of those beautiful and rather expensive lenses such as those in the L Series.

Suppose one did manage to lay their hands on one of these, would you consider marrying them with a camera body such as the Elan II / EOS 50. Is there an unwritten law somewhere which states that "thou shalt own a EOS 1N or EOS 3 before thou layst thine hands on a L series lens". Frankly is there value in coupling a Elan II with a L series lens such as the 70-200 2.8L. Will the camera do justice to the lens ? Will it be able to hold up the weight of some of these lenses ?

Has anyone had a good experience with the above combination ?

Many thanks indeed

Cheers

Hemant.

-- Hemant Kumar (hkumar@med.usyd.edu.au), February 11, 2002

Answers

>Is there an unwritten law somewhere which states that "thou shalt own a EOS 1N or EOS 3 before thou layst thine hands on a L series lens".

Absolutely not. Any Canon EOS camera works with any EF lens. And for the best image quality you should get the best lens you can - the body is secondary in many regards.

Now a larger camera is easier to handle with a big lens. But that's hardly a reason to avoid it. If you're using a huge lens with a tiny camera just hold the lens, not the body. Easy.

Using an L lens with a midrange body makes a lot more sense than something I saw the other day - a tourist with a 1N with power booster and a ho-hum 24-85 lens attached. Absurd.

-- NK Guy (tela@tela.bc.ca), February 11, 2002.

I have an Elan IIe and a few L lenses. I have the 24mm/3.5L TS-E, the 70-200/4L and the 100-400L IS (as well as a few other equally valued non-L lenses). The L lenses don't care that the camera is only an Elan IIe, and the camera doesn't care that the lenses are L lenses. You shouldn't either. In fact, I also have a Rebel X (which precedes the Rebel 2000 by two model generations) that I sometimes use with my L lenses as well. I think I bought the all-plastic Rebel X for $130 a few years ago. Pictures basically turn out the same no matter what camera you use. It's the lenses that matter. The camera just holds the film.

If you're smart and on a budget, you will put your money into the lenses rather than the body (unless, of course, you have some specific need that necessitates a higher level body).

-- Peter Phan (pphan01@hotmail.com), February 11, 2002.

I have, so far, put my money into lenses, with a 24-85, 70-200 F4L, 300 F4LIS and 1.4X Canon TC, soldiering on with my EOS 5 (which I bought second-hand 5.5 years ago). I am very soon to get an EOS 3, because the faster AF will help in using the bigger lenses.

I would be happy with an Elan II in place of my EOS 5...there's not a great deal of difference between them when it comes to using the big lenses (although the Elan II has better IS+TC compatibility than the 5).

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), February 12, 2002.

Now while the Nikon guy can say all Nikkor lenses made since 1959 will fit all Nikon cameras, the EOS guy can say all Canon EF lenses ever built will fit all EOS cameras ever built and THEY WILL WORK ON THEM ALL.

I sometimes use a Rebel 2000 with my L-series lenses. It works just fine and the photos are every bit as good as any other EOS camera.

-- Lee (Leemarthakiri@sport.rr.com), February 12, 2002.

I use an Elan II, EOS 5, and EOS 10s with my modest L lenses (200/2.8 and 70-200L), and they work fine. Because I use CF4 most of the time, I might have a harder time using one of the Rebel level bodies, but that would be the case with any lens, not just the L series.

The only other problem I can think of is that the typically large diameter L lenses tend to block the built-in flashes of the lower-end bodies. This is also the case if you use a lens hood on most lenses, or the 28-135 IS lens. The built-in flash is a poor substitute for an external flash anyway.

In theory, the camera body might make a difference in the image quality. If the film is not held perfectly flat by the pressure plate, or if the autofocus is not sufficiently accurate, there could be problems, but I haven't noticed any with the Elan II.

-- Geoff Doane (geoff_doane@cbc.ca), February 13, 2002.

Hello Folks,

Many thanks for your comments. They were most useful.

Cheers

Hemant.

-- Hemant Kumar (hkumar@med.usyd.edu.au), February 17, 2002.