Manual metering scale on EOS 5

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Canon EOS FAQ forum : One Thread

I want to get back to the EOS system after trying Nikon a while, but there are a few things bugging me about the Canon bodies I'm most interested in after using Nikon. I'm particularly attracted to the feature set of the EOS A2/A2E, but don't like its "zero-method" manual metering; I much prefer a quantitative electronic analog scale, such as employed on the European EOS ElanIIE. Can anyone tell me if the European version of the EOS A2E, the EOS 5, also uses an electronic analog in-finder metering scale?

-- Garland Cary (muftak77@yahoo.com), February 15, 2002

Answers

Yes, it does. That is the main difference between the EOS 5 and the A2e, which relates to some patent issue. Read Philip Greenspun's review of the EOS 5 on photo.net.

However, as an EOS 5 owner, I would not recommend buying this body. Go for the EOS 30 (Elan 7e) or EOS 3 instead, as the EOS 5 is getting very outdated. The flash metering of the EOS 5 is the old A- TTL, whereas the other bodies have E-TTL. The EOS 5's focusing, whilst by no means bad, is nowhere near as good as the EOS 3 (I can not comment on the EOS 30 as I have not used one). Also, the ECF lag on the EOS 5 is such as to make the system useless (220ms, 5 points), whereas the 3 and 30 offer usable systems (67ms, 45 points for EOS 3, 55ms, 7 points for EOS 30), and the EOS 5's ECF does not work in the vertical orientation, while the others do.

I am about to upgrade to an EOS 3. The EOS 5 is by no means a bad camera, but it is a ten year old design, and it shows. That it has lasted as long as it has shows just how far ahead of its time it was.

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002.


Yes, the EOS 5 has an analog scale for manual exposure (the Elan 7 does too).

If you need advanced features like interchangeable focusing screens, 1/200 flash sync, shiftable DEP mode, 2 or 10 self-timer mode with mirror lockup, a full set of controls on the vertical grip and PC socket, the EOS 5 is the way to go. The Elan 7 lacks these things.

The Elan 7 excels as a travel and hiking camera as it is petite. I don't find much advantage to E-TTL over A-TTL other than wireless slaves. I found fill and bounce performance about the same. Direct flash is a little better with A-TTL (E-TTL tends to need + compensation). E-TTL is better at off center subjects.

However, the viewfinder of the EOS 5 is bigger and much brighter than the somewhat dim Elan 7 viewfinder. True, in good light the Elan is slightly faster at AF. In low light the AF of the EOS 5 is head and shoulders above the Elan 7. In fact, it's better than my EOS 3 (mainly because the 3 lacks an AF assist light).

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), February 15, 2002.


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