Canon Elan II

by John M. Sully, 1996
 
http://photo.net/canon/canon-elanII


Though cheap, the Elan II contains two of best features from the Canon EOS-1 and EOS-5 cameras: (1) simultaneous AF/MF with USM lenses; (2) the big thumb wheel on the back of the body. In addition, it adds high speed flash sync (via pulses, up to 1/4000th) and a new flash exposure system that is slightly less lame than previous Canon EOS models but still no match for Nikon D (or a $50 P&S camera's). Probably the eye-controlled focus point selection on the IIe works better than on the EOS-5/A2e, a body introduced in 1992 -- Philip Greenspun (editor)
 
The Elan II is the first modern, auto-everything snazzy SLR with which I've had a lot of experience. My previous cameras were a Pentax K1000 and before that a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex. When I got the K1000 I thought it was the height of technological achievement because I could focus with the lens wide open and it had a built in lightmeter. All I can say is that camera technology sure has changed.

Basic Features

The Elan II is a pretty fully featured camera. It has 6 segment evaluative metering, center-weighted metering and 9.5% partial metering -- even Canon wouldn't call it "spot" metering. The portion of the frame metered by partial mode is tied to the focus point which is currently selected. It also has depth of field preview, a mirror pre-fire feature which is tied to a 2 second self timer, a very capable fill flash system and all of the other features which are commonly found on mid range SLR's. Combine this with a very easy to use interface and you are looking at a real winner in the mid price range.


On the top left of the camera you will find the command dial which selects one of several different operating modes, ranging from the PhD PIC modes -- the "image zone" in Canonese -- to the "creative zone" modes: shiftable program, shutter priority, aperture priority, manual and depth of field mode. In the PIC modes only evaluative metering is used, except for close up mode which uses partial metering. In the "creative zone" modes the metering mode chosen by the 3 position switch under the command dial, evaluative, partial or centerweighted averaging, is used.


There is a button on the back of the body which selects additional functions:

• ISO speed override
• Auto exposure bracketing (+- 2 stops, 1/2 stop increments)
• Red eye reduction
• Flash exposure compensation (+- 2 stops, 1/2 stop increments)
• Multiple exposure mode
• Turn off the friggin' beeps

Push this button multiple times to cycle through the various functions. You adjust the function setting with the main dial which is located behind the shutter release. Press the shutter release halfway to register your setting. When you press the function button again it picks up at the last feature you diddled with, a nice ergonomic touch. For example, I often use either auto bracketing or flash compensation. Once I'm through using the function pressing the button once and the turning the special function off is easy. When I want to reenable it, I just push the button once again. This is good, thoughtful ergonomic design and helps to make the camera easy to use.


Underneath this function button is the mid-roll rewind button. Turning on Custom Function 2 instructs the camera to leave the leader out on rewind, a handy feature for those of us who shoot different types of film in different conditions.


Next to these two buttons is the "quick control dial". This dial is a piece of genius. In most modes it controls exposure compensation, but in metered manual mode it controls the aperture. There is a switch just above it which enables and disables it so that you cannot accidentally set exposure compensation. I just leave it enabled all the time. I'm not that klutzy. This dial falls naturally under your thumb and makes adjusting exposure compensation or aperture a snap.


The focus mode selector is located on the right side of the top panel. It is a three position knob which selects one shot focus, AI focus or AI servo focus modes. One shot is focus priority, the camera will not fire off a shot until the AF circuitry is satisfied. AI focus is a hybrid mode which normally operates as focus priority, but if the computer decides that the subject has begun to move it switches to follow focus mode. AI servo mode is follow focus mode, the camera will take an exposure irregardless of whether the AF circuitry is happy or not. I normally just leave the camera in AI focus mode. Underneath this switch is the film advance mode switch which chooses either single shot or continuous. I normally just leave the camera in continuous mode.


Next to the focus mode knob is the LCD display window. It displays shutter speed and aperture, frame number, battery status, exposure compensation (or manual meter reading) whether or not flash compensation is set, red eye reduction setting status, whether or not you have custom function active, MF/AF active status and a whole bunch of other stuff. Really it is a wonder that you can decode all of this, but you can.


Just in front of the LCD panel lies the main control dial and the shutter release. The main control dial controls the main feature for the exposure mode you've chosen. In program mode it handles program shift. In shutter priority it handles shutter speed, and in aperture priority it changes the aperture. In manual mode it sets the shutter speed and aperture is set with the quick control dial on the back. This is so much easier to use than the Rebel XS that it isn't even funny -- when using manual mode on the Rebel changing aperture/shutter speed combinations required lots of button punching/holding and was in general a pain in the ass. Using manual mode with the Elan II is a breeze.


Finally, there are two buttons on the back of the camera right behind the LCD. One controls exposure lock and the setting of the current custom function when in custom function setting mode. The other controls the choice of focus point, automatic or one of three selectable points. To change focus point, you need to press the focus point selection button and then spin the main control dial. This selects each focus point in turn and then selects automatic focus point selection mode. Changing the focus point is so easy and quick that eye control focus almost isn't necessary, but more on this later.

Viewfinder

The classic complaint from eyeglass wearers about Canon cameras still applies to the Elan II: there isn't enough eye relief. As a result, I need to move my head around to see the entire frame and the displays. At least on the Rebel XS I was able to buy the Eyepiece Extender EP-EX15 to get some more eye relief. Unfortunately, such a goodie is not available for the A2/Elan II, although the same part can be used on the 1n. I note however, that the situation here is considerably better than it is on the Pentax 67 I've been using recently. With that camera I can't even see the whole viewfinder with my glasses off!


Other than that, the viewfinder is nice. I often MF with my 100/2.8 Macro and the scene snaps in and out of focus sharply and quickly allowing for easy MF operation. MF gets progressively more difficult as you go to slower lenses, but this is to be expected. The viewfinder displays an adequate amount of information:

• Shutter speed/aperture
• Exposure compensation setting
• Flash status (on/off)
• Flash compensation status (on/off)
• Flash sync speed mode (normal/high)
• Scaled manual meter (no stupid +- arrows)
• Range of exposures if AEB is turned on.

Custom Functions

The Elan II has a host of custom functions, but I find the following most useful:

• CF02: Film leader position after rewind (in or out)
• CF04: AF activation method (AF on shutter, AF on AE lock, DOF preview on AE lock)
• CF05: Self timer operation (10 sec timer or 2 sec mirror prefire)
• CF09: Flash sync in Av mode (normal Av operation or force sync to 1/125)

As for most people, I find CF4 is the most useful and used custom function, I typically leave it set to 1 (AF on AE lock button), but like anything else this depends on the shooting situation I am faced with. Since I never use the self timer I always leave it in mirror prefire mode.

So how does it work?

Pretty well. I have fairly small hands and all of the controls fall readily under my fingers and the camera operates quickly and intuitively. I never need to take my eye away from the viewfinder to set any of the major functions (aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation). Other important functions such as flash compensation and exposure bracketing are easily set. The only thing I don't like is the Custom Function stuff. I have hard time remembering what function controls what feature, and if I forget to put the manual in my camera bag (100% of the time) there is no hope of remembering anything except CF4 which I use constantly. If Canon supplied a sticker for the bottom of the camera which allowed you to connect the numbers with a name life would be much easier.


The AF is, as is usual with Canon, plenty fast. I have all mid-range USM lenses: the EF 20-35/3.5-4.5, the EF 28-105/3.5-4.5 and the EF 100-300/4.5-5.6. I also have the EF 100/2.8 Macro, which doesn't have a USM focusing motor. All of the lenses, except for the 100/2.8 Macro, are really quick and quiet. If Canon makes the lens I'm looking for, and if I can afford it, I'll buy it. In these circumstances I would never consider a 3rd party lens. USM is that good. So far I've had a grand total of 1 picture out of focus, and that was because I was too close to my subject and hoped that the DOF of a 24mm lens would save me. The AF is really good.


The metering system seems to work quite well, although I initially thought that it underexposed mainly because I shoot Velvia and was rating it at ISO 50. Changing that rating to ISO 40 fixed that. All the other types of film I've used have been exposed quite well. I have checked the calibration of the meter via the clear north sky at noon method and found that the meter registered the correct exposure in all of it's modes. In general I just trust the evaluative metering if I have the misfortune to find myself shooting in the middle of the day. As the scene grows more contrasty the evaluative metering becomes less trustworthy. Generally, in tricky lighting I switch to using a handheld 1 degree spotmeter and use the camera in manual mode. Often I check my calculated exposure against the exposure recommended by the meter and they seldom vary by more than 1/2 stop or so. I still use the exposure I calculate, however; I've just never been able to trust computers.


On a recent trip to Yosemite I was shooting in the valley near sunrise and ran into a situation where my calculation and the camera's recommendation differed wildly, with the camera recommending much more exposure than I had calculated. For grins I decided to shoot two sets of brackets, one at my exposure, one at the camera's recommendation. When I got the slides back, the ones taken at the camera's exposure were hopelessly overexposed, so I think I'll still trust my own calculations in difficult light.

Lenses

As I mentioned earlier, I have 3 upper middle class consumer zooms and a snazzy macro lens:

• EF 28-105/3.5-4.5 USM
• EF 20-35/3.5-4.5 USM
• EF 100-300/4.5-5.6 USM
• EF 100/2.8 Macro

I have also owned the EF 75-300/4-5.6 II USM and I can't really recommend it. This lens, and the very similar EF 75-300/4-5.6 II are very soft at the corners, even stopped down. I was never able to get what I would call an elargeable slide out of it. The EF 100-300/4.5-5.6 USM which replaced it is reasonably sharp and has produced several slides which I have enlarged to 8x12 with good results.

I bought the 28-105 to replace the truly awful EF 35-80/4-5.6 II which came with my Rebel XS kit. The 28-105 is a really nice, sharp lens. Sometimes I wish it was a little faster at the long end but overall I'm thrilled with the performance of this lens. The same comments apply to the performance of the 20-35. Both of these lenses represent very good value for your optical dollar, sure they could be faster, but then they would cost $1500 each instead of $325 and $450, so don't complain.

All three of the USM lenses share similar construction characteristics. These are:

• Full time manual focusing
• Focus distance scale
• Ring USM motor
• Non rotating front element
• Metal lens mount

Sad to say, they all have a substantial amount of plastic in their construction, but that seems to be pretty usual in consumer grade lenses these days. The really outstanding feature of these lenses is the full time manual focusing. This feature, when combined with custom function 4, allows you to choose manual or auto focus as the shooting situation dictates without having to switch the lens or the body from auto focus to manual focus and back. This is really great if you like to shoot with a wideangle and use hyperfocal distances, just set the lens to the hyperfocal distance and shoot away. If you see a shot where AF is practical, just press the AE lock button and the camera will focus, probably better than you can. Nothing to remember, no switches to switch.

Finally, there is the EF 100/2.8 Macro. I know it doesn't have USM, but so what. This lens is so sharp, so contrasty and it's color rendition so brilliant that it is worth every penny of the $600 I spent on it. If you own a Canon and you take macro photographs, buy this lens, not only is it a great macro lens, but the 100mm focal length and f/2.8 maximum aperture makes it a great portrait lens as well.


[Ed: the new Canon 180/2.8 USM is an even nicer lens, but alas costs $1600.]

Flash

One of the principle innovations contained in the Elan II/IIe is E-TTL flash exposure. This uses a white preflash from the flash, combined with the evaluative metering system to balance the background and subject exposure. Canon's previous fill flash system, A-TTL, has gotten a pretty bad rap and is certainly inferior to the Nikon 3D matrix system. E-TTL is Canon's answer to that.


First, Canon, although many of its lenses do return distance information, still does not use it to calculate flash exposure. Why? My guess is because Nikon has a patent on using focus distance information to calculate flash exposure. Too bad.


But Canon's answer in the Elan II works pretty well. I've found that it provides nicely filled shadows in outdoor portraits (or scenes which require fill) with the flash set to -1 or -1.5 stops of compensation. Off center subjects are handled well with results which are identical to those gained for centered subjects. However, I have found situations where a subject was underexposed because of objects in the foreground which I was using to frame the main subject (it wouldn't have worked anyway...). I expect that a distance based system would have correctly exposed the main subject.


Of course all of this flash trickery only works with the Canon 380EX which is a reasonable unit by itself. One of the really neat things about it is its ability to sync up at all shutter speeds when you use high speed sync mode. This is great for people who like to use fill flash outdoors. Since the 380EX is fully automatic you can't really use it to do fancy manual flash tricks, but if you only want fill and don't want to use it for macro work, etc. it should be sufficient. I just wish that Canon would come out with a 540EX.


Overall the 380EX/E-TTL system provides a substantial improvement in the quality of fill flash provided by the Canon system. It still isn't up the the standards set by Nikon, because it is still possible to fool it without a ton of effort, but it does work much better than A-TTL or straight TTL flash metering.

Why I should have bought an Elan IIe

The only difference between the Elan II and the Elan IIe is the eye controlled focus. I tried it out in the store and basically felt it was a gimmick given how easy it was to set the focus point manually and how well the automatic focus point selection worked. Nice, but not worth $50. What I hadn't counted on was the eye controlled depth of field preview.


On the Elan II the DOF preview is enabled by setting custom function 4 (CF4) to 2. This leaves AF start on the shutter and moves DOF preview to the AE lock button. Normally I prefer to leave CF4 set 1 which puts AF start on the AE lock button and moves AE lock to the shutter release. The great thing about this configuration is that you can manually focus or use auto focus as the situation dictates without having to change the focus mode. But the problem here is that you can't have both AF start on the AE lock button and DOF preview on the AE lock button at the same time. The Elan IIe has an eye controlled DOF preview feature which works around this problem. It's not crippling, but if I were given the choice again, I'd get the IIe because of eye controlled DOF preview.

Overall

The executive summary on this camera is: in this price range it can't be beat. The Elan II ($420) competes in price with the Nikon N50 ($410) which can't even begin to touch it in terms of features. The camera is easy to use and figure out, Canon's USM AF technology is impressive, and the fill flash finally works pretty well for off center subjects. But, buy the IIe instead of the II because the eye-controlled DOF preview is a more important feature than you might think.

Photography in General

When I bought a little point and shoot thinking it might be fun to have a camera once again I never dreamed of the obsession which would take hold. I remembered that when I was in high school and college that serious photography was fun for me and that I was good at it, but I thought that I could be happy with a point and shoot. How wrong I was. I've since indulged myself by buying just about every piece of equipment I wished I had been able to buy in the poor student days. This means that I have to lug around a 20 pound camera bag anytime I go out for a serious shooting session.


And you know what? It's worth it. I've rediscovered a very satisfying hobby and am taking better photos than I ever have, mainly because I am now able to afford all of the equipment I wanted but couldn't afford when I was a poor student. This is nothing against simple cameras and a simple kit, but more capable cameras and more varied kits allow you to take shots which work in a much wider variety of situations. I'm glad that I no longer need to look at something and say: "I could have a great picture here if I only had a macro lens". I just got a roll back from the lab and every shot on it was a keeper. That's never happened for me before, I won't say I owe it all to the Canon Elan II, but the camera helped me immensely because it didn't stand in my way.


In the end, that's the highest compliment you can pay to a piece of photographic equipment.

The BP50 battery pack

Here's a note from Javier Henderson ...
 
The Canon Elan II/50 (e) uses the relatively expensive 2CR5 battery. The price isn't so high in the US, but it is apparently costly and sometimes hard to find elsewhere in the world. Also, if you use the built-in flash for fill (or worse yet, your main flash), the battery runs down rather quickly.


With that in mind, I ordered the BP50, which retails for about $60 at the merchants listed in photo.net.


The BP50 accepts either a 2CR5 battery, or four AA cells. Aditionally, it has a vertical grip, with a shutter release button that duplicates the functions of the camera built-in release button. Unfortunately, it does not have the very useful multi-function dial found on the Elan II/50 (e), which is a shame.


It feels a little on the cheesy side, very light weight, and made of the same material as the camera body. It attaches to the camera by means of the tripod socket (the BP50 has in turn a tripod socket).


I haven't done the math, but given that AA cells are quite a bit cheaper than 2CR5 batteries, the unit will probably pay for itself over time. The vertical grip comes in handy, and the Elan IIe/50e will even do eye controlled focusing while held vertically.


In sum, it's a useful accessory, well worth its price.