What changed from the Elan to the Elan II?

[kenworley]

Hi all,

 

Search as I might, I cannot find any discussion here in the forums of

the difference between the original Elan and the Elan II. There seem

to be plenty of both in the used market and I've pretty much settled

on the A2/EOS-5 or or the Elan/Elan II. Anyone know the major

differences between the original Elan and the II? I'm mostly concerned

with focus in low light, DOF preview, bulb ability.

 

If there IS a discussion of this somewhere in the forums, just knock

me over the head :)

 

Thanks in advance,

Ken

[swenson]

Try this news group.

 

http://www.A1.NL/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm

 

If they don't know then nobody does.

 

Jim

[bill j.]

http://bobatkins.photo.net/info/faq30/elandiff.htm

 

Which is an old post of deering@parc.xerox.com (Steve Deering) on Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.35mm

"Here's a list of differences between the Elan II and the original Elan."

 

A couple of things not mentioned or missed by me in a quick glance:

 

The II is silver and black, the original is black. The original is noted as being one of the quietest autofocus SLR bodies, the II is louder. The original uses a-ttl flash, the II uses e-ttl. The II doesn't suffer the original's problem (shared with at least the EOS 5/A2/A2e) of IS lenses unable to use the IS if the effective reported aperture gets smaller than f/5.6 (problem only with teleconverters). There were enough reports that I have seen of the original Elan also suffering from the same control knob failure that is much more widely reported in the EOS 5/A2/A2e.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Bill Jameson

[kenworley]

Ah, that was EXACTLY what I needed Bill. Thank you :)

 

Ken

[craig]

Not to mention that the original Elan had no cable release function other than that worthless IR remote control (this being my humble opinion... the thing doesn't work half the time). To its advantage, the original Elan did have a much better built in flash though. It was a zoom flash and had a better output. The Elan II's built in flash is basically worthless. Also, the original Elan had another worthless feature: the bar-code reader. Now there was something that should have never happened. If they turned the bar-code plug into a cable release plug, I probably would have kept my Elan. The Elan also had a lousy hand grip extension. It was oddly shaped, didn't allow vertical holding and it had no tripod mount. The Elan II's grip is WAY, WAY, WAYYYY better. Elan II also has faster autofocus and three focusing points as opposed to the Elan's one focusing point. I never regretted upgrading to the Elan II.

[bob stewart jacksonville]

the canon camera museum is a good source for this sort of information.

[victor_kunkel1]

Interesting responses. I have a friend who has an original Elan while I have a IIe. It's been a while since we've gone shooting together, but I recall the II being slighly smaller. I could be wrong though. Secondly, the flash on the II is far from useless. For indoors or fill when not too far away, it works quite well. But then again, I will only use it out to around 10 feet. Maybe it's not as "good" as the original but I never tried a comparison. I've been quite satisfied with the flash. Lastly, in quiet mode, the II, in my humble experience, is as quiet as the original outdoors. Indoors I don't know except, by comparison, the lens makes more noise when focusing so for me it is not an issue. I think they are both good bodies but I think the II has more choices, plus it is a newer body so if you buy a used one that might be a consideration. On the negative side, it is silver in the US. I sure wish black would have been an option....

[yakim_peled1]

I have the original ELAN for about 10 years. It's great. I never compared it to the ELAN II. If you buy one, add the GR-70. It's only 25$ at B&H but the improved handling is immense.