Canon Rebel Ti or Elan II ?

[jj_adams]

The price difference is about $13. Ti has 36 metering vs Elan's 6.

Has anyone used Ti?

 

Also,I wonder how this camera store is able to sell new Elan IIs

which were discontinued years ago.

[NK Guy]

Do you want the latest flashy consumer camera or a solid, proven serious

amateur camera? Admittedly the Ti has a nice interface - you can operate it

easily one-handed and it's really lightweight - but the Elan II is far more solid,

plus it has the rear command dial that aficionados ask for by name. The Ti is

probably faster at focussing, though - the one I tried was extremely fast.

 

The store probably has old inventory lying around.

[NK Guy]

Also, use a real email address in your Photo.net profile, dammit. Do you

realize that posts in reply to you cause annoying bounce error messages to

arrive to the poster's mailbox?

[jj_adams]

NK,

 

Thank you for your responses and advice. Sorry about the invalid e-mail. My ISP went out of business and I didn't realize that I am still using its e-mail in photo.net. It is updated now.

 

I have a Rebel 2000 now and doesn't like it due to lack of a red focus confirmation box which results in unfocused photos. I mainly use it with Canon 50mm & 85mm lenses to take photos of my very active kids and requires a camera with fast and accurate auto focusing.

 

Considering my requirements and that you mention Ti focuses very fast, would I be still better of with Elan II. Also would Elan's 6 segment evaluative metering vs Ti's 36 have any impact on the final image? Thanks.

[NK Guy]

Okay, sorry if I sounded rather crabby about the email problem - just that the

posting guidelines mention the need for real email addresses repeatedly.

 

Anyway. Don't get hung up on the 6 zone versus 35 zone issue - I don't think it

yields a huge increase in accuracy. It sounds like a lightweight easy to use

consumer camera like the Ti is fine for your needs, but the Elan II is a sturdier

camera overall and thus more likely to grow with you if you want to get more

serious about photography.

[jonathan_bundick]

I've owned the Ellan II for 3 years. Buy it. In about 90%+ situations, the evaluative metering system nails exposure for slides. It is a solid camera, and well worth the $13 you mentioned as a difference.

[kweiske]

I looked at the Rebel 2000 and the Elan 7 a few months ago, and decided to go for the Rebel. The key points for me were:

 

Confirmation of focus points? I liked the Elan's red light-up active focus point indicator, but the Rebel's focus indicator at the bottom of the viewfinder just as handy.

 

Polycarbonate lens mount? Not a big deal, I don't switch lenses that often and I don't mistreat my cameras.

 

Prism versus mirror viewfinder? I tried them both. The Elan's viewfinder is bigger and brighter, but it wasn't a big deal to me. I could go either way.

 

Elan's faster flash sync speed? Would have been nice.

 

Command wheel? I really wonder about people who claim this is a major issue. I use my Rebel in manual mode all the time, and I like having one wheel to control both aperture and shutter. Contrary to what people claim, you don't have to take your eye out of the viewfinder to make the change, either. I'd recommend you try it first before calling it a show-stopper.

 

Size? The Rebel with a 50/1.8 lens is smaller and lighter than an Elan body alone.

 

I don't think the Elan supports E-TTL, so you could get by with a cheaper EZ-model flash instead of the more expensive EX models. You lose some functionality with the earlier flashes, though.

 

Going for an Elan II versus a Rebel Ti, I'd be hard pressed. I like the Elan II, it's got an infrared AF assist instead of the visible AF-assist light on the 7, and it's built nicely. The Ti has a metal lens mount, so the rebel plastic argument is moot. I'd probably go for the Elan if size wasn't an issue, based on the faster sync speed, better viewfinder, and AF-assist.

[peter_langfelder]

As far as AF goes, it depends on what lenses you use. If both your lenses are USM and have FTM, you can go with the Rebel. If not, go with the Elan II, as it will let you put the AF into tracking mode, which is much more effective than one-shot AF when shooting moving subjects. If you all your lenses do have MTF, it's easy to get the Rebel to switch from one-shot to continuous AF by slowly turning the focusing ring while in AF mode.

 

As far as metering goes, the 35 zone meter (I assume it's the same as in my Rebel 2000) is good, but must be used carefully. The exposure is strongly biased toward the active focusing point, and if it covers a bright or dark area (even if it's small), like a white or dark shirt or hair of a person, the exposure will be badly off for the rest of the photo (for slides; for prints it probably doesn't matter). In this sense the Rebel's 35 zone evaluative meter behaves almost like spotmeter, and the inability to use any other metering with autoexposure (centerweighted is only available in manual mode and partial only with AE lock) is sometimes annoying. I don't know whether the Elan's evaluative meter is significantly different in this regard, but at least the zones are much bigger, so there's less chance of the meter locking onto a small area in the photo; also you can use any of the three metering modes with AE.

 

One last thing to consider is that Elan II's 2.5 FPS vs. the Ti's 1.3 FPS in servo AF mode.

[PuppyDigs]

<p>Kurt writes, <i>"I don't think the Elan supports E-TTL, so you could get by with a cheaper EZ-model flash instead of the more expensive EX models. You lose some functionality with the earlier flashes, though."</i></p>

 

<p>Untrue Kurt. Not only does the Elan 7 support E-TTL flash, so does the Rebel 2000 and IT.</p>

[vandit]

I strongly recommend the Elan II for the following reason:

 

- the command dial: while it certainly is possible to adjust both shutter and aperture with a single dial, the two dial system makes it a lot easier. Exposure compensation can also be made on the fly, without any fuss whatsoever. I tend to shoot in Av mode with a heavy reliance on exposure compensation - to me, this system is a godsent.

 

- the Elan II is a more full-featured body - and if you plan to go beyond the basic "auto modes", they all come handy. More custom functions, faster rapid-fire and so on.

 

- the older meter isnt a problem. I have an Elan 7 with a 35 segment metering and the IIe with the 6-segment metering, and both are very good. More importantly, both are just as likely to be fooled by certain types of scenes: overall very dark/very light, strong differences in lighting between the subject and background, backlighting and so on).

 

- AF may be faster on the Ti (dont know), but to be honest, Canon's AF is so fast that you are not likely to be fussed one way or the other. Certainly, I dont notice any discernible loss of speed when I use the IIe instead of the 7.

 

IMO, if Canon had not introduced the Eos 7, the Elan II would still be holding its own as a mid-end serious amateur body. I own both of them, and while the EOS 7 is better, the II isnt that far behind.

 

For me - no contest. Elan II hands down.

[peter_phan]

The Elan II is definitely worth a $13 difference. It's even worth a $130 difference, if you plan on getting serious with photography.

 

Camera stores can sell new Elan IIs from remaining stock, from various sources. People who would have bought existing Elan IIs from the store probably decided to buy the newer Elan 7 instead.

 

The number of metering zones are likely to make absolutely no difference at all. Everthing gets averaged together anyway. Chopping up the viewfinder into smaller and smaller zones doesn't change that. It's practically insignificant.

 

What is significant is the Elan II's faster maximum shutter speed (1/4000 vs the Rebel's 1/2000), faster maximum flash sync speed (1/125 vs the Rebel's 1/90), flash exposure compensation control (none on the Rebel), on board IR focus assist light (none on the Rebel), numerous custom functions (none on the Rebel), and tougher construction.

 

Don't get me wrong. The Rebel Ti is an excellent entry level camera. However, it can't compare to the Elan II in terms of specs because the Elan II is a mid-level camera that is better equipped.

[jj_adams]

Thanks everyone for recommending Elan II. Today I tried Ti and Elan 7 at a store(This store didn't have Elan II). I didn't like Ti's red focus confirmation. It is just a red dot and hard to see unlike Elan 7's red box. I imagine Elan II's red focus confirmation would be similar to 7's. Thanks again.

[kweiske]

Puppyface, the Elan 7 does support E-TTL, but the question was regarding the Elan II versus Rebel Ti.

[jimstrutz]

The Elan II's AF confirmation is like the Elan 7's.

 

The Elan II also has E-TTL flash metering capability, just like all the other cameras mentiones here.

 

Get the Elan II, for all the reason's Peter lists.

[NK Guy]

>Puppyface, the Elan 7 does support E-TTL, but the question was regarding

the Elan II versus Rebel Ti.

 

Either way, Puppyface is correct.

 

The Elan (100) was TTL and A-TTL only.

 

The Elan II (50/50E/55) supports TTL and A-TTL, but was the first EOS camera

to support E-TTL as well. It does not, however, support wireless E-TTL ratios.

 

The Elan 7 (30/33/7) also supports all three forms of flash metering, plus it

supports wireless E-TTL ratios.

 

These are very different cameras, so it's probably a good thing to be careful

and not refer to them all as the "Elan."

[yakim_peled1]

Elan. Beside any technical detail, it just feels much better.