D60 vs. Elan7E in Autofocus Speed

[charlietalmadge]

Just pulled my Elan 7E out of the case after about 6 months of not

using it and noticed that the autofocus speed in both average and low

lighting is blazingly faster than my D60..I have not checked and

compared specs on them yet and am wondering if this is to be expected

from a camera I spent 5 times more for?? You would think that the

D60 would be equal or better, but then again your comparing film to

digital..Will I have to drop the coin and get a 1D or 1Ds to get the

focus speed i'm looking for?

[bobatkins]

Yes and yes.

 

If you reveiw threads here you will see that the D60 not only focuses slowly, but it's totally incapable of yielding a well exposed image in evaluative metering modes. If you disagree with this statement, Jorge will be pleased to argue with you until you change your mind...

[steve_dunn2]

<p>I've never used the D60, but it does have something of a reputation for poor AF speed. The Elan 7's AF speed is great as long as it has plenty of light; since I have a flash-based AF assist beam to help if there isn't much light, I don't have problems there, either, but many people who use the built-in pop-up flash as an annoying AF assist beam report problems.</p>

 

<p>What you paid so much money for is the digital stuff. The Elan 7e is a more advanced camera.</p>

[steve_strawn]

The D60's field of view is 62% of your Elan 7. That means that less light is hitting the main mirror, of wich an even smaller chunck is hitting your AF sensors. The D60 has less area and less light to work with than your Elan, so even if the focussing modules were the same, the D60 would still be worse. Of course it doesn't help that the AF unit is off the shelf from an EOS IX APS camera (or so I hear). If you want super AF speed in a Canon digital SLR, you are going to have to get a 1D or a 1Ds.

[canon man]

Shoot my Elan 7 focuses on just about anything. Even in lowlight without the white light from hell it does pretty darn good. With the white light from hell it will focus in pitch black.

[bobatkins]

Steve (Strawn), I don't think so. If you masked off the outer 5mm of the frame on an Elan 7, the AF would not be affected in any way. AF is measured by a sensor in the base of the camera and depends in no way on what sort or size of surface finally records the image. It depends on the lens speed and the type of AF sensor installed in the camera.

[PuppyDigs]

<p>Steve comments <i>"Of course it doesn't help that the AF unit is off the shelf from an EOS IX APS camera (or so I hear)."</i></p>

 

<p>AF on the EOS IXE/IX is the same as the old Elan IIE/II and, thus, is pretty dad burn good. Although the Elan 7's AF is a little faster in good light, my EOS IX is more reliable in low light. Like the D60, the EOS IX viewfinder is dim making manual focusing difficult when AF fails.</p>

[evrim_icoz]

My Elan IIe focuses WAY better then D60.... Now, it uses the red assist light but ....

[charlietalmadge]

Thanks for all the input...Other than the focus speed the D60 is working out fine for me in portrait work..I was going to try using it on a couple of weddings this spring, but now I am kind of shying away from the idea unless the lighting is suitable...Bob, My eyes still hurt from reading the threads on Jorge's message!!!! As far as a exposure issue with evaluative metering? No problem here..

[Ken Katz]

AF works OK in low light, as long as assist light from a 550EX (or equivalent) is enabled.

[peza]

I'd say -AF is very comparable, if not a bit better on D60 than Elan7, but AE really s.c.s.

[peterkremzar]

I have quite a different experience D60 vs. Elan7E in Autofocus Speed than Charlie.

 

I use my cameras in extreme low light conditions with flash (Speedlite 550EX) only. I stopped using film and Elan 7e since I got my D60. This was in march 2002. But recently I started with film vs. digital test so I need to use my old Elan 7e again.

 

I heard many bad comments about the D60 before so I was really surprised that in all my tests D60 was much faster in focusing than Elan 7e. I found a bigger number of Elan 7e photos were out of focus than D60. I actually did no out of focus photos on D60.

 

But this could depend from the situation and the way of use.

 

I use the following settings on my D60. I select focus points manually and I always have AF mode on One Shot. It's possible Elan 7e is better in other focusing modes, but I didn't test them, because I simply don't use them. While comaring the two cameras and film vs. digital the both camers had the same settings.

 

I was thinking about why having such a difference. D60 focusing points are bigger that Elan 7e focusing points. When searching for a contrast and everything is dark I think a bigger focussing point is an advantage over a small one because the camera finds the contrast on a bigger area easier than on a smaller area.

 

This is what I think about the focusing.