The AF is surprisingly accurate and quick. The EF 24-105mm L f/4 is an excellent mate with this body. The EF 35mm f/2 and the EF 50mm f/1.8 make a wonderful lightweight combo.
A coworker gifted me his ELAN II, and I was stunned... I thought he gifted me a camera that was worth at least a couple hundred dollars! It feels great in the hand and has loads of features (you mentioned a DOF preview; mine was defaulted to the CF button being a DOFP button). Even though I know now that you can pick one up for less than $50, I'm still super grateful that he got me into shooting film with this camera. I use it alongside my 5D III and R6 II with any of my EF glass (I usually keep a 35mm f2 or 50mm f1.4 on it) and still don't feel like it's lacking. It's aged, for sure, but worth significantly more than the current market value.
Just bought the 50e from ebay for the princely sum of £27. In perfect working condition, going after the battery grip for it to complete the kit. By the way the eye controlled focussing works very well, as does the eye controlled depth of field preview, which you didn't mention in the video, it's the little square in the top left of the view finder. Can't wait to put some film through it. Great video by the way, you certainly sold the 50e /Elan II to me.
Yeah, I noticed that later that I forgot to mention the eye controlled depth of field preview feature. Good catch. Congrats on your find! That's a great deal. Best of luck with it! Follow up and let me know how it's going. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I still have mine! This and the Canon 650 were the cameras I used for sports! **It's why I still don't shoot in burst mode-back in school, they taught us how to shoot, and one shot shooting was a MUST in the film days so you really timed it and got the shot!**
Oh I totally get what you're saying about how shooting film can help shape the way you shoot. That's why I encourage a lot of photographers to try film for a bit and feel how the limitations can benefit them. That's cool you still have your film cameras! And thank you for watching and commenting, btw!
@@CraigBergonzoni Well, I wanted to keep at least one body when I sold all my film gear (way back in 2003) Here is a photo of the 150 rolls I kept onhand: www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/5183684963 That was in 2003 or maybe 2004 when I went fully to digital
Wow! What a cool photo of all your film rolls. I never shot consistently but my film camera of my teens and early 20s was an Olympus OM-10 and whatever film stock I could my hands on.
@@CraigBergonzoni I might be a little older than you, but I was already doing professional jobs in the '90s, so I used film quite a bit. As much as I miss the film days, I am happy with digital. Our work method is getting rights to youth tournaments (like dance competitions and volleyball tournaments) and we sell onsite. The kids leave with a flash drive or the images on their phone. I actually did try onsite sales around 2003 with a collapsible darkroom-that was a NIGHTMARE!
Hi Craig, Really liked your honest review of the IIe. I just bought one on eBay thanks to your review. It had no lens so I bought a Promaster 28-80mm as a first lens just to get started at a minimal expense. Saving up for the 50mm you have. Excited to have this as my first autofocus film camera, and my second Canon after the TX classic. Wish me luck! I’ll keep you posted on my progress if you want. Thanks again! Anthony.
The Elan series are my favorite "work" film cameras You don't get many bad surprises with them and they are very easy to use. I bought an Elan IIe new in about 1998 after seeing my step daughter's wedding photographer working with one. Put a 550ex flash with it if you need a flash and go to work. Good inexpensive film rig. Oddly they don't seem to run much higher than the film Rebels, another good series. Keep the instruction booklet handy or download the instructions because there are a lot of adjustments available.
Hi Craig! ! Thank you for the great video! Today, March 29, 2021, I bought the same camera - Canon 50e-in excellent condition for 40 euros! I'll shoot on it ! I love film photography. I have been doing it since 1978, when I was 10 years old. After all, the main thing in life is to collect moments, not things! Greetings from Russia! With respect,
@@CraigBergonzoni Thank you, the camera works well! Today I bought new 2CR5 batteries and checked how it works without the film. All shutter speeds-work-from 1/4000 to 30 seconds. Autofocus with EF 50mm 1.8 STM lens-quiet and tenacious! I really like everything! On Saturday, I'll buy a film and go take pictures on the weekend! I am happy!
I purchased this camera, new, back in 1998. Especially at the time, it was incredible. I have recently purchased another Elan II e and I am so excited to have it back (my first semi-pro camera). Today, my professional camera is the Canon 1DX. I have several L lenses and I can’t wait to compare the flagship digital to the flagship film version (using the same lenses/manual settings). Should I report back with my findings?
I also got it new in 1997, ordered from BHphotovideo, with 28-105mm USM lens. I really love it and got a lot of good photo. The design was great and worked great as well.
The silver part is aluminum. In the EOS film line I own a 10s, Elan, Elan iie and the EOS 3. I have not shot with the 2e yet, but you are spot on about the build. It does have plastic but it is solidly built.
The 2e is great but I'm really into smaller cameras at the moment so the ELAN IIe is more my style, but my preferences seem to change every day lol. So we'll see. Thank you for watching and commenting!
Great review! One thing I'd like to add is that the elan IIe does have a DoF preview. You have to go into the custom settings to find it. My Elan has been collecting dust as I've been using an AE-1 and FTb so I don't remember exactly how I activated it, but I believe that once it's on the aperture stops down by pressing the *-cf button. I hope this is helpful and again great job! 🙂
Great point Bob! That's actually something I wrote down to keep in mind when I do the A2/A2e review. It also doesn't have a dedicated DoF preview button but it does have options to accommodate. Thanks for the feedback and thanks for watching!
It is also the model with a lot of camera back door latch issues .. but I solved that with some tape; and a replacement latch can be bought at the famous auction site.
I’ve just purchased one at the local thrift store for $40 . The main reason I got it was couple of lenses attached to it ; Tamron 11-18 mm and canon 20mm - something. Unfortunately the second lens is broken. I want to adopt the Tamron lens to my mirrorless FE Sony camera . On the second thought I might buy few films and give it a try. Maybe it will improve my photo shooting. Thanks for your review.
Great video! Very smart and super helpful. Thank you! Not sure if you have done a video on the Nikon FM camera, but will be interested to look if you have.
Thank you Jody! I never got around to doing a video about the FM, oddly enough. That is one of my favorites. I haven’t been shooting film lately but I’m making some plans to return to at least a little film shooting in 2023. So maybe I’ll kick out an video about the FM then. Thanks so much for watching and for your kind words. It’s much appreciated. 🙏🏼
The EOS 5 (A2/A2E) does have 1/8000, five AF points, spot metering -- a good spot between the ELAN II and the EOS-1 -- I have found them under $100 (from places that don't realize the value!) -- very similar in controls/displays to your ELAN II -- and the A2E has the eye control (sort of odd to get used to!) -- thank you!
The A2/A2E is great! I've owned a few. I think I did a video on that as well. These are great value cameras. Thanks for watching and for your feedback!
I really appreciate this review, it's very detailed and very straightforward. I'm just delving into the world of film after using digital all my life, and I found a near mint example for a good value. I think there will be a small learning curve going from the feature-rich DSLR and mirrorless cameras I'm used to, but this seems to be a very logical and practical little unit. Thanks!
PretentiousBrownie I’m happy you liked the video! And congrats on the awesome camera find! You’ll love it. I find that shooting film has actually made me a better shooter with my digital cameras. I’ll be interested to hear how it all goes for you. Thanks for the comment! Best of luck and let me know how it goes.
Hi there, I bought one for 15 U$ yesterday! To be honest, I was not sure it would work since it was dusty and without the front cover for the body. I didn't even have the infamous scr5 battery, but I just used two 3v lithium batteries...and it came back to life! After around 20 years! Because the guy who sold it to me told me he'd bought it back in 1995 more or less. I'm very happy with it!
Wow! That’s so great! I love hearing stories like that. Best of luck with your new camera. It’s a good one. And thank you for watching and commenting! I appreciate it!
Excelent camera. Used it for years (still have it, but the sutter broke). The eye focus control function (tat you didn;t even talk about), once you trained the camera, was awesome. Don't think they used it in any other camera since.
The eye control is definitely cool. I just forgot to mention in this video but did in some of my other reviews. They also offered it on the 2 Elan models that followed this one as well as the EOS 3. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Good point. I think i just meant that there wasn't a dedicated DoF preview button. It's not really a big deal regardless. It's a great camera. Thanks for the tip! And thanks for watching.
Found an old Elan II sitting around , bought a film, and after taking one picture it rewinded back into the canister. Any idea what’s that about? Is it just broken? Or a setting…?
It's probably faulty and needs repair but there is a possibility that too much film is being pulled out when you load the camera. Pull just enough film to meet the orange square thing at the bottom. I assume you did though. Odds are something is wrong with it unfortunately.
@@CraigBergonzoni thanks. After trying a couple more times and changing the CF to 01 ( might not have anything to do) it works now… gives me a battery check error from time to time, but might be because it hasn’t been used in years
Yep! You have to activate it in the Custom functions. Set custom function 4 to toggle "1" (C04-1) Here's a PDF copy of the manual btw - www.cameramanuals.org/canon_pdf/canon_eos_elan_ii.pdf Let me know if you get it working. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@CraigBergonzoni thank you! I love this camera. I've just found a couple of ND files, and I'm about to head off to a local weir to see how it fares with long exposure shots now! Thank you so much, sir!
My first roll with this camera have some frames split vertically, one part having received more light. Don't know what causes this yet, as the shutter travels vertically too, I would expect a faulty curtain to appear as horizontal artifacts. But I did have some problem with the battery door not pressing the battery into the contacts too well. So that might be the problem. I have glued a shim on the door and my next film roll will hopefully be better.
That's interesting. I'm not sure what would cause that. I'll look into it but in the meantime I hope what you're trying does the trick! Let me know how it works out.
So, I didn’t get a response to resolving the issue but as an FYI to others. In order to take ABM off in manual,..you have to go to ABM,& set the bracketing to 0. Then ABM goes off.👌🏾
Hey Jomo, sorry I forgot to respond to your most recent email. It seems you figured it out which is great. Thanks for the follow up comment. I hope you’re well
Using mine, I notice in full manual mode a/f I set the aperture,& shutter speed then take the picture, I’m having problems w/ the camera allowing me to change the settings?(s.s.,& aperture)?
@@CraigBergonzoni yeah it is set to M. And the little button that’s just below the aperture rotary dial is set to manual too. I bought it in the 90’s for a class,..a/f yrs. of not shooting I’m trying to work on manual bracketing of shots.
I don't have repair shop recommendations off the top of my head. But before you take into a shop maybe I can help figure it's broke of there is some setting that's off. If you'd like, you can email me bergonzoni@mac.com. If you send pics of the top of the camera(with the camera turned on) and back of the camera I'll help brainstorm on possible issues.
It depends on the style of photography and how you use the camera. I tend to shoot a lot of city and street scenes and I like to use the smallest metering mode available on the camera, which with these ELANs it's Partial Metering. But if you're using aperture priority or shutter priority sometimes Evaluative Metering works better. It all depends on the scenario. For me, on this camera, it's Partial Metering. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I find it a bit harsh to say that having 3 autofocus points is a weak point. The EOS 1n has five and they're not even crosshair. It is still a good camera for the price. Mine started to present the sticky shutter problem. I repaired it myself it now works great!
I don't personally don't care too much about the focus points on these cameras. I mainly use the center point anyway. I was just pointing out differences so people are aware before buying. I love this camera. It's such a great value. And that's great you were able to repair yours! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Don't use windex. A little water and a microfiber cloth or a lens cleaning cloth works. Sometimes I dampen a Q-tip with a little distilled water to clean it. Don't use too much pressure. Let me know how it goes. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Hey Jomo, I don't have much experience with flashes but if I find a good recommendation I'll let you know. I assume the 420 would work well but not sure.
@@jomoanderson5596 I shoot some city stuff at night but i don’t shoot many portraits so I’m rarely using a flash. For my night city stuff I’m working with available street lights, neon signs, etc.
Hello. Great review! I have a simple question, I ordered the body of Ellan II, and on lcd scree there MF sign is blinking, and when I release the shutter button, it doesn’t fires. Is it because is has no lens attached on it? or some issue about battery? Thank you for your time.
The MF flashing is normal. This will happen when you have a lens set to manual focus or when there is no lens attached. I'm not sure why the shutter isn't firing. Is there film loaded in it?
Biggest negative of this camera is the flimsy back cover latch. 90% Elan II/IIe available on Ebay are with broken latch. I eventually bought the Japanese version EOS 55 which is more robust and comes with a panoramic mode.
It is great to find your channel again! Google keeps sending me this way :) ... I have an open question this time... Have anybody experienced this camera crashing or freezing even with a new battery? Basically the error that you would encounter will be the dead battery indicator blinking and the mirror jamming in up position after making an exposure. It only happens randomly and mostly when shooting in continuous mode. A common response I'm getting so far from the internet is that it may be due to improper contact with newer brands of its proprietary battery. I have tried 3 different brands of batteries on 4 versions of these cameras so far and I continue experiencing the exact same issue... two Elan IIe's, one II and one EOS 55. To resume normal operation camera should be rebooted or shutter release push halfway. Any thoughts?
Oh that sucks your having that issue. And it’s crazy it’s on multiple cameras. By any chance does it only happen with one specific lens or multiple lenses?
@@CraigBergonzoni With any lens or no lens and does not matter what lens. In fact there was a discussion in the forums suggesting to check for rust or to clean the contacts of both lenses and batteries but that solution did not work for the affected cameras. There was also another suggestion to put little pieces of paper between the compartment door and battery so it will push it tighter on the contacts and that did not work either only for the EOS 55 but it lasted about 1 day of shooting and then it went back to the same on the next day. It may also have something to do with the alignment of the contacts, temperature changes, humidity, etc, etc... just speculating.
If you mean dust on the focusing screen, the best way I know of is to take the lens off and blow air insdie the body toward the screen to try to get the dust off. See how much you can get off this way before you attempt anything else. Let me know if you have any luck. Thank you for watching and commenting! I appreciate it.
@@CraigBergonzoni In the begining, i did what you said , took the lens off and blow inside, But I think it should be stuck on the back of the focusing screen. On DSLR camera, we can open the lid to remove the focusing screen for blow air but for SLR I don't know where to open it. Pls introduce , thanks
Snagged one off Ebay for 34.99 and Just bought the required battery on amazon. Just gonna put my canon ef nifty fifty lens on it and i am gucci. My minolta x300 is fun to shoot for film. But sometimes miss auto-focus and other modern features. so finding one at used market price of 34.99 is not bad.
The EOS 5 offers a 1/8000 shutter speed and spot metering. Functionally those are the 2 biggest advantages of the EOS 5. This Elan is more than capable and to be honest I don't miss those two features much. A few years ago I held them to higher importance than now. I really like the smaller form factor and design of the Elan series, including this one. If you want small and compact, this one is definitely the way to go.
i was looking into this camera wondering if i should purchase. the ones i came across are weirdly cheap... would you know why? and thanks for the video!!
In general the original ELAN and this Elan II are really cheap now. There are a few reasons for that. The biggest reason is that there are a lot of them floating around so the supply is generally greater than demand. Another reason is that these ELAN and Rebel models were “consumer” and “prosumer” cameras of the time and usually the “consumer and prosumer” models had pricing that decreased at higher rate than professional models. It’s a great camera though and if you find one at a good price that works you really can’t go wrong.
Does anybody know if this camera's(Elan II) LCD had a back light ? I purchased this camera about 20 years ago and forgot whether the LCD had a back light or not ? This was my first Canon Camera and I shot some great pictures with it, but when Digital came around, it stayed in the closet a lot. After a couple of years I decided to take it out of the closet and while i was handling it, a couple of the dials just fell off. I decided to replace it with the Canon 7e a few years later. The 7e has all the features and more than my Elan II had, but the LCD does not have a back light. Not sure, but this has got to be one of the most "puzzling" things Canon has ever done ? In between the Canon Elan II and the Elan 7e , I also purchased the EOS-3, but I never really appreciated that camera like I did the Elan's. It was just too LOUD and the shutter was extremely sensitive.
@@CraigBergonzoni it did :) the problem was that i took off a little piece of paper in the battery case, but then I found out it was necessary to keep the battery in place, so I puted it back and it started working.
@@CraigBergonzoni yes that is solved, but now that I turned it one, I found out the mirror gets stuck up very often, with o w/out the lens, at every shutter speed :/ do you know something about this issue?
The biggest problem withe the Elan IIe is that you can find the Elan 7 for the same price these days. I paid $15 for my Elan IIe and $5 for my Elan 7. I would say if you're in the market for one, just be patient and find an Elan 7 for the same price. It feels a little more refined.
That’s a great buy for the Elan 7! Good find! The Elan 7 is a pretty awesome camera. I’m actually going to be recording and posting a video on that one soon. Thanks for the feedback!
It maxes out at 1/4000? You make that sound like an issue. When compared to other FILM cameras, that 1/4000 was very quick and about the best you could find with film. maybe a handful shoot faster, but they are the exception. Comparing the speed rate to what some digital speeds are is comparing apples to oranges.
I didnt intend to make a big negative. It’s just a “difference” that should be pointed out. I agree it’s not fair to compare digital to film on most cases but it’s still worth pointing out some differences in these cameras. Thanks for watching and for your feedback!
You cannot use it for video. It's a film camera not a digital one. If you need help finding cameras for video let me know and I'll send some recommendations.
Ha. It's difficult to hate on a camera that's so affordable and offers a lot for the price. I think the Elan 7 is still my preferred camera over this but this is awesome too.
@@robstammers7149 nop, i´m using tamron 45mm f1.8 and 35mm f1.8 and none of them works fine on this camera, note this is happening with 3 different bodies that I have tested this lenses.
5:02 The sound of the shuttle release is so so sweet with this SLR camera :D
I agree!
The AF is surprisingly accurate and quick. The EF 24-105mm L f/4 is an excellent mate with this body. The EF 35mm f/2 and the EF 50mm f/1.8 make a wonderful lightweight combo.
Very true! All of those pair very nicely with this camera. Thanks for watching and for your comment! Much appreciated.
A coworker gifted me his ELAN II, and I was stunned... I thought he gifted me a camera that was worth at least a couple hundred dollars! It feels great in the hand and has loads of features (you mentioned a DOF preview; mine was defaulted to the CF button being a DOFP button). Even though I know now that you can pick one up for less than $50, I'm still super grateful that he got me into shooting film with this camera. I use it alongside my 5D III and R6 II with any of my EF glass (I usually keep a 35mm f2 or 50mm f1.4 on it) and still don't feel like it's lacking. It's aged, for sure, but worth significantly more than the current market value.
Wow, that’s great! Congrats on your ELAN II! It’s such a underrated film camera. One of my favorites. Enjoy yours!
I just got mine for $13 from a really generous seller and it’s just a little dirty so I’m excited to start using it!
That’s awesome! I’m excited for you. Let me know it goes.
Just bought the 50e from ebay for the princely sum of £27. In perfect working condition, going after the battery grip for it to complete the kit. By the way the eye controlled focussing works very well, as does the eye controlled depth of field preview, which you didn't mention in the video, it's the little square in the top left of the view finder. Can't wait to put some film through it. Great video by the way, you certainly sold the 50e /Elan II to me.
Yeah, I noticed that later that I forgot to mention the eye controlled depth of field preview feature. Good catch. Congrats on your find! That's a great deal. Best of luck with it! Follow up and let me know how it's going. Thank you for watching and commenting!
@@CraigBergonzoni No problem Craig, I'll let you know how I get on.
Mine was £21! It arrived this afternoon 😊 Can't wait...
@@natgalmac Nice one, I can't believe these great cameras are going so cheaply. Anyway hope you enjoy using it, I'm loving it.
I still have mine! This and the Canon 650 were the cameras I used for sports! **It's why I still don't shoot in burst mode-back in school, they taught us how to shoot, and one shot shooting was a MUST in the film days so you really timed it and got the shot!**
Oh I totally get what you're saying about how shooting film can help shape the way you shoot. That's why I encourage a lot of photographers to try film for a bit and feel how the limitations can benefit them. That's cool you still have your film cameras! And thank you for watching and commenting, btw!
@@CraigBergonzoni Well, I wanted to keep at least one body when I sold all my film gear (way back in 2003) Here is a photo of the 150 rolls I kept onhand: www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/5183684963 That was in 2003 or maybe 2004 when I went fully to digital
Wow! What a cool photo of all your film rolls. I never shot consistently but my film camera of my teens and early 20s was an Olympus OM-10 and whatever film stock I could my hands on.
@@CraigBergonzoni I might be a little older than you, but I was already doing professional jobs in the '90s, so I used film quite a bit. As much as I miss the film days, I am happy with digital. Our work method is getting rights to youth tournaments (like dance competitions and volleyball tournaments) and we sell onsite. The kids leave with a flash drive or the images on their phone. I actually did try onsite sales around 2003 with a collapsible darkroom-that was a NIGHTMARE!
Hi Craig, Really liked your honest review of the IIe. I just bought one on eBay thanks to your review. It had no lens so I bought a Promaster 28-80mm as a first lens just to get started at a minimal expense. Saving up for the 50mm you have. Excited to have this as my first autofocus film camera, and my second Canon after the TX classic. Wish me luck! I’ll keep you posted on my progress if you want. Thanks again! Anthony.
That's great to hear! I'm excited for you. It's a really cool camera. I can't wait to hear out it goes for you. Thanks for watching and commenting!
The Elan series are my favorite "work" film cameras You don't get many bad surprises with them and they are very easy to use. I bought an Elan IIe new in about 1998 after seeing my step daughter's wedding photographer working with one. Put a 550ex flash with it if you need a flash and go to work. Good inexpensive film rig. Oddly they don't seem to run much higher than the film Rebels, another good series. Keep the instruction booklet handy or download the instructions because there are a lot of adjustments available.
Hi Craig! ! Thank you for the great video! Today, March 29, 2021, I bought the same camera - Canon 50e-in excellent condition for 40 euros! I'll shoot on it ! I love film photography. I have been doing it since 1978, when I was 10 years old. After all, the main thing in life is to collect moments, not things! Greetings from Russia!
With respect,
Congrats on the camera!! Let me know how it works out. Thank you for watching and for the kind words! Keep me updated on your film photography.
@@CraigBergonzoni
Thank you, the camera works well! Today I bought new 2CR5 batteries and checked how it works without the film. All shutter speeds-work-from 1/4000 to 30 seconds. Autofocus with EF 50mm 1.8 STM lens-quiet and tenacious! I really like everything! On Saturday, I'll buy a film and go take pictures on the weekend! I am happy!
That’s great! I’m very happy to hear that. Happy shooting!!
I purchased this camera, new, back in 1998. Especially at the time, it was incredible. I have recently purchased another Elan II e and I am so excited to have it back (my first semi-pro camera). Today, my professional camera is the Canon 1DX. I have several L lenses and I can’t wait to compare the flagship digital to the flagship film version (using the same lenses/manual settings). Should I report back with my findings?
That's awesome! And definitely! I'd love to hear follow ups about how it's going. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I also got it new in 1997, ordered from BHphotovideo, with 28-105mm USM lens. I really love it and got a lot of good photo. The design was great and worked great as well.
The silver part is aluminum. In the EOS film line I own a 10s, Elan, Elan iie and the EOS 3. I have not shot with the 2e yet, but you are spot on about the build. It does have plastic but it is solidly built.
The 2e is great but I'm really into smaller cameras at the moment so the ELAN IIe is more my style, but my preferences seem to change every day lol. So we'll see. Thank you for watching and commenting!
Great review! One thing I'd like to add is that the elan IIe does have a DoF preview. You have to go into the custom settings to find it. My Elan has been collecting dust as I've been using an AE-1 and FTb so I don't remember exactly how I activated it, but I believe that once it's on the aperture stops down by pressing the *-cf button. I hope this is helpful and again great job! 🙂
Great point Bob! That's actually something I wrote down to keep in mind when I do the A2/A2e review. It also doesn't have a dedicated DoF preview button but it does have options to accommodate. Thanks for the feedback and thanks for watching!
It is also the model with a lot of camera back door latch issues .. but I solved that with some tape; and a replacement latch can be bought at the famous auction site.
Good point. I was lucky enough not run into that problem with the couple of versions I owned.
this is so awesomely in-depth. thank you so much man
You're welcome! And thank you so much for your watching and for your kind words. It's greatly appreciated.
I’ve just purchased one at the local thrift store for $40 . The main reason I got it was couple of lenses attached to it ; Tamron 11-18 mm and canon 20mm - something.
Unfortunately the second lens is broken.
I want to adopt the Tamron lens to my mirrorless FE Sony camera .
On the second thought I might buy few films and give it a try. Maybe it will improve my photo shooting.
Thanks for your review.
That's awesome! I hope you do give a try even if you do decide to sell it. Let me know how it goes! Thank you for watching and commenting!
Great video! Very smart and super helpful. Thank you! Not sure if you have done a video on the Nikon FM camera, but will be interested to look if you have.
Thank you Jody! I never got around to doing a video about the FM, oddly enough. That is one of my favorites. I haven’t been shooting film lately but I’m making some plans to return to at least a little film shooting in 2023. So maybe I’ll kick out an video about the FM then. Thanks so much for watching and for your kind words. It’s much appreciated. 🙏🏼
The EOS 5 (A2/A2E) does have 1/8000, five AF points, spot metering -- a good spot between the ELAN II and the EOS-1 -- I have found them under $100 (from places that don't realize the value!) -- very similar in controls/displays to your ELAN II -- and the A2E has the eye control (sort of odd to get used to!) -- thank you!
The A2/A2E is great! I've owned a few. I think I did a video on that as well. These are great value cameras. Thanks for watching and for your feedback!
I really appreciate this review, it's very detailed and very straightforward. I'm just delving into the world of film after using digital all my life, and I found a near mint example for a good value. I think there will be a small learning curve going from the feature-rich DSLR and mirrorless cameras I'm used to, but this seems to be a very logical and practical little unit. Thanks!
PretentiousBrownie I’m happy you liked the video! And congrats on the awesome camera find! You’ll love it. I find that shooting film has actually made me a better shooter with my digital cameras. I’ll be interested to hear how it all goes for you. Thanks for the comment! Best of luck and let me know how it goes.
Hi there, I bought one for 15 U$ yesterday! To be honest, I was not sure it would work since it was dusty and without the front cover for the body. I didn't even have the infamous scr5 battery, but I just used two 3v lithium batteries...and it came back to life! After around 20 years! Because the guy who sold it to me told me he'd bought it back in 1995 more or less. I'm very happy with it!
Wow! That’s so great! I love hearing stories like that. Best of luck with your new camera. It’s a good one. And thank you for watching and commenting! I appreciate it!
I bought one recently. Had the shutter goo issue but with some patience and cleaning it works well.
That's awesome you got it to work! Great camera. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I have that and I like the eye control focus.
That's awesome! It took me a bit to get used to but it is really cool. Thank you for watching and commenting!
Excelent camera. Used it for years (still have it, but the sutter broke). The eye focus control function (tat you didn;t even talk about), once you trained the camera, was awesome. Don't think they used it in any other camera since.
The eye control is definitely cool. I just forgot to mention in this video but did in some of my other reviews. They also offered it on the 2 Elan models that followed this one as well as the EOS 3. Thanks for watching and commenting!
The camera does have a dof preview you have to change the settings on the camera where it says cf
Good point. I think i just meant that there wasn't a dedicated DoF preview button. It's not really a big deal regardless. It's a great camera. Thanks for the tip! And thanks for watching.
Found an old Elan II sitting around , bought a film, and after taking one picture it rewinded back into the canister. Any idea what’s that about? Is it just broken? Or a setting…?
It's probably faulty and needs repair but there is a possibility that too much film is being pulled out when you load the camera. Pull just enough film to meet the orange square thing at the bottom. I assume you did though. Odds are something is wrong with it unfortunately.
@@CraigBergonzoni thanks. After trying a couple more times and changing the CF to 01 ( might not have anything to do) it works now… gives me a battery check error from time to time, but might be because it hasn’t been used in years
@@delia_ra oh cool! I’m happy to hear it’s working.
You can back-button focus on this camera??? I don't have a user manual. Please can someone share how this can be done? 😊😊😊
Yep! You have to activate it in the Custom functions. Set custom function 4 to toggle "1" (C04-1) Here's a PDF copy of the manual btw - www.cameramanuals.org/canon_pdf/canon_eos_elan_ii.pdf Let me know if you get it working. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@CraigBergonzoni thank you! I love this camera. I've just found a couple of ND files, and I'm about to head off to a local weir to see how it fares with long exposure shots now! Thank you so much, sir!
My first roll with this camera have some frames split vertically, one part having received more light. Don't know what causes this yet, as the shutter travels vertically too, I would expect a faulty curtain to appear as horizontal artifacts. But I did have some problem with the battery door not pressing the battery into the contacts too well. So that might be the problem. I have glued a shim on the door and my next film roll will hopefully be better.
That's interesting. I'm not sure what would cause that. I'll look into it but in the meantime I hope what you're trying does the trick! Let me know how it works out.
So, I didn’t get a response to resolving the issue but as an FYI to others. In order to take ABM off in manual,..you have to go to ABM,& set the bracketing to 0. Then ABM goes off.👌🏾
Hey Jomo, sorry I forgot to respond to your most recent email. It seems you figured it out which is great. Thanks for the follow up comment. I hope you’re well
Using mine, I notice in full manual mode a/f I set the aperture,& shutter speed then take the picture, I’m having problems w/ the camera allowing me to change the settings?(s.s.,& aperture)?
Is your program dial on the top left of the camera set to "M"? Are you having trouble changing both the shutter speed AND aperture or just one?
@@CraigBergonzoni yeah it is set to M. And the little button that’s just below the aperture rotary dial is set to manual too. I bought it in the 90’s for a class,..a/f yrs. of not shooting I’m trying to work on manual bracketing of shots.
@@CraigBergonzoni if you’re in the Los Angeles area is there a repair shop recommendation?
I don't have repair shop recommendations off the top of my head. But before you take into a shop maybe I can help figure it's broke of there is some setting that's off. If you'd like, you can email me bergonzoni@mac.com. If you send pics of the top of the camera(with the camera turned on) and back of the camera I'll help brainstorm on possible issues.
What built in metering mode do you recommend? Hearing it lacks spot metering.
It depends on the style of photography and how you use the camera. I tend to shoot a lot of city and street scenes and I like to use the smallest metering mode available on the camera, which with these ELANs it's Partial Metering. But if you're using aperture priority or shutter priority sometimes Evaluative Metering works better. It all depends on the scenario. For me, on this camera, it's Partial Metering. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I've just bought one 😊
Awesome! I hope it works out well for you. Thanks for watching and commenting! 😊
@@CraigBergonzoni Yeah. Its ok. I am big fan of canon. I like your reviews. Keep going. 👍📸
Thanks!
I find it a bit harsh to say that having 3 autofocus points is a weak point. The EOS 1n has five and they're not even crosshair. It is still a good camera for the price. Mine started to present the sticky shutter problem. I repaired it myself it now works great!
I don't personally don't care too much about the focus points on these cameras. I mainly use the center point anyway. I was just pointing out differences so people are aware before buying. I love this camera. It's such a great value. And that's great you were able to repair yours! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Is it safe to clean the mirror with a soft damp cloth? Dampened with water or windex?
Don't use windex. A little water and a microfiber cloth or a lens cleaning cloth works. Sometimes I dampen a Q-tip with a little distilled water to clean it. Don't use too much pressure. Let me know how it goes. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Craig,..any recommendations when it comes to repurchasing an external hot shoe flash? I think I had a 540EZ that I pawned,..but what about the 420?
Hey Jomo, I don't have much experience with flashes but if I find a good recommendation I'll let you know. I assume the 420 would work well but not sure.
@@CraigBergonzoni So, No night shooting 4 U?
@@jomoanderson5596 I shoot some city stuff at night but i don’t shoot many portraits so I’m rarely using a flash. For my night city stuff I’m working with available street lights, neon signs, etc.
Hello. Great review! I have a simple question, I ordered the body of Ellan II, and on lcd scree there MF sign is blinking, and when I release the shutter button, it doesn’t fires. Is it because is has no lens attached on it? or some issue about battery? Thank you for your time.
The MF flashing is normal. This will happen when you have a lens set to manual focus or when there is no lens attached. I'm not sure why the shutter isn't firing. Is there film loaded in it?
No preview button? That's incredible on a semi pro camera. It is very important for me.. so I prefer another camera.
That's understandable. Thankfully there are a ton of great choices out there. Thanks for watching and commenting! Much appreciated.
can you focus and recompose with the eos 55? thank u 😊
Yes. You definitely can. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Biggest negative of this camera is the flimsy back cover latch. 90% Elan II/IIe available on Ebay are with broken latch. I eventually bought the Japanese version EOS 55 which is more robust and comes with a panoramic mode.
It is great to find your channel again! Google keeps sending me this way :) ... I have an open question this time... Have anybody experienced this camera crashing or freezing even with a new battery? Basically the error that you would encounter will be the dead battery indicator blinking and the mirror jamming in up position after making an exposure. It only happens randomly and mostly when shooting in continuous mode. A common response I'm getting so far from the internet is that it may be due to improper contact with newer brands of its proprietary battery. I have tried 3 different brands of batteries on 4 versions of these cameras so far and I continue experiencing the exact same issue... two Elan IIe's, one II and one EOS 55. To resume normal operation camera should be rebooted or shutter release push halfway. Any thoughts?
Oh that sucks your having that issue. And it’s crazy it’s on multiple cameras. By any chance does it only happen with one specific lens or multiple lenses?
@@CraigBergonzoni With any lens or no lens and does not matter what lens. In fact there was a discussion in the forums suggesting to check for rust or to clean the contacts of both lenses and batteries but that solution did not work for the affected cameras. There was also another suggestion to put little pieces of paper between the compartment door and battery so it will push it tighter on the contacts and that did not work either only for the EOS 55 but it lasted about 1 day of shooting and then it went back to the same on the next day. It may also have something to do with the alignment of the contacts, temperature changes, humidity, etc, etc... just speculating.
I have this same problem with my Canon EOS 1N and I can't use it anymore because it just flashes the BC error and won't shoot.
hi...could you introduce, how do i remove dust from the screen for eos55 , thanks
If you mean dust on the focusing screen, the best way I know of is to take the lens off and blow air insdie the body toward the screen to try to get the dust off. See how much you can get off this way before you attempt anything else. Let me know if you have any luck. Thank you for watching and commenting! I appreciate it.
@@CraigBergonzoni In the begining, i did what you said , took the lens off and blow inside, But I think it should be stuck on the back of the focusing screen. On DSLR camera, we can open the lid to remove the focusing screen for blow air but for SLR I don't know where to open it. Pls introduce , thanks
Snagged one off Ebay for 34.99 and Just bought the required battery on amazon. Just gonna put my canon ef nifty fifty lens on it and i am gucci.
My minolta x300 is fun to shoot for film. But sometimes miss auto-focus and other modern features. so finding one at used market price of 34.99 is not bad.
That's a great deal! I can't wait to hear how it works out for you. Keep me updated. Thanks for watching and commenting!
How would you compare it to the eos5
The EOS 5 offers a 1/8000 shutter speed and spot metering. Functionally those are the 2 biggest advantages of the EOS 5. This Elan is more than capable and to be honest I don't miss those two features much. A few years ago I held them to higher importance than now. I really like the smaller form factor and design of the Elan series, including this one. If you want small and compact, this one is definitely the way to go.
i was looking into this camera wondering if i should purchase. the ones i came across are weirdly cheap... would you know why? and thanks for the video!!
In general the original ELAN and this Elan II are really cheap now. There are a few reasons for that. The biggest reason is that there are a lot of them floating around so the supply is generally greater than demand. Another reason is that these ELAN and Rebel models were “consumer” and “prosumer” cameras of the time and usually the “consumer and prosumer” models had pricing that decreased at higher rate than professional models. It’s a great camera though and if you find one at a good price that works you really can’t go wrong.
@@CraigBergonzoni alright thanks so much!
Does anybody know if this camera's(Elan II) LCD had a back light ? I purchased this camera about 20 years ago and forgot whether the LCD had a back light or not ? This was my first Canon Camera and I shot some great pictures with it, but when Digital came around, it stayed in the closet a lot. After a couple of years I decided to take it out of the closet and while i was handling it, a couple of the dials just fell off. I decided to replace it with the Canon 7e a few years later.
The 7e has all the features and more than my Elan II had, but the LCD does not have a back light. Not sure, but this has got to be one of the most "puzzling" things Canon has ever done ? In between the Canon Elan II and the Elan 7e , I also purchased the EOS-3, but I never really appreciated that camera like I did the Elan's. It was just too LOUD and the shutter was extremely sensitive.
It does not have a back light. The only ELAN to have a backlight is the 7n/7ne. Btw, I feel the same way about the EOS-3. The shutter is super loud.
Shall it always be turned on, or has it a way to turn it on/off? I just purchased one online, but it seems not working, even with a new battery :/
You turn it off by switching the top dial on the top left to the red “L” for LOCK. I hope it starts working for you
@@CraigBergonzoni it did :) the problem was that i took off a little piece of paper in the battery case, but then I found out it was necessary to keep the battery in place, so I puted it back and it started working.
Ok good. Happy to hear that!
@@CraigBergonzoni yes that is solved, but now that I turned it one, I found out the mirror gets stuck up very often, with o w/out the lens, at every shutter speed :/ do you know something about this issue?
Hmm.. does it happen in manual and other modes as well?
The biggest problem withe the Elan IIe is that you can find the Elan 7 for the same price these days. I paid $15 for my Elan IIe and $5 for my Elan 7. I would say if you're in the market for one, just be patient and find an Elan 7 for the same price. It feels a little more refined.
That’s a great buy for the Elan 7! Good find! The Elan 7 is a pretty awesome camera. I’m actually going to be recording and posting a video on that one soon. Thanks for the feedback!
@@CraigBergonzoni looking forward to the video. I've had mine for a while but just started shooting with it more this month and I absolutely love it.
Having 3 focus points with eye focus neans you have less time to recompose your framing than using center focus point and recompose.
Good point. Thanks for watching!
It maxes out at 1/4000? You make that sound like an issue. When compared to other FILM cameras, that 1/4000 was very quick and about the best you could find with film. maybe a handful shoot faster, but they are the exception. Comparing the speed rate to what some digital speeds are is comparing apples to oranges.
I didnt intend to make a big negative. It’s just a “difference” that should be pointed out. I agree it’s not fair to compare digital to film on most cases but it’s still worth pointing out some differences in these cameras. Thanks for watching and for your feedback!
Great camera wish I never got rid of it.
How much should a battery run
Do you mean price of the battery?
you should show pictures you’ve shot on the camera!
E Mon I actually have some in there. Check out a few pics at @9:33 I haven’t done this in every single video but I’m trying to remember too.
I still keep eos55
Awesome! Great camera! Thank you for watching and commenting!
can you use this for videos?
You cannot use it for video. It's a film camera not a digital one. If you need help finding cameras for video let me know and I'll send some recommendations.
What’s wit the creepy music lol
I was just playing around with some music.
Basically, a film-back for my EF lenses...
Yep. Pretty much. That's one of the things I like about these cameras. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Damning a camera with faint praise.
Ha. It's difficult to hate on a camera that's so affordable and offers a lot for the price. I think the Elan 7 is still my preferred camera over this but this is awesome too.
The must buggy canon camera ever, you can´t use third party lenses with this camera, that´s very sad.
That sucks, I really haven't tried any other lenses with this camera. Thanks for the heads up. And thanks for watching and commenting!
You can use third party lenses with the Canon 50e, as long as they are EF fit, (not EF-S), I'm using a Tamron EF 70 to 200 zoom and it works fine.
@@robstammers7149 nop, i´m using tamron 45mm f1.8 and 35mm f1.8 and none of them works fine on this camera, note this is happening with 3 different bodies that I have tested this lenses.