EOS 5 (A2E) AF compared to D30/D60/10D

[Guillermo Freige]

People:
I have a 5-year old EOS 5 (or A2E in USA) and I'm very happy with (or at least accostumed to) its AF system, in low light situations, and lately I've bought a PowerShot S50 to replace my old (2-year old in digital is OLD:)) Sony Cybershot P1 (horrendous low light AF) and with the idea to replace in part my EOS 5, but the S50 AF is way behind the EOS 5 one in low light.

My question is: how the D30/D60/10D AF stacks against the 5 ? I'm thinking in buying an used D30, but I don't want to end with another problematic AF. Sadly I've lost my EOS 5 manual to check the specs and compare it with the DSLRs. I'm pretty sure the 10D AF is similar or better, but I have my doubts with the D30/D60 ones.

If somebody has experience with the D30 and 5 AF, it will be nice to know what are your results comparing both systems.

Thanks

Guillermo
(I miss eye-controlled AF too!!!)

[brunz]

D30 and D60 both struggle in low light. 10D is nice unless yours front or back focuses. 10D is a sweet camera and focuses as well as an EOS 5

[CyberDyneSystems]

The 10D is comparable to the current generation Elan 7's Autofocus. It is very quick and precise.

I've not used the D30 or D60 but they suffered in low light and they were based on the previous generations Elan 3's autofocus.

I will say this,. as compared to any Digicam I ever used,. the 10D is lightening fast!

I suspect that even though there were some downsides to the D30 autofocus,. I bet it still blows away 90% of the digicams on the market. It may have had poor low light ability compared to a good 35mm SLR,. but a digicam? I doubt it.

[photography By Evangelos]

As a professional photographer I have used the EOS A2 for over 5 years and can say it is one of the best canon A/F cameras to date. I wish the 10D were as fast. First off with out a flash unit attached to the 10D it suffers in low light or poorly lit rooms and this is a fact. The EOS A2 has an infred sensor in the camera so if you do not want to use a flash unit on top of the camera it dose a great job and is lighting fast in any condition. This is something that canon should put in the digital SLR cameras but they do not use it any more. I am not sure why they do this. Also I have gotten my hands on some Nikon Gear and the Fuji S2 and can say they are much faster in A/F over my canon 10D cameras. I am very impressed with the S2 it is a very fast camera in low light. But I am a canon user and I wait for a digital body, which has sharp files out of the camera with no "USM" in photoshop and has a fast A/F like film. There is too much processing of digital files to make the images really look great. Some times I miss film. Next week I have a wedding, which they insisted on film so I am dusting off my Med-Format gear and looking, forward to just having fun and let the pro-Lab do the rest. Best of luck to you all. I have 2 10D cameras and am not at all impressed with the A/F in low light.

[Jeppe]

Comparing the EOS 5/A2e witn the 10D in low light is not fair, since the EOS 5/A2e has an IR-light that lights the scene. I remember my old EOS 100, that succer focused in complete darkness. :) If you mount an external flash on the 10D you will find that it is just as good as an EOS 5 in lowlight.

The Af-specs for 10D is accually based on EOS 1V and the EOS 30/Elan 7e. With an EF 200/1.8L its just as good as an EOS 1V.

[hotmetal]

Hi All

Perhaps this is the place to ask a supplimentary question on EOS5/10D focusing systems. I have had an EOS 5 for more years than I care to remember, it has a "Depth Of Field" DEP programme. I see the 10d has a similar program but it is called ADEP, presumable this means Auto DEP, how does this differ from DEP?

Alan

[PacAce]

hotmetal wrote:
Hi All

Perhaps this is the place to ask a supplimentary question on EOS5/10D focusing systems. I have had an EOS 5 for more years than I care to remember, it has a "Depth Of Field" DEP programme. I see the 10d has a similar program but it is called ADEP, presumable this means Auto DEP, how does this differ from DEP?

Alan

With the DEP, you select the near and far focus points. :)

With the A-DEP, the camera selects both for you. And most times, it's not what YOU wanted (at least that's been the case for me). :(

[hotmetal]

Thanks for that, is there anyway to get a 10D to operate DEP rather than ADEP?

Alan