PLEASE bring back eye-control AF!

rrblint wrote in post #15473560
Good find with the EOS 1 for $60...Try an A2E or one of the Elan models for ECF(make sure that it has the letter "E" in it's name). Don't know what they're going for now but they will be much cheaper than the EOS 3.

IIRC, my A2e was just over $100 with a couple of (crappy) lenses, an old flash and a bag to carry it all in. Even though it was old, it all worked fine, though I sold the lenses off and use my current ones with the A2e.

archer1960 wrote in post #15474197
IIRC, my A2e was just over $100 with a couple of (crappy) lenses, an old flash and a bag to carry it all in. Even though it was old, it all worked fine, though I sold the lenses off and use my current ones with the A2e.

You can pick up the elan IIe all day long on amazon, ebay, etc for $25-$30. Only 3 AF points but I always liked the partial aluminum finish.

archer1960 wrote in post #15474197
IIRC, my A2e was just over $100 with a couple of (crappy) lenses, an old flash and a bag to carry it all in. Even though it was old, it all worked fine, though I sold the lenses off and use my current ones with the A2e.

WW...I'll sell you my A2E for $100!

rrblint wrote in post #15474538
WW...I'll sell you my A2E for $100!

Didn't the A2E have some weird thing about the meter in the US that drove people to want the imported models? I seem to recall this when I was camera shopping in the early 90s and the guy at the shop recommended against the US version of this camera.

rrblint wrote in post #15473560
Don't know what they're going for now but they will be much cheaper than the EOS 3.

I went with the Elan 7ne because it was essentially the last ECF body produced with the latest version of the feature, and was also equipped with ETTL-II. I got mine--a "Bargain" body plus grip--from KEH for roughly $120. As is often reported, KEH grades their equipment very harshly. What they classify as "Bargain" I'd have described as "Very Good" condition. My 7ne had a few minor scuffs, but honestly, my 7D looked far work after just a week of shooting!

rrblint wrote in post #15474538
WW...I'll sell you my A2E for $100!

Full kit including flash and a couple of decent lenses (or one good one that doesn't duplicate what I already have)? Sure. Not the body alone, though...

kfreels wrote in post #15474698
Didn't the A2E have some weird thing about the meter in the US that drove people to want the imported models? I seem to recall this when I was camera shopping in the early 90s and the guy at the shop recommended against the US version of this camera.

I don't remember hearing or reading anything about this, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. Perhaps there was something different about the early models, but I bought the A2E in '96 which was late in it's marketing lifetime. By that time everything that I read about it seemed to indicate that A2E=EOS 5.

I do remember reading that the A2(non E) version was marketed only in North America(though I'm sure that it showed up elsewhere in the gray market arena) and some people called it unofficially the EOS 5.5. Anders would know for sure, maybe he'll check in and give us the scoop.

jblaschke wrote in post #15474720
I went with the Elan 7ne because it was essentially the last ECF body produced with the latest version of the feature, and was also equipped with ETTL-II. I got mine--a "Bargain" body plus grip--from KEH for roughly $120. As is often reported, KEH grades their equipment very harshly. What they classify as "Bargain" I'd have described as "Very Good" condition. My 7ne had a few minor scuffs, but honestly, my 7D looked far work after just a week of shooting!

Yes, you definitely got a good deal there, with the grip. I don't remember if the 7NE was also capable of ATTL program flash, the EOS 3 could do both, but for film, I actually preferred ATTL to ETTL. If you have or can get an EZ flash, give ATTL a try. I think that you will like it.

archer1960 wrote in post #15474850
Full kit including flash and a couple of decent lenses (or one good one that doesn't duplicate what I already have)? Sure. Not the body alone, though...

I was just kidding( I guess the lol smiley was misleading)...You got a good deal, especially if the flash is an EZ model...Is it?

If so give ATTL a try, it is a great TTL-OTF program for film.

From Wiki and likely what kfreels is referring to..."At the time of the camera's production, there was a U.S. patent on the use of a digital scale to show under- or over-exposure in a metered-manual SLR. Canon did not want to pay the patent holder, and therefore omitted the -2/+2 (in half-stops) scale in the A2/A2e, leaving just an over or under indication. The European/Japanese market EOS 5 had the scale and on account of this many American photographers preferred the imported model. This is a firmware difference only, and there is at least one third-party firm which will install EOS 5 firmware on an A2/A2e, thereby adding this scale.'

We should also not forget another feature unique to those cameras, that of the shiftable DEP mode.

My A2E has the + or - 2 stop scale John, so I guess that must have been cleared up by 1996.

I never even knew it existed but... now I REALLY REALLY want eye-controlled AF.

rrblint wrote in post #15476293
My A2E has the + or - 2 stop scale John, so I guess that must have been cleared up by 1996.

That must be it but it sure seems weird. Didn't all of the other cameras have the scale? I really don't remember a lot from the time but my Elan had it. I wonder if somewhere between 91 and 95 they decided that they just needed to bite the bullet and pay.

rrblint wrote in post #15475268
I was just kidding( I guess the lol smiley was misleading)...You got a good deal, especially if the flash is an EZ model...Is it?

If so give ATTL a try, it is a great TTL-OTF program for film.

Yes, it's a 300EZ. I'll have to look up those abbreviations; none of them look familiar (I know what TTL means, but am not sure how it is modified by the other stuff).

archer1960 wrote in post #15478998
Yes, it's a 300EZ. I'll have to look up those abbreviations; none of them look familiar (I know what TTL means, but am not sure how it is modified by the other stuff).

ATTL= Advanced Automated Through The Lens

OTF= Off The Film(surface)

I quickly checked Canon's website for the 300EZ manual and couldn't find it, so I'm not sure if it has ATTL or not, but from memory(not too good these days) I think that all EZ models had it, in fact I believe ATTL was the hallmark of the EZ units and the reason for the moniker "EZ".

It was basically a form of automated flash control similar in results to today's ETTL system, though the implementation is completely different as it used a real-time shutdown of the flash output when a reflection off of the film surface indicated correct exposure, rather than a preflash measurement of how much flash power is needed followed by a fixed duration flash pulse. ATTL obviously could not work for digital but worked very nicely with film. In fact ATTL worked better IMO than ETTL for film when tested against each other on my EOS 3 film SLR.