This is a great camera that is excellent in many ways and has very few shortcomings. Unlike other Canon SLRs that I own, it is evident that a lot of thought was put into the camera in terms of its design and usability. To date, I have yet to find another Canon that bests the Elan 7 in terms of ergonomics. The grip and access to buttons is in my opinion far superior to any of Canon's successive digital offering: 10d, 20d, 30d, 40d and other various digital rebel models I've used. While I do not have experience with pro bodies, I will step out on a limb and say this camera even bests them in terms of ergonomics. Oftentimes pro bodies are designed for reliability under extreme conditions (hence more buttons, less dials), this camera makes to claims at being waterproof and thus is free to have a truly optimal control layout. Beyond superb usability, this camera leads the way in other important areas. The shutter/motor drive is really excellent, the shutter is the quietest of any SLR i've used, and is even better than some rangefinders I've used. The motor drive is similarly quiet and very fast for a non pro body, capable of 4fps. I've used this camera to document events in churches ieven ncluding ceremonies like communion, without drawing attention to myself. The autofocus/metering system is actually quite good, though now somewhat outdated. The 7 point AF system used originally debuted with Canon's Rebel 2000 (coincidentelly my first Canon) and was last utilized in Canon's 10d. I opted for the eye control in this camera, but really ended up not using it simply because I am a picky person and could not accept less than 100% accuracy. Being an eye glass user I was never able to achieve this, though ultimately I think If I used the larger accessory eye cup and did not wear glasses I probably could achieve this, because the system can actually be quite accurate assuming you position your eye in a consistent place for each use. The 35 zone evaluative metering system is quite good. I now know a bit more about light metering since my heyday in film photography, and looking back at my slides I cannot complain. With slide film the camera nails almost every shot. On the downside, the only metering problems it has is with non-EOS compatable lenses, ie: any lens without an electronic interface, like old manual focus lenses with converters. Simply put, if you want to use one of these lenses you need an external meter to get consistent results. The camera's viewfinder is brighter and much better than any of the rebel designs with penta mirrors, though I've seen better performance out of some older Nikons. For some reason Canon continually sees the need to put a fresnel focusing screen in their cameras, limiting the sharpness. The viewfinder is far better than I've seen on Canon's non-pro dslrs though. Lastly, I'd like to say that I really think the build quality on this camera is perfect. No, its not as heavy and metal as my 20d, but its a good balance of metal and plastic. At it's heart, the Elan 7 is in fact a plastic camera, giving it a much lighter feeling than my 20d. However, the aluminum body panels provide strength where it needs it, making it feel perfectly solid when I pair it with a larger lens such as my EF 200mm f2.8 or EF 24-70mm f2.8 and EX 420 flash unit. In conclusion, If you're still shooting film or would like to shoot film this is a very durable, full featured camera that is non fatiguing in its use and allows you instant control over well placed camera features.

Favorite Features:

1. This camera supports mid-roll rewind. This is an essential feature, effectively allowing you to swap out film mid roll, with other film. Custom settings allow you to leave the film leader out, so you can reload these rolls later, just put the film cap on, set shutter manually to 4000 and click shutter to advance to the last frame you used.

2. IR Remote: for some reason canon thinks this is a very amateur feature and refuses to put it in 10d,20d,30d,40d cameras. Why? It is so useful to be able to trigger camera with a remote and not a cable. Also, it works very well in bulb mode, as T, so click of button opens shutter, click closes shutter, so you don't have to hold the button down for the whole exposure. Why won't my 20d do this??

Very rugged

Fully customizable

It is very well labled so easy to figure out

I love it (yes it is a strength.... I said so, lol)

The flash is alittle wussy, but if you are going to buy a body like this, invest in the flash for it (If you plan on using flash for your main light)

It sounds bad but there might just be too many CF's I turned off my beep (for focusing) and it took me a day to remember what did that (I had to play with all the CF's)

I have used this camera as my main body of over a year and a half now and I am very pleased with it. I am going to kruger in just under a month and this is the camera I will bring with me on the trip. It is made out of metal (a HUGE selling point) so that it feels reallyfirm in your hands. The CF have several cool points, fast film rewind is cool as it shortens (the already quick) 8 - 10 second rewind to lesst then five seconds...
Anouther nifty feature is the fact that it can leave some film out of the can when rewound (while it is of no difference to those that have Ritz print their photos) When I develop it makes it easier to have some film out instead of possibl knicking myself on a torn open canister...
Many havesaid that the eecontrol is tops but as i have glasses I cant useit (darn...) however one ofmy shotting buddies loves it, and trys to steal my body for that alone.

Overall awesome camera,I reallyhaventfound anything hat I am diappointed with,enjoy the body!

Customer Service

I have never had to use.... thank goodness

Similar Products Used:

I have always stayed in the canon family (nikon leaves a bad taste in my mouth, say it, it sounds dirty, lol)