Canon EOS Elan 7n SLR Camera (Body Only)

The new finish and emblems are gorgeous. The finish is extremely matte, so it's very dark and handsome, and the Elan 7n logo is now a relief on a plaque attached to the body that's also holographic, instead of the painted on white and red logo of the old Elan 7. Though this has nothing to do with its ability to produce amazingly focused and metered images, it sure makes it one heck of an attractive body.

It is arguably one of the quietest 35mm SLR cameras ever made, and I agree. Its whisper drive film transport produces noise so quiet you can only hear it if your ear is pressed right to the body. The mirror and shutter action, though audible, are also well below the sound levels heard in most other cameras. It makes the higher-end Canons, and just about all 35mm Nikons, Minoltas, and Pentaxes sound like gun shots by comparison. Also, when the silent film rewind option is set in the camera's custom functions, this, too, cannot be heard without pressing one's ear to the body. But, even its high-speed film rewind is quiet, if you ask me, and it takes only 5 seconds to rewind a 24-exposure roll of film!

Its auto-focus system is the fastest any Elan has ever seen. It can track things moving at a whopping 31 miles per hour at close distances! Trust me, this is fast! Only the rarest of sporting events would pose a challenge to this camera's AF system.

Its light metering, especially its new E-TTL II flash metering, is almost frighteningly intelligent and accurate. When used with an EX series Speedlite, the camera uses distance information from the lens plus its readings from the 35-zone light meter (both from an ambient light reading and a pre-flash reading) to calculate an appropriate flash exposure. This works in much the same way Nikon's 3D-matrix metering does, so, now, Nikon has some good competition in this category. I find that my Canon Elan 7n with the 420EX Speedlite produces exposures that are just as beautiful as those produced by Nikon systems. And, the high-speed flash sync is wonderful, because I can shoot with wide-open apertures and not worry about not being able to use the flash with the higher shutter speeds that result.

Its shooting speed is a grin-inducing 4 frames per second. Even the EOS 3 only does 3.5 fps without the incredibly expensive power booster with the Ni-MH battery pack, and the Nikon N80 only does about 2.5 frames per second. Oh, and you can get a battery pack for the Elan 7n (the BP-300) that will let you use AA batteries while providing you with an extended horizontal grip for better stability, a vertical grip for more comfortable work in the vertical orientation, and vertical shutter release and exposure lock buttons. Even the Nikon N-80 doesn't offer a vertical grip or shutter release with its battery pack.

This camera features mirror lockup, with the ability to use the RC-1 or RC-5 infrared wireless shutter remote. So, now, not only do you not get camera shake from the mirror going up during macro photography, but you also don't have to touch anything attached to the camera such as a shutter release cable, which could also cause camera shake. That's awesome.

The Elan 7n also lets you customize its settings and performance with 13 custom functions. This includes mirror lockup (another feature missing from the Nikon N80 or lower-end Canons), leaving the film leader out after rewinding it, controlling what the various buttons on the body do, as well as how the camera controls auto-focus assist lights, the flash, etc.

And, let's not forget its 7-point wide-area auto-focus, with selectable points and light metering being linked to the selected focus point.

All of these features, plus several I didn't even mention, make for extremely reliable point-and-shoot simplicity for the casual or inexperienced photographer who wants to get great shots without the hassle of learning all the stuff that's involved in true hands-on photography, yet the camera provides more features than even the pros can shake a stick at. And, it does it for around $300.00, which is 1/3 to 1/4 of the cost of comparable bodies.

Canon has triumphed once again!

PRO's:

-Durable
-Reliable
-Affordable
-Fast
-Quiet
-Exceptionally accurate (both in focusing and metering)
-Packed with features
-Stylish
-Compatible with a very nice line of accessories

CON's:

-My only complaint about this camera is its lack of a real focus assist beam. Most of the EOS bodies have built-in near-infrared focus assist lights that project patterns of vertical, horizontal, or combinations of both lines onto the subject for low-light and low-contrast AF operation. Why on Earth Canon decided to make the Elan 7/7n's built-in flash the AF assist light seems to defy all conventional logic and wisdom. First, it fires a short but rapid burst of flashes that are not only annoying to the user, but generally frightening to living subjects (I used it in a restaurant once with my Elan 7, and people actually screamed in terror...I've since learned to disable this in the custom functions...in fact, it was the first CF I set when I got the Elan 7n). Second, if it's being used for low-contrast subjects, well, it just doesn't help there at all, because it doesn't add any contrasting patterns for the AF system to focus on. However, when you attach an external flash, this problem is usually solved, because most dedicated flash units have focus assist beams.