Canon SLR

[danalec99]

Eye controlled focuson the Elan 7E. I think that is the coolest feature I've ever seen on a camera.

From what I hear people saying...it's a really cool feature that never gets used.

How exactly does it work?

 

[drlynn]

I can tell you what happens with my camera (EOS 5). I'm not sure how much different the newer ones like the Elan 7e are.

You calibrate the eye-control to your eye, and then the camera can tell which AF point your pupil is aimed at. When you depress the focusing button only the AF point you're looking at is active.

The advantage is that you can compose, focus and shoot without having to move the camera to get your focus and then recompose.

It works really well for some folks, and not so well for others. I really haven't even tried it yet, except for just calibrating it and test-focusing on the wall.

 

[talonop]

I don't even have enough interest to look myself, but does the "Ti" in "Rebel Ti" refer to some sort of actual titanium construction, or to the faux ti plastic body?

The latter is correct. The Ti indication is misleading. The body of the Rebel Ti is merely hard plastic with a titanium paint finish. But the Camera itself is a very nice beginner model. Fast autofocus and easy to handle. Also, at 209 bucks for a new ti with 28-90mm lens, it is a pretty good deal.

 

[Youngun]

even if specs are similar, body construction can make a huge difference. I would try out the cam body with some possible lenses, to see how the feel is. That makes a huge difference. Also options like battery packs and such are important. It's not all just shutter speed and how many metering modes and all those other little numbers. Just get a feel (as in actually hold and test the thing) for each one and you shouldn't have problems choosing...

 

[markc]

One thing that ELAN and pro cameras have that Rebels don't is the thumb wheel on the back. From what I hear, once you use a camera with one...you won't want to use one without it.

Amen to that. Especially if you use manual settings at all. Having access to both shutter speed and aperture without having to press extra buttons is a big deal for me.

It's no longer available new, but the A2 (A2e with eye control, and EOS 5 in Europe) is probably your best bang for the buck. I had an EOS 5 as my primary and an A2e as back-up. They had everything I wanted in a camera without breaking the bank account. I only sold them to finance my 10D purchase. I'd still have the EOS 5 if I hadn't needed the money. (link)

 

[captain-spanky]

pardon my ignorance but what is the thumb wheel on the back for? I've just been given an EOS 50e and it's a bit different to the 1000fn i'm used to...

 

[markc]

pardon my ignorance but what is the thumb wheel on the back for? I've just been given an EOS 50e and it's a bit different to the 1000fn i'm used to...

It depends on what mode you are in, but if in (M)anual, for instance, it will adjust aperture while the wheel near the shutter button adjusts shutter speed.

 

[captain-spanky]

coooooool thank you

 

[Varthlokkur]

Eye controlled focuson the Elan 7E. I think that is the coolest feature I've ever seen on a camera.

From what I hear people saying...it's a really cool feature that never gets used.

They are building TVs that have eye control now. Your eyeball becomes the remote.

wasnt there a 70's movie maybe called Looker, that was about monitoring where the eye went on adds?

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Mostly it's a marketing game, IMHO.

True!

I can see that with the 300D and 10D. Apart from the shell and "bursts per sec', the difference is very minimal or zero!

Riiiiiiiiiight...

Surely, flash exposure compensation and crippled focusing are no issues for you... As well as higher writing speeds, which clear up the buffer faster....

If you shoot sports, 10D will give you 5x more keepers. That's a significant difference, don't you think?

Of course if you shoot still life, rebel would give the same pic.

 

[walter23]

I see brands like Rebel, different versions of Rebel, Elan etc. Which one is a better equipment?

I bought my first SLR about two months ago - Elan 7n (without the gimmicky eye-controlled focus point selection). I chose it because it was the cheapest new autofocus body that didn't seem like it was built like a plastic toy, and I couldn't afford (or really justify) anything more expensive. Since I bought it, I've realized that most of the fancy automatic features are not particularly necessary and I'd probably have been very happy with an old Canon A1 or some other manual focus body. I do really enjoy the convenience of autofocus though, and the automatic modes are handy when I see something that I have to get immediately or lose forever. But I would suggest that you shouldn't be tricked by brochures advertising a billion features. All you really need is a meter, a way to control shutter and aperture and film speed, and a nice lens.

Of course, the real issue isn't so much the body as much as the lens. I'd avoid the super cheap kit lenses. I got the 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM II which hasn't disappointed me. There are better lenses, but this is probably the cheapest non-crappy zoom you can find. Some old fogeys swear you have to learn on a 50mm prime, and canon makes a cheap one that is very good quality - the 50mm f/1.8 - costs about $100.

 

[walter23]

Eye controlled focuson the Elan 7E. I think that is the coolest feature I've ever seen on a camera.

From what I hear people saying...it's a really cool feature that never gets used.

How exactly does it work?

Seems like a marketing gimmick with almost no real-world utility. Almost I ever use is the center autofocus point on my camera though... I think I've had to switch only once or twice, when holding my camera in some odd contorted position

 

[DocFrankenstein]

I can't imagine reading from the eye being somewhat reliable. :S