canon elan 2e questions

[pocketshaver]

well I have a battery for it, and its a fun camera so far but has a few issues that have me confused as crap.

using the sigma 70-300 1:4 - 5.6 dl super macro lens. Only EF lens I own, it came attached to camera.

USE the camera on the empty box icon under the lock symbol, like it says to start with in start guide, I cannot get the camera to make the lens zoom or focus when the lens is set to AF.

When the lens is set to M,The aperture value is always set at 4.0 and the shutter speed is always 1/60. And it always fires the shutter.

When set to AF mode on lens, the no focus warning light and the shutter speed number just blink.



The camera has an issue with taking the shutter speed to 1000 or higher. As in, it will raise the mirror and activate the shutter, but the shutter hangs in space. For minutes at a time. I usually have to flip the dial to lock/off and then to what ever mode I was using to release the shutter. and until the shutter/mirror release, the low battery power icon flashes.

The manual says that the camera can only raise the ISO of a DX coded film canister to 5000. But its letting me raise it to the full 6400

 

[Derrel]

Welcome to the world of 30-year old film cameras and sigma lenses. There was a time when Sigma stood for significant malfunction

About 5 years ago I bought a digital Rebel RX or RS oh, I can't remember what the exact model number was and it had a 70 -210 f/4 to f/5.6 zoom lens on it. I paid $19 for the combo at a pawn shop, and the freaking lens seemed to have some type of serious compatibility issue with the camera.

The lens would not work with either of my two digital Canon SLRs , a 20D and a 5D.

I have heard from quite a few Canon people who said that quite a few older Sigma lenses do not work properly on Canon cameras. The same thing was true with earlier Sigma lenses when Nikon revamped the focusing protocols when they introduced the D2h and D200. I used to own three different Sigma lenses around the time of the D2 series introduction, and these three HSM lenses did not work properly on the Nikon d2x.

If you have a genuine Canon lens you could cross check this situation and see if it is lens or the camera. It could be either, or possibly even both. Remember the Elan 2 is now a relatively old camera, and it is possible that there are some incompatibilities, or the camera itself might not be in proper function. Sigma and other third-party lens makers did their best job at reverse engineering but both Canon and Nikon do not give Independent Lens makers full access to their lens protocols, and they do so as a way( I think) to ensure that people buy only genuine factory made lenses. Yes this is kind of a form of extorting the customer, but what can we do?

 

[pocketshaver]

but the shutter issue is a piss off for me. I bought it primarily as a birding camera, and being maxed out at 1/750 is sad.

 

[Soocom1]

Canon altered the protocol on various cameras by changing the I/O port for control of the lenses.

Sigma does make some very fine glass but refused to pay the licensing fees to Canon and voila, non-compatibility.

The Elan series came about when this first change occurred. Once Sigma reversed engineered the lenses to figure out what was going on, Canon pulled this stunt again.

When shopping for various lenses for the EOS system you have to look for "Film Only" or "Not Compatible with Elan...." because they simply wont work with them.
Get an old AE-7 and no issues. But even the newer 70D is fidgety with Sigma lenses as some times they will work and other times not.

I have unfortunately found that the only lenses that are sure-fire to work with Canon are Canon lenses.

 

[pocketshaver]

Well I don't have to worry about the issues with it anymore. It just broke on me. The selector dial for it snapped inside the body and freely rotates. Ironically it snapped as I was trying to unlock the shutter. Guess I need a new camera now.

s

 

[compur]

In my experience EOS film SLRs do not have a very long lifespan.