Canon announces Elan 7N/7NE

Haven't seen this posted yet. Apologies if I missed it.

http://www.usa.canon.com/templatedata/pressrelease/20040209_elan2004.html

Successors to 7/7E.
Key features: E-TTL II, faster AF, LCD backlight.
"Estimated selling prices" (body only): $349/$399.
Available in April.

They haven't linked to the website for the new cameras yet, but it's
there. I'm assuming it will be linked later today...

http://www.canoneos.com/elan7n/

Jeff

 

"> Successors to 7/7E.

Hmmm. I was pretty impressed with the autofocus on the 7e. Cool. A shame
I got a 10D!

Dave
earguy

 

I wonder what they're drinking (or shooting up their arms) at Canon.
The Elan-7 is such a new model. The 3 is due for a revamp, though.
The only diff is the ETTL-II and supposedly faster AF, as compared
to the Elan-7. The 3 could do with a quiet mirror and shutter and
ETTL-II. That'd be killer.

 

I like the sound of this. I love my EOS 33 (a.k.a. Elan 7), so this sound
like more of the same, but better! Yum!
Thanks for the info.

 

The LCD backlight would be nice, too. Last time I tried to do
astrophotography with my 7E, it would have been easier to check the
camera settings if I didn't have to hold a flashlight while I was
messing with the buttons... The faster AF I might not notice (then
again I might), but I'm interested in the E-TTL II. If I could sell my
7E (near mint) for $250 or so on eBay, I'd be tempted to buy the 7NE.
Otherwise, like you said, probably not worth it...

Jeff

 

Yup, these two things interest me the most as well: E-TTL II and the
glowing control symbols and LCD backlight (It *does* have glowing
control symbols, right?).

->HS

 

Agreed.

So still no low-light red/IR focus-assist lamp on the 7N or 7NE?

(The latter model makes me think of the Knights Who Say [7] NE
from Monty Python's "Quest for the Holy Grail".)

 

$I wonder what they're drinking (or shooting up their arms) at Canon.
$The Elan-7 is such a new model. The 3 is due for a revamp, though.

On the other hand, I'd imagine they sell a lot more 7s than 3s,
making it easier to recover the R&D investment.

Also, Canon has recently had a habit of making relatively minor
adjustments to the Rebel family, resulting in a plethora of current
and recent models with, in many cases, little difference between them.
Any changes they've made to their higher-end models have tended to
be major advances. I doubt that a great number of 3 owners would
upgrade to a hypothetical 3N with slightly faster AF and E-TTL II
as the only substantive changes, and given the price gap, this
body wouldn't prompt a lot of Elan or Rebel users to upgrade, either.[/QUOTE]

 

I hate it when they do that. ;-) Just picked up the 7E for xmas this
year. So far I love it. Learning a new feature every day. Should only
take a year or two to master the darn thing.

 

What is the "E" version?

 

with the Eye-Control feature. The user can choose the focusing point in
the direction of the subject just by looking towards the subject through
the viewfinder.

->HS

 

I read once that the reason canon did not use the distance info for
flash exposure was patent related (no idea if this was true, just
repeating a plausible rumour). If that is true, I would guess the
patents have expired. Now the EOS 3 already has fast AF, so a simple
firmware upgrade for ETTL-2 is probably all that is required. That is
the sort of service they can offer pros but consumers get to see a
"new" model.

This sounds like a cost-reduction exercise at the factory with some
benefits for the user.

1. use 10D AF circuitry. reduce inventories and total parts count/cost.

2. make a minor update to the flash firmware. This is probably only a
very minor improvement or they would have licensed the original patents
years ago. (ETTL works fine for me usually, but I agree distance info is
nice).

3. ignore all the other user requests like IR AF assist and a smaller
spot meter circle.

4. reduce price a bit due to 1. above after the hype of the new model
dies down.

I still like my EOS30 (Elan 7E) which I purchased 2 years ago thinking I
would replace it about now with a digital body. For my (limited) use, it
still works well and I will probably wait another year or more before I
buy a digital body. (I do have a scanner as an interim solution).

Bruce Graham