Does anyone know if this lens/body make a good fit? ie, are there any vignetting problems, flash problems (either w/built-in flash or the 380EX), or any other reason not to get this lens for an Elan IIe? My other choice would be the 28-105mm USM.

Thanks for any help, Dan.

-- Dan Yu (danyu@earthlink.net), January 10, 1999

Answers

I have this camera/lens combo and it works just fine. I haven't seen any vignetting problems with this lens (although that doesn't mean there might not be any with blank blue skies wide open at 28 mm), but there is definitely a problem with the built in flash. The lens is just too big, and the flash is barely useable because the lens creates a shadow on the lower part of the frame at lengths less than about 50 mm. Consequently I use longer lengths, and then the flash is too close to the lens axis and not even "red-eye reduction" can really stop red-eye when doing portraits in dim overall light. This lens and the built-in flash just don't work very well together in a lot of situations (although there are certainly many situations where they do work). My problem with this lens/camera combo is the camera and not the lens. The IS works in dim forest light where I use it often and can handhold really slow speeds successfully. Unfortunately I like smaller cameras than the ElanIIe (Contax 139 size) and so am not really happy with the camera in general. I also have a devil of a time trying to make the eye-controlled depth-of-field thing actually work, although I can control the focus points quite easily with my glasses on.

-- Les Gyug (Les_Gyug@bc.sympatico.ca), January 11, 1999.

If you're having trouble with eye-control, immediately do an on the spot recalibration. That usually solves my problem.

-- Piaw Na (piaw@mpath.com), January 14, 1999.