I always wear photochromic spectacles (medical reasons) and suspect this means that reliable ECF is unlikely. Nor do I lust after it! Have got a EOS 300, and seeking more pro-featured and robust 2nd body. Not got vast cash resrves either.

So here's the question: taking ECF out of the equation, what to go for in terms of new or 2nd hand EOS body. I don't need extraordinarily fast motordrive capability, but at least a 1/4000 shutter speed would be handy. Reliability is high on my list!

Another thought- I gather some EOS bodies (like the '10'?) have a built in intervalometer (so you can programme exposures at predetermined intervals over a given period, and that would be a nice feature!

I'm in the UK, so if possible please quote model numbers that have meaning here?

Thanks in anticipation of your sage counsel JIM

-- Jim Cross (iamacamera@hotmail.com), October 03, 2001

Answers

The 10/10s is the only one with the intervalometer. It can be a nice feature if you need it, but few actually use it. Unfortunately, the 10/10s doesn't have the quick control dial on the camera back so it isn't as quick & easy to set in manual mode, etc. Of course neither does your 300/Rebel 2000 so maybe you wouldn't miss it. I preferred the 100/Elan because of this, but in most other ways the 10/10s was better. No vertical grip was offered for either.

The 5/A2 was, and still is, by far the better of them, but costs substantially more.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), October 03, 2001.

Jim,

Have you considered an EOS33? I have the EOS30 (ie the Elan 7E as sold in Australia). It has all the features of the '30 without ECF. It has a top shutter speed of 1/4000, robust construction, excellent 35 zone metering and many other features too numerous to mention here. It does not have an "intervalometer", but Canon have just released a remote which does the same thing, but I think it only works on the EOS1.

If you can get a copy of the September 2001 EOS magazine, they have a feature on it.

Nik

-- NikB (ndb_letters@yahoo.com), October 03, 2001.

Just in case that's not clear, the EOS magazine has a feature on the new remote, not the EOS33.

Nik

-- NikB (ndb_letters@yahoo.com), October 03, 2001.

I would second voting for the EOS 33. The EOS 5 is the only other body available around that money, and it's performance is getting dated (the camera is 9 years old). The EOS 33 is the logical step up from the 300, and since you mention being on a budget, the EOS 3 would seem out of reach.

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), October 04, 2001.

The EOS 10 is the only EOS body that shipped with an intervalometer, though you can buy technical backs for the 600 series and 1 series cameras to allow interval timing. But it's not the sort of thing that most people really use - I've only ever used it once. And it didn't work anyway - I was shooting a multiple exposure and some passerby bumped my camera.

Personally I'd buy a used camera and save my money for better lenses. But I've no idea what your budget is like and what your priorities are. For example, the new EOS 33 is a nice camera and offers good E-TTL flash, but it costs a lot more than a used EOS 10 and also has problems with Kodak HIE infrared film. The old EOS 100 is a pretty nice camera - it has the extremely useful rear dial that the EOS 10 lacks - but it can't use E-TTL flash and also fogs HIE. Etc etc.

-- NK Guy (tela@tela.bc.ca), October 04, 2001.