Canon EOS Elan

[mickeyobe]

Today at the flea market. Canon EOS Elan. Canon 35 to 135mm Ultrasonic zoom lens, Filter.
All like new.
The zoom is the fastest, quietest I have ever seen. Even in dim light it doesn't seem to search. It focuses instantly.
It is not what I look for at the flea market but I couldn't resist.
I am tempted to take some film out of the freezer and see what it can do.



Mickey

[PeterW]

Very nice find, Mickey. As I expect you know, I'm also a Canon fan.

The EOS Elan, also called the EOS 100 in some markets, was launched by Canon in 1991 as the world's first camera with "silent operation" technology. The zoom motor was also reckoned to be much kinder on battery life than earlier EOS models.

It wasn't cheap. Launch price with zoom lens was 118,000 yen, that's getting on for 1,500 Can $.

You can find the full spec and whatever on the Canon Museum website (but I expect you're already familiar with that site.)

PeterW

[mickeyobe]

Yes, PeterW. I have found the site and some Elans for sale on eBay.
I thought I had overpaid but evidently not. Though I did not know it had a new price of $1,500.00.

I also printed an owner's manual courtesy Mr. Butkus. What a blessing he is.

I just tried a Canon 35 to 80 mm zoom from an EOS Rebel X S. It works on the Elan
I couldn't try the Elan lens on the Rebel as its batteries are dead.

Mickey

[Randy]

Nice find Mickey, go to the fridge and get the film. I shot 2 rolls yesterday on my trip to Steubenville with Freda. We got to see river boats pushing barges down the Ohio River and through the locks. I took my Minolta Maxxum 7000 film camera and my Sony Alpha 100 DSLR. It was overcast, but we shot the pix anyway.

[mickeyobe]

OK, Randy I am going to try it.
I haven't shot film in about 5 years.
I understand the processors can put the pictures on a disc.
If I like the results I might start using some film again.

Mickey

[mickeyobe]

« Reply #12 on 27 Oct, 2010, 1:26pm »

[Modify] [Delete]
Yesterday I took a roll of Fujiclor Reala out of my freezer to try my flea market Canon EOS Elan. My first use of film in over 5 years. It was not my idea to continue using it, merely to see what the camera can do.

I cannot find anyone to process it!!!

I suppose I will eventually at, I assume, a price that will knock my socks off. If such is the case I shall use the exposed film as a test film to make sure 35 mm cameras that I manage to repair can advance and rewind as they should.

I guess film is at the end of its glorious life and I am partly to blame for its demise.

Mickey

[Just Plain Curt]

Hi Mickey,
Not sure of your area, but I use Shoppers Drug Mart all the time. Process any C-41 style film and burn to disc costs approx $4.

[mickeyobe]

Thank you, Curt.

I'll try them.

Mickey

[mickeyobe]

I finally found a processor. Black's, which seems to be under new and better ownership.

My film came back unexposed.

Everything sounded right when I took the pictures but upon belatedly checking the shutter operation I found it wasn't operating. The sounds I heard seem to have been the mirror mechanism.
Somebody had applied not merely oil but grease to the shutter blades.

The shutter is a focal plane with five horizontal very thin metal blades that run vertically.
I have no clue how such a shutter works so I decided to try to salvage the camera the hard way.
Lots of lighter fluid sparingly applied and then actuate the shutter and very carefully wipe off the goo with Q Tips. This was done several hundred times until the blades were clean and the shutter seemed to operate properly. I also inserted a small piece of film between the blades to make sure the fluid did, indeed, get all over.
I did this over a period of 16 days with pauses in between to allow the fluid to evaporate completely.

This time the film (Expiration date July 1997) came back properly exposed. The prints were terrible but I transferred the pictures from the disc which I had also ordered and Photoshop turned them into acceptable pictures.

I am feeling very smug.









Mickey

[daveh]

All's well that ends well, as someone once said.

[photax]

WOW ! 16 days, that`s a lot of patience

MIK

[nikonbob]

Mickey

Late to the thread but I will keep in mind your cure for a greasy shutter. I don't know where you get the patirnce for that sort of thing. Is getting C41 processed in Hog Town that hard? I thought it would be easier than up here in the backend of nowhere. You know I was surprised when I got my first Nikon lens with an internal drive motor too. It was very quiet and quick to lock focus. Funny thing is that when I tried a new Nikon 50/1.4G with motor it was slower than my old screw drive 50. Makes me wonder.

Bob

[daveh]

Having one Canon L series lens (70-200 f4) everything else seems slow to focus in comparison.

Mickey, what do you think had made the blades sticky? Do you think someone had tried oiling them?

[mickeyobe]

Dec 7, 2010 8:54:10 GMT -5 daveh said:

Having one Canon L series lens (70-200 f4) everything else seems slow to focus in comparison.

Mickey, what do you think had made the blades sticky? Do you think someone had tried oiling them?

Dave,

I don't know what the original substance was that someone applied to the camera but when I started to clean it away it was a sticky, very black substance that emanated from the left side (looking from the back) of the shutter housing.
The thought occurred to me that someone had intentionally tried to disable the camera. But I can't believe that is the case. Why would anyone do such a thing?

A couple of asides.

I have a good number of assorted camera straps of various materials, configurations and complexities. The EOS Elan strap is the most comfortable and least prone to twisting that I have encountered. I may switch it to my Pentax K100d which should confound a few camera oglers.

As usual with most used cameras, the lens cap was missing. I discovered that the plastic lid from a 710 ml (low fat of course) mayonnaise jar is a perfect friction fit and it comes in cobalt blue.

Mickey

[olroy2044]

Canon K100D? H-M-M-M-M-M Must be akin to the Pentax Rebel!

I have a very old "hippy" strap that I used with my old Contaflex (more years ago than I care to remember! ) that migrates to whatever camera I happen to be using for exactly the same reasons you mentioned.

Roy