Question:
Two weekends ago I tried a friend’s Rebel 2000 on a cloudy day after the sun had gone behind a mountain but well before sunset. My gawd, the thing would hardly autofocus at all! Is the Rebel 2000 (EOS 300) known to have worse low-light autofocus performance than the Elan 7 (EOS 30)? Both are markes 1-18 for AF working range in the http://photozone.de/35mm.htm table. Maybe it was just the Sigma 28-80/3.5-5.6 HF macro on the Rebel? — Boycott TV news, get yer daily political spin from http://bartcop.com !
Response:
I have had the Rebel 2000/EOS 300 since it first came out a couple of years ago and I have to say I am not entirely impressed with the focusing. It is supposed to focus on the subject nearest the camera, but time and again I have had to manually alter the focusing point (usually to the centre point). I love the camera in every other way. I have just bought the Elan 7/EOS 30 and have already put a film through it. Although I have used eye control focusing in the main, I have also played around with the auto select focusing and have not had any problems. — Jenny Tremlett
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Two weekends ago I tried a friend’s Rebel 2000 on a cloudy day after the sun had gone behind a mountain but well before sunset. My gawd, the thing would hardly autofocus at all! Is the Rebel 2000 (EOS 300) known to have worse low-light autofocus performance than the Elan 7 (EOS 30)? Both are markes 1-18 for AF working range in the http://photozone.de/35mm.htm table. Maybe it was just the Sigma 28-80/3.5-5.6 HF macro on the Rebel? — Boycott TV news, get yer daily political spin from http://bartcop.com !
Response:
Having owned and used both of these cameras, but not compared them side by side, my feeling is that the R2K doesn’t do worse in low light than the Elan 7. I think they use the same CMOS AF sensor array, at least they have the exact same pattern of AF sensors. I would suspect the lens, at least until/unless I could test with a different lens. The low end Sigma lenses aren’t the best around:) Lisa – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Two weekends ago I tried a friend’s Rebel 2000 on a cloudy day after the sun had gone behind a mountain but well before sunset. My gawd, the thing would hardly autofocus at all! Is the Rebel 2000 (EOS 300) known to have worse low-light autofocus performance than the Elan 7 (EOS 30)? Both are markes 1-18 for AF working range in the http://photozone.de/35mm.htm table. Maybe it was just the Sigma 28-80/3.5-5.6 HF macro on the Rebel? — Boycott TV news, get yer daily political spin from http://bartcop.com !
Response:
Having owned and used both of these cameras, but not compared them side by side, my feeling is that the R2K doesn’t do worse in low light than the Elan 7. I think they use the same CMOS AF sensor array, at least they have the exact same pattern of AF sensors. I would suspect the lens, at least until/unless I could test with a different lens. The low end Sigma lenses aren’t the best around:)
Yes, I had a similar Sigma 28-80/3.5-5.6 on my Minolta HTsi for years (not the HF, but the previous model with rotating front element). When I switched to the Minolta 24-50/4 I noticed a great improvement in autofocus performance. I suspect the problem was exacerbated by using the Sigma at 80/5.6 macro, where there’s not really enough light for those outer 6 CMOS AF sensors. Thanks, Bill — Boycott TV news, get yer daily political spin from http://bartcop.com !
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Having owned and used both of these cameras, but not compared them side by side, my feeling is that the R2K doesn’t do worse in low light than the Elan 7. I think they use the same CMOS AF sensor array, at least they have the exact same pattern of AF sensors. I would suspect the lens, at least until/unless I could test with a different lens. The low end Sigma lenses aren’t the best around:) Yes, I had a similar Sigma 28-80/3.5-5.6 on my Minolta HTsi for years (not the HF, but the previous model with rotating front element). When I switched to the Minolta 24-50/4 I noticed a great improvement in autofocus performance. I suspect the problem was exacerbated by using the Sigma at 80/5.6 macro, where there’s not really enough light for those outer 6 CMOS AF sensors.
I read this thread with great interest – Unfortunately it is obvious I am missing some messages on this thread – for example I did not receive Lisa’s post, but (obviously) can see part of it that Bill was replying to. So pardon me if I am repeating some things that I may have missed in posts that may not have appeared for me. I am surprised and a bit impressed that the Rebel 2000 actually uses the same auto-focus elements as the Elan 7. I would be most interested in how autofocus performs in low light conditions – that is when I use my SLR most. I find I normally turn off all other sensors and only use the central focus. I use the Minolta HTsi Plus (same as Bill) and quite like the central Cross element – since it was a vast improvement over the relatively sensitive horizontal element in my Minotlta 7xi – where the 7xi would often hunt focus – the HTsi+ would mostly now lock on. This doesn’t mean to say that the HTsi+ is the end all of autofocus – it will still hunt especially at and close to 200mm end of my Tamron 28-200 Super Asph LD. I have found a work around – that kind of works – when I see the camera/lens hunt – I just take my finger off the shutter button when I see close to the correct focus. Then merely half depress again – normally the camera/lens will then lock-on – sometimes it takes two or more tries – which can be really frustrating. I would be really interested in people’s comments on what they consider good low light autofocus SLR/performance. I am specifically interested in using the central spot focus. — Vincent
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I read this thread with great interest – Unfortunately it is obvious I am missing some messages on this thread – for example I did not receive Lisa’s post, but (obviously) can see part of it that Bill was replying to. So pardon me if I am repeating some things that I may have missed in posts that may not have appeared for me. I am surprised and a bit impressed that the Rebel 2000 actually uses the same auto-focus elements as the Elan 7. I would be most interested in how autofocus performs in low light conditions – that is when I use my SLR most. I find I normally turn off all other sensors and only use the central focus. I use the Minolta HTsi Plus (same as Bill) and quite like the central Cross element – since it was a vast improvement over the relatively sensitive horizontal element in my Minotlta 7xi – where the 7xi would often hunt focus – the HTsi+ would mostly now lock on. This doesn’t mean to say that the HTsi+ is the end all of autofocus – it will still hunt especially at and close to 200mm end of my Tamron 28-200 Super Asph LD. I have found a work around – that kind of works – when I see the camera/lens hunt – I just take my finger off the shutter button when I see close to the correct focus. Then merely half depress again – normally the camera/lens will then lock-on – sometimes it takes two or more tries – which can be really frustrating. I would be really interested in people’s comments on what they consider good low light autofocus SLR/performance. I am specifically interested in using the central spot focus. — Vincent
With the Canon cameras I use, I’ve always found that manually selecting the central cross sensor makes the AF work at it’s optimum, including in low light. Lisa
Response:
I would be most interested in how autofocus performs in low light conditions – that is when I use my SLR most. I find I normally turn off all other sensors and only use the central focus.
Within the Minolta system, the new Maxxum/Dynax 7 has an infrared focus assist beam. If you put a 3600HS or 5600HS on your HTsi+, you also get infrared focus assist, though I’m not sure it helps much. In the Canon system, you have to get an old body (A2e / EOS 5) for access to this feature. Canon flashes have infrared focus assist. No matter, a point-and-shoot camera with reflected infrared beam will autofocus better in very low light conditions. There do not seem to be any hybrid focus SLRs. The Canon Classic 120 and Z90W point-and-shoots offer hybrid AF (active plus passive). — Boycott TV news, get yer daily political spin from http://bartcop.com !
Response:
$I am surprised and a bit impressed that the Rebel 2000 actually uses $the same auto-focus elements as the Elan 7. Actually, if it’s true (I’m not sure if it is, but it sounds likely), it’s the other way around. The Rebel 2000 came out first, so the Elan 7 would be borrowing the Rebel’s AF sensor. $I would be most interested in how autofocus performs in low light $conditions – that is when I use my SLR most. I find I normally turn $off all other sensors and only use the central focus. As others have noted, it depends greatly on the lens. It also depends on whether you have and can use a reasonable AF assist light. My Elan II’s AF assist light gets mostly blocked by the Canon 28-135 lens, which makes this a bad combination for dark scenes. If I add the 380EX flash, it works nicely, but only on the center focus point, since the 380EX’ AF assist light will only come on if you manually select the center focus point. Or if I remove the 28-135 and substitute the 50/1.4, AF works _much_ better – because the faster lens sends a heck of a lot more light to the AF sensors, and because the lens is small enough that it doesn’t block the body’s built-in AF assist light. The silliness with the 380EX’ AF assist light only covering one sensor, even though it was designed to be the best match for the Elan II with its 3 AF sensors, is one of the reasons I’ll be upgrading to the 420EX when I upgrade to the Elan 7e. The Elan 7e lacks a built-in AF assist light – it uses the pop-up flash to annoy your subject, and if you have a shoemount flash, you have only as much AF assist light as the shoemount flash has. With the 380EX, the Elan 7e becomes a single-focus-point camera; with the 420EX, which can cover all seven, you have full functionality. The Elan 7e plus the 420EX will be a nice match for my 28-135. —
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