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Canon EOS Elan IIE

We live in the future. Not the future with the flying cars and astronaut food, but the future with a camera that can help you focus with just your eyes (insert spooky, futuristic music here). The Canon EOS Elan IIE, or as it was called in Japan, the Canon 55, has technology that follows the curvature of your eyeball to assist your focusing, and trust me, that's better than flying cars.

The Canon EOS Elan IIE is actually the second Canon camera to use this technology. Brought to market in 1995 and as a successor to the Canon 5, the Elan II continued Canon's use of the EF lens mount, which means that any lens with a Canon EF mount will work on the Elan IIE. With the entire range of Canon's EF lenses and third-party EF lenses available, your creativity will not be hindered because you can't find the right lens.

What other future technology came with the Elan IIE? How about an autofocus mode dial that allows the photographer to choose between One-Shot auto focus or AI Servo mode, which will follow a moving subject without the photographer having to recompose? That's cool.

With all of the capabilities and future technology in the Elan II, you'll forget that you don't have George Jetson's car or robotic maid and you'll be thankful that Canon's engineers developed a solid camera that allows you the freedom to shoot with unfettered ease. You'll also be thankful we don't all dress in matching one-piece shiny suits.

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Canon EOS Elan IIE with Crazy Eyes Tracy

Thanks to staff member, Tracy "Crazy Eyes" Pitts, for modelling this Canon EOS Elan IIE; an often overlooked camera.

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First off, as with many other cameras, the Elan IIE was known by a few different names, depending on which market you were in. In Japan, it was labeled as the EOS 55; while in Europe, it was the EOS 50E. We're going to refer to this camera with its Elan IIE for this post, but just wanted to keep you informed.⁠

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The big deal with the Elan IIE, and the main reason we are pairing it here with Tracy's crazy eyes, is that the camera had the second generation of Canon's Eye Control Focus capabilities. This feature allowed the camera to recognize where, in the finder, you were looking and then focus on that point. Viewfinders needed to be calibrated for the user's eyes, but once done, ECF offered some interesting functionality. Simply look where you want to focus and watch the lens magically focus right there. It is a trippy experience and, a lot of the time, it works surprisingly well. Why this wasn't seen on more Canon cameras is still a bit of a mystery. ⁠

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The Elan IIE improved on the earlier Eye Control by allowing ECF while shooting vertically. If you pick up the Elan IIE, you will hear a quiet rattling. Don't worry, your camera doesn't have a loose part, this is a small bearing in a tube that acts as a level sensor, telling the camera when it is vertical or horizontal and allowing ECF to function appropriately. The Elan IIE's ECF also allowed for focus tracking. You could follow the subject in the viewfinder with your eye and the camera's focus would track it. Crazy, right?! It's almost like mind reading.⁠

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The Elan II (and by extension this Elan IIE) also introduced Canon's E-TTL flash metering system; where the camera fired a low power pre-flash that was metered through the normal system, as opposed to metering reflected light off the surface of the film plane during exposure. This feature is also very cool...but really, this post is all about that Eye Control.⁠

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The Elan IIE was a popular camera for its time, but is largely forgotten now. Hopefully this post changes that a bit.

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Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc

sales@bluemooncamera.com
(503) 978-0333
(503) 978-0370
8417 North Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203