Camera 4: Canon Elan 7

After 10 years as a faithful companion through the woods and hush weather (that’s when you get the best photographs), the Canon 10s finally had a little problem. There’s a little pin that need replacing at the shutter mechanism.

So I took her with me to a million places that fix cameras. My friend Sam also took me to some places that didn’t even have a business sign on. In the end, I had to call Canon Inc., because no one had the parts! I sent her to Canon after a week of investigating. They called me and gave me a quote (they did not have the parts either, they have to take apart a stock Canon 10s and replaces the pin from that)… and the price, well, let’s just say if I add another 50 bucks to it, I will get a new camera.

So that’s what I did. I did some research and bought the camera that are in the same line with the discontinued Canon 10s. Her successor was the Canon Elan 7.

The Canon Elan 7 was in a sense a newer version of Canon 10s, with a smaller focusing lapse without the barcode reader. She is a nice camera that can do anything that I needed to do (no, she still doesn’t make coffee). She’s one of the first cameras to feature the quick control dial.

She has a 7-point wide area autofocus, a top shutter speed of 1/4000 sec and 4 frame per second film advance (6 seconds to finish a roll of 24 frame), all in a compact and durable body with a simple control layout. Canon's Whisper Drive technology to ensure a nearly silent photographic experience (great for taking pictures of baby sleeping), but one of my favorite feature was and is the dedicated depth-of-field preview button.

The Canon Elan 7 is now about 5 years old. The 35mm SLR is part of a beautiful history, thanks to the digital age. She’s sitting now sitting in my glass display cabinet with a 24mm lens attached to it (next to the Canon 10s with a 35-135mm lens on). She also has a roll of half exposed film in her belly, maybe never to be finished.