I just got a used Canon Elan IIe (I think it's an EOS 50e in Europe) for Christmas, and I am loving it. It's my first film-based SLR so it's extra exciting.
One thing I can't figure out for the life of me is how to turn it off?! When I turn the dial to L (for Lock), seems to be turned off except that the LCD screen still displays the "film" icon to indicate film is loaded, and still displays the number of photos taken on the roll.
Is that as off as it gets? Wouldn't the LCD display drain the battery (at least a bit)?
The official manual doesn't seem to be available online, and the "unofficials" don't seem to mention anything about it.
Thanks!
On the "modern" film cameras that is as "off as it gets". Well I guess you could remove the battery. On the older cameras they did have a real off switch and on my really old film cameras there is not a place to install a battery so of course there was no off switch, these camera were, I guess "on" all the time. I still like these, no chance of a dead battery.
Technically here is what's going on: All batteries have a "self discharge" rate. They will eventually go dead just setting on the shelf. A Small LCD display takes so little power to run that self discharge will kill the battery sooner than the LCD will so the engineers at Canon figured they may as well leave the LCD powered up because it is not the determining factor for battery life.
My older camera all have a metal wheel with numbers printed on it that rotates each time you advance the film. This was the way cameras worked for like 50 years up until the 80's when LCDs became cheaper than metal wheels.
Has everything gone full circle and it's time to abandon digital and go back to film?
Maybe. It's good to have equipment that are matched to subjects. Digital SLRs work best for subjects that move, that require a fast acting and portable camera but what it you are shooting a picture of a mountain or the coastline from the side of a road and what if you'd like the print to be 3 feet wide? A DSLR is a poor match for that usage case. If you are interested in film you can get an introduction to it with a cheap ($80) SLR body but you will find that it is very much like shooting a digital SLR. I think today anyone who wants to get into film should look into large format, 4x5. The equipment can be bought for cheap now and 4x5 can do things digital just plain can't. Of course it's all digital again after you scan the film. I doubt I'll ever use my darkroom equipment again
