Nikon F100 Vs Canon EOS 30V (Elan 7NE)

[Twotone]

Hi folks,

Looking to buy a near 'professional grade' 35MM that has plenty of features and excellent metering abilities, with a nice quick AF feature.

After a lot of reading and reviews, I've narrowed it down to the Nikon F100 and the Canon EOS 30V aka 7s/Elan 7NE.

Both are roughly the same price, both have access to good lenses. I'm leaning more towards the EOS because I already have a 50MM F/1.8 50mm STM EF mount lens on a cheap old 300V body but I'm open to working with Nikon glass instead.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom/opinions on which is better?

Battery grips are available for each to run them on AAs which I'd opt for most likely!

Thanks,
TT

 

[ic-racer]

We have had a N80 vs N75 shootout, now CANON vs NIKON!

I'll chime in on the NIKON side, only because when I was in your position, NIKON still supported film and still made the F6. So I went with NIKON. Now, however, neither company supports film.

Probably comes down to which lenses you want to use. Modern Nikon "G" lenses have advanced optics and design but are a little plasticy and are being discontinued.

 

[MattKing]

The eye control focus on the Canon is neat - if it works for you. Whether or not it does is hard to predict.

 

[Paul Howell]

I would pick the Canon, all full frame E mount AF including optical stabilized lens work, along third party manual focus Zeiss and 3rd party AF lens will work. The F100 has the dodgy rear door latch.

 

[Overrank]

I would go with the F100, but that’s because I mostly have Nikon gear ! Having owned a F100 for a while I would probably go with the F80 (much cheaper, but lighter built and no MUP) or F5 if you’re going to put a grip on the F100 (tougher, faster, but heavier and more expensive).

 

[Horatio]

Buy both, resell the one you don’t like. Personally I’d go with the Nikon.

 

[koraks]

Buy both, resell the one you don’t like.

That's a good one.

Or: buy both, sell neither.

Or: buy either one, doesn't matter which, and be happy with it.

 

[Thesecondone]

Nikon

 

[Arcadia4]

After going through a similar decision process i got the canon eos 30 which is probably the camera i use the most, mainly for travel and mostly paired with a lightweight zoom. It was good value at the time and you can access a huge array of ef lenses

The 7 point af is very reliable, and offers point selection. I havent got round to trying the eye control. There are various custom settings such as rewind leader out.

The only negative is that its a little bulky compared to mf cameras, but i dont think the nikon would be any different. I suspect either will meet your needs.

 

[Anon Ymous]

I'm leaning more towards the EOS because I already have a 50MM F/1.8 50mm STM EF mount lens on a cheap old 300V body but I'm open to working with Nikon glass instead.

If I were you, I'd buy the EOS. Both are fine cameras and both companies make nice lenses. The difference is that everything Canon has made in EF mount will work fine on the 30V. Nikon on the other hand has made a lot of incompatibilities for theoretically the same mount.

 

[Twotone]

Thank you everyone for your informative replies!

I've had a further think, watched some more reviews and think I'm going to probably go for the EOS.

That being said, if I don't get on with it, I'll sell it and opt for something else such as an F100!

Many thanks all.
TT

 

[lrlebron]

I have the F100. Works well for me since I have a series of Nikon lenses.

 

[neilt3]

I would pick the Canon, all full frame E mount AF including optical stabilized lens work, along third party manual focus Zeiss and 3rd party AF lens will work. The F100 has the dodgy rear door latch.

Canon , full frame E mount ? EF , I think .
E mount is the Sony mirror less mount .

Regards the Nikon F100 , you can now but a repair / upgrade kit from a member on here .

Nikon F100 Metal Latch Replacement

I want to share my attempt at creating a long term solution to the Nikon F100 and the plastic latches that fail on the film backs. This started a couple months ago with a F100 that I won at a estate auction with a broken door. My primary F100 served as a reference to lock in the dimensions of...

www.photrio.com

He's started doing one for the F80 which share this problem.

@ the OP .
As far as choosing what camera to go for , it depends on the lenses really .
If you already have good quality lenses either Nikon F or Canon EF ( not EF-s) than that answers your question.

I have both the Nikon F100 and Canon Elan 7ne .
Both are good cameras , either will suit your needs .
I have several "L" lenses for Canon that I use on this , the EOS 3 , 1n , 1 and occasionally on digital either the EOS 5 or 60d .
But I use them quite a bit on my Sony a7Riv via the mc-11 adapter .

I don't have the higher end Nikon lenses , so it doesn't get as much use . It depends what I'm doing .

You might be better off working backwards.
If you haven't already got the lenses , decide what lenses you'd like first , and get a body that fits them .

 

[Sirius Glass]

I had a choice between Nikon and Canon in 2003 and I chose Nikon because they have not changed their lens mount whereas Canon did once eliminating use of older lenses. If Canon changed its lens mount once, they could do it at any time to drive new sales.

 

[MattKing]

I had a choice between Nikon and Canon in 2003 and I chose Nikon because they have not changed their lens mount whereas Canon did once eliminating use of older lenses. If Canon changed its lens mount once, they could do it at any time to drive new sales.

Canon's legacy mount was incompatible with AF - thus the need for change. And no changes since then.
Whereas with Nikon, it is more like a thousand little cuts ........

 

[Sirius Glass]

Canon's legacy mount was incompatible with AF - thus the need for change. And no changes since then.
Whereas with Nikon, it is more like a thousand little cuts ........

I did not know that until now.
But what are Nikon's little cuts? I see small incremental changes with upward and for the most part downward capability.

 

[mshchem]

Definitely Nikon, looking around one might find a Mint version of F100, I sold mine as I use F5 and F6. F100 has amazing viewfinder. Beautiful camera.

 

[mshchem]

One note, fresh lithium batteries are important. I had some weird issues with F100. I think it was due to older lithium batteries, fresh no problems, using the battery grip with AAs no problem. Lovely camera.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I have a Nikon N80 and an N90s. I also have a Canon EOS 1n, EOS 5/A2, Rebel 2000, Rebel T2 and I think another but I can't remember. The Canons pretty much beats the Nikons across the board unless you get the later Nikon lenses. I'd say Canon without hesitation. I only own the Nikons for fun myself, and the fact that they were stupid cheap helped. The two Nikon bodies cost me a grand total of $24.50.

Keep in mind too that the Canon 7n was the last in the line, and one of the last film cameras that was ever developed. In other words, the technology was pretty much at the limit. A more direct comparison back in the day was the Nikon N80, but today those go for a fraction of what the Canon 7n goes for. There is a reason for that. A more direct comparison for the Nikon F100 is the EOS 3.

 

[Overrank]

One note, fresh lithium batteries are important. I had some weird issues with F100. I think it was due to older lithium batteries, fresh no problems, using the battery grip with AAs no problem. Lovely camera.

I had a problem with Enloop-style rechargables in a F100. The back “joypad” stopped working properly (didn’t go up IIRC). With alkaline batteries in camera it work OK though, and also with the grip whatever batteries were used.

 

[neilt3]

I had a problem with Enloop-style rechargables in a F100. The back “joypad” stopped working properly (didn’t go up IIRC). With alkaline batteries in camera it work OK though, and also with the grip whatever batteries were used.

All my rechargeable batteries are the Sanyo Enloops , they've worked fine in all my cameras such as the F100 , the F80 with grip , EOS 3, 1n and Elan 7ne with grip , plus all my Minolta gear in the grips .
Must be luck of the draw .
I got my batteries a long time ago and I'm not sure if they hold as much charge now ( unlikely) but they never let me down when I'm out .

 

[Overrank]

All my rechargeable batteries are the Sanyo Enloops , they've worked fine in all my cameras such as the F100 , the F80 with grip , EOS 3, 1n and Elan 7ne with grip , plus all my Minolta gear in the grips .
Must be luck of the draw .
I got my batteries a long time ago and I'm not sure if they hold as much charge now ( unlikely) but they never let me down when I'm out .

That‘s been my only problem with Enloops, and it may have just been that F100. It worked fine with a grip full of Enloops, just had that problem if there were only Enloops in the body.

 

[pthornto]

I own the 7n but also eos 3 and 1n bodies. The 7n has some great things going for it compared to the higher spec bodies- a lot lighter, somewhat smaller without feeling too small in hand, and a super quiet shutter release. I do not have any experience with Nikon Af bodies but I find the eos system very fast to handle and intuitive. Also even the mid level EF primes (non L) are good. I use a 35mm f2 most of the time and it’s a favorite.

 

[film_man]

I've used the EOS 300, 30, 3, 1N, 1V and Nikon F100, F5. For whatever reason I found the EOS ones to fit better in hand. I'd say the F100 is on par with the 3/1N, certainly price-wise in the UK that's the case and for features they are positioned accordingly. The Canons fell like they have better AF, the Nikons though have better AF sensitivity in the dark. In the end, it is the lenses that matter. The main differences to me between the 7n/30 and the F100 are that the F100 is bigger and heavier, feels more solid and has a better viewfinder.

The 7n/30 is, obviously, lighter and smaller, is 1/4 of the price and the main advantage is that it can take all the EF lenses without issues, from lowly cheap zooms to the highest end super telephotos with stabilisation.

Overall they are both equivalent systems with great lenses. For example, you can get the F100 with a super cheap 55/3.5 micro from the 70s and you get excellent results. Then you can put a 58/1.4G and have a super portrait machine. Equally the cheap 50/2.5 Canon macro is fantastic and the L lenses are excellent too.

 

[Arthurwg]

I can't say anything about the Canon, but my F100, bought new, has traveled with me to many countries and always worked perfectly. Still does. No problem with the back and not sticky. Keeps on ticking.