Canon EOS 5/A2/A2e

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Canon EOS A2
Type	35mm SLR
Lens mount	Canon EF lens mount
Focus	TTL Phase Detection Autofocus (5 zone)
Exposure	PASM autoexposure 16 zone evaluative metering
Flash	Built-in flash
Frame rate	Up to 5 frame/s
Dimensions	154 x 121 x 74 mm, 675 g

The Canon EOS 5 (sold as the EOS A2 and A2e in the USA) is an autofocus, autoexposure 35 mm SLR camera sold beginning in November 1992.^[1] As part of the EOS line of cameras, the 5/A2/A2e utilized Canon's EF bayonet lens mount, first introduced in 1987.

The 5/A2/A2e featured a built-in zoom flash, fast motor drives and several pre-set autoexposure modes. Although marketed towards the "prosumer" user, the 5/A2/A2e were popular among professional photographers. The camera was powered by a 6 volt lithium 2CR5 battery, or, with the optional Canon BP-5 Battery Pack, could be powered by D batteries attached to the belt of the user. The Canon VG-10 Vertical Grip added a shutter release, control wheel, AE Lock button and Focus Point Selection button to the bottom of the camera for portrait orientation use, but did not add AA batteries as a power source.

The camera had many operational modes available, selected by the dial on the left-hand side of the camera. These modes selected whether the exposure settings were set automatically, semiautomatically or fully manually. This dial also doubled as an on/off switch.

The Canon EOS 5/A2/A2e had three built-in metering modes; Evaluative, center-weight average and spot. These were user-selectable by means of a button on the back of the camera and the command dial.

Unique (at the time of the EOS 5/A2e's introduction) to the EOS 5/A2e was Canon's eye-controlled focussing, which allowed the user to select from one of five focus points by looking at it through the viewfinder (but only using the camera horizontally). Although the A2 had the same five focus points, they had to be selected by pressing one of the thumb buttons on the back of the camera and turning the command dial above the shutter.

Peculiar to the Canon EOS line of cameras is the tendency of the dials to change function based on user mode. The 5/A2/A2e has two dials to control exposure, one over the shutter button and one on the back of the camera. Although this is not unusual, in a Canon EOS, the dial above the shutter button will adjust the shutter speed in Tv or Time Variance mode (shutter priority), but in Av or aperture variance (aperture priority) mode this same dial will adjust the opening of the lens. In full manual mode, the dial above the shutter reverts to adjusting the shutter speed, and the back dial controls the aperture. This is in contrast to other camera manufacturers who keep dials down to a single function. Some photographers love this feature, other dislike it, most never think about it. Custom functions allow one to change this behavior so that the shutter and aperture controls are always linked to the same dials no matter which mode the camera is in.

At the time of the camera's production, there was a U.S. patent on the use of a digital scale to show under or over exposure in a metered-manual SLR. Canon didn't want to pay this patent holder and therefore omitted the -2/+2 (in half-stops) scale in the A2/A2e, leaving just an over or under indication. The European/Japanese market EOS 5 had the scale and on account of this many American photographers preferred the imported model. This is a firmware difference only, and there is at least one third-party firm which will install EOS 5 firmware on an A2/A2e, thereby adding this scale.

[edit] Features

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• TTL Phase Detection AF
• Shutter 30 sec - 1/8000 sec
• Viewfinder 92% vertical coverage, 94% horizontal coverage, 0.73 magnification
• 16 zone evaluative metering
• AF operating range at ISO 100: EV 0 - 18
• Built-in flash
• Five frames per second in one shot AF mode
• Three frames per second in AI servo AF mode
• Five horizontal autofocus sensors
• Eye-controlled focussing (EOS 5/A2e)
• Custom functions
• Requires one 6V 2CR5 battery
• Dimensions and weight 154 x 121 x 74 mm, 675 g

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

• Canon Camera Museum
• Photo.net review

Canon EOS Film SLR Timeline 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 05-08 Professional 1 1N 1V Prosumer 10/10S 5/A2/A2E 3 Advanced Amateur 650/620/630 100 Elan 50/50E Elan II/IIE 55 30/33 Elan 7/7E 7 30V/33V Elan 7N/7NE 7s Consumer 750QD 850 1000F Rebel S 1000FN Rebel S II 500 Rebel XS Kiss 500N Rebel G New Kiss 300 Rebel 2000 Kiss III 300V Rebel Ti Kiss 5 300X Rebel T2 Kiss 7 Entry Level 5000 888 3000 88 3000N Rebel XS N 66 3000V Rebel K2 Kiss Lite This box: view • talk • edit

Canon SLR cameras and lens mounts
Lens Mount	Series	Model
R		Flex (1959), R2000 (1960), RP (1961), RM (1962)
FL		FX (1964), FP (1964), Pellix (1965), FT QL (1966), Pellix QL (1966), TL (1968)
FD	F	Amateur: FTb (1971), FTbn (1973), EF (1973), TLb (1974), TX (1975)
		Professional: F-1(1971), F-1n (1976), New F-1 (1981)
	A	AE-1 (1976), AT-1 (1976), A-1 (1978), AV-1 (1979), AE-1 Program (1981), AL-1 (1982)
	T	T50 (1983), T70 (1984), T80 (1985), T90 (1986), T60 (1990)
EF / EF-S
	1	EOS-1 (1989), EOS-1N (1994), EOS-1N RS (1995), EOS-1v (2001)
		EOS 650 (1987), EOS 620 (1987), EOS 750QD (1988), EOS 850QD (1988), EOS 630QD (1989), EOS RT (1989), EOS 700QD (1989), EOS 10sQD (1990), EOS 1000F (1990), EOS 100 (1991), EOS EF-M (1991), EOS 5/5QD/A2/A2e (1992), EOS 1000FN (1992), EOS 500 (1993), EOS 888 (1993), EOS 50 (1995), EOS 500N (1996), EOS-3 (1998), EOS 88 (1999), EOS 300 (1999), EOS 30 (2000), EOS 3000N (2002), EOS 300V (2002), EOS 3000V (2003), EOS 30V (2004), EOS 300X (2004)
	IX	EOS IX, EOS IX Lite
		Canon DSLR cameras
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