I have 2 Canon SLR's a Rebel 2000 and Elan7E. The Elan is great. Super fast shutter speeds, super quiet shutter action and rewind, eye-control focus. Add a battery pack and the extra weight helps balance with long lenses. I got my Elan 7E used on Ebay for $350 with battery pack and a bunch of film. Most the differences between the Elan 7 and 7N appear to be cosmetic. The 2000 is considered a lower-end model but it's a great value. Fast shutter speed, easy to learn because it doesn't have too many buttons, depth of field preview, a good all-around SLR. I've seen used Rebels for around $100. My only beef is that you can't use infrared film with newer cameras because of the IR sensor used for winding. That's where my Pentax 645 and my dad's A-1 come in handy.