Ernst Leitz Canada (ELCAN) is a Canadian optics and electronics company owned by American defense contractor Raytheon. ELCAN manufactures devices geared towards civilian and military markets. The company currently has a location in Midland, Ontario. ELCAN optics are sold through Armament Technology Incorporated and their channel of dealers. Elcan was also the developer and source for the Elcan DigitalHunter rifle scope which was fully electronic and able to change reticles, cartridge ballistics, and atmospheric conditions by use of downloaded ballistic charts. When Elcan decided to no longer market the scope to the commercial market, it discontinued support for the scope and no longer maintained a site for the download of ballistic data and other functions of the scope.
ELCAN is perhaps best known for making the 3.4×28 power ELCAN C79 optical sight that is widely used on the Diemaco C7, FN MINIMI, FN MAG and CZ-805 BREN families of firearms. The C79 sight is not designed as a sniper sight per se, but is rather intended to be mounted on a variety of rifles and to be used by regular infantrymen as well as designated marksmen. The M145 machine gun optic differs from the C79’s standard 3.4x sight in that ballistic compensation is provided for in the reticle, rather than in the mount. Reticle illumination is by a battery-powered LED with eleven intensity settings. It is used by the US military for its M249s and M240s. ELCAN manufactures the Specter line of combat optics. Specter DR 1.5x/6x, DR 1x/4x, 4x Optical Sight and TR 1/3/9 are available with a 5.56mm or 7.62mm ballistically matched reticle.
