Canon EOS 300D

Before i start let me explain he differances between the Canon 300D and 300V-

300V - A mid range Canon FILM SLR (single lens reflex). this camera takes all kinds of colour / black and white / transparency etc. film but is NOT digital

300D - the subject of this review, the 300D is also a mid range Canon SLR but this version is Digital. Meaning that any pictures you take on the camera are stored on a compact flash card instead of film.

Now that the difference is obvious i will give a little technical detail for people who just want the facts.

Dimensions (WxDxH) - 14.2 cm x 7.2 cm x 9.9 cm
Weight - 560 g
Supported Flash Memory - CompactFlash
Picture quality - up to 6.30 million effective pixels
Lens Aperture - F/3.5-5.6
Focus Adjustment - Automatic, manual
Min Focus Range - 28 cm
Focal Length - 18 mm - 55 mm
Optical Zoom - 3 x
Camera Flash - Pop-up flash
Red Eye Reduction - Built-in
Microphone - None
Viewfinder - Optical - eye-level mirror pentaprism
Display - LCD display - TFT active matrix - 1.8" - colour
Battery - 1 x camera battery - rechargeable - Lithium Ion - 1100 mAh

Now for the Review -
If you are at all familiar with SLR's then this camera can be literally picked up and used straight away.
For the professional there is a number of features which mimic those found on film SLR's, and the level of control over this camera is just about limitless, you can control the aperture and shutter speed, and although in the spec these look to be lacking compared to film SLR's, because it is digital it doesnt need to be so finely tuned, for example the aperture on a digital camera is not quite as important as on a film camera because the camera does most of the correct exposure work for you, it is only really there for Depth of Field.
Plus the fact it is a LOT easier to alter images on a desktop using a program such as photoshop, than slaving away in the darkroom for hours.

The shutter speed is pretty much the same as a film SLR and can be anything up to 30 seconds, although it does have a bulb (limitless) feature aswell.
This is great for filming Stars at night (anyone done that?) or for 1-2 second exposures on water getting it looking all "fluffy".

On the Camera there is a number of manual and automatic settings.
The ones i use most include -
fully automatic - this mode sets shutter speed, aperture, flash etc. so you just point and shoot.
Shutter priority - you set the shutter speed, the AI does the rest.
Aperture priority - you set the aperture, the AI does the rest.
No Flash - for times when you dont want to use flash (it happens)
and also are a selection of preset modes like landscape and portraiture, where the camera will try to set up the picture so it looks right for the subject (ie. on a landscape you want all the picture to be in focus therefore meaning a small aperture)

The image quality (if 6.3 million pixels means nothing to you) is absolutely excellent, they come out at around 20"x16" but i have enlarged up to 50"x40" and you can hardly tell the difference (bear in mind this was printed out on a professional printer).

In my camera is a 256Meg compact flash card, i find on average this fits around 80-100 photographs in but depending on picture quality this can be more or less. Also i take every photo in the largest possible size so If i want it can be enlarged without the problems of distortion, which obviously you can't do if you take the pictures on a small seting in the first place.

There are a few downsides however, as there are with any product. My main concern with people buying this camera is when i bought mine no-one told me that if i buy lenses for this camera, they will not fit on my film SLR, but if you buy them the other way around they will. Luckily i found this out at time of purchasing a new lens and was able to rectify it but was it not for the useful people at a well known high street store, i would have been very annoyed.
Another slightly less annoying downside is a quite scratchable finish to the camera, this can be annoying if you dont have a carry case but then if you are forking out £700 odd for a camera you should get a carry case.
My last concern with this camera is the fact there is no film grain, why? obvious - there is no film.
This is a problem that occurs with every digital camera, and some people might love it, but for some of my darker work including portraits and band photography, i really like my film grain, and for this i have to use my 300V.

To sum up, this camera is great - i paid just over £500 for mine from a high street shop when it was on special offer. i have had no technical problems with it and enjoy shooting with it most days.

If anyone has any questions they would like to ask me - leave a comment and i will update this review asap

Gregg

(note - this review can be found under cameras>digital camera's aswell)