Sometime around the middle of November 2003 something quite amazing happened.
For the first time a company started producing a digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera for under £1,000 for an amateur photographer this starts to make it interesting.
Not only was it well under £1,000 in the shops, but on EBay you could even get it for less than £800 granted this was for a US import, Canon Digital Rebel which is the same as the EOS300D, but as it was in the UK so no risk of customs charges I decided that now was the time to go seriously digital.
Choosing the Canon EOS300D was influenced by a number of factors, price being one, but also I had a Canon EOS 500n QD their mid range film camera. Along with this camera I have bags and lenses all of which work well with the digital rebel (or at least they did until I started to want more!)
The current price (Nov 04) on EBay is around £500 (for the camera with lens kit. The lens kit is an 18-55mmDIGITAL lens which is a great all purpose lens to get you started. Do check out some of the bundle deals though as they can be very worthwhile. DO NOT GET MICRODRIVES though, ONLY buy Compact Flash I will explain why later.
Also Canon are offering £100
cash back if you buy a 300D between 1st November 2004 and January 31st 2005 not sure if it applies to EBay purchases, but worth a try! (Go to the canon UK website and there is a link - or call them on 0800 180 4095 ref: 300D)
Why do I stress the DIGITAL lens? Well the EOS300D will accept any of the Canon AF (Auto Focus) lenses, but when working out their range you need to multiply it by a factor of about 1.4 this means a 200mm lens on a film camera gives you a 280mm lens on the digital camera, which is great if you are trying to get closer to action far away, but not so good for taking large group shots in a small room.
On the other side of the coin though, the DIGITAL lenses will NOT work with your old film Canon cameras. The reason for this is that on the Digital lenses they actually end inside the body of the camera whereas the film camera lenses ends flush with the front.
Quick spec on the 300D
6.3 Megapixel CMOS sensor this gives you pictures of 3072 x 2048 resolution (most people run their desktop at 1024 x 768) and it needs an average 3MB per picture on the HDD
7-point wide-area AF - You can set a point (not necessarily the middle of the picture to focus on, or the camera can auto choose the most focal points)
High-performance DIGIC processor - Fast processing of the pictures, you can take up to 4 in one second!
100-1600 ISO speed range - Wide range for lots of different shooting modes.
Compatible with all Canon EF lenses and EX Speedlites Great for picking up spares reasonably cheaply from EBay
PictBridge, Canon Direct Print and Bubble Jet Direct compatible no PC required If you are in the field and want to print out, you can
Large clear LCD display on the back for menu settings and picture reviews (you can not PREVIEW the picture on the LCD, you have to use the viewfinder)
The next step on the Canon ladder is the EOS20D but at over £1,000 I dont think the extra features are worth it. You have 8.2 rather than 6.3, but unless you are a professional amateur photographer, wait for the price to get below the £750 mark.
The 300D has a plastic body, which can get scratched and damaged. Having said that thought I have had mine for a year, taken in excess of 11,000 pictures (Yes, eleven THOUSAND pictures) and it is still in excellent shape.
If you want to see some of my pictures then I have a lot of Wolf shots on my website go to Google and put in UKWCT and look for a URL with cinimod in it.
Back to the camera the bad news is that once you pay your £500 it does not stop there. The camera does NOT come with any memory card, unless you buy a bundle.
Very early on I only had a 256MB card this only holds about 80 pictures in Highest quality largest picture mode and to be honest, dont use anything else, there is no point. This may well do for most of you, but I would seriously suggest you get a 1GB or 2GB compact flash card these range from £40 to £100 I would recommend you get an Ultra II card though as these are faster.
I said earlier do not buy a microdrive in mid 2004 I would have advised a microdrive. The reason I have changed my mind is two fold. 1 The price on compact flash has come down and 2 the compact flash card can take more bumping around and remain more reliable than the microdrive which can be prone to hanging at the crucial moment.
Other things you may want? Well most likely another lens for taking pictures of things in the distance after all, if you did not want the option of other lenses you do not need to buy an SLR and can save yourself some money with the fantastic Digital Ixus 500 (Cost £150 to £200)
What would I recommend for lenses? The Canon ones are nice, but you will pay a premium, so for the enthusiast Sigma is a great alternative. As a general all purpose lens I would recommend either their 28-200mm or 28-300mm. These currently sell for £60 to £150 on eBay so will not break the bank and make an excellent lens if you only want to carry one, but have great flexibility in what you are able to take pictures of.
The next upgrade I recommend is a flash. The internal one is not bad, but is really only good for mid range work (not close up and not far away). Even then you will still end up with a circular light area in the middle getting darker to the edges. The flash I have is from Sigma again Sigma EF500 a fantastic flash which provides good light at up to 50m. One more additive you will need though is some decent rechargeable batteries. Get some with over 2000mAh (milli Amp Hours) charge or they will not last long. Also ONLY buy NiMH batteries so that they can be recharged without having to be run out first. Usually they take 8 to 10 hours to charge, so buy 8 and remember to charge in advance! You should get 500 to 1,000 charges out of them so they are very worth while.
So now you have a good size memory card, a decent lens and something to light up the dark. What do you do with the pictures?
Well to get them from camera to computer they do supply a USB cable, but this is only USB 1.1 and quite slow. If you have a laptop I highly recommend you get a Compact Flash to PCMCIA adapter card these are anywhere from £5 to £15 depending on the make. If you only have a desktop machine it is a little more complicated, but either buy a USB 2.2 Compact flash card reader (if you have USB 2.2 on your machine) or an IDE based Compact flash card reader (About £5 but you need some technical experience to fit it)
There is also some image and library software that comes with it, but if you are going to want to do any serious editing you need to consider Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Fireworks, or Paint Shop Pro (latest version). Paint Shop Pro is the cheapest at only £90 and the latest version has got some very good reviews, so for the amateur it is a very good place to start.
If you are an amateur who wants a camera with simple settings and the ability to move to more complex manual settings it is really the only camera you should consider.
If you are a pro, this would make a fantastic second camera after you EOS 1D.
Remember though you will love this camera so much you will want to keep spending money on lenses, memory cards, and more so if you want to buy a camera for a budget and do not need replaceable lenses, I really do suggest you look at the Ixus 500.
Enjoy your camera!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
A most interesting and informative review. I've been watching the 300D on ebay (currently selling at around £400 - £450 with lens) with a view to buy and needed some practical advice from a knowlegable owner to give an insight on how it actually performs out in the field so to speak. Great review!
Samyang 8 mm f/3.5 Aspherical IF MC Fish-eye lens is designed for APS-C image sensor. It ... more
creates images with an expanded perpective, including images with a creatively deformed outlook and a sharp pan focus that extends throughout the entire frame. By ...
Postage & Packaging: £4.39 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Samyang 8 mm f/3.5 Aspherical IF MC Fish-eye lens is designed for APS-C image sensor. It ... more
creates images with an expanded perpective, including images with a creatively deformed outlook and a sharp pan focus that extends throughout the entire frame. By ...
Postage & Packaging: £4.39 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The Samyang 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical Manual Focus Lens is an ultra-bright lens with a maximum ... more
aperture of f/1.4. Although you can only use this lens in manual focus mode, it is fully compatible with the automated features available with digital SLR camera...
Postage & Packaging: £4.39 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The Samyang 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical Manual Focus Lens is an ultra-bright lens with a maximum ... more
aperture of f/1.4. Although you can only use this lens in manual focus mode, it is fully compatible with the automated features available with digital SLR camera...
Postage & Packaging: £4.39 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The Opteka 6.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens is an excellent addition to any photographer's ... more
collection, giving users the ability to expand their creativity and capture incredible scenes from a truly unique perspective. The special fisheye design allows maximum ...
Postage & Packaging: £4.39 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Great autofocus and exposure performance. LCD screen. Can work with microdrives. Disadvantages: Build. Not to a traditional SLR build standards.
SNOOPDOGGY 23.02.2004 (14.04.2004)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Canon EOS 300D
Advantages: Fairly easy to use with full auto mode to fall back on. Disadvantages: Frustrating in certain situations for those wanting to use the cameras creative modes.
silverdigit 13.12.2007 (13.12.2007)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Canon EOS 300D
exceptional by (23%):
very helpful by (73%):
helpful by (5%):
