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August 28, 2008
[REVIEW—CANON EOS 1000D camera]
Price: $1000 with 18-55 lens
Affordable entry to a great system
The low-down: This 10 megapixel camera is the first SLR from Canon to break (just) the $1000 barrier. The construction uses a lot of obvious plastic, including for the lens mount. It is small and light and is well suited to small hands. Ergonomics are just so-so. There is no body top camera status LCD so the main LCD serves that purpose. In “live view” the status information disappears. The LCD screen is small (65mm). The penta-mirror viewfinder is a little dim and cramped compared with a good pentaprism.
Like: The picture quality is excellent, especially when a better quality Canon lens is fitted. Dynamic range is wide and the Auto Lighting Optimiser is useful in tricky situations, such as backlighting. Auto focus and exposure are very fast and accurate. Resolution and colour, with a good lens, are outstanding.
Dislike: The “live view” is ridiculous. The user guide recommends manual focussing in live view and yet Canon claim that they include the function because compact camera owners trading up to a DSLR demand it. But when they find that by holding the camera at arm’s length, as they are accustomed to doing, they lose auto focus will they be pleased? If you want auto focus in live view then you must focus first in the conventional way, using the optical viewfinder, and then switch to the live view mode. By which time your subject will be over the horizon. Why do they do it?
Verdict: Stupid gimmicks apart, this is a good way to buy into a system than will grow with the user’s expertise. And when the time comes to move up to a better body the Canon lenses will still be in the bag to use on the new camera. And as decent lenses generally cost more than the price of the EOS 1000D camera body this is an important consideration. So the two good reasons to buy this camera are Canon’s outstanding image quality and their extensive range of options and accessories.
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Posted by terry at August 28, 2008 12:27 AM
Worth Checking Out
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Comments
your comment on the 'live view' focus isn't quite right. live view *does* have auto focus- you need to press the '*' button until you hear the usual focus lock beep.
however, its still kind of clunky
Posted by: TG at April 20, 2010 01:13 AM
Actually what I wrote is that Canon recommends manual focusing in live view. They still do, even for their latest DSLRs with live view. My 7D does a reasonable job of auto focus in LV but it is very slow to focus and fire the shutter. It certainly can't be used for moving subjects.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 20, 2010 10:37 AM