Canon EOS 300D.

In summary
The first under-$2000 DSLR on the market is still a landmark camera and continues to attract buyers. Its plastic body is sturdy – but reasonably light, thanks to the use of a pentamirror instead of a glass pentaprism. . . [more]
Full review

The first under-$2000 DSLR on the market is still a landmark camera and continues to attract buyers. Its plastic body is sturdy – but reasonably light, thanks to the use of a pentamirror instead of a glass pentaprism. The grip is comfortable and all controls are conveniently located. All the controls found on a higher-priced DSLR are provided, although some have limited functionality. Significantly, flash output is non-adjustable and partial metering replaces spot metering. White balance options include the standard auto, daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent and flash pre-sets along with a custom (manual) control and white balance bracketing. Images can be captured in RAW or JPEG format and both Adobe RGB and sRGB colour spaces are supported. If you opt for Adobe RGB, you can’t change the contrast, sharpness and saturation parameters.
As expected, the EOS 300D’s image quality was excellent and the exposure metering system was generally accurate, even in extended brightness range conditions. Low level shots were virtually noise-free. White balance performance was satisfactory with both the auto and manual settings, and very good with the custom control. Overall, the EOS 300D represents excellent value for money and its bundled lens is a fine performer.
Strengths:
– Excellent picture quality from the Canon CMOS sensor
– Bundled EF-S 18-55mm lens
– Fast, effective AF
– High-rising pop-up flash
– Well integrated digital and photographic controls and displays
– Excellent battery life
– Excellent bundled software
Weaknesses:
– Flash output not adjustable
– No parameter adjustment with Adobe RGB
– No white balance compensation
– Continuous shooting limited to 4 frames at 2.5fps
– CF compartment door not secured [BG05]
Full review in Issue 14 (December 2003/January 2004)
Specifications

Image sensor: 22.7 x 15.1mm CMOS sensor with 6,500,000 photosites (6.3 megapixels effective)
Lens mount/LMF: Canon EF and EF-S/1.6x
Image file formats: JPEG, RAW, JPEG + RAW (12-bit)
Shutter Speed Range: 30-1/4000 sec plus Bulb; X-sync and 1/200 sec
Storage Media: Type I/II CompactFlash cards and Microdrives.
Body Dimensions (wxhxd):142 x 99 x 72.9mm
Weight: 560g (body only)
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