Sunday, May 27. 2007
How I decided to buy Canon EOS 300D
Buying first dSLR can be very difficult choice, especially in these days when the entry-level market offers great variety of models, from different manufacturers, each with its own PROs and CONs.
Choosing the manufacturer (the brand) and model is both objective and subjective thing.
In this article I will tell you how I decided to buy Canon EOS 300D, few years ago.
I already had Canon Powershot A80. You can read how I decided to buy it here.
A80 was excellent camera with its 3x zoom, 4MP sensor and great photos when the conditions were good. Yes, when the conditions were good. Back then, shooting at ISO 400 with a compact camera was more suicide, than anything else (like achieving some acceptable result). When I say bad conditions I mean something like: bad weather (dark), indoor photos without flash, shooting some action photos etc. Sure, with some prefocusing, tripod and understanding of how camera works, you can achieve pretty good results. But, I wanted better results. Also, I started to enjoy shooting sport. Indoor sport. This means: low-light conditions and fast moving objects.
Here is example of typical photo achieved with A80 in mentioned conditions. High ISO noise and motion blur are visible.
EXIF details: 1/80, f/4
EXIF details: 1/80, f/4
Achieved with prefocusing. This, as well as above photo has motion blur. While it serves as effect in this photo, it is a defect in the other
EXIF details: 1/50, f/4
EXIF details: 1/50, f/4
Few weeks before my sport shooting attempts, I was thinking to buy tele and wide convertors, which should also allow me to use filters with my camera. Luckily, I left this idea very soon, and realized that what I needed was an dSLR.
I really knew where I was going: dSLR usually means more money, accessories and weight. On the other side, I also knew what were the benefits.
Canon A80 found its new owner pretty fast. From what I know he uses it even today. Now, I had to choose what exactly I wanted to buy. Actually, I was thinking about that for some time, but final answer came clear just after I sold the powershot.
I decided that I should buy second hand dSLR body with one lens, which should not be of lowest quality, maybe some filter for it and some photo bag.
Back then, it was only a choice between Nikon and Canon. Here is another advice which you might not hear very often: it is good to have friends with compatible equipment. So, when you need something (like flash or ultra-wide lens), you can borrow the same. I already had canon photo camera and I was satisfied. I also had few friends which had Canon dSLRs. I also knew that Canon had the cheapest dSLR on the market, and this was also very important, with my low budget in mind. Another important thing to know: low level body with first class lens will produce far better results than first class body with bad lens. All this leaded me to the choice of 300D. Actually, I still searched for Nikon offers, too.
Very soon, I saw one great offer for Canon 300D. The price was good and the timing was perfect. I arranged testing of the machine. (Remember to test even new cameras. If you can, bring someone with more experience with that particular or similar models) Testing went ok, the jpegs I checked at home were great. And, it was it.
300D was bought. Few days later I bought Sigma 18-125mm with UV filter. It is very good 'tourist' lens, like I like to call it, with good focusing speed and image quality. After that a Lowepro backpack (which was just half full back then), later on accessories were bought one by one and wishlist had more and more checks.
My first impressions from new camera were focusing speed, better control of DOF, acceptable results at high ISO speeds and lots of buttons to master.
Even if 300D is the cheapest dSLR and it also has some software and hardware limitations, it is great camera even today.
In one of my next articles, expect a short course to basketball photography and show you some of my photos from 300D.
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