I'm digital, and I'm not looking back!
Written: Apr 24 '04
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Pros: Affordable digital photography with professional results.
Cons: None so far.
The Bottom Line: Look at the reviews. Now is the time to jump to digital. You won't be sorry.
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| toeslider's Full Review: Canon Digital Rebel / EOS-300D Digital Camera with... |
Like everybody else, I've been waiting ten years for digital to reach the same level of quality as 35mm without mortgaging my house to buy into it. My ultimate goal is to get magazine work, and I wasn't even sure if my 35mm was up to the task.
I'm not a rich man, and since photography is not my main profession $1000 is a lot for me to spend on a camera of any type. However, due to it's wide popularity I had no less than three friends that already had the Digital Rebel, and another with a D10. After getting to try out a few of them I decided this may be the camera for me. I spent a lot of time over the winter comparing photos from the digital rebel to photos from my 35mm Rebel and, wherever possible, taking the same pictures with both. The Digital rebel held up admirably against the 35mm prints. I don't think it can compare to medium format, but for what I am doing it seems to perform well. Based on the number of rolls of 35mm I was processing and printing throughout the year, the camera will pretty much pay for itself in two years or so.
Since I already had a film rebel, all of my lenses will cross over to the D-Rebel. Also, since I already have a Canon camcorder, I now have two spare batteries as well. I recently acquired a Canon large format printer, and so far the images from the D-Rebel are winning out over the film images in terms of resolution and clarity. The other BIG bonus is having nearly equal-to-film images that don't need any touching up for dust specs and fingerprints!
To view some of my work with the Digital Rebel, you can go to the following links:
http://crossthedoubleyellow.com/detroit
http://crossthedoubleyellow.com/chihuly1
http://crossthedoubleyellow.com/chihuly1
Although these images have been sized down considerably, I think they still show what the camera can do.
They also show some of the initial troubles I had with auto-focus. Since then I have learned to shoot in P mode with the center dot only selected for focusing, something you can't do in full auto mode. A small drawback, but a drawback nonetheless. For example, when shooting a model in a black dress standing in front of a red car, the camera chose to ignore the black and focus on the red of the car, leaving the model out of focus and the car behind her in focus. At least with digital you don't have to print out a bad exposure like that, but if it's a once in a lifetime shot it's something you would want to be aware of.
Battery life is excellent. Construction is on par with the Canon film Rebel, not outstanding, but acceptable. The flash on the Digital Rebel is better than the one on the film Rebel, but no match for an add-on flash. It also scares the bejesus out of me when it pops up and hits the brim of my baseball cap.
The first accessory I got for it was the eyepiece extender ($15), which moves your face 1/2" away from the camera. Unfortunately my nose still rubs against the LCD screen on the back. (Remember, this is a DSLR, so you have to look through the viewfinder to take a picture, you can't look at the LCD screen until after it is taken.)
I rarely use any type of motor drive, so the speed at which this camera bangs off exposures isn't much of an issue to me. Certainly not worth another $500 to step up to the D10 to double the motor drive speed or the speed at which the camera stores pictures.
If you're fairly sedentary when taking pictures, not rock climbing or throwing your camera bag through baggage claim, I would recommend using a Hitachi or IBM MicroDrive for storage. I have both the MicroDrive and Compact Flash for storage, and the MicroDrive offers roughly double the storage capacity for the same price, with no appreciable difference in time-to-storage that I can see. You just don't want to be jostling a camera with a MicroDrive in it because it DOES have moving parts that can get damaged by shock, unlike Compact Flash.
In closing, I would say that unless some big negative revelation about the camera is brought to light in the near future, or it breaks, I don't see myself going back to shooting film anytime soon.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 999
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Solid Enough for a Professional
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Epinions.com ID:
toeslider
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Location: Columbus, Ohio USA
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Closet Gadget Guru. Single homeowner looking for the "easy" way to do things. Wannabe Photographer.
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