Canon EOS 300D

The 300D isn't perfect, though. The Burst mode provides a buffer for only four shots at 2.5fps, as opposed to the nine at 3fps of the EOS 10D - a potential limitation for sports and action photography. Plus, by default, the sharpening, contrast and saturation parameters are set to +1 in Basic Zone modes, giving pictures a more appealing but less accurate hyper-real quality. These can be dialled back in the manual modes, but in Sports mode you're stuck with them, which is slightly frustrating because it's the only mode that allows continuous-tracking servo auto focus for moving targets. The extra sharpening will also increase noise on high-ISO shots. A final drawback affecting digital SLRs in general is the problem of dust finding its way onto the CMOS sensor when lenses are changed. Our test 300D did have a couple of specks that showed up on some test shots, although the camera has a sensor cleaning mode that locks the mirror up to allow for careful cleaning with an aerosol blower, if you have the nerve.

But is it as good as a traditional SLR? If you're careful about your shot setup and aware of the limitations of digital, yes. In contrasty conditions at large apertures, you'll still see some of that tell-tale chromatic fringing and the odd unnaturally clipped highlight, but once you're aware of the conditions in which these occur they're easily compensated for. The huge advantage of an SLR that's effectively loaded with five usable film speeds - from ISO 100 to 1,600 - and has zero cost per shot easily outweighs the drawbacks. In an ideal world, we'd still like to see higher pixel resolution, but as it is the incredible resolving power of the APS-C sensor and EF-S lens give the impression that this camera sports more than its 6.3 megapixels.

Author: David Fearon