Canon EOS 300D

<p>I have bought a Canon 300d off Ebay cheap for $107.00 came with a 28-80mm EF-S lens this is my first DSLR as i could not afford one till now i have had many 35mm film SLR`S in the past and a few compact digital cameras, The compact i have at the moment is a Fuji fine pix it`s 8 mp and has ten times optical zoom.Just thought i would get a DSLR as i have wanted one for so long now i also picked up a 75-300mm EF lens aswell for $95.00.Just hoping it will give me more versatility than the Fuji.Can any one give me any advice on this just hope i haven't thrown any the money on this camera.<br>

Thank from Ian.</p>

<p>Start using it. Only you can tell whether it's wasted money or not - see if you like the camera. It's a quite old camera by now, and some things may not compare too great to newer models, but that does not need to stop you from getting great images with it.<br>

Do check whether your lens is the EF-S 18-55, or an EF 28-80. The 18-55 is in my view nicer, as it has much more wide angle.</p>

<p>I agree with Wouter - the best test is using the camera and seeing how you like the results. It doesn't have the equivalence of the 10X optical zoom, but otherwise you should find that it has more potential for quality than a smaller compact camera. But it will take some practice to get the results you like. Don't be surprised if you find that some of your initial shots don't feel as polished as the Fuji - you were used to how it worked and it will take some shots to get to the same results.</p>

<p>Perhaps a good idea to run it through all its paces - take shots on all modes, up and down the ranges, check out the quality of the lenses by setting up some easily focused shots, use the flash, etc. If you believe it is working correctly then you will get a better feel for whether you like the results.</p>

<p>You are right it`s a EF 28-80 i just had a look.<br>

Thanks for your input Wouter Willemse.</p>

 

<p>To David so dose that mean even with the 75-300 mm EF lens i have got for it i still will not have the same zoom power.A bit confusing what length lens would i need to equal that 10x optical zoom.</p>

<p>I used that camera for many years and took some excellent pictures. It feels cheap, but it has the same sensor as the more expensive 10D. </p>

<p>Your 2 lenses combined will give you 10x zoom (300/28). As for zoom power, it is easy enough to compare, just zoom in on something far away and compare the field of view of the two cameras. If you use a man made object, like a house down the block, it will be easier to see the frame boundaries. I suspect they will be about the same.</p>

<p>That will be an interesting test, Matthew. This is a cropped-sensor camera, so a lens does have an appearance of being longer. If we accept that 50mm is "normal", then a 300mm could have an equivalency of about 450mm, so that is close to a 10x zoom.</p>

<p>I bought my 300D when it first came out (to the tune of $800!). I still have it. You didn't waste your money. The image quality and noise profile will be much better than your compact and the EF mount gives you access to a great array of Canon, and third party, lenses and accessories. I only use mine these days for eBay shooting but I'll be danged it has held up very well over years of hard use. It's surprisingly well made.<br>

While the lens that came with will work OK, it's not great. The Canon kit lens EF 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS (NOT the non-IS model) is far better for this camera. I would make that my next purchase when you've saved up a few bucks. You'll find them used for around $75. Enjoy your Canon!</p>

<p>I've said it before and will probably have to say it again. Any digital dSLR with 6MP or more is still very much a useful camera. It's an excellent platform to try out and learn on.<br>

If you upgrade the lenses as you go along with some of the suggestions above, you will sooner or later be in a position to upgrade to more pixels, when and if you feel it necessary or desirable, without having to worry about all new lenses, again.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>“Just hoping it will give me more versatility than the Fuji”</p>

</blockquote>

<p>There will be more photography to explore with the 300D and those two lenses – certainly off the top of my head three areas which spring to mind are:</p>

 

<ul>

<li>Outdoors fast action – like sports: because the 300D will be quicker to respond at gthe shutter release.</li>

<li>Shallow Depth of Field: even though the two lenses you have are relatively slow (i.e. have a small maximum aperture) – the larger sensor size of the 300D will allow for more exploration of shallow depth of field shooting, compared to the Fine Pix.</li>

<li>Exploring Flash Photography: your 300D has an Hotshoe attachment and is capable of E-TTL Flash compatibility.</li>

</ul>

<p>***</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>“As for zoom power, it is easy enough to compare, just zoom in on something far away and compare the field of view of the two cameras.”</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Good idea.<br>

I suspect the 300D with those two lenses will have more telephoto reach at the loss of a little bit of the wide angle: because I am guessing the camera is an <strong><em>S5000</em></strong> Fuji Finepix.<br>

If my guess is correct, that Fuji Camera has a 5.7mm to 57mmF/2.8~3.2 Zoom Lens and employs a 1/2.7” Sensor.<br>

The 300D has an APS-C Sensor and (for this example) we have two lenses with a total Focal Length compass of 28mm to 300mm.</p>

<p>For comparison only – the equivalence of Focal Lengths measured in terms of a 135 Format Camera:<br>

FinePix S5000 – Focal Length Compass is 37mm to 370mm<br>

300D with those two lenses – Focal Length Compass is 45mm to 480mm</p>

<p>WW</p>

<p>Hi Ian. I'm sure you'll enjoy your camera - I still have and like my 300D, although I've mostly moved to a higher-end DSLR now.<br />

<br />

Tips... compared with a superzoom compact camera, the cheapest accessory to show the benefits of the 300D would be to get a 50mm f/1.8 EF lens - it'll give you low-light performance and depth of field control that the compact can't match. I'll advise you that the 70-300 IS (stabilized) lens is much sharper than the older non-stabilized ones at 300mm, but it's quite an expensive upgrade - I mention it in case you're unhappy with the 300mm performance.<br />

<br />

The 300D gets quite noisy above ISO 400 (this is one of the bigger differences from newer DSLRs), so I'd only resort to higher ISO settings in an emergency - but the same is probably true of your compact.<br />

<br />

If you're brave, people have hacked the firmware for the 300D to enable much of the functionality of the 10D; you might like to look into it when you're fighting the "why can't I combine these two settings?" type issues that Canon put into the 300D to distinguish it from its big brother.<br />

<br />

Good luck, and I hope you have fun with your new camera!</p>