Nice little camera but build quality is questionable.

axlastro wrote:

I've had the 100D for about an year and decided I could write a short review.

First the good:

1. It's small but still easy to handle.

2. It has a good AF system (especially the central point)

3. The viewfinder is dim but bigger than on most rebels.

4. The touchscreen is great to operate and made of tough glass - no need for screen protector.

5. The sensor, while still the old 18mp is improved and the banding issues don't exist. I'd say ISO 3200 could be usable in some situations.

6. Live view AF is pretty fast and accurate. There is a face recognition feature which is very nioce for portraits and actually works.

7. The colors an dJpeg quality are really good.

8. Silent shutter

Now the bad:

1. The rubber grip is peeling already and the rubber eyecup falls off very easily (I lost mine).

This is unacceptable. All other issues are more of a nitpick and not so relevant, as it's an entry level camera after all. But this is unacceptable - only after a year of use! Come on Canon.

Pretty bad, but if it's under warranty they should be able to fix it for free.

2. The AF, while generally very good, is nothing special and the outer AF points are unusable with fast lenses.

So it's good AF, bad AF?? Make up your mind.

3. The controls are lacking - it's easy to bump them on the touchscreen unntentionally and the lack of dedicated dials and buttons is really annoying, but that's am amateur camera. Pentax has those dials on their lower end cameras though.

But you knew this before you bought it, the small size is the whole point about the SL1.

4. The dynamic range of these sensors is rediculous. Period.

No it isn't, your stance is. Why buy it if DR is so very bad? Were you forced at gun point?

5. The small RAW buffer and slow continuous shooting speed.

But you knew this before you bought it.

6. The battery life is pretty bad.

But you knew this before you bought it. Get another two extra batteries and stop complaining.

7. SD card slot is in the batter compartment (some decisions were to be made for the size to stay small)

But you knew this before you bought it.

8. Dust gets easily on the sensoe and someteimes cannot be cleaned, but I swap lenses very often.

Part of life with DSLRs, can't be a negative if compared to similar products.

9. No way to turn off exposure simulation - a real pain for studio work!

THAT's why I'm changing my rating to 3.5 stars - I'm sorry, but even with all the good sides that camera has, the build quality is a major flaw for me. I know, it's just rubber, but now I'll have to send it in for repair and be left my eos-m as my only camera.

So removing your false negatives it's a 5 star product. It seems like you didn't buy the right camera for you, should have gone with one with "better DR". Or tell the guy who made you buy this at gun point that there are other options.