john farrar
Veteran Member
Despite the plastic construction this is a good solid camera; it's neither too light, nor too heavy and has a comfortable balance.
The Viewfinder offers a larger image than most and is not of the 'long tunnel' type. Although it isn't as bright as on the 7D you can easily see if things are in focus or if the depth of field is acceptable (by pressing the button.) People with very strong glasses however may prefer the 7D or the Pentax *istDS with the 5D a close third.
The 18-70 kit lens is better than I expected though it is obviously 'plastiky' and has a tiny little lens hood. The Anti-Shake system is really useful. The camera also has very easy to use White Balance controls.
I mainly use Aperture Priority mode, but full Automatic or Program and Scene modes will give reasonable results for a beginner. For instance, the Sunset scene mode actually works - far better than the hit-and-miss setup on the old D7i.
The large LCD is fine for sharing pictures around a group, but not sharp enough (unless you magnify the image - which is a quick and easy process) to reliably check for sharpness.
It can over-expose bright skies (most cameras can if not watched), but this is very easily corrected by dialing in a simple correction.
Excellent colours; photographs water really well. Nice skin tones too.
So overall a camera that wants the user to be involved with the picture-taking processs; but also a camera which will allow a beginner to adopt a gentle learning curve and still come away with good photos. I'd give it just under 9/10 so far.
Problems:
In the early days I found some issues with autofocus consistency; what this means is that pictures were not as pin-sharp as I would have hoped they might be. A couple of months later I can say the DSLR magnifies any errors we might make and requires more precise handling. The kit lens is actually quite good between f8 and f12.
One possible design 'problem' though... if you're a person who prefers to look through a viewfinder with your Left eye rather than your right, then your nose can catch the controller switch.
Another: perhaps the 'font' size of the exposure info at the bottom of the viewfinder ought to be a little larger? However, the details on the LCD are huge. It would also have been nice to be able to alter the ISO while watching the viewfinder without the LCD coming on and blinding my dark adapted eye!
There have also been some inconistent exposures using the 3600 accessory flash. TTL pre-flash is often producing a lazy eye look (subject in mid-blink). Looks like Metz would be a better bet.
The Viewfinder offers a larger image than most and is not of the 'long tunnel' type. Although it isn't as bright as on the 7D you can easily see if things are in focus or if the depth of field is acceptable (by pressing the button.) People with very strong glasses however may prefer the 7D or the Pentax *istDS with the 5D a close third.
The 18-70 kit lens is better than I expected though it is obviously 'plastiky' and has a tiny little lens hood. The Anti-Shake system is really useful. The camera also has very easy to use White Balance controls.
I mainly use Aperture Priority mode, but full Automatic or Program and Scene modes will give reasonable results for a beginner. For instance, the Sunset scene mode actually works - far better than the hit-and-miss setup on the old D7i.
The large LCD is fine for sharing pictures around a group, but not sharp enough (unless you magnify the image - which is a quick and easy process) to reliably check for sharpness.
It can over-expose bright skies (most cameras can if not watched), but this is very easily corrected by dialing in a simple correction.
Excellent colours; photographs water really well. Nice skin tones too.
So overall a camera that wants the user to be involved with the picture-taking processs; but also a camera which will allow a beginner to adopt a gentle learning curve and still come away with good photos. I'd give it just under 9/10 so far.
Problems:
In the early days I found some issues with autofocus consistency; what this means is that pictures were not as pin-sharp as I would have hoped they might be. A couple of months later I can say the DSLR magnifies any errors we might make and requires more precise handling. The kit lens is actually quite good between f8 and f12.
One possible design 'problem' though... if you're a person who prefers to look through a viewfinder with your Left eye rather than your right, then your nose can catch the controller switch.
Another: perhaps the 'font' size of the exposure info at the bottom of the viewfinder ought to be a little larger? However, the details on the LCD are huge. It would also have been nice to be able to alter the ISO while watching the viewfinder without the LCD coming on and blinding my dark adapted eye!
There have also been some inconistent exposures using the 3600 accessory flash. TTL pre-flash is often producing a lazy eye look (subject in mid-blink). Looks like Metz would be a better bet.
