Canon EOS 1000D DSLR – Great camera for entry-level photographers

Solid little camera at an affordable price

When Canon launched the EOS 300D back in 2003 it was widely regarded as the first affordable digital SLR and secured Canon a seemingly indomitable number-one spot in the market. Since then the ‘small’ Canon has gone through three further iterations and the current model – the EOS 450D – offers a feature set and image quality that could only have been dreamed about five years ago (and at a price point well below the 300D’s). However, the competition haven’t been idle spectators and have recently launched a number of de-spec’ed cameras that have redefined the entry level segment and undercut the EOS 450D in the DSLR hierarchy.

With a 10.1 megapixel sensor and technology shared with Canon’s professional models, the great value Canon EOS 1000D kit offers amazing power and precision in an entry level digital SLR camera with 18-55mm lens.

Canon has now responded to this mounting pressure by launching a new model one tier below the 450D in its current lineup – the EOS 1000D. It shares bits and pieces with Rebels gone by and, depending from which angle you look at it, the new model is either a stripped down 450D or a ‘reheated’ 400D. It’s a lower specification camera than the 450D, by every measure you might see listed on the shop shelf, but is not the huge step down that its market positioning might lead you to expect.

Note that throughout this preview we will refer to the EOS 1000D by its European name; if you live in other parts of the world you’ll know the camera by Rebel XS or Kiss F Digital, but they’re all essentially the same camera.

Conclusion

Having helped create the ‘affordable’ DSLR, Canon has taken a while to respond to the latest, comparatively wallet-friendly offerings from the likes of Nikon and Sony. The 1000D is a pretty convincing response – it does just about everything it needs to do, and everything it does, it does well. It can produce great images at any of its ISO settings and, viewed as a whole, makes a great first DSLR.

Cameras are not just the product of engineering, they are also the result of marketing considerations – creating a product people will want to buy at a price they find attractive. The result is that many cameras in this market segment are shorn of some of the features of their big brothers in the name of ‘product differentiation.’ It’s a reality that can upset some people (often the owners of more expensive cameras), but we, like the marketers, need to consider whether the removed features will have an impact on the buyer the camera is aimed at. For example, it’s been a Canon tradition to miss spot metering off its least expensive DLSR. This is annoying (it’s certainly a more useful feature than the bracketing function removed from the baby Nikons), and worth highlighting but probably not a big issue for the majority of users.

In every other respect, Canon seems to have gently toned-down the specification so that it rates slightly less well in all the metrics that appear on shop shelf tags – pixel count, continuous shooting speed, number of AF points and screen size. The only one of these to have any real impact on the user experience is the continuous shooting speed, which has been pruned back a little far. If you regularly find yourself shooting bursts of images, you’re going to have to look elsewhere.

The 1000D is a difficult camera to judge while its price still hasn’t adjusted to a realistic market level, as it’s not a camera that stands out enough from its competitors to justify a major price difference. However, ergonomic foibles aside, it’s a solid little camera that is easy to use and produces consistently good images across all of its sensitivity settings. That’s the thing that most people will be looking for from this camera, and it’s what Canon has traditionally been very good at.

Canon’s lead of the entry-level market has slipped in recent years (in certain markets) and the 1000D doesn’t stand out from the competition as much as previous models. It’s certainly a safe bet and one of the most consistent offerings in the sector (it has few annoying quirks or niggling loose ends) and its all-round competance, excellent high ISO performance and class-leading image quality will win it a lot of friends.