27.01.09
Canon EOS 1000D Review
Words by Julian Lass
Things are hotting up at the budget-end of the DSLR market. Canon and Nikon dominate, but Sony, Pentax and Olympus have some great cameras at really tempting prices in there too.
To stay ahead of the pack, Canon needs its EOS 1000D to be a seriously big hit. It needs to punch hard and on paper, it does. The EOS 1000D offers 10.1-megapixel resolution, Live View, a self-cleaning anti-dust system, seven-point AF system, Canon’s DIGIC III processing and all housed in a compact, lightweight body. Also included is a depth-of-field preview button, a welcome addition that also works in Live View mode. This means the EOS 1000D is pitched in spec just below the EOS 450D.
You’d be forgiven for asking the difference between the EOS 1000D and the Canon EOS 450D as they do look virtually identical. The 450D boasts 12.2-megapixels, a three-inch rear screen, nine-point AF and spot metering. It also shoots 3.5 frames-per-second (fps). The 1000D, besides offering 10.1-megapixels, has a smaller 2.5in rear screen and shoots at three frames-per-second.
The 450D also sports an eye sensor on the back, which shuts down the LCD when you’re looking through the optical viewfinder. That’s missing on the 1000D and you’ll have to use the DISP button on the rear to activate or deactivate the LCD. You can also adjust the camera’s custom functions to determine how long the LCD stays lit.
Getting to grips with the 1000D is easy. It’s pitched at both beginners and more experienced users and you can start snapping perfectly exposed pictures straight out of the box. I spent time getting to know the menu system and more experienced enthusiasts will find they can tailor things, like colour space and histogram type, exactly to their needs.
Twelve custom functions provide even more fine-tuning and I’m a big fan of changing exposure steps from 1/3 to 1/2 stop steps for instance. You can do things like adding noise reduction and switching the AF activation button to the rear button. There’s also plenty of information in the viewfinder too, like exposure mode and ISO speed.
Autofocus is fast and responsive and the seven-point system also lets you choose your point, which is great when your subject is off-centre. I prefer using the single, central AF point as I know where my focal point is but I like giving the camera the choice with fast moving subjects like kids. I found that most of the time, the camera gets it spot on and if it doesn’t, changing the AF point is a simple matter of pressing a rear thumb button and turning the command dial. Only complex subjects like crisscross wire fencing and shooting through a dirty train window proved a problem, but that goes for any DSLR.
The A-DEP mode ensures perfect depth-of-field between AF points. The camera works out the distance between the closest and furthest parts of the image covered by the AF sensors and sets the aperture accordingly. While useful, it’s limited to the central part of the viewfinder covered by the AF field and I much preferred the setting found on early EOS cameras that let you manually choose two points to focus on before automatically working out an aperture to maximise depth-of-field.
The 1000D’s Live View is the same system found on the EOS 450D. It has to be initialised first in the set-up menu and then activated by pressing the SET button and the button on the rear of the camera to activate focusing. Pressing the DISP button while in Live View toggles between three display modes, each offering different levels of on-screen information.
You can also check depth-of-field in Live Mode by pressing the depth-of-field button. By the way, it’s a minor point but most rear LCD screens aren’t calibrated, which means the colours you see on screen may not correspond to what you see in your final images.
The camera helps beginners with scene modes for six standard situations including a full auto green square mode. I like the landscape scene mode, which favours a smaller aperture for greater depth-of-field. Then there’s the usual exposure modes like P, A, S and M. Using a dial right behind the shutter release button allows you to change parameters easily, but a second dial for parallel changing of aperture values, as found on the more expensive EOS cameras, is missing.
Instead, in manual mode you need to press the Av button on the rear while using the dial to change the aperture. The Av button is not ideally placed. Press this while looking through the viewfinder and you run the risk of jabbing your eye with your thumb.
In addition to the exposure modes, there are six Picture Style modes and three user-defined modes, which let you save your favourite settings. Select one of the Picture Style modes, and the camera uses pre-figured settings to deliver the best result. You can fine-tune each one to your own parameters. I mostly used the Standard setting, but for beginners choosing one of these modes may improve their pictures. The Portrait style, for example, helps keep skin tones looking natural.
When it comes to picture taking, the 35-zone metering delivered accurate results. It was fooled by a black wall and back-lit scenes, but such situations are tricky for all cameras.
Noise results are excellent. Using lower ISO settings like ISO 100 or ISO 200 gives images without visible noise, but I was surprised to find that even at the highest ISO 1600 setting images are smooth, retaining finer detail with very low noise. The 1000D does offer additional noise-filtering for high ISO images. Using this filtering, images taken at ISO 1600 show no colour noise, but exhibit a structure similar to film grain.
Dynamic range is the gamut of tones the sensor can handle from lightest highlights to darkest shadows before pure white or pure black is reached. The 1000D offers a dynamic range of nearly 11 stops, which is good and it retains this up to ISO 400. After that, you’ll get nine stops at ISO 800 and 8.5 stops at ISO 1600, though that’s still great.
The 1000D gives natural and realistic looking colours complemented by an automatic white-balance that works very well. The supplied 18-55mm kit lens is not the sharpest tack in the box but it will do for images up to A4 in size. Pop a great lens on like the EF 85mm f/1.8 or one of Canon’s superb L-series lenses and the camera shows what it’s capable of.
The 1000D adds lots of sharpness when taking images in JPEG mode, which can cause some halo effects with high-contrast subjects but on the whole images look crisp. There’s also no visible difference at normal viewing distances between JPEGs produced in-camera, and TIFFs and JPEGs converted from a Raw image in Canon’s DPP software.
However, closer inspection reveals that Raws converted to TIFFs and JPEGs with DPP at default settings reveal more detail and a wider dynamic range than in-camera produced JPEGs, though the difference is small. If you want the absolute highest quality this camera has to offer though, I suggest going the more laborious shooting Raw and converting route.
The supplied kit lens comes with built-in optical image stabilisation, which really works. I wouldn’t suggest it spells the death of the tripod, but I did manage sharp handheld shots down to about 1/15sec and even 1/8sec if I held my breath. With a fairly slow aperture of f/5.6 at the 55mm end, this is a real boon in low light. It’s also great for candid street shots.
I was amazed to find that shooting at 1/125sec a fast grab shot was pin-sharp. Normally, I would have expected it to be blurred by camera shake. Brilliant! A word on price. Although pitched below the EOS 450D in terms of market position, the release price of the 1000D is actually £100 more at £580 with kit lens. However, that situation will soon change and we’d expect the street price to drop so it’ll probably end up cheaper than the EOS 450D which is currently selling for around £480 with lens. If you want an EOS 1000D, it may pay to be patient.
TWO LIVE VIEW POINTS
Crucially, Live View comes with two AF detect modes: phase (mirror flip; screen blanks for a second) and contrast (no mirror flip; no screen blank). The latter’s called Live Mode and you watch in real time as the camera decides where contrast is greatest, goes beyond this point to check and then snaps back.
Using the standard phase AF sensors, or Quick Mode, the camera flips the mirror down to focus so the screen blanks for a second. It’s much faster than contrast detection, which can take up to five seconds, but it’s also less accurate. If you want to find out why, I suggest you Google ‘phase-detect vs contrast-detect AF’.
Finally, you can use Live View to check focus accuracy by zooming in five or 10 times on a specific part of the image, though I’d recommend using a tripod for this as it’s shaky at 10 times.
SPECIFICATION
Price: £580 with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Distributor: canon.co.uk
Resolution: 10.1 million (3888x2592) effective pixels
Lens mount: Canon EF/EF-S
Focal length: 1.6x magnification
Sensor: Self-cleaning 22.2x14.8mm CMOS
Autofocus: Seven points
Exposure: 35-zone Evaluative, partial system (10%) and centre-weighted average
Exposure modes: PASM, full auto, A-DEP, 5 mode, scene modes, no flash mode
ISO range: Auto (100-800), 100-1600 in one-stop steps
Shutter: 30-1/4000sec (1/2 or 1/3 stop increments), flash sync 1/200sec, plus B
White-balance: Auto, daylight, shade, settings cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash, custom. White-balance bracketing and compensation
Monitor: 2.5in 230,000 pixel TFT LCD
Viewfinder: 95% coverage, dioptre correction
Integral flash: Yes, pop-up with button release, GN13 (100/m)
Image file: JPEG, Raw (12-bit) formats
Drive System: 3fps
Storage media: SD/SDHC
Interface: USB 2.0
Battery: Rechargeable Li-ion LP-E5
Dimensions: 126 x 98 x 61mm (WxHxD)
Weight: 450g body only
PROS AND CONS
Good quality with high resolution sharp images, easy operation and handling, great ISO performance
Kit lens not the sharpest, JPEGs sharper using DPP software, body not robust
THE VERDICT
I would still put my money on the Nikon D60 at the moment. It feels more robust. However, it lacks Live View and if this is important, choose the EOS 1000D.
It’s compact and easy on the shoulder, yet it still packs a big punch in terms of features and there’s plenty on offer for both beginners and more experienced users alike. I was impressed by the smoothness of images and low noise at top ISO speeds. At ISO 1600, it has a similar appearance to classic film grain.
The 1000D’s main rival is the Nikon D60, which is a lovely little camera. I would still put my money on the D60 at the moment. It feels more robust. However, it lacks Live View and if this is important for you, choose the EOS 1000D. The EOS 1000D is a great camera though that turns out impressive images with cracking handling.
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