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126 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
Step into the SLR world without fear, 2 Jan 2007
I bought this camera recently as I had been getting very frustrated using a digital compact camera by Olympus. I was finding that photography in low light conditions or using a flash was difficult and achieved disappointing results so I bought this camera to address these problems...
The good:
1. Speed. My god, this camera is fast. Boot up time is very quick but it's the shooting time that reeally impresses.
2. Film speed of 1600. I have found this to be invaluable and the grain is not too bad at all. This is a very good low light camera (except, obviously, with a TP lens).
3. Ease of use. Makes my old digital camera seem like a rocket guidance system handbook. You can literally take this out of the box, charge the battery and start taking great photos. Also, it plugged straight into my Apple without missing a beat.
4. Transition from old EOS cameras. This is the same as my old 35mm SLR camera...but digital. All my old lenses work and my filters and all of the buttons are in the same place. Using the Av mode was like stepping back into an old pair of slippers.
5. Diatropic adjustment. I can use the camera without my glasses! Woohoo!
6. Battery life. If you turn off the picture preview pane then you can use this camera for a long, long time before the battery runs dry.
The Bad:
1. No memory card supplied. I think that this is a bit tight. They could have chucked in just a 128Mb card, just so you could take a few photos for fun and then gone out and bought a 2Gb card. Memory is cheap, Canon are tight. We're talking £30 here!
2. The lens supplied sucks. Great if you want to take pictures of bugs but not great for much else. Luckily I had some old lenses which turn this camera into a very decent piece of kit.
3. LCD is a touch small. It's not a major gripe but it did make me hum and ahh for a bit over the 350D's bigger brother. It does the job, but you do need a computer to really see your final results.
Overall this is a brilliant camera and is pretty future proof in terms of resolution - but, buy a new lens and don't forget that memory card!
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119 of 119 people found the following review helpful:
Quick - buy one before everybody else does!, 12 Jul 2006
I was nervous at spending so much on this type of camera. I previously had an Ixus 50, which was great, but was too much of a handbag camera for what I needed it for. My primary concern, having had an old 35mm film camera years ago, was that it would be complicated to use, and effectively put me off using it. Despite this I bought the camera, and have never looked back!
For a novice (and I am) this camera has to be as easy, if not easier than the IXUS. Point, focus, shoot. Simple as that on auto. The standard manual settings are also spot on, and very useful. I'm taking literally hundreds of pictures a night, with superb results, and I have yet to run out of power, despite using the flash for virtually every shot. In short, I love it to death.
Don't buy the camera case though, it's a real dogs breakfast, and there is no card in the box, so you can't use the camera when it arrives!
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102 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
The 350D beats all the competition, 13 Jan 2006
I'm not new to photography, but the 350D is my first digital SLR. It took me a long time to decide on the Canon, but after having a go with it (and the Nikon D70 and D70s), the Canonwas without a doutb the best.
The 18-55mm lens supplied in the kit isnt the best lens you will come across, but if you are new to photography, or maybe can't afford a better lens at the time, by all means by the kit. There isn't anything wrong with the lens, it just seems as if they could have made more of an effort with it.
The image quality is more than stunning. This camera is my first introduction to digital, apart from a cheap Kodak I bought a couple of years ago, and the difference really surprised me. The software supplied with the camera is also excellent. After being used to using a 30 year old SLR with stiff winding movements, and pathetic metering, the Canon simpy took my breath away.
I bought the Sigma 70-300mm DG Macro lens, which suits the Canon perfectly, and I will be buying the Sigma 28-70mm soon.
A lot of people say the main downside of the Canon is its size. For me, it isnt a problem, as I have small hands. It is exceptionally light, even with a seemingly heavy lens. The controls are very conveniently placed, and out of the box, you dont really need to read the manual to take advantage of many of the camera's features. My main use for the camera is astrophotography, a field in which the Canon is far better than the Nikon, Pentax and Olympus digital SLRs.
A little tip is that you buy a high speed memory card in order to do the camera justice.
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81 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
A fantastic present!, 19 Jun 2006
I bought one of these for my better half and she loves it. She is a Canon user of old and the fact that the controls felt the same, the lens mounts consistent, and the results immediate meant that this christmas present was an instant success.
Having used the product myself a few times, I must concur. The 8 megapixel imagery generated is of top quality (obviously your lenses will make a difference) and the feel and comfort factor of the body is excellent. I would suggest that 350D users consider buying the highest possible speed Compact Flash cards to allow the camera to operate to its full potential, and a spare battery is always handy.
A great camera and something that I'm pleased that I bought.
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151 of 152 people found the following review helpful:
Great picture quality, few problems, 28 Jul 2006
The first thing I noticed about the camera when I got it was the weight - it was just the same as my old Canon EOS 500; a promising start as this solid feel resists camera shake far more than my previous Dimage Z3. Another brilliant positive compared to this camera is the battery life - having been used to using up 5+ AA batteries a day, the special rechargable battery supplied doesnt run out for up to three days' use (at least 400 photos, with much previewing and settings changes). I bought some generic spare batteries for the camera off eBay at £15 each, and these are just as good (so don't bother paying £45 for canon brand replacements).
Picture quality is superb, and the photo manipulation software supplied easily corrects over or underexposed photos, although the camera has excellent light metering under most conditions. The ZoomBrowser software supplied is particularly good, and provides much information about each photo. The only trouble with the photos is their size; I would reccommend buying an external hard drive to store them, as they are rapidly filling up my laptop's (60GB) memory. I bought a high speed 2GB compactflash card for the camera for £66, which stores 518 photos at high quality, which should give you a rough idea of how much memory you would need.
The viewfinder is sharp and easy to look through, though this may result in dirtying the screen somewhat, as your nose must be pressed against it (something which I think is standard in most DSLRs). One thing to note is that you cannot take photos using the LCD screen, which, although not necessary for most serious photographers, could affect those who enjoy balancing their camera at arms' length (something which looks fairly stupid anyway). The screen is plenty bright enough to be viewed under all light conditions except extremely bright direct sunlight (just shade it with your body) and enables you to zoom right into the image.
The menus are not as complicated as I had been led to believe in some reviews, and for the novice, there is an extremely competent automatic mode, in which you can literally just point and shoot.
Some of the features I love the most about the camera are: the AF points, which flash in the viewfinder to show you which parts of the image are in focus; the ease with which you can switch between functions, due to the vast array of buttons; the vast number of alterable parameters in the menus; the way you can zoom in on a photo on the screen, then scroll through your photos at the selected magnification (without zooming in each time).
So far I have mainly used the camera for portraiture and wildlife photography, both of which it excels in. This camera was well worth the £456 I paid for it. I reccommend switching between the lens provided (18-55mm) and a 75-300mm lens, which should set you back around £100 on ebay for a Canon brand.
In summary, this is a brilliant value camera, and without a doubt better than any equivalent in the price range. Buy It!
Chris D, 28/07/06
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60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
Robust Camera producing great Photographs, 26 Jan 2006
I bought the Canon 350D 4 months ago, and since then taken over 5000 photographs. The results are excellent and I'm especially pleased with its responsive nature. I don't get any shutter lag at all; when I press the shutter it immediately takes the photograph.The ability to shoot at ISO 1600 and produce usable pictures has been invaluable on several occasions. Results are superb at lower ISO's. It’s also very robust, I've dropped mine from waist height onto concrete (twice) and it still works perfectly.
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114 of 115 people found the following review helpful:
Novice's Point of View, 3 Sep 2006
I recently became interested in photography, and after reading reviews and doing lots of research, I took the plunge with the Canon 350D EOS. My main criteria were simplicity of use, image quality and range of functions, and all boxes were admirably ticked with this camera. As a novice I was not sure of how to work the more complex aspects of digital photography, and the automatic functions on this camera were superb in helping me to refine my photographic skills. Automatic settings for sport, close-ups, portraits and landscapes covered everything I wanted a camera for, so anybody who is not competent with manual settings could easily and happily live off only the automatic functions.
My single concern, and advice to potential buyers is that it is well worth purchasing a lens to replace the one that comes with the camera. The 18-55 that comes with the camera is all very well but does not have good zoom, unlike the macro/zoom tamron 75-300 mm lens I bought as a replacement. by the way, that is also a very good piece of equipment.
Anyway, directing this at novices like myself, buy the Canon 350D EOS, as it is a stellar introduction to photography.
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44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
Canon EOS 350D, my first digital SLR, 25 Jun 2007
Having owned a 35mm canon EOS SLR i first dipped my toes into the digital SLR world last year. Being an amateur at best and knowing the backward compatability with lenses I stayed with Canon (my other choice was the Nikon D70) and Im glad I stayed with Canon - my experiences with Canon are absolutely terrific, a really good all rounder, especially if you are a beginner like me.
One thing extra you will need to buy - yes there are some downsides to this wonderful camera! - is I found myself buying more storage space (compact flash card) immediately. I would recommend getting the an Ultra III/IV San Disk compact flash cards seeing how much theyve dropped in price. I bought an Ultra II 1Gb card and for the most part does me fine for the amount I shoot ,as I clear my card every week or so onto my pc, but I wouldn't recommend anything less than this as you'll run out of space even with a 1Gb shooting at raw +jpg. The card speed does make a difference as youll notice the speed difference with slower cards so dont try and save any pennies on storage, esp considering they are way cheap nowadays - my 1gb ultra II cost £90, now the 4Gb ultra III costs around £40!! (at time of writing)
i had to buy a extra lens in the end - my old sigma lenses and the one that comes with the kit just dont cut it, I ended up buying a separate 75 -300mm zoom lense, good for those close ups. If you have money to spare buy just the body and pick and choose your lens - I almost had a heart attack checking the prices for the top end lenses - they will clear your savings and then some, so if your on budget and/or starting photography then the kit is a good starting point. The kit lenses are not top of the range, but they are way better than my old sigma lenses. If i had to buy again, I would liked to have bought the body only and pick and choose the lens.
I initially loved all parts of the camera, but I have been coming around to the viewpoint that the flash, while okay, itsnt particulary that great. i bought a small canon ixus i7 zoom, something small that would fit into my pocket for the quick and dirty shots, leaving the 350D for the better ones, and I noticed some of the shots with the small ixus were better than the 350D(!?), I knew the ixus had the digic III while the 350D has digic II, so i thought it might be close, but then I noticed its only in certain low light conditions where the ixus performed better - otherwise the canon 350D took way better shots (plus you ant change lenses on the ixus). I finally narrowed it down to the flash - the flash on the ixus is surprisingly strong. So I might have to save up for a speedlite for the 350D which dont come very cheap :-(
Another small niggle is the Auto Focus sometimes has a mind of its own, and sometimes I found I got better results switching the lens to manual or focusing away at an 'easier' focusing point before refocusing.
Battery life is very good for this camera. I havent had to reinvest in another battery yet, although I am considering the extra canon BG-E3 battery grip - you screw it to the bottom of the 350D (it makes it look like the 1D canon cameras), and it takes either another cannon battery or a AA battery magazine so you can use ordinary batteries. The cool thing about the grip is it makes the 350D easier to hold, esp for vertical shots with buttons on the grip itself so you dont end up fumbling. My friend complains my 350D is a bit small for him, but found it was easier to manage with the battery grip (I personally never found the camera size to be a problem)
You might need to invest in a tripod if you havent got one already - taking shots with the huge 75 - 300mm lens tends to make the shots towards the end of the day a bit shakier! This shows up more if like me you can only afford the cheaper zoom lens that dont have the built IS stabilisers etc, that the top end lenses have.
Software that came with the camera is very good. Loads of settings to manipulate raw images. However, being an ardent fan of photoshop, I find that i still use photoshop to touch up/clean any photos. It means for the most part shooting in large jpeg only is more than sufficient for my purposes.
The camera comes will all leads etc required to hook up the camera to the pc, but as card readers are so common these days, its more than likely you'll just end up taking the card out and puting it in a card reader hooked up to your pc, then its simply drag and drop in windows explorer, couldnt get any easier really.
The build quality on my 350D camera is very good - I got the silver model and while it may cost more than the black model its definately worth the money. I have heard too many people mention the black model feels a bit cheap and tacky - the build quality on the silver model just oozes from the camera, I still cant get over how nicely the compact flash door and battery door opens and closes so perfectly with a nice comfortable click - I cant beleive something as simple as this would impress me so much! And the camera overall has a nice feel in the weight, feel and usage of the camera.
The kit comes with a camera bag. In itself its okay, but doesnt compare to the quality of the camera, its almost thrown in like an afterthought. Has basic compartment for the base and just enough room to squeeze two lenses in it, but the sides are pretty thin. I think it would be good for most people, just that I am probably more picky than others! But it is small and compact, not like a traditional bulky camera case/bag.
Overall, you wont be disspointed with the Canon 350D. While it has a few niggles, it certainly has met and exceeded all my own expectations, although really serious photographers may want to buy extra lenses and possibly a flash to add to their arsenal, it is certainly a good starting point to digital SLR.
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86 of 87 people found the following review helpful:
The best sub £1000 D-SLR available, 29 Jun 2005
This is a truly extraordinary camera. I've recently upgraded my EOS 300D for this new 350D because it has some key improved features: 8MP, USB-2 for fast downloads (even on a USB-1.1 connection this is much faster at downloading than the 300D), and for the reduced size and weight. You are getting the sensor of the more expensive EOS high-end range in this smaller body - which is a fantastic deal.I have a set of lenses from Canon to make the most of this, but then lens with the camera kit isn't bad at all, it's the new edition of the version with the 300D, it has good optics, so don't be put off by some of the reviews, if you are getting into digital SLR photography, it will be a good choice. I can't fault it, picture quality is remarkable, is most conditions it is hard to tell the difference between RAW and fine JPEG files this creates. This is the strongest reason to bin your traditional SLR and switch to digital. The image quality is now higher than you can achieve with 35mm and slide scanning in my opinion. This Canon EOS blows the opposition away.
If you are serious about photography, buy this now.
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72 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
Canon EOS 350D Digital SLR Camera, 14 Jul 2005
I previously owned a Canon EOS100 SLR camera and had several lenses for it and also had a "point and shoot" Canon Powershot A70 digital compact camera.Having taken some wonderful pictures with the SLR as well as lots of dire ones, and having discovered the convenience of digital photography, the release of the 350D made me finally take teh step into buying a digital SLR. It is fully compatible with my existing lenses and the 18-55mm lens supplied is also a useful and versatile addition. The beauty of digital photography is the immediacy of being able to review what you have shot as soon as the picture is taken. This, and the fact tbat you don't need to buy film and have it developed after the event means I now take many more photographs and can experiment with the settings on the camera with much more confidence and learn more about photography in the process. I actually took a pretty heavy fall holding the camera and dropped it on a concrete patio in the process and although it is scratched and the lens slightly damaged, both the camera and lens are working fine still which is very impressive for a sophisticated piece of electronics. Highly recommended, especially if you already own Canon lenses or other equipment.
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