I am an Amateur photographer and I fell in love with pictures about 3000 days ago.
Since I am not rich or popular (some might imagine), I had to settle with a Prosumer camera which is Sony DSC R1. It was one of the best cameras I ever owned. My research at that time told me that the world would move to CMOS sensor and I was right. The option I had at the time (rather best option) was to go for a DSC R1. I really liked this camera for its APS-C sensor size. The images were better than expected. I had trouble getting the Macro f/l and the Aperture settings but I fell in love with the picture quality.
After great deliberation, I decided to go for the 1000d. This is my first real SLR camera. I fooled around with some 35mm reel cameras before and it doesn’t count. To be frank I was disappointed when I saw that my camera lens is missing the IS - Image Stabilizer on its lens kit. When I called Canon Support, they directed me to the sales manager who explained that Canon India does not provide any Image Stabilizer lens with its 1000d model. Its rather disappointing and I requested Canon to reconsider its position on this. (I will save this for another blog). At this point, it was time for me to savor the camera, to checkout all its features and so on. I have a 7 month old and as anyone else's, my favorite pastime these days is to take a billion pictures of my child. I like the macro mode and the P mode. The blurry background is far superior than my R1. I didn’t like the basic lens that I got with my 1000d it does not give me the APS - C frame size but it is not bad either. I got to get myself some real lens. The current lens is no good for my applications. I decided to try out the Auto shoot features on the camera. I checked out the portrait, landscape, close-up, sports and night portrait and flash off choices. All of these functions performed adequately in all aspects, apart from the close-up macro mode that did not come near to offering a true 1:1 reproduction (I'll need a dedicated macro lens for that). I am yet to explore the Aperture, Shutter Priority and the full manual mode options. I checked out the Live View feature (Main reason for me to buy this camera) but I was rather disappointed. I bought the live view featured camera hoping that my wife would not miss the old camera. She always has one hand on the camera and the other on the diaper bag. (lol). I am yet to get her feedback seeing through the viewfinder. (The challenge is that she's got a 10/20 vision and needs to adjust the view finder. I have the reset the viewfinder everytime she uses it and its quite annoying. I will figure out a way for her to use the P mode live view.
The menu system and picture review. I am new to Canon and I seem to fall in love with its menu system. Its fast and its simple. The menu items are laid out easily and thank god there is a personal page option. The picture review option is VERY boring. Hope Canon improves here. I am not sure if I have seen all the options but the basic option is not that impressive. Its missing that zing. (Like the way my boss puts it).
In summary, I have lot more options to try out and very little time to blog. I hope to give you a better review. So far, (with a little disappointment) I love this camera. It is simple, easy and VERY light. (My old camera was 1000000000 kilos). I love the picture quality and the option layout. I am looking forward to getting a 55-250 IS USM lens next week. I still have to research for a good flash on this camera.
Hopefully, you will get to see some good pictures in my next blog.
Until then, Cheerio
Surya