Gary Ayton photography

Canon has taken a quite conservative approach to evolving their dSLR range, adopting features of other manufacturers such as Live View,  Sensor Dust Reduction, In-Camera RAW development, Art Filters, flip out LCD – all of which were in Olympus dSLRs long before Canon decided they were in fact a good idea.

The precursors to this series were among the first CMOS dSLRs which changed digital photography by bringing in the power of the SLR albeit without dedicated lenses for the 1.6x crop factor, these were:

• Canon D30, a 3mpixel camera introduced in 2000
• Canon D60, a 6.3 mpixel camera introduced in 2002

In March 2003, Canon announced the start of a new series – the 6.3mp 10D – derived from the pro 1D series and with magnesium bodies instead of plastic as with the D30 and D60, and the entry  level xx0D series. The body is redesigned from the D60, and adds 10x playback magnification, orientation sensor, brighter LCD, Kelvin-selectable WB, WB bracketing, improved manufacturing of the D60 sensor increasing ISO to 1600 and 3200 via custom function, autoISO, scene modes, 7 point AF, removal of AF asist lamp and replaced with functionality from the flash, ability to register an AF point, improved AIservo AF, improved metering algorithm, a safety shift Tv/Av option, the new DIGIC image processor, ability to select AdobeRGB or sRGB workspace, +/- 2 steps of adjustment for image parameters, direct print support to Canon printers, FAT32 support allowing CF cards greater than 2Gb, improved shutter release lag, a dedicated flash-off scene mode, 12 menu languages instead of 4, and a smaller battery charger.

Common features of most of these cameras include:

• 1.6x crop factor compared to 35mm full frame cameras
• ability to use Canon EF-S lenses as well as Canon EF lenses
• magnesium alloy design with partial environmental seals in 40D onwards BUT the 60D has reverted to plastic design but you do get a flip out LCD!
• pentaprism optical viewfinder but only shows ~95% of the actual image area.
• a shutter speed range of 30sec to 1/8000th sec (I am not sure why they did not make it 60sec as the longest timed shutter as this would make it much more useful for astrophotography in particular).
• 6 white balance positions plus manual setting plus Kelvin setting
• pop-up flash of GN 13m (ISO 100)
• flash sync 1/250th sec instead of 1/200th as on the xx0D range
• PC sync port on pre-50D only (not present on xx0D range and not on the 60D)
• E-TTLII compatibility EXCEPT the 10D which is only E-TTL
• exposure compensation limited to +/- 2 EV EXCEPT the 60D which at last has a decent range and is +/- 5EV
• 35 area metering EXCEPT the 60D which has 63 areas iFCL
• N3 remote connector instead of the lower end E3 connector
• no infrared remote control on models prior to 60D
• wireless TTL control on 60D only
• 60D also loses prior model functionality of joystick, multi-flash support, details in status LCD, AF microadjust, multiple custom modes, buttons.
• orientation sensor
• the models with Live View, like all dSLRs but unlike mirrorless cameras such as micro four Thirds, have a clunky, cumbersome implementation with very slow AF
• a status LCD information screen at top of camera
• at least two command dials
• 2 or 10sec self timer
• timelapse recording via USB cable, TC-80N3 remote controller and a PC
• USB 2.0 except 10D which only had USB 1.1 and thus much slower image transfers to computer
• histogram on playback – luminance or RGB for models starting at 30D
• none have built-in image stabiliser as do Olympus and Sony cameras, but rely on lenses having optical image stabilisation
• none have lens AF microadjustment to ensure accurate AF calibration except for the 50D
• all weigh about 770g with battery

To make the following table easier to read I have deleted the initial model, the 6.3mp 10D which was introduced in 2003.

Interestingly, with the 60D, Canon has lowered the usual specs of this series to provide differential to their new higher end APS-C series which started with the 7D.

Nevertheless, it does offer a good solution for enthusiasts who might also want to do HD video, although the HD video capabilities and ease of use will not match mirrorless cameras such as the Panasonic GH series. To offset this, the phase contrast AF is much better for AF on fast moving subjects than the AF in current mirrorless cameras.

Canon has taken a quite conservative approach to evolving their dSLR range, adopting features of other manufacturers such as Live View, and Sensor Dust Reduction – both of which were in Olympus dSLRs before Canon decided they were in fact a good idea. Likewise flip out LCD is yet to make it into this budget range although Canon has just added it to the mid-level 60D.

Common features of all of these cameras include:

• 1.6x crop factor compared to 35mm full frame cameras
• ability to use Canon EF-S lenses as well as Canon EF lenses
• plastic budget design with no environmental seals to protect from moisture or dust
• tunnel-vision-like pentamirror design which I feel is not as good as the current EVF’s in mirrorless cameras such as the Panasonic GH series and is no where near as nice to use as pentaprism designs in the more expensive dSLRs. This design generally only shows ~95% of the actual image area.
• a shutter speed range of 30sec to 1/4000th sec (I am not sure why they did not make it 60sec as the longest timed shutter as this would make it much more useful for astrophotography in particular).
• 6 white balance positions plus manual setting although no Kelvin setting
• pop-up flash of GN 12m (ISO 100) for the earlier models and 13m for the later models
• flash sync 1/200th sec
• E-TTLII compatibility EXCEPT the 300D which is only E-TTL
• exposure compensation limited to +/- 2 EV EXCEPT the 550D which at last has a decent range and is +/- 5EV
• 35 area metering EXCEPT the 550D which has 63 areas iFCL
• E3 remote connector instead of the higher end N3 connector
• infrared remote control
• orientation sensor
• the models with Live View, like all dSLRs but unlike mirrorless cameras such as micro four Thirds, have a clunky, cumbersome implementation with very slow AF
• no status LCD information screen at top of camera as with higher end models
• only one command dial
• 2 or 10sec self timer, except 300D which only had 10sec timer but the infrared gave a 2sec delay; 450D onwards allows multi-shots in self timer mode;
• USB 2.0 except 300D which only had USB 1.0 and thus much slower image transfers to computer
• histogram on playback – luminance or RGB for models starting at 400D
• none have built-in image stabiliser as do Olympus and Sony cameras, but rely on lenses having optical image stabilisation
• none have lens AF microadjustment to ensure accurate AF calibration
• all weigh about 530g with battery, except the 300D which was 645g

To make the following table easier to read I have deleted the initial model, the 6.3mp 300D which was a cut down version of the 10D and introduced in 2003. The 350D had a multitude of functional enhancements over the 300D.

I would think the next model will at last get a flip out LCD, but after that there are few advantages other than phase contrast AF which will sway people away from the surge in popularity of the smaller, quieter, more video-friendly mirrorless cameras such as Micro Four Thirds which will inevitably dominate this niche of the marketplace, as Olympus has already realised and has thus slowed development of entry level dSLRs.

Where can Canon or Nikon go with dSLRs now that they have matured to have adequate resolution (10mpixels is plenty for most of us – my Canon 1D Mark III is “only” 10mp but will produce 20″x30″ prints), high ISO is adequate for most (I still rarely use higher than ISO 800), 1080i and 720p movie is adequate for most of us as long as there is other video support features, phase contrast AF seems to have had little improvement in speed recently, perhaps we have reached its peak for the time being, the current LCD screens are adequate.

The main areas to improve are dynamic range, contrast detect AF speed in live view, improved live view functionality, built-in variable ND filter for video work, more video functions, perhaps a IR blocking filter which can be switched with a 720nm filter for IR work, built-in image stabiliser, faster flash sync, and better EF-S lenses as the current ones are no match for a 18mp sensor.

But all these are possible or at least more easy to implement with mirrorless cameras and thus the future technologic progress is much more likely to be with mirrorless cameras than with dSLRs.