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Canon EOS D30 3MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Canon EOS D30 3MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

List Price: $3,499.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: From film to digital
Review: I took this with me recently to Australia and shot landscapes as well as others, and the pictures came out better than the film cameras I have used recently, plus you don't need a scanner. This camera works great, a must have for semi-pros. Pros, wait for the new 1D. Pictures come out great at 11"x17".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Never use film again
Review: I took this with me recently to Australia and shot landscapes as well as others, and the pictures came out better than the film cameras I have used recently, plus you don't need a scanner. This camera works great, a must have for semi-pros. Pros, wait for the new 1D. Pictures come out great at 11"x17".

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Expensive
Review: I used it at my school once, but I did not find it worth the steep price tag. I would reccommend sticking with a cheaper megapixel camera which has the same photo quality, though it may lack the bells and whistles.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome camera for 2000/2001
Review: If you are looking for your first digital SLR and do not have an investment in Nikon lenses (or you wish to switch), this one is for you!

Images from the camera are great - inherently soft but can be sharpened using Unsharp Mask without that much degradation in quality. Images are one of the cleanest (noise-free) at high ISOs (up to 1600).

Invest on an EX flash and those IS and/or L lenses, too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Canon D30 - Top Prosumer Digital Still Camera of 2000
Review: If you want the ultimate in digital photography, the Canon D30 is the ticket as of December 2000 -- especially if you already own Canon EOS lenses, because they're completely compatible. Canon won't call this a "Pro" camera, because it's not as weather-tight as pro models, but the body is rugged and the output is first-rate.

The D30 has enough features for professional photographers, yet a novice can get great looking pictures from the start. As you learn more about the camera and its capabilities, your images really start to shine.

Want to experiment with long-exposure photography? Go right ahead! Feedback is instant. No more waiting for processing. No more developing costs. Want to blow up your photo to 8x12 inches? No problem. With a little massaging via Adobe Photoshop (tm) and/or Genuine Fractals (tm), even poster-sized prints look great, using photo paper and a photo-quality inkjet printer. Software to get you going, including Photoshop LE, is included.

The D30 accepts IBM Microdrives (1 gigabite of storage in the camera!) as well as compact flash. The included 16 meg flash card is enough to test the camera, but you'll really want to get something bigger, right away. The D30 offers a variety of image compression options -- including the Raw format, which allows the most flexibility and avoids jpeg artifacts. The wide variety of storage options means freedom to shoot at will and experiment. An included cable allows you to connect your camera to your computer's USB port and download images at will.

As I said, all Canon EOS lenses will work with the D30, but there is one difference to consider. Because the CMOS chip is smaller than a 35mm negative, the field of view is different. For example, a 100 mm lens on an EOS film camera works like a 160 mm lens on the D30. They call it a 1.6x multiplier effect, but what it means is that long-distance shooting is easier, and to get wide angle shots, you have to get a REALLY wide lens. For example, a 14mm aspherical wide angle results in a 22mm wide angle shot on the D30.

When the D30 was first released in the Fall of 2000, the demand was far beyond what Canon could produce... in the United States and around the World. As of this writing, the cameras are still in short supply, but well worth the effort and the investment. Kudos to Amazon for adding the D30 to their digital photography offerings.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A very nice addition to my EOS lens collection
Review: Is the D30 the very best digital camera available, no. Is it a very good camera for the price, yes. (...)

I paid about [x] for a D30 body, with the 1GB Microdrive+extra battery as free rebates from Canon. (...) If you figure the rebate was worth about $500, then I paid about [x] for the body.

(...) The bottom line seems to be the D30 makes images about as good as typical 35 MM color film (I'd bet not as good as Kodachrome though).

I did find the camera took some getting used to. For example, washed out highlights sometimes get color fringes and unprocessed images look flat and quite unsharp. After learning about sharpening and contrast adjustment (Photoshop unsharp mask ), I'm pretty pleased with the image quality. Being able to instantly get a image histogram moments after snapping a picture is a GREAT way to analyze the contrast range of a scene, and makes me now think how photography with a film camera was totally lacking in immediate feedback about picture quality.

A few features are not so well documented (if you read the manual enough times it's in there), like if you activate mirror lock up, the self timer is 2 seconds instead of 10, perfect for long tripod exposures. I also didn't immediatly realize how important the dial on the back was (needed for white balance selection, exposure compensation, and manual mode control). Speaking of white balance, it's GREAT to snap a picture of a neutral (white) surface (I use a 18% grey card), and instantly get the camera to adjust the color balance. Remember daylight and tungsten filters for film?

I suppose you can use fully automatic mode for quick pictures of UFO's flying by, but think this is a camera more for people who LIKE to adjust things for best quality.

The ONLY reservation I have is resolution being 3.25 megapixels. There are now 5-6 megapixel cameras, but they either cost a LOT more (like the Canon D1...) or else loose a lot of that SLR'ness. Like no TTL viewfinder on the Sony 707 (...), and no interchangable lenses on the Olympus E-20 (at the same price or more as my effectiveprice on the D30). I was very surprised to find that EVERYBODY rates the number of pixels based on all colors. A 3 megapixel digital camera has generally 1.5 megapixels of green sensors, 0.75 of read and blue. This means in a 3 Megapixel RGB image, 2/3 of the final data is made up from interpolation. In my book, that's not REALLY 3 megapixels. Some higher end prosumer/pro video cameras have three sensors, one for each color, although these do cost more.

Based on everything I know now (a lot more) I would still probably buy the D30... (...) I can't think of ANY alternatives that give so much for the price.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Choice
Review: It is SO choice. If you have the means I highly suggest picking one up.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best digital camara Yet
Review: Of all the digital cameras I have owned or looked at, this is the best. Yes, its pricey, but well worth every penny. I take a lot of NASCAR action shots and this camera has not missed one yet. Its fairly easy to use, once you get used to it and takes great pictures in full sun and at night. I really like the fact that I can change lenses for different shots. If you want the ultimate digital SLR camera on the market now, get this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Camera
Review: The D30 is a great camera and takes outstanding photos. I will put it up against my friend's Nikon any day and his camera cost much more. The battery life on the D30 is amazing as I expected the same life as that on the Nikon. Instead, the battery on the D30 just keeps shooting after the Nikon is dead. This is not to knock the Nikon as it is one of the premier cameras around and is a true professional camera, but the Canon will match it picture for picture for less money. Either camera will make you a very happy photographer. I regularly use a Canon EOS 35mm. camera so the transition to the digial is very easy as the controls are so similar. The fact that I can use my Canon image stabilized lenses makes it even better. The D30 does call for one of the EX flash units, so that will add to the cost; however, the on-camera flash also works well . Picture quality is outstanding. I have had no problem with the software, but I generally download all pictures to my computer and do any adjusting, etc. with Photoshop. Hookup to the computer by way of USB is a snap and downloading is fast.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not Worth the Price...
Review: This camera is too expensive. It is only 3.3 Megapixels and costs about ($). For that price you could buy 3 Nikon Coolpix 5000 or Minolta Dimage 7 cameras (both which are 5 Megapixel cameras). I can't think of any reason to pay this much for this camera...(maybe if it could take pictures and turn them into gold bricks! LOL.) Is this a joke? This price will surely fall below ($) in the next year and you will save much money by waiting before buying.


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