I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to review a budget-minded Canon DSLR, so behold:
The Canon 30D!
The 30D is one of Canon’s all-time best crop-frame semi-pro DSLRs in my book. It has great autofocus, white balance, controls, low-light performance (for a camera of its age, modern ones definitely far super cede it), exposure compensation, in-camera processing and shutter range. While it only has 8.2 megapixels, that is all most folks need. If you’ve got good glass in front of the sensor and have a good understanding of light and composition you’ll make excellent photos.
Not to take a deep breath and brutally toot my own tuba, but I was able to produce these with mine about a month ago:
Shot with a Canon EF 50mm 1.8 lens, these have a fair bit of post-processing, but still the colors and sharpness are great!
The construction is also pretty solid: its no Nikon but it’s definitely got some weight and toughness to it. To use the BCF toughness scenario, I’m fairly confident in saying it could withstand a 2 foot drop. Though, any lens attached would certainly bust and the screen would almost certainly crack.
I stated its positive characteristics above, but I must emphasize its autofocus a little further. For not being a Canon EOS 3 with friggin’ Eye Controlled Focus its pretty fast and intuitive. Canon always does this best and when I first tried out a 30D that I bought and flipped about a year ago it almost made me sell all of my Nikon equipment. In my experience it focuses really well in low light and the tiniest movements will make it quickly re-focus.
It has a place in BCF because it really is a bargain for its features versus price. I picked mine up (now for sale) for way too much at $160, but there are always cheaper options and the very similar, slightly-older Canon 20D goes for even cheaper.
Regarding its place in the BCF Hierarchy, it’s well into “PUT ON THE RITZ!” territory.
Reading this, you, dear reader, might now push yourself away from your keyboard, knock over your nearby mug of coffee, curse my name and yell: “WHAT THE FLIP, I thought this blog was all about budget and shooting great photos for the least amount of money?!?!”
While that is a valid point, I must present the fact that in the digital SLR realm this camera is indeed a bargain for the features it offers, and if you’re looking at long-term goals (saving money on film development, breaking into paid freelance work, etc) this camera can save you tons of money and time. It may be a crop frame and only have 8.2 megapixels, but I bet nobody would care if you were a second/primary shooter at a wedding, especially with the optional Canon BG-E2 grip installed. It would take excellent photos that could hang with those of more expensive cameras.
Man, I bought my 30D to temporarily play around with and then flip, but now I kind of want to keep it…
But I suppose that means I should mention its DOWNSIDES.
Well since it has the classic/modern Canon SLR layout, that’s not an issue.
It’s a tad small for my hands but that’s not a mark against it, but rather one against my long, goofy, Giant-House-Spider-looking hands.
I’m having a little trouble finding some downsides…
Oh! Here’s one! The shutter button accumulates dirt/oil/sweat and jams which is kind of annoying. But if you’re careful and ok with potentially damaging your camera, this method can solve that (I successfully did this myself but please ATTEMPT AT YOUR OWN RISK).
I guess some other downsides are its crop frame, 8.2 MP is enough but in some cases not enough, its not as weather sealed, etc. Though these aren’t really downsides as Canon designed this camera to meet a specific price-point and offered similar yet much beefier cameras to offer these characteristics. The cameras that came after it: the 40D, 50D, 60D, 70D etc. are all great options too and some have video capability!
So really on the whole its a great camera! I have to either start finding crappier cameras or being more critical, otherwise I’ll never give you, dear reader, a bad review.
Thanks for reading! I’ll hopefully have more time and focus to start churning out reviews more often (I flip a lot of cameras so I’ve always got material). I also promise not to make as many teasers; they might entice the reader (however many of you are out there) but they can be tough to follow through on (I’m still working on my EOS 3 vs. Canon Owl review).
If you’d like to check out more photos I shot with my 30D, I’ve got quite a few photos up on my regular blog and even have a few for sale on my Society6 page.