Canon EOS 30D Digital SLRs

Canon EOS 30D Digital SLRs 

DESCRIPTION

The EOS 30D incorporates a host of new features with Canon's highly acclaimed 8.2 megapixel CMOS sensor and DIGIC II Image Processor. The EOS 30D includes enhanced operational features such as a new 2.5 inch LCD monitor, true spot metering, a durable new shutter mechanism and Canon's Picture Style feature, all in an sturdy, magnesium-clad body.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 11-20 of 27  
[Nov 30, 2006]
rca8733
Intermediate

Strength:

Read the Pro User Reviews....way to many to rewrite here.

Weakness:

For me....NONE. If you read the pro reviews and such, you will see some "cons" listed, but how can you say their weaknesses if you bought the camera anyway.

I finally made the switch to digital and wish I had done it 5 years ago. Without a doubt, the manufacturers of today have simply made taking pictures a pure joy and have made it easier than ever to obtain sharp, long lasting images as long as the photographer does his/her part.
The Canon 30D I purchased has been nothing short of amazing to me. I have been a loyal Canon photographer for years and all my equipment is Canon, so for me anyway, purchasing anything but Canon would have been a serious waste of money. Since Canon has made all their EOS equipment compatabile, it was a no brainer.
I have found that no matter what camera you have, good glass is a must. I shot many pictures using lesser Canon lenses (non-L series) and found that they cannot compare to the higher end L-series lenses. I am sure this is also true with NIkon, Minolta, etc.
I am sure that any readers of this simple review have read all the bells and whistles the 30D so I won't waste the time by being echoing all those. I will just simply say that the 30D is everything I expected and much more. It is very user friendly, especially if you are already familiar with EOS cameras. It just plain feels good in your hand.
IMHO, if your a Canon user, and want to go digital using an SLR, then the 30D is th camera. Unless of course you can afford to upgrade to the 5D or the high end pro bodies.

Customer Service

Not needed for this unit, but have used them in the past.....No problems, great customer service when I needed them.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 10D, 20D, Elan 7e

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 08, 2006]
ActionBuddy
Casual

Strength:

hi quality pics with the cmos sensor
not too expensive for a professional 8.2 mp
nice software utilities for your computer
its a Canon

Weakness:

nothing worth mention

I work for a company that sell retinal cameras (machines to take a picture of the inside of your eyes) and we use the eos 30D on it. the retinal camera itself act as a huge lens for the 30D. with the combination of our retinal camera and the 30D we blow our competitors away. the pics we get are much sharper, require less flash and we can zoom in the pic and see more details than our competitors that use 10 MP nikon camera because the 30D use a big hi quality sensor. the sensor is easy to clean. I cleaned at least 100 of em the last year with dry Q-tips and i never came close to scratch one.

Customer Service

It takes a while to get our camera serviced by canon. usually more than a month but we had very few issues with our cameras and i never personally had to deal with their service so ill leave that open

Similar Products Used:

eos 5D
1 Ds
some nikons i dont remeber exactly

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 08, 2006]
crisillo
Casual

Strength:

Quality build
Speed
Great battery life
Great lens avialability

Weakness:

Maybe a little expensive for some

I have had the 30d since it came out. I upgraded from a Digital Rebel (300d) and the firt thing I noticed was the speed of the 30d. It is also able to focus in really low light and picture quality is awesome.
The big LCD screen in the back is great and the RGB histogram gives you a good idea of what colors you are clipping or blowing. It is a little heavier than my old Rebel, but I like that, it feels very robust.
Another great feature is the Spot meter, if you like shooting in manual mode, the spot can be very handy for tricky exposures.
In general, I love it!

Customer Service

INone so far

Similar Products Used:

Canon Digital Rebel

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Nov 05, 2006]
BestBuy
Intermediate

Strength:

Excellent high ISO image quality--sighnifcantly better than d200 at this.
Good heft and body style.
ISO displayed in viewfinder when changing or pressed.
Picture style settings banks at tap of thumb on control wheel.

ISO, WB, and Flash exposure just ontop of shutter button.

Weakness:

ISO not permanently displayed in viewfinder--only when pressed or changing.
No weather sealing??? (its okay, it's not a EOS 1 series).

Not wireless cammander flash like d200.

Being an employee, I have had the chance to handle both the Nikon D200 and 30D hundreds of times.

The debate between the two above cameras can go on forever. After reading tons of reputatilbe reviews, I finally came to the point of buying--and ended up buying the 30D EOS (body only). Considering my collection of slow lens right now: 28-105mm f3.5-4.5, Tokina 19-35mm f3.5-4.5, and EF 75-300 IS, high ISO is a major issue (my budget won't allow for fast L lenses at the moment). Also, with the Fall 2006 rebates, the 30D can be had for 1050 dollars--500 dollars less than the d200.

Both cameras handle extremely well--perfect heft and body curvatures to allow for whole days of shooting without fatigue. In my personal opinion though--and countless EOS and Nikon users will agree, is that the D200 does handle significantly better than the 30D in many respects. It almost feels like a baby D2x. But the layout and exposure values are backwards from the Canon system which can be confusing for some.

After carefully studying the auto focus options avaible on the D200, it became clear that the only SIGNIFICANT difference between the two was the "Lock on" (avaliable with short, long, and normal focus lock) feature--which was equivilent to the 30D's AI Focus mode (no focus lock aviable). Otherwise, a large majority of the rest of the autofocus options are better left on default on the D200.

RAW Image quality wise, both are really identical in terms of resolution and detail, but different in high ISO capablities. With the D200, noise becomes visible at 800 ISO and on up. Considering it is favorable to leave the High ISO NR at HIGH, it smudges fine level details at 100% crops, while the 30D retains a cleaner, less NR'd smudged image. The 30D's noise pattern at 3200 ISO is equivilent to the D200's 1600 ISO shots--that's a fact (1 stop cleaner).

Ultimately, it all comes down to image quality and handling. And the 30D is great at both. I'm confident shooting at high ISO levels and enoy switching back and forth between my EOS a2E and the 30D (same layout of controls).

Until then, in Canon CMOS Digic II processors we trust. Happy shooting.

Similar Products Used:

EOS 20D, EOS a2e, Nikon D200, Nikon D70s, Nikon D50, EOS 5D beast.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 29, 2006]
jimz
Intermediate

Strength:

price is good, 6 pix a second is plenty

Weakness:

none love it

moved up to the 30 from the 20, for more lcd screen, and other small items. I found it to be about 2/3rds light then the 20 I dont know what they did, buy using L glass that is a good thing. Shutter is a little less noisey, but I shoot wildlife and birds, always, and wish that they would work on that. I guess the Rebel is not that way, so I will be ckecking it out on the rebel XTI and the extra 2 pexels wont hurt either. I will still use the 30 for rainy weather etc the body is much more durable.

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

20D

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 06, 2006]
Tony S. Gonzaga
Intermediate

Strength:

Highly Visible 2.5 inch LCD
Faster Shutter Button (less lag time)
Faster ON time (though hardly noticeable)
More solid magnesium body (compared to 350D)
Good Canon Software Support
Solid Canon Customer Service (in the Philippines...so sorry Nikon!)
More Than Adequate Battery Time (from the G2 up to the present 30D)
Higher ISO setting of 3200 - a plus for indoor sports' shooters
Additional Spot Metering
Additional Invisible Sensors more than adequate
Same good 20D uqality and dependability
Good Customer Service in the Philippines and regionally (Singapore)
Good Support for Lenses (repair and maintenance) - Sorry Nikon!

Weakness:

If they can match U.S. Prices for lenses and other accessories, it will blow away any of the competition. Lenses and accessories on the average, cost about 15% more on the average compared to retail U.S. prices (here in the Philippines).
I do not think that waterproofing is such an issue because once you buy a waterprooof camera, it only becomes totally functional with an equally waterproof and dustproof lens so let us be practical. Can you afford the higher end group of
L lenses? Not all L lenses are waterproof except those which cost $1,500 and up.
What will you do with a watertight body and a lens which springs a leak?

I recently upgraded from the EOS 350D and the build quality from plastic to magnesium made a lot of difference. The selector knobs however still had a plastic feel to it because you can hardly feel a click to give you a firm feedback that it is already secure in one of the modes. It really isn't a problem but it feels cheap compared to the Contax G2 Range finder that I am also using. Although the select wheel is more professional looking, the 350D's cursor control is easier and quicker to navigate through the menu. The 2.5 inch display though, is a welcome upgrade considering my 50+ year old eyesight. Usually I do not shoot with reading glasses because it affects my use of the viewfinder. Handling the 30D inspires more confidence than the 350D. Because of the 350D's small size, you are constantly struggling to find the best grip position most especially if you have a medium size zoom attached. The only solution is to get the battery grip to hold on to "something". The shutter lag time of the 30D is a lot faster as compared to the 350D but still falls short of the film cameras. When you are trying to capture an action shot in an indoor sport like basketball. The 3200 ISO setting on the 30D is a very welcome addition for indoor sport shooters. The venue of basketball games sometimes vary from the brightly lit to the dimly lit stadiums and the high ISO availability always saves the day. The best zoom lens that Canon offers is a 70-200 f/2.8 USM. There was a particular stadium wherein the aperature was not enough, I had to settle for a fixed lens 85 f/1.8 to make the poor lighting workable. It wouldn't have been possible also with just a 1600 ISO setting because the best shots were taken using a shutter speed of 1/2000. I am very happy with my new 30D and because I could not afford too many L lenses, I am happy that the 30D allows me to use 3rd party lenses and still come out with satisfying outputs. I do not care if it is not waterproof like the Nikon 200D but I hope that Canon adds an automatic electrostatic cleaning feature for its' sensors to prevent some finicky owners from destroying their cameras by attempting to clean their sensors by themselves. I have used the 350D for almost a year and found no need to clean the sensors. Lastly, I hope that Canon adds a tripod
hole in their battery grips to allow the shooter to shoot vertically with a tripod or monopod without pruchasing an L-bracket for that puropose. To all 30D users, we are indeed blessed!

Customer Service

Canon Customer Serivce and Support in the Philippines is the very reason for the ever growing Canon users (and converts) in the Philippines. The service support for equipment and lenses is superb.

Similar Products Used:

Canon G2
Canon EOS 1V
Contax G2
Panasonic Lumix LX-1
Canon EOS 350D

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 15, 2006]
nikkorman1
Professional

Strength:

low noise at high ISO (car shows, concerts, etc).
5 fps shooting
Magnisium Alloy body
EOS L IS lens are the best.
CMOS and Digic 2 processor

Weakness:

not as well built as my Nikon d200

Okay, lets have a professional do the reviewing on this fabulous camera.

First off, I'm a proud owner of both the Nikon D200, Canon 30D, and EOS 1D mark II.

In short, the 30D is incredible for low-light (flashless) shots. The exposures come out realitivly clean and way less noisy than my D200. This is where it excels. Lots of my work is done in low-lighting situations--and yes, many of the best photos ever taken do come from low light situations.

I see almost no resolution differences between either the D200 or my 30D--though the extra 1.8 megapixel has slight minute edge for cropping--either than that...nothing different.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
3
[May 31, 2006]
zuikoku
Intermediate

Strength:

* LCD 2.5"
* Picture Style
* Brighter results than 20D
* Spot metering
* 5 fps
* Great value for money (compare to Nikon D200)
* Better AWB than 20D
* One of the best D-SLR on market in term of Low Noise Performance

Weakness:

* sensor tends to be dirty compare to 20D
* banding issue on some lenses (i.e : 50 mm f/1.4 USM)

Big improvement from EOS 20D with "silent" announcement.
quite surprise when compared with EOS 20D, the better AWB for some difficult lighting situation (mixed source light) where 30D could perfectly capture the exact color !

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

* canon EOS 1v
* olympus E-1

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 28, 2006]
adam75south
Beginner

Strength:

Very energy efficient - I have a 4gb extreme III card and I've used it completely up with over 1200 jpegs and still had plenty of battery life left. It goes into hibernation quickly saving energy on your battery.

Wakes up very fast - If its in hibernation, it wil take a picture right away when you need it to.

Very easy to use - Although you have full control over aperture, shutter speed, and iso, you can set it to automatic and use it as a point and shoot camera.

Weakness:

The integrated flash is not very useful at all. It will make your pictures look like they were taken with a pocket camera...but then again, I didn't buy this thing for the flash. and with the 50 f/1.4 I hardly ever need flash.

Other than that, I can't imagine a way to make this camera better, it is by far, the best camera I've ever owned.

Well, honestly I'm just a beginner, but I have taken some awesome pictures with this camera. I have two lenses so far, a 50mm f/1.4 and a 70-200 f/4L and both work awesome with this camera. Like I said, I'm very new to photography, but with this camera and lenses I have taken pictures that belong on postcards. I can only imagine how they will turn out once I learn more about lighting, aperture, shutter speed, and all those thingys.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 26, 2006]
Peter Dhaeze
Professional

Strength:

Image quality
Speed
Handling
Built
Canon glass

Weakness:

For non-pro camera: none.

Image quality and handling as good as 20D. Small imporvements make it more professional than 20D. With L-glass images are superb. ISO 1600 very useable.

Customer Service

Good

Similar Products Used:

20D, 10D, D70s, D50

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 11-20 of 27  

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