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Camcorder group test (Part 5) Canon FS100 Review

Canon FS100 review

These days hi-def videocams are all the rage so, you could be forgiven for thinking that standard definition cameras are on their way out. Odd choice then the FS100 – it’s a new budget-priced standard definition model that competes with some low end HD videocams on price and which is not all that far away from the likes of the Sanyo Xacti on price.

I confess that I am a Canon man – I use Canon slrs, a Canon digital compact and a Canon DV-cam. I like the quality of Canon glass too. So, I was looking forward to getting my hands on the FS100 because I am considering moving to solid state media for video. How does it compare?

The Canon FS100 camcorder

What’s in the box?

• Canon FS100
• Li-ion rechargeable battery
• Charger
• Remote control
• AV cable
• USB cable
• Wrist strap
• Printed instruction manual
• Software CD

General

The FS100 is one of a range of three cameras, being at the bottom end of that range with no built-in memory and relying solely upon SDHC cards for recording. It is very definitely aimed at the casual user rather than the demanding amateur.

In the hand it looks smart with its two-tone brushed aluminium and polished chrome finish. It’s light and well-balanced with a conventional videocam format that we’re all familiar with. It’s not particularly compact and is more suited to handbag than the pocket, but it’s not overly bulky either.

Controls

Controls: there’s lots of them and they are liberally strewn around the chassis. I would go so far as to say that the design is a bit fussy when it comes to controls and not as elegant as it could be.

The Canon FS100 controls

Left: Easy mode select, battery info/display info, USB2.0 port, external mic’ input, AV out

Rear: Mode select rotary switch (stills record, video record, stills review, video review), video record

Top: Power ON/OFF switch, still capture, zoom control

Screen: 5-way menu navigator switch, “Func” (Menu activate), video play/pause, video fast forward, video rewind

Below: Battery/SDHC card slot cover, tripod socket

Front: Built-in stereo microphones, video light/led

Canon FS100 Specification:

• Effective pixel count: Stills: 800k pixels. Movies: 710k pixels
• CCD: 1/6^th"
• Recording media: SD or SDHC Memory Card (Up to 8GB)
• Still resolution (pixels): 1152 x 864, 1152 x 648, 640 x 480
• Focal length: 2.6mm – 96.2mm
• Movie: 41 – 1877 mm (on a 35 mm camera), stills: 41.5 – 1536mm, f/2.5 (W) – 5.2 (T)
• Focus range: 10mm – infinity
• Shutter speed: 1/2000^th – 1/6^th sec’
• Still: 1/2 sec ~ 1/2000 sec. (Flash: 1/30 ~ 1/2000 sec., Lamp mode: max 4 secs)
• Optical zoom: 37x
• Digital zoom: 45x (known as advanced), 2000x
• Focus: TTL auto focus, manual focus
• Scene Selector: Auto, Sports, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, Fireworks
• Self timer: 2sec – 10 sec
• White balance: Full Auto TTL
• Manual: Fine/Cloud/Fluorescent/Incandescent
• Flash: None
• Audio microphone: Built-in stereo
• Monitor: 2.7-inch TFT Colour Widescreen LCD display. Approximately 123,000-pixels
• Video output interface: Component Video
• Power source: Lithium-ion battery BP-808, charging AC adapter included)
• Dimensions: 58mm x 124mm x 60mm (W x D x H)
• Weight: 260g

Highlights:

• Light
• Uses SDHC cards
• Good battery life
• Feels solid

Lowlights:

• Standard definition – not much cheaper than high-definition
• Average image quality
• No flash
• No conventional viewfinder
• Poor low-medium light picture quality

REVIEW

Positioned on top of and at the rear of the camera, the power switch is not immediately obvious as it blends into the chrome finish facia. There’s no colouring to it at all. Power on is very quick with the camera being ready to film in less than 3 seconds. Powering on also opens the noisy shutter protecting the lens with a satisfying click (no separate lens cap required). Depending upon the mode-selector switch position you will find yourself in one of 4 modes: stills capture, video capture, stills review or video review. Shooting video is simply a case of then pressing the big shiny button with a red dot on it at the rear of the body.

Taking stills is done by pressing a chrome button on the top of the camera just below the zoom control. It didn’t fall to hand readily for me and I think it’s too close to the zoom which could result in the zoom being actuated instead. If you are shooting from the hip then this is not a problem. Generally the ergonomics are not as polished as some other cameras and coming from the Sanyo Xacti I have been spoilt.

The menu system is one of the simpler ones I have come across. Navigation of the menus is done by a fairly typical 5-way navigator switch mounted to the left of the screen. Setting some oft-used and basic parameters took too long and too much navigation to achieve. If this frightens you off then take comfort in the fact that there’s an Easy mode to simplify everything and this is where I mostly found myself anyway and where I suspect most users of this type of camera would be too.

A good touch is the placement of function keys around the screen. This makes a lot of sense when everything is done via the screen interface. However, being of the membrane type, the keys lacked tactile feedback and looked cheap.

Picture quality by day in good light is adequate. In medium to low lighting levels and particularly indoors there is a noticeable coarseness that is also very apparent on the display – the performance under such conditions can best be described as mediocre to poor. This is disappointing because I have always rated Canon performance and I have no complaints whatsoever about the image quality I get from my Canon cameras.

The FS100 has three video recording options. It’s possible to record up to 2½ hrs of MPEG2 video onto a single 4GB SDHC card in LP mode. The higher quality SP mode gives about 1¼ hrs of capacity, and in XP mode it’s about 1 hr. I always used the XP high-quality mode to try to maximise the quality of footage.

There’s three modes of zoom: optical, digital and advanced with 37x, 200x and 45x zoom being available respectively. The 37x optical zoom is generous in comparison to the opposition and the zoom function itself was very speedy and accurate with the control located on the top of the body. The 2000x digital zoom is frankly ridiculous and would destroy image quality totally. I didn’t bother using it. Using the large optical zoom magnified the graininess in images to the point where it became intrusive although, this is not as big a deal as you might imagine because I can’t ever recall using anything like the full 22x optical zoom on my own camcorder.

Image stabilisation is of the inferior digital variety rather than optical that I am used to. For general uses though it is good enough, but it won’t be able to cope with wobble at the long end of the zoom.

As a stills camera don’t expect too much from the FS100 – it has a small CCD sensor with only a limited pixel count of 800k pixels which is nowhere near adequate for anything but modest uses such as web use or display on a monitor. There is no flash and overall it is best reserved for emergency use.

Battery life was excellent and better than all camcorders I have tested so far. I managed about 2¾ hrs in general use which means for a day out it’s not necessary to carry the charger.

You can download a sample video – taken straight from the FS100 memory card with this link.

Conclusion:

The FS100 looks good and feels good, but lets the side down a bit and I would expect more from the likes of Canon. The decent quality does not rescue the Canon from lacklustre filming performance and compared against high-def models costing not much more it suffers. The Canon is not a bad camera, it’s just that there’s quite a few better and more flexible offerings around for not much more money.

Although this is the last camera review in the Camcorder Group Test please come back again soon for my summary of the reviewed devices or head over and look at Part 1 to see which cameras were included or have a look at my Panasonic SDR-S7 review or Sanyo Xacti HD700 review.

Review by: Nigel

[ Post Tags: Canon FS100, camcorder, video cameras, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Camcorder group test (Part 3) Toshiba Camileo H10 Review

Toshiba Camileo H10 Review

The H10 is Toshiba’s budget entry into the high definition camcorder market. The most remarkable thing about this camcorder is the fact that it’s a high definition camera (HD) for about £180. Not long ago this would have been much more expensive and out of the reach of most of us. Having been mildly impressed by the “handiness” of the SDR-S7 I was interested to see how the H10 would perform with its HD capability given that the two machines are virtually the same price.

The Toshiba Camileo H10

What’s in the box?

• H10 video camera
• Li-ion rechargeable battery, 3.7v/1050mAh
• USB cable
• AV cable
• HDMI cable
• Mains charger
• Remote control
• Strap
• Quick start guide
• Software CD

General

The H10 is a clean and uncluttered design with an encouraging lack of buttons to tweak and render it useless. Physically, it’s a bit of a brick, albeit a compact one with some decent features. A brick because it’s too big to fit into my pocket, compact because it feels dense in the hand. The dense feel also helps it to feel well-built despite the low price.

The H10 has a 5x optical zoom and can record video in 720p HD MPEG-4 format video on SD or SDHC Cards at frame rates of up to 30fps – this is a decent specification for an entry level camcorder and genuinely useful.

The Toshiba Camileo H10 controls

Rear: Video record; 5-way multi-function keypad for selecting modes and menu items

Top: Zoom in/out; still camera shutter release

Underneath: Battery compartment; SDHC card slot; tripod socket

Left: Power switch; AV-out socket; HDMI socket; USB2.0 socket

Toshiba Camileo H10 Specification:

• Image Sensor: 10.48 Mega Pixel CCD Sensor
• Operation Modes: Movie Record, Picture Record
• Lens: F3.5 – 3.7 (f = 6.8 – 34 mm)
• Focus Range Macro: 1 cm ~30cm
• Normal: 30 cm ~ infinity
• Optical Zoom: 5X
• Shutter: Mechanical Shutter
• LCD monitor: 2.7” LCD
• Storage Media: Built-in 64 MB, SD/MMC Card Slot
• Image Resolution
• High: 4608 x 3456 (16M pixels)
• Standard: 3648 x 2736 (10M pixels)
• Low: 2592 x 1944 (5M pixels)
• Movie Resolution HD: 1280 x 720, 30 fps
• D1: 720 x 480, 30 fps
• VGA: 640 x 480, 30 fps
• QVGA: 320 x 240, 30 fps
• White Balance: Auto/Manual (Daylight, Fluorescent, Tungsten)
• Exposure: ± 1EV in 0.3 steps
• Self-Timer: Approx. 10 second delay
• Flash: (for still) Auto/ On/Off/Red Eye Reduction
• File Format Image: JPEG
• Movie: AVI (H.264)
• Image play: Single Image/Thumbnails/Slideshow
• PC Interface: Mini USB2.0
• TV out Digital:: HDMI
• Analogue: Composite Video (NTSC/PAL Selectable)
• Battery: NP60 Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery, 3.7v, 1050mAh
• Dimensions: 117mm x 65mm x 56 mm
• Weight: 314g (without battery), 340g(with battery)

Highlights:

• Simple
• Robust
• Uses SD cards
• Easy to use

Lowlights:

• A bit portly
• No conventional viewfinder
• Slow zoom
• Heat

Review

Although substantially smaller than many mini-DV cams, the first thing to strike me after using the compact SDR-S7 and Sanyo Xacti is just how chunky the Toshiba is. It certainly won’t fit in your trouser pocket. It could be used to as a weapon and it feels like it’s hewn from billet alloy. The upside is that the larger size does make the Tosh’ somewhat easier and more comfortable to hold at eye level when compared to the Panasonic SDR-S7.

Fold the screen out and it switches on automatically to either present you with the video filming mode or the still camera mode depending where it left off last time. Switching between the two is merely a single key press away. Video recording is simply a case of pointing it at the subject and then pressing the record button on the rear of the camera body.
There is plenty of control over shooting modes via the menu system, which is easy to navigate by virtue of the fact it is very simple and clear.

The Tosh’ is capable of recording in HD resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at 30 frames per second (fps). This is quite some going for a budget model when you consider that most DV cams work at 720 x 576 and 25fps. You should be aware though that editing such large images is fairly demanding for any pc and some well-known photo-editing applications still aren’t HD ready. There’s plenty of other resolutions available that take up far less storage space if your needs are less demanding, however, it seems to be pointless using them unless you upload to a video mangling service like YouTube.

Accessing the menu system is not obvious initially and there is no menu key per se. It’s done via the centre-select key on the 5-way navigator keypad. The menu system has sensibly been kept simple and logical, but alas it has one really annoying flaw. Once you have selected an option it closes down the menu subsystem entirely to return you back to the camera view. What if you want to change another option or undo the changes you’ve just made? You have to navigate all the way there again.

The 5x optical zoom is quite limited when compared to conventional DV-cam opposition. This is typical for a budget camera. Unfortunately, the zoom control is extremely tardy and the lens is both slow to zoom and focus. This renders the camera less than idea for sports footage or fast moving subjects. In normal general filming it would be less noticeable.

I was pleased to see that the charging is done via the USB2.0 mini-socket. This means it should also be possible to charge from your computer when connected. The battery itself is a 3.7v/1050mAh item which gives a life of around 50 minutes – this was slightly less than I expected but probably reasonable given the higher definition. During charging and normal use I noticed that the entire camera got very warm – this is a bit disconcerting. The same heat was also transferred to the SD card which, doesn’t bode well for longevity of the card – another reason why a man might not wish to put it in his trouser pocket!

There is no conventional lens cover – instead the lens is protected by a large hard plastic cover. This is all very well, but the cover doesn’t appear to be replaceable so, if it gets scratched then you compromise image.

Toshiba Camileo H10 lens

Movie quality was entirely acceptable although I really didn’t notice any improvement in quality rendered by HD over SD. The whole thing is quite subjective really and depends upon so many things such as the quality of monitor it is viewed on, the physical size of the CCD, compression etc. I daresay if you had a HD tv then you would notice the difference. As a stills camera it makes a passable job and there’s no reason why it couldn’t be your only stills camera although the normal caveat still applies – if you want a stills camera then buy one.

You can download a sample video – taken straight from the H10 memory card with this link.

Conclusion:

The H10 is a versatile camera that should satisfy most users needs unless they are serious filmers. It’s easy to use, feels well put together and it’s not expensive. Really, for £180 the buyer is getting a decent machine for not much money and I feel it offers better value than the Panasonic SDR-S7 for a similar price. Having previously said I would be happy with the Panasonic as an everyday device, I am now having to revise that in favour of the Tosh’. Just beware of its bulk.

Join me again soon for the next camera in the Camcorder Group Test or head over and look at Part 1 to see which cameras we are including or have a look at my Panasonic SDR-S7 review or Sanyo Xacti HD700 review.

Review by: Nigel

Camcorder group test (Part 1)

If you are a regular on tracyandmatt you’ll remember that I recorded the Palm Treo Pro launch event a few weeks ago. At the time I mentioned that the Camcorder that I was using at the time didn’t perform very well in the low light conditions at the event and that I was looking for a replacement.

So over in the last few weeks I started looking for a new camcorder that I could use to record our unboxing videos but that would also be small and light enough to take out to press events without contributing too much to my already overloaded kit bag. I for the sake of convenience, also wanted a camera that recorded footage on to memory cards rather than DVD or Tape (yes the still make DV camcorders). I preferred to have camera that could record HD but this wasn’t essential, it was the recording quality that mattered most as our videos would always be scaled down for web-streaming anyway. Finally I didn’t want to spend a fortune on the camera; about £200 – £250 was ideal.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of models to choose from within the requirements set out above and it was difficult to decide which one would suit me best. So I decided it would be a good idea to perform a group test of some camcorders that fit the bill. Not only would it help me to select the model I wanted but would also make for an interesting series of posts here on the site.

The models that we short-listed (and were able to get hold of) are the Sanyo Xacti HD700, Panasonic SD7, Canon FS100 and Toshiba Camileo H10.

All of the cameras record on to SD memory cards. The Sanyo and the Toshiba are capable of recording at 720p whereas the Canon and Panasonic record SD.

	Sanyo Xacti HD700	Canon FS100	Toshiba Camileo H10	Panasonic SDR-S7
Effective Pixel Count	Approx. 7.1 megapixels	1.07 megapixels	10.48 megapixels	0.8 megapixels
Camera Element	1/2.5 inch, 7.38-megapixel CCD (total)	1/6" Interlaced CCD	1/2.5 inch, 10.48 megapixel CCD	1/6" CCD 800k Pixels
Recording Media	SDHC (up to 8 GB)	SDHC (up to 16GB)	SDHC (max cap. Unknown)	SDHC (up to 16GB)
Recording File Format	Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Audio: AAC-compression (stereo)	Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: AC3	Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: MPEG1-L2	Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: MPEG1-L2
Resolution (Pixels) Still:	[10M] 3680 x 2760 interpolated [7M] 3072 x 2304	1152 x 864 1152 x 648	4608 x 3456 max	JPEG size:640 x 480
Resolution (Pixels) Video:	[HD-SHQ] 1280 x 720 (30 fps, 9 Mbps) [HD-HQ] 1280 x 720 (30 fps, 6 Mbps) [TV-SHQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 3 Mbps) [TV-HQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 2 Mbps) [Web-SHQ] 320 x 240 (30 fps)	standard-definition video resolution of 720×480	H.264 – 1280 x 720 – 30 fps H.264 – 720 x 480 – 30 fps H.264 – 640 x 480 – 30 fps H.264 – 320 x 240 – 30 fps	640 x 840 XP (10Mbps/VBR) 640 x 480 SP (5Mbps/VBR) 640 x 480 LP (2.5Mbps/VBR)
Zoom	5.0x optical zoom lens	37x optical zoom lens	5.0x optical zoom lens	10.0x optical zoom lens
Digital Zoom	Shooting: Max. 12x Playback: Max. 58x (in [10M mode], depending on the resolution)	2000x digital zoom	4x digital zoom	10 – 700x Digital
Focus	Auto (Stills: 9-point AF), Manual	Auto/Manual	Auto	Auto/Manual
Sensitivity	Still: Auto (ISO 50–400), Manual (ISO 50/100/200/400/800/1600/3200)	1.7 Lux Minimum Illumination	?	2 Lux Minimum Illumination
Self-Timer	2 sec. or 10 sec.	2 sec. or 10 sec.	10 sec.	No
Flash	Auto/Forced/Off	No	Auto/Forced/Off	No
Audio	Microphone: Built-in stereo Speaker: Built-in mono (L/R mixed output)	Stereo Mic Built in mono speaker	Stereo Mic Built in mono speaker	Stereo Zoom Mic, Wind Noise Reduction Built in mono speaker
LCD Monitor	2.7-inch, TFT color wide screen LCD, Approx. 230,000 pixels	2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)	2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)	2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)
Interfaces	Via docking cradle: AV output (HDMI/component video/S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0	AV output (S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0	AV output (HDMI/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0	AV output (S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0
Power Source	Lithium-ion battery (1200 mAh)	Lithium-ion battery	Lithium-ion battery	Lithium-ion battery
Approx. Battery Life	Stills: CIPA standard approx. 180 images Video clips (HD-SHQ): Approx. 80 min. Playback: Approx. 190 min.	TBC	TBC	TBC
Dimensions	73.7 x 109.0 x 35.0 mm	58 x 60 x 124 mm	56 x 117 x 65 mm	41.0 x 59.0 x 102.0 mm
Weight	Approx. 189 g (main unit only), Approx. 214 g (including battery and SD card)	260 g with battery	340 g with battery	Approx. 165 g w/o Battery
Price (Amazon)	£249.00	£215.00	£173.00	£228.00

Over the next few weeks, with Nigel’s help, we are going to be testing the four camcorders under real world, general use conditions as well as for the specific job I need them for. We’ll have an unboxing and a sample video from each camera as well as a short review and then we’ll have a final summary post at the end where we’ll pick the camcorder that we’ve decided to buy.

If you have any questions or comments along the way then please do get in touch through our contact page!

Part 2 of the group test is now live – check out the Panasonic SDR-S7 review!

Part 3 of the group test is now live – check out the Toshiba Camileo H10 review!

Part 4 of the group test is now live – check out the Sanyo Xacti HD700 review!

Posted by: Matt

Canon EOS-5D review

Canon are synonymous with high end professional cameras and the slightly Modified Canon EOS 5D is no exception. Yes, this beast has been around for a couple of years now but with a few cosmetic tweaks Canon have once again extended the life a little bit more.

Now, this camera is not your modern flashy electronics, multiple scenery mode, point and click camera – It is a serious high end professional camera built like a tank to take plent of scrapes and knocks I know it may not meet the needs of many of our readers. However, take a look at the paps on the streets and a vast majority of them will have this very camera in their hand.

Canon EOS-5D

Introduction

When we examined the Panasonic I commented that many purists may not like all the scenery options and shooting assists – Well, The Canon EOS 5D is as far away from this as you could possibly get. It’s a body only purchase as well (Although many suppliers are doing “Kit” deals with a number of lense choices) so don’t forget the lenses!

I hooked the 5D up to a pretty standard Sigma 500mm EF lens for the review.

What’s in the Box?

Very little! The camera body comes complete with battery, lens covers, leads and battery charger. The supplied software allows easy transfer of images via USB if required (To be honest I always use a CF Card reader as I feel this is faster).

Canon EOS 5D specification:

General

Built like a Tank with a Magnesium alloy body, you instantly feel this is a serious piece of kit with an extremely good build level and judging by the review unit can take a few knocks along the way. Never seen a camera so bashed!

Oh, and for Canon EOS users the controls are pretty much the same too…

One of the big additions the 5D provides is a full-frame sensor. Most consumer focused D-SLR’s are 2/3rds frame and use a much smaller sensor.

The biggest advantage of a full frame sensor are much higher picture quality, this is backed up in low light situations as well – However, you do loose the magnifying effect found on smaller sensor cameras.

Taking the classical EOS look and feel, with a much more solid body than say the 350D, the EOS 5D is one beast of a camera to hold and feel but I’m really interested in is how it works.

Looking at the now de facto Canon EOS controls top left shows the mode dial button.

Canon EOS-5D mode dial

The top right hand side of the camera houses the main camera setting display

Canon EOS-5D LCD Panel

This shows many of the camera settings such as shutter speed and aperture this can also be used when changing many settings. A handy back light can be switched on for those darker nights!

Other settings such as ISO, White balance and focus modes are changed with the collection of buttons encircling this LCD screen.

The camera has a few AF modes, from the standard One Shot mode to the AI Focus modes that keeps the camera focusing at all times. Useful for moving objects.

Of course, the shutter release is just to the front of these buttons.

In the centre of the camera is a pretty standard hotshoe. The camera uses E-TTL II Flash Metering. It’s important to note this camera does not have any integral flash (Or an AF assist lamp for focusing) but it will use any of these features on a compatible flash unit.

The left hand side of the camera has a small lift up flap allow access to the connections of the camera.

Canon EOS-5D connectors

Connections are provided for external flash synchronisation, Remote Shutter release, Video out and a USB 2.0 connector for linking with your PC.

The back of the camera looks almost like a 20D (or most other EOS cameras for that matter…)

Canon EOS-5D back

The immediate benefit however is the 2.5” LCD screen, somewhat larger than previous models. This screen is crystal clear and provides excellent reviewing of images and access to menu items.

The camera does not have Live View though, I didn’t think I’d miss this but for close up work I certainly did. I have to say the view finder was excellent though – The Full Screen CCD allows far more light, and with a larger mirror in the camera the view is really good.

To the left of the LCD screen are the common control buttons,

Just below the screen is the delete images button.

Above the power switch (incidentally the 5D is ready within a second after switching on) is the main jog wheel. This is used to move through menu items and controlling some of the camera settings.

On the right hand side of the camera is the CF Card slot. (Type II)

Canon EOS-5D memory card slot

Highlights and Lowlights

Using the camera on a day to day basis has shown a number of highlights and low lights:

Highlights

Lowlights

Canon EOS-5D battery compartment

REVIEW

I think I mentioned before, I do own one of the original Canon 10D’s so, again I have tried to remain unbiased during this revue. Bolting on some of my existing lenses was a great benefit and the EOS 5D made full use of all the standard AF features. I did miss the extra magnification that you loose with the full screen CCD so I guess I’d need to get a better lens if I was going to use this more.

It did make my wide angle lens behave exactly as it should though – 16mm was a true 16mm lens for once.

The camera is very well built, and in normal Canon style shows signs of being a stong resilient camera capable of taking many a knock. The image quality is quite breathtaking and using the RAW mode allowed minute changes to be made to colour balance directly on my PC.

I have to admit, I didn’t miss any of the scene selectors or automated imagery wizards that are now started to be found on some of the newer D-SLR’s. Give me the automatic mode for day to day shooting and happy with the ability to change my aperture and shutter settings for changing depth of field and such other trickery.

The fast switch on and warm up time of the camera means its almost ready the moment you take it out of the bag which gives very fast access to all features and taking shots. A must for those moments you least expect (or, to be honest ever see…)Can’t remember the last time I was walking through London and bumped into Madonna.)

I tried using some really high ISO settings on a few shots and was very surprised at the low levels of noise on the image, again, I think this is down to the full screen CCD reducing distortion etc.

I didn’t really do too much testing with a flash gun but the brief shots I took showed a reasonable response but I wasn’t using a canon flash, just a clone cheapo unit. I’d really advise going for a proper flash unit from Canon as they just seem to match the camera a lot closer.

The lack of an AF assist light does cause issues though, there are times you want a sharp picture taken in low light without the flash and I had to use manual focus to get the images correct.

Conclusion

The Canon 5D is an excellent camera with superb quality shots and ease of use. The full screen CCD puts this camera in between high end consumer based D-SLR’s and full blown professional D-SLR’s such as the EOS 1D. You will however find many of the features and a reasonably close picture quality from some of the lower prices cameras in the EOS range such as the 400D or the upcoming 450D – The 450D for example has the same 12MP resolution and throws live view into the bundle for quite a lot less money.

You do however get what you pay for and the EOS 5d is no exception. The full screen CCD and build quality wins for me but, I’m not a professional so I may just be tempted to move down the range slight to say the 450D and spend the extra money on that special lens.

Review by: John

[Post tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, canon, EOS 5D, DSLR, Tracy & Matt]