Canon EOS 350D Digital Camera Review

EOS 350D Digital camera is significantly small –only 126.5 x 94.2 x 64 mm.  It weighs a mere 485 grams.  The EOS 350D lens, EF-S 18-55mm/f/3.5-5.6 and the battery when used together with the camera increases the weight to only 715g.  The lightness of this camera makes for ease of maneuverability.

The performance of Canon EOS 350D Digital camera is excellent.  The 8.0 mega pixel CMOS sensor, the Digic II imaging engine and 3fps continuous shooting features ensure high performance and professional level reliability. 

The large size CMOS sensor captures a large amount of light and delivers sharp, precise and faithful pictures.  The imaging technology enables the rendering of details and natural colors and displays an amazing tonal range, high sensitivity and excellent print quality.  The accelerated signal-reading feature makes for truly professional quality work that effectively suppresses noise and false colors and provides and effective angle of view that is 1.6 times the focal length factor of Canon EF lenses.

The DIGIC II’s advanced imaging technology is designed to process signals from EOS 350 Digital CMOS sensor at a high speed and yet produce pictures of exceptional quality.  The gradations of light are precisely captured with a minimal use of power and the whole is completely user friendly.  Moreover, the start up time (0.2 seconds after power switch on) is so minimal that the user can literally shoot pictures at the drop a hat.  The continuous shooting feature (3 frames per second for up to 14 shots) gives the added advantage of being able to capture a number of images in quick bursts.  The shutter release time and viewfinder blackout time is so short that dramatic shots can be frozen into frames instantly and the fast transfer of data is enabled by its compatibility with USB 2.0 High-Speed. 

The Direct Print button is one of the new features of Canon EOS 350D that improves usability of this camera. There is no requirement that the camera be hooked up to a PC before the picture can be printed.  The LCD illumination button now allows users connect directly to a variety of printers and print out pictures immediately after they are shot.

The user-friendly operation controls, image display mode selectors, electronic dials and cross keys are features that are easily accessible; make complex functions simple and are extremely comfortable to work with.  The design provides for the manual selection of three auto focus modes—one shot AF, Al Servo AF, and Al Foucs AF.   Additionally the 7 AF points can be selected by the cross key shortcut.  The 3 metering modes (evaluative, partial and center weighted average); the metering ranges from EV 1-20 provide fine exposure control and is directly accessible by the user.  Canon’s EF lens series, including the EF-S lens are fully compatible with this camera and LCD panel is designed for quick and easy operation.

Canon EOS 350D Digital camera applies standard parameters for vivid image capture and post capture image processing.  The monochrome shooting feature enabled by internal digital processing capability has selectable effects up to 5 levels for contrast, sharpness and filters for artistic rendering.  The rear LCD has a selection menu that has to be registered once and can be called up at will.

Significantly the Canon EOS 350D Digital is packaged with a number of software for browsing, editing in Windows or Macintosh environment.  The amateur shutterbug will be impressed with the ease with which the software can be used.  It supports all phases of photo development—from data capture to printing—immediately on install.  The RAW image editing feature, the ArcSoft Photo Studio are handy for retouching photos.

Recommendation:

Any professional or amateur photographer would be delighted with Canon EOS 350D digital SLR camera. This is a great value for the price.

Features:

• 8.0 Megapixel resolution.
• 3 frame per second response time with 14 frame bursts
• 0.2 second start
• Powerful Digic II architecture
• 7 auto focus points with lock focus and one shot AF or Al Servo AF predictive tracking of moving subjects.
• Powerful Pop up flash with lighting flexibility.
• Built in EF-S lenses and compatible with 60 Canon EF Lenses.
• JPEG and RAW images optimization with compatible image processing software
• USB 2.0 high speed interface with direct print button
• Compatible with CF and CF II cards and cards with over 2GB capacity.
• Membership of Canon Image Gateway with 100 MB online space for album storing and sharing.