A 6-megapixel digital SLR with great performance and a great price Canon's EOS D60 "economy" digital SLR was so popular that it seemed to be perpetually on back order. Anticipating that its replacement, the new EOS 10D—a better camera, at a much lower price (would you believe under $1500, street?)—will see even greater demand, Canon has ramped up production to 3X that of the D60.
While the new camera and its popular predecessor both share the same Canon-made 6.51-megapixel CMOS image sensor, the 10D offers a host of improvements. For starters, where the D60 used autofocus technology from the EOS IX Lite Advanced Photo System camera, the new EOS 10D's AF system is based on the popular EOS Elan 7 AF 35mm SLR. And while the new camera retains the comfortable dimensions and weight of its predecessor, the top, front and back body panels are now of magnesium alloy, and the contours are sleeker. The new EOS 10D uses the same lithium-ion battery pack as its predecessor, Canon's BP-511 (also used in some of the company's digital video cameras), but it provides more shots between charges, thanks to Canon's new DIGIC processor, which also produces improved image quality and faster operation. (The result of a serious Canon R&D investment, DIGIC—short for Digital Imaging Integrated Circuit—combines image processing and control of camera functions into one chip with parallel rather than sequential processing.) The new camera has better focus tracking (check out the cropped gull-in-flight shot at left), can shoot up to 9 frames at 3 fps at all quality settings, and allows you to choose the size of the JPEG image that's simultaneously recorded when you shoot a RAW image. White balance has been improved, with a settable range of 2800–10,000 K and white-balance bracketing; you can set ISOs from 100 to 3200; the popular-with-pros Adobe RGB 1998 color space is now included along with sRGB; the LCD monitor is much brighter and can be zoomed from 1.5–10X (vs. 3X for the D60)...you get the picture!
Camera Features
In performance and function, the EOS 10D is similar to Canon's popular EOS Elan 7 AF 35mm SLR. The seven-point AF system (up from three points in the D60) covers most of the image area, so you can expect sharply focused shots even with off-center subjects. You can manually select any of the seven AF points should you wish to do so (handy for spot autofocusing, as when photographing a bird in a "busy" tree), and the active AF point illuminates in red whether selected by you or by the camera. Three AF modes are provided: One-Shot (the camera focuses on the subject and locks focus there until you take the shot or let go of the shutter button, and you can't shoot until the camera has focused on something), AI Servo (continuous predictive AF, for moving subjects), and AI Focus (in which the camera automatically selects between One-Shot and AI Servo to suit the situation). AF sensitivity is the same as with the D60 (down to EV 0.5), but focusing speed and performance are much improved (again, check out that gull-in-flight shot—most good AF SLRs can handle such subjects with 100mm lenses, but this was made with the EF 300mm f/4L!). A new feature allows you to (via Custom Function 07) register an AF point and return to it instantly by pressing the Assist button. Of course, you can also focus manually via the ring on the lens when desired; with USM lenses, you don't even have to switch to manual-focus mode to do so.
As with the D60, three metering modes are provided: 35-zone evaluative linked to the AF points (evaluative metering is based on the center AF point when you focus manually), center-weighted and 9% partial, but improved algorithms make the excellent evaluative system even more accurate. A true spot metering mode would be nice, but truth be told, we found the evaluative mode so accurate that we just used it for pretty much all of our shooting with the camera.
A host of exposure modes (handily set via a dial to the left of the pentaprism) make this camera well-suited to all users, from novice to pro. For the former, there are full-auto and six PIC (Programmed Image Control) modes, which set the camera for point-and-shooting portraits, landscapes, close-ups, sports, night portraits (with flash) and flash-off ambient light shots. And unlike some cameras with preset subject programs, these do more than just favor faster shutter speeds or smaller apertures. For example, in sports mode, the camera not only favors faster action-stopping shutter speeds, it activates continuous AF and continuous drive, and even ups the ISO to 400 (from the "normal" 100) for even better action-stopping capability.
"Serious" shooters can choose among shiftable program AE, shutter- and aperture-priority AE, Canon's exclusive automatic depth-of-field AE, and metered manual exposure control. In auto depth mode, the camera will automatically set an aperture that will keep the nearest and most-distant subjects to fall under any of the seven AF points sharp (if possible with the lens and light level). Pressing the depth-of-field preview button will let you see in the viewfinder how much depth of field you have in any shooting mode.
One nice thing about digital is that you can choose the most appropriate ISO for each shot—something you can't do with roll film. The 10D lets you set ISOs from 100–3200. It also provides an AE lock, ±2 stops of exposure compensation, and 3-frame automatic exposure bracketing.
Other features include an electronically controlled focal-plane shutter with speeds from 30 seconds to 1/4000 plus bulb for longer exposures, a mirror pre-lock (via Custom Function 12-1), built-in viewfinder eyepiece correction from –3 to +1 diopters, and 17 Custom Functions (our favorite is C.Fn 16, a safety shift in shutter- and aperture-priority AE that prevents incorrect exposures if the light level becomes too bright or dark for the shutter speed or aperture you selected).
Flash
The new EOS 10D offers the same flash features as its predecessor, including a handy built-in unit with an ISO 100 guide number of 43 (in feet) that covers the angle of view of an 18mm lens, provides very accurate E-TTL auto flash control (which fires a pre-flash for metering), offers red-eye reduction (via a white lamp on the front of the camera) and in the PIC modes, even automatically pops up and fires when needed. In the "serious" exposure modes, there's flash exposure lock and flash exposure compensation.
You can add a dedicated Canon EX-series Speedlite to the camera's hot-shoe for more flash power, or hook up a studio flash system via the PC terminal. Maximum flash-sync shutter speed is 1/200 for built-in and dedicated flash units, and 1/60 for PC-connected flash. Custom Function 15 lets you choose between 1st- and 2nd-curtain sync for the built-in flash and for EX-series Speedlites, even if they don't have 2nd-curtain sync capability built-in.
