Colin's Journal

One year and ten months ago I purchased a digital camera. I had taken virtually no photos in my life prior to making the decision to buy a digital camera, but hoped this would change once I had bought one. Since purchasing my A20 I’ve take roughly two and half thousand pictures, so I’m going to count this decision as a success.

I take photos mainly when going somewhere or during an event. I don’t carry my camera with me all the time, and I don’t make trips specifically for the purpose of taking photographs. My camera is completely automatic, does fairly well for portraits, and works poorly in low light.

In much the same way as moving from film to digital was the trigger to take more photos, I’m now contemplating a move to a better digital camera in order to turn photography into something of a hobby. The number of good photos on the ‘net has been part of the inspiration behind this, particularly the amazing photos on Sensitive Light.

A better digital camera means moving to something that allows full automatic, aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual operation. I also want something that works well in low light conditions, is fast (as in responsive), and can take different lenses. The best camera that fits this description is the Canon Digital Rebel (AKA 300D). This can be had for a rather large chunk of change and for $100 more you can get an 18-55mm lens with it.

My dilemma is whether I’m better off spending the, not inconsiderable, extra money to get a Canon 10D instead. There are several advantages of getting the 10D:

• There are several reports that the 300D underexposes pictures, particularly when using flash indoors. I’ve not seen anyone reporting similar problems with the 10D.
• The 10D has a higher quality case with better layout of controls (e.g. two dials versus one).
• The 10D has a few extra combinations of features that the 300D is lacking.
• The 10D can buffer more images before writing to the CF card.

There are also two downsides to the 10D: It’s heavier and it doesn’t come with a lens. The lack of lens is not just an expense problem. Affordable lenses start at 24 or 28mm, rather than the 300D’s bundled 18mm, which on these digital cameras makes more of a difference than on a 35mm camera. The challenge of trying to choose a good first lens for the 10D is also a problem. I’m leaning towards the 28-105mm/3.5-4.5 USM because it’s had better reviews than the 24-85mm/3.5-4.5 USM and is cheaper than the 29-135mm/3.5-5.6 USM IS.

With roughly a CAD$1000 (~£500) price difference between the two combinations (300D with 18-55mm and 10D with 28-105mm) it is proving to be an agonising choice. I’m not adverse (or rather not too adverse) to spending extra for better equipment, but this is for a hobby that I don’t yet have.

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