Canon EOS 1000D

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Features

Being a scaled-down version of the 450D, the 10-megapixel 1000D has, of course, fewer features compared with its bigger brother. But these shouldn't keep first-time users at bay because we found them to be quite sufficient for beginners.

Picture Style is a good introduction to the world of dSLR photography. There are six presets (Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful and Monochrome) and three user-defined settings. If this is baffling, think of them as more advanced scene modes where you have control over the sharpness, contrast, saturation and color tone. Although we could easily access Picture Style with the down button, we were quite irritated that we couldn't make any adjustments to the presets but instead had to dive into the menu to get to that. Once you get more comfortable with this feature, you can download more fancy Picture Style presents on Canon's Web site.

For shutterbugs who are used to point-and-shoots, one of the main reasons for holding back on a dSLR purchase in the past was complex operation. But the 1000D aims to ease this transition and the Live View implementation is one of them. It is coupled with an autofocus function, but not right out of the box. Instead, it is hidden in option 7 under Custom Function and we had to refer to the user manual to find that out. The refresh rate for Live View was snappy but we found the 2.5-inch LCD a tad too small for our liking. We preferred the 2.7-inch display found on the E-420.

Autofocus is driven via a seven-point AF system. A dot within each box will flash briefly when that spot is in focus. However, we found the dot to be too small and the duration which it flashed too short for our liking. It's almost as if we had to fully concentrate on them while autofocusing or miss knowing which area is sharp.

The ISO sensitivity for the 1000D maxes out at 1,600. Some critics flawed the camera for this, but we think that most people (or at least beginners) wouldn't use an ISO setting beyond this unless they are shooting fast moving subjects--these are shots which require faster shutter speeds that typically comes with higher ISO sensitivity.

Metering wise, the shooter comes with evaluative, partial and center-weighted average. It lacks spot metering, which is useful for tricky lighting situations such as backlight or scenes with high contrast.

Unlike its competitors such as Sony or Olympus which have incorporated sensor-shift image stabilizers (IS) into their camera bodies, the 1000D relies on optical IS for sharper shots. The shooter comes with an 18-55mm F3.5 to 5.6 IS-enabled optics, but to enjoy this feature on other lenses, it means you'll have to dig deeper into your pockets for Canon's premium.

To keep the footprint compact, the 1000D utilizes SD/SDHC format media to store images. Canon also claims that it has increased the capacity for the Lithium-ion battery to allow more shots to be taken.

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