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Natalie Hitchins is news editor of What Digital Camera magazine and a former editor of Digital Photographer. Here she picks the best of the huge array of digital SLR cameras. Click to view Top 5 Digital SLRs.
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Best for Speed (Canon EOS 30D) |
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 Feeling the need for speed? Then look no further than the acclaimed Canon 30D. This 8-megapixel beauty has everything the aspiring sports or news photographer needs, all perfectly packed into a seamless camera body that can cope with everything life in the hands of a high-octane photographer throws at it.
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With a Canon 30D, your heart may skip a beat but you’ll certainly never miss a shot. A 5fps (frames per second) burst rate puts it top of its class, and when combined with shutter speeds of up to 1/8000sec the 30D becomes a speed demon in every sense. But don’t just take our word for it. Experts everywhere have been quick to underline the 30D’s awesome abilities.
“From its near-instant start-up speed to the ‘shoot as fast as you can compose’ shot-to-shot speeds, the 30D is a screamer,” say’s DCResource.com’s Jeff Keller. “The continuous shooting mode is excellent, and now you have two speeds to choose from in case 5fps is too fast." Imaging-resource.com is in full agreement, “The 30D's combination of 5fps continuous shooting, depth of up to 43 JPEG images, and accurate continuous AF make it an excellent choice for sports and action shooting.” (Compare Prices) |
Speed and substance |
 A large 2.5-inch LCD is ideal for reviewing images quickly on location at extreme angles up to 170°. Combined with a sturdy, magnesium-clad body this is one highly versatile piece of kit. It’s highly customisable too, offering near instant access to all vital shooting controls directly on the camera body. The top plate has a large LCD screen providing a perfect reference for controls such as aperture, shutter speed, drive mode and exposure compensation. These can quickly be altered using buttons close by, or the front controller and rear command dial.
But the 30D is no one-trick pony. Its speed is matched by set-your-watch-by-it reliability. The accuracy of its nine-point auto-focus mechanism and its high quality 8.5-megapixel sensor combine to produce superb images even in low light, say critics. Excellent colour reproduction and clarity, courtesy of the 30D’s CMOS sensor mean that images stand up to close scrutiny even when reproduced in large format.
“The 30D is a power user's dream camera, with tons of manual controls and custom settings,” says DCResource’s, Jeff Keller. Again, Imaging-resource.com's experts are in full agreement, concluding: “There's no other word for it, the Canon 30D's images made just fantastic-looking prints, with excellent detail and sharpness at 13x19 inches. As always, the acid test comes at very high ISO [sensitivity] settings, and the 30D did very well there too." (Compare Prices) |
Flexible and versatile |
 There’s no doubt that this is an extremely well-made camera and nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to reviewing image results. According to the online industry bible DPReview.com, when it comes to image quality the 30D is hard to fault, “The 30D deserves our Highly Recommended rating. It's a great camera to shoot with, ISO 1600 without any hindrance. Even ISO 3200 can still be used for many applications. This is truly an outstanding performance.”
The experts at Imaging-resource.com come to a similar conclusion, reserving ultimate praise for the camera’s low light performance, "The new Canon 30D offers impressive noise performance at high ISOs, with the result that its images at ISO 1600 are remarkably clean-looking, and its shots at ISO 3200 are very usable.” (Compare Prices) |
Optical excellence |
 Contributing to this esteemed imaging performance is Canon’s well-established line-up of top of the range lenses. The 30D continues to use the Canon EF mount, which means any Canon AF lens can be used in addition to similar models from third party manufacturers. The 30D comes in two kits: one with the body only and another with everything in the body only kit plus a solid 18-55mm everyday zoom lens.
While it’s true that the kit lens is not up to the same standard as Canon’s superb range of standalone optics, there are few other aspects of the 30D that can be faulted. A few industry stalwarts have grumbled about the 30D’s similarity to its predecessor the 20D, but as the 20D was a trend-setting camera of supreme proportions, this can surely be no bad thing. Ultra fast and super-resilient, the 30D has the brains, brawn and beauty to out-run and out-shoot all its closest rivals. (Compare Prices) |
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For an explanation of technical photographic terms click here
TYPICAL PRICES: Body only: £750 - £1,000 ($1,485 - $1,980)
Lens kit: £980 - £1,250 ($1,940 - $2,470)
To buy this product try one of the following retailers. They are competitively priced and reliable:
Amazon.co.uk - The UK arm of the giant online retailer
Amazon.com - The US arm of the giant online retailer
UK Shop Search – Click here for more UK retailers
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