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Canon EOS D30

Canon EOS D30Canon EOS-D30 Review, Phil Askey, October 2000

Review based on a production EOS-D30, Firmware Version 1.00Long awaited. Canon first revealed the EOS-D30at PMA this year (with a "tentative launch of Fall 2000"),they then later made it officialand published full specifications and we got our first hands on with theD30, though at that stage Canon werent comfortable enough with the imagequality to allow samples to be published. In August we published an exclusivepreview article with the first large set of samples available on theweb.So why is the D30 so special? Lots of reasons, its Canonsfirst "home grown" digital SLR, built from the ground up tobe a digital SLR, their previous forays into the digital SLR world, theEOS-D2000 and EOS-D6000 were joint ventures with Kodak (Canon bodies withKodak internals), these cameras are also known as the DCS520 and DCS560.The D30 comes fully loaded, filled with features andfunctionality youd expect of a camera teetering on the edge of wearinga "Pro" badge (and probably more deserving than some of thosethat do), add to this the fact that Canon threw a curved ball by usingthe first ever multi-megapixel CMOS sensor to be seen in a productioncamera and you can see why the EOS-D30 is significant.The other thing that makes the EOS-D30 special is thatit (like the Fujifilm S1 Pro) is helping to open up the "prosumerdigital SLR" market, the retail $3,000 may not be considered cheap,but there are considerable numbers of non professionals who can afford(and no doubt will buy) the EOS-D30.Whats the competition? Well, theres Nikons D1, thoughCanon have been careful to distance the D30 from the D1, the D1 was designedas a professional tool, as such its faster and better built than theD30, but with it being "Nikons digital SLR" there are boundto be comparisons. The other camera in the digital SLR market is FujifilmsS1 Pro, based on a Nikon F60 (N60) 35mm body featuring Fujifilms 3.2megapixel SuperCCD (generating a 6 megapixel image file) and Fujifilmsown digital electronics in the "back".For Canon EOS owners the D30 must surely be a very attractiveway into the digital realm, Canon have been very careful, they know thatmany long term customers will buy D30s, and thats why although betacameras have been around for a while theres been a long delay for fullproduction units to appear. Its got to be just right.

Canon EOS D30CMOS you say?

The EOS-D30 features a 3 megapixel APS sized CMOS sensordeveloped by Canon. Interesting? Indeed... When I had that news brokento me I had to spend a few minutes soaking up just what the implicationsare.CMOS has for a long time been seen as the future of imagerdevices, however until now theyve been very low resolution, had poorimage quality and have been difficult to manufacture. Somehow Canon havemanaged to produce a CMOS sensor which not only has the pixel count butis big enough (APS sized) to be used practically in an SLR. Below is ashot of the sensor (taken by setting a long exposure) and a scale diagramof the effective imager sizes for different formats.

Sensor / Camera	Effective pixels(millions)	Effective **resolution	Imager size(mm)	Pixel (unit)size(�m)
Sony 1/1.8" CCD *	3.12	2,048 x 1,536	5.52 x 4.14	3.45
Nikon D1 CCD	2.62	2,000 x 1,312	23.6 x 15.5	11.8
Canon EOS-D30 CMOS	3.11	2,160 x 1,440	22.0 x 14.9	10.1
APS negative (C type)	n/a	n/a	30.2 x 16.7	n/a
35mm negative	n/a	n/a	35.0 x 23.3	n/a

* As used in Nikon Coolpix 990, Sony DSC-S70, Olympus C-3030Z etc.** Effective meaning pixels used to produce final imageAs you can see by the data in this table the CMOS sensorin the EOS-D30 is almost identical in size to the CCD found in the D1(big by digital camera standards), pixel size is slightly smaller andthus pixel count is higher.

Canon EOS D30Lenses

Obviously when you buy a digital SLR youve also gotto consider lenses (unless you already own a small armory of Canon kit;) Canon are pushing their EF 24 - 85 mm (equiv. 3.8 x zoom) as the ideal"startup" partner lens for the D30, because of the D30s focallength multiplier this lens works out at 35 - 136 mm, a useful range offocal lengths. However quite a few people are also considering the moreexpensive "L" lenses. Canon were kind enough to loan me a goodrange of lenses, two consumer lenses: 24 - 85 mm and 28 - 135 mm IS aswell as three professional "L" lenses: the 17 - 35 mm L, 28- 70 mm L and 100 - 400 mm L IS (white!).


Left to right:28- 135 mm F3.5 - 5.6 (45 - 216 mm equiv.) *IS24- 85 mm F3.5 - 4.5 (38 - 136 mm equiv.)

*IS lens has optical image stablisationFor the majority of image quality / resolution chartsamples Ill be using the EF 28 - 70 mm L, although there will be a comparisonof the resolution chart using different lenses.If youre new to digital photography you may wish toread the Digital PhotographyGlossary before diving into this review (it may help you understandsome of the terms used).

Photographs of the camerawere taken with a Nikon D1, images which can be viewed at a largersize have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right cornerof the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally1024 x 768 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window.To navigate the review simplyuse the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular sectioneither pick the section from the drop down or select it from thenavigation bar at the top.

This review is Copyright 2000 PhilAskey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in anyelectronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author.For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images)please contact: Phil Askey.