SNOB value and BIG bucks (Canon EOS 10D)

Member Name: thehud

Product:	Canon EOS 10D
Date:	06/07/04 (169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Classy, A man's camera

Disadvantages: Price

Now this is one serious bit of photography kit, a veritable Rolls Royce of digital cameras.

PC Pro, in a general article on the Cannon range in March 2003, said: ?For the more serious amateur and professional photographers, Canon has also released the £1275 EOS 10D, which succeeds the EOS D60. A 6.4 million pixel digital SLR with a seven point wide area autofocus system, it is the first digital SLR camera to feature Direct Print capability. It can save images simultaneously in both RAW and JPEG formats, with a choice of six JPEG file sizes. It covers ISO 100-1600, adheres to the Adobe RGB Colour Space standard and can support large capacity Compact Flash memory cards of over 2Gb storage size.? I don?t know about you, but very little of that flash techie nonsense actually makes an awful lot of sense to me, so it?s as well to stick to the knitting of layman speak.

First of all, price ?

A quick look around the Kelkoo site, demonstrates that the EOS 10D varies in price between £929 at 7dayshop.com right up to £1,224 at dabs.com, and that pricing range shows what sort of mark up the suppliers and distributors put on these beauties, but I guess if you can afford a grand for a digital camera, then a couple of hundred either way won?t make that much of a difference. Still, why should you pay £300 more for no great benefit?

The EOS 10D is worth every penny of whatever you pay for it (!!) because it?s the sort of machine where quality is everything.

It?s a big, chunky, relatively old fashioned black bit of hardware in a retro stylee which smacks of class ? with a beefy resolution of some 6.5 megapixels, which is one of the highest specifications around in the affor
dable camera market, and it can generate really faithful photographic reproductions right up to an output of 13 by 9 inch prints, although it claims that 24 by 36 is also acceptable at a distance. However, if you want such mammoth canvases then you?re probably financially equipped to buy a more expensive machine. 13 by 9 is quite acceptable as far as I am concerned, and my own little foibles restrict me to viewing on PC screen rather than paper (even glossy) prints.

The EOS 10D is in many ways like the standard single lens reflex camera, and has many of the techie tricks which you?d normally associate with that sort of machine, ?It has an optical viewfinder, a shutter, and a mirror. Its operating modes, autofocus, autoexposure, and main and quick control dials are derived from EOS film cameras. It feels very sturdy, thanks to the magnesium body.? (http://www.normankoren.com/EOS-10D ;.html for full details of an anorak?s view).

You have to pay extra if you want the optional AC charger for the optional rechargeable battery pack, and at about fifty quid, such extras soon start adding up to a BIG deal, especially when you need to buy a lens and a memory card, which are essential requirements, while you will also need to fork out for a card reader if you haven?t already got one.

In my case, as a not too keen amateur, I?d far sooner just opt for a reasonably comprehensive and complete package at more like four or five hundred quid, but I suppose the seasoned aspiring professional likes to buy bits and pieces to customise yer basic pack. Not me, but you can understand the attraction, a bit like buying hifi separates rather than a ready made midi system --- snob value reigns supreme?

The EOS 10D produces really sharp, high quality reproductions, but then what else would you expect at the price? However,
these days you can get very acceptable photos at very minimal cost and I?m not sure that the price premium really pays off when buying this sort of machine, but what the hell do I know?

What I do know is that when you compare the EOS 10D to other cameras in the same class then it comes out feeling pretty bloody good, it?s just that I?m not sure that the improvement over yer bog standard item is worth double the price, but then I?m just a miserly old man.

Canon have built a strong reputation in the digital camera market, especially at the top end and the EOS 10D maintains that excellent rep, which is very well deserved. Price is a bit of a stinker, but big boys do love their expensive big toys. It?s just that it?s sometimes hard to convince the wife to let you splash?

Summary: