Canon DSLR System [Book Review]

This is the first of this type of book I’ve come across: a guide to a thoroughbred strain of cameras, the models in the lineup, a feature list of each as well as a rundown on the lenses and accessories to suit.

For Canon the release of the first EOS, the D30 in May 2000, represented a significant step forward as the “first all-Canon digital SLR… ”

When this camera was released it was helpfully bundled with a 16MB memory card, sufficient to store three full res RAW files. Wow!

The listing for this camera is an indication of the styles to follow: eight pages of descriptive and detailed text, plus two pages of specs and some images.

They’re all there: EOS-1D, D60; 1Ds; 10D; 300D/Digital Rebel; 1Ds Mk II; 20D; 350D/Rebel XT; 5D; 1D Mk II N; 30D; 400D/Rebel XTi; 1D Mk III; 40D; 1DS Mk III; 450D/Rebel XSi; 1000D/Rebel XS; 5D Mk II; 500D/Rebel T1i; 7D; 1D Mk IV; 550D/Rebel T2i.

Useful chapters include a full list of EF, EF-L land IS Lenses, tilt and shift lenses, spelling out the construction data (elements/groups), aperture, filter size, size etc. Accessories such as wireless flash, controllers, battery grips etc are also described.

But it’s not all techy: tucked away between the camera outlines are helpful chapters on the art of photography itself: composition, white balance, spot metering and so on.

Thankfully, the model numbers given are in dual form, as Canon seems to have an enormous problem with grey marketting of its product in the US, demanding, for example, that such cameras as the EOS 550D be labeled as the Rebel T2i for that market.

A useful book if you are a Canon follower. My only caution is of course that, with the continuing cascade of new models, the list will be out of date in six months’ time. Perhaps the book would be better published as a subscription PDF on the Net.

Author: A Stansfield.
Publisher: Ammonite Press.
Distributor: Capricorn Link.
Length: 272 pages.
ISBN 978 1 906672 70 6.
Price: Get a price on the Canon DSLR System at Amazon where it is presently 22% off.