Canon EOS 10D - First Impressions

by Bob Atkins

Let me start out by saying that I don't think there's much point in doing a really detailed technical review of the EOS 10D. Phil Askey has already done that on dpreview.com and Phil does such a good job that it would be a waste of my efforts to try to duplicate his results - even though I'd rather cite a photo.net article than give "the competition" a plug, in this case they deserve it! Instead I'll concentrate on some user issues rather than pure technical specs in that hope that will provide additional information for those thinking about buying this camera that maybe you won't find on other websites.

I've called this "First Impressions" because I don't think you can write a true review of a camera until you've lived with it for a month or two. By that time you'll have had time to find it's strengths and weaknesses and you'll have gotten over that initial burst of love/lust we all feel when we get a new toy to play with! A couple of months also covers the time taken for you to get and pay your credit card bill, which may sober your opinions a little.

First Impressions

It seems like a well built camera with a solid feel. This isn't surprising since it's based on a metal frame. It's not that different from a D30 or D60 in size and weight. For a D30 or D60 owner there are a few pleasant surprises. Since I've only really used a D30 for any length of time, these were the improvements I first noticed, I'm not sure if all of them would apply if I'd used a D60, but I suspect most of them would!

• The AF now actually works well! AF is fast and positive even in relatively dim indoor light without any AF assist light. D30 and D60 AF was weak. Adequate in decent light, but clearly a weak point. That's not the case with the 10D.
• 7 AF points with screen illumination to show you the selected point(s).
• The LCD display screen is significantly better and brighter, with 5 levels of brightness available.
• There's now up to 10x zoom on reviewed images which let's you actually see if your shot is sharp or not.
• High ISO noise levels are much lower. The range now covers 100-3200 and even the 3200 setting is quite usable!
• The shutter seem a little quieter, but I have no measurements to prove that.
• There's a Custom Function which can be set to prevent shutter release if there is no memory card present. Having once taken a series of shots with a D30 only to find I'd left my CF memory card at home, I like this!
• The amber LCD backlight is more readable then the blue backlight found on other EOS models (e.g. EOS-3)
• Overall camera response is faster. It turns on faster and has less shutter lag. Image buffering is also better. The camera is almost always "ready to shoot".
• The viewfinder now has a counter to tell you how many shots you have left in the buffer (9 to 0), plus the number of shots remaining when you get to to less than 9 ([9] to [0])
• Auto white balance seems better, though custom white balance using a white reference target is still best.
• Exposure seems accurate. Though I've read some complaints that there's a tendency to overexpose slightly, so far I haven't seen that..
• Supplied software has been improved in terms of interface, features and performance
• You get PhotoShop Elements II instead of PhotoShop LE 5.0, which is an improvement.
• There is now auto ISO selection (100-200-400)  in some auto modes. I don't use auto modes much, but it's a nice feature if you do.
• White balance bracketing is available (for JPEG storage). Each shot is saved with 3 different white balance settings. Useful if you're not sure which WB setting to use and need to get some quick shots.
• Horizontal/Vertical orientation sensor. Not a big deal, but nice.

Is it perfect? Well of course not. I'd have liked to see:

• AF at f8 like the EOS-3 and EOS-1 so I could AF with a 300/4 + 2x TC. I don't expect it at this price, but I'd like it!
• ISO readout in viewfinder. It's rather easy to forget what ISO speed you are shooting at.
• A narrow spot meter, though the partial metering mode (9% "fat spot") can often be used instead
• White balance mode in viewfinder. Again it's easy to change and forget
• Dual charger and AC adapter as standard. They are available as accessories. I'm sure if they had been supplied as standard (as they were with the D30/D60) the price would have been at least $100 higher though, which wouldn't have been good.
• A 1x or 1.3x sensor instead of the 1.6x, but again that would have pushed the price up by several thousand dollars, so I'm happy with the 1.6x and (relatively) lower price.
• A price under $1000, but now I'm just getting greedy!

Other reviews have called the 10D a "mini EOS 1D" and that may be an reasonable description. A number of 1D functions have been incorporated in the 10D (for example the ability to embed a JPEG of any size and compression in the RAW file). It doesn't have the 1.3x sensor size and it can't shoot at 8 fps, but that's why it's a mini version!

The Wide Angle Issue

The 10D has a sensor smaller than the regular 35mm frame (22.7 x 15.1 mm vs. 36 x 24 mm). This results in the image being cropped with respect to what you would see on 35mm film. The result of this is that the angle of view of the lens is reduced and the effect is the same as using a lens with a focal length 1.6x longer. Thus a 50mm lens on the 10D gives you the same view that an 80mm lens would on a 35mm film body. If you are a wildlife photographer and you have a 300mm lens, on a 10D you get the same view as you would with a 480mm lens on a 35mm body. This will probably make you happy!

However if you are addicted to wide angle lens use, you have a problem. The 20-35 zoom you have been using will have the view of a 32-56 zoom when you put it on your 10D. Even your expensive 16-35 zoom becomes a 26-56 zoom. Even your ultraexpensive 14mm lens (the widest you can buy for an EOS) turns into a 22mm lens.

So what can you do? Well these are your options:

• Buy a very wide angle zoom and live with the results.
• Buy a 14mm prime and get an effective 22mm lens on your 10D
• Shoot with a fisheye lens and digitally correct perspective.  A 16mm fisheye image corrects to something like a 20mm rectilinear image, but edge and corner quality suffers.
• Shoot with a fisheye lens and don't correct perspective. If you are careful about composition the "distortion" may not be problem unless you are shooting architecture or graph paper! See the examples below- can you tell which are fisheye shots and which are rectilinear wideangle shots?
• Carry a 35mm film body for when you need really wide angle images or real fisheye images.
• Hope and pray Canon release a special 12-24mm zoom (19-38mm equivalent in 35mm terms) designed to cover only the area of the 10D sensor. Nikon have announced they will release such a lens for the D100 and similar Nikon cameras. It's not impossible Canon will follow, though I wouldn't hold my breath.
• Take multiple images and digitally stitch them together. Fine for still life subjects that don't move, not so good otherwise.
• Pay $8000 for a 1Ds and get a full frame sensor

You basically have to analyze what you shoot and see if you can live with this. If the only lens you ever use on your EOS-1v is a 20/2.8, you're not going to be happy with a 10D. If you normally shoot at 300mm, you're going to be pretty pleased with the effective 1.6x multiplication factor that you get with a 10D. If you normally shoot with lenses from 35mm to 135mm, it's not going to be much of an issue for you since a fairly inexpensive zoom like a 20-35 will give you coverage from 32mm and up.

Here's a little test. The answers will be found at the foot of this article (no cheating, don't look yet): Which of these shots were taken on film with a conventional 20mm lens on film and scanned, and which were taken with a 16mm fisheye lens on an EOS 10D? All the images are either full frame scans or full frame digital images. There was no cropping and no digital correction of any distortions. I apologize in advance for the lack of interesting subjects and/or artistic flair and the somewhat washed-out looking skies. I live in New Jersey - need I say more?

Image #1 - Fisheye digital or wide-angle film?

Image #2 - Fisheye digital or wide-angle film?

Image #3 - Fisheye digital or wide-angle film?

Examples

You can find full size regular 10D images posted all over the Internet so I won't duplicate that effort here. Suffice it to say they are very good and print well up to 11x14, probably even larger.

Example Set #1

Here are a set of images shot at ISO100, ISO 800 and ISO 3200 settings on the 10D. The lens was an EF300/4L.

This is the full frame shot. The red outlined area is shown full size in the images below.

Shot at ISO 100, f5.6

Shot at ISO 800, f5.6

Shot at ISO 3200. The aperture had to be closed down to f8 in order to avoid overexposure
at 1/4000s, so DOF is greater and the background fence is in sharper focus

I'm pretty impressed with the high ISO noise performance. Sure there's some noise (just like increased grain in fast films), but at ISO 800 it's still pretty low and even at ISO 3200 the image is usable. There are software packages (e.g. NeatImage) which can significantly reduce noise via digital processing without affecting image detail.

I did note a slight shift to a cooler color balance with increasing ISO. These images have been very slightly color corrected.

Example Set #2

Here's a somewhat unusual example of the use of the ISO 3200 setting on the 10D. Below is an image of the night sky shot with a 50mm f1.8 lens set to f2.5 with an exposure of 3 seconds. The image is a full size crop from the original. There's obvious noise, but it's fairly uniform.

Below is a crop from the same image after some processing. The color image has been converted to B&W by selecting the green channel. The black point has been raised to give a black background and the white point has been set to better display the stars. Note all the white points are real stars, not noise - I checked them against a star atlas! The faintest stars visible are about magnitude 9. Under really dark skies you can see magnitude 6 stars with the naked eye, so these are pretty dim stars!

Bottom line

I've been a regular film shooter for a long time. Longer than I care to remember. I've played with digital for a while now, from the original Nikon Coolpix 900 to the EOS D30. The D30 was good, but not quite there and way too expensive at $3000+ when introduced. I've never used a D60 since it was more or less just a D30 with a higher pixel count. I didn't think it was "quite there" either, though it was (and is) obviously capable of excellent results. Again, at $2200 (and multi-month waiting lists) it was still too expensive when new.

I've bought a 10D. I think it's the first really usable Canon EOS DSLR and the price $1500, while still high, is low enough to make the move. Think of it this way. If you bought a new D30 two years ago and wanted to sell it today, you'd lose maybe $2300. If you bought a new D60 last year and wanted to sell it now, you've lost around $1100. With the 10D I don't know what it will be worth in a year's time (that depends on what else Canon introduce), but I doubt you could lose more than $500. $500 is 50 rolls of film.

So I'd say now's a good time to take the plunge if you're at all interested in going digital. You could wait. My guess is that in maybe 12-18 months we might see a sub $1000 Canon DSLR. We might also see a $2500 digital version of the EOS-3 which may use a 1.3x or even a 1x sensor - I don't know and neither does anyone else outside Canon R&D, and they aren't talking. With any cutting edge technology you can always do better by waiting, but of course if you wait you don't have the use of the camera. Sure you can stick with film and use a scanner, lots of people will. It's certainly an alternative. For me the time has come to jump. I'll still keep a film body for when I want to shoot slides or when I want a true wide-angle shot that the 1.6x "multiplier" on the 10D prevents, but my guess is that I'll be shooting much more digital than film from now on.

If the 10D is too expensive at $1500, well there are a lot of used D60s around at prices from $1000 and up, and if that's still too much the D30 is still a capable camera and you can find them used from maybe $700. Checkout the photo.net classifieds.

If you are going to buy a 10D, please consider purchasing from one of the vendors who support photo.net. We get the best support from Ritz, but buying from any of these retailers will help to keep this site up and running.

• Ritz Camera - no tax and free shipping
• Adorama
• B&H Photo

Answers to Image Quiz:

• Image #1 - Fisheye lens on 10D
• Image #2 - Fisheye lens on 10D
• Image #3 - Fisheye lens on 10D

Readers' Comments

Add a comment

Jeff Graeber , April 04, 2003; 09:39 P.M.

10d, 28-70L, 1.3s f/8

Good job bob. Good to see you trying out digital Hope you have as much fun as I am :)

Greg Chang , April 04, 2003; 11:01 P.M.

I can't believe it's not recitilinear. The 10D's 1.6x crop factor takes out all the fun of a fisheye lens.

Arthit Thamrongthanyawong , April 05, 2003; 01:34 P.M.

about AF at f8, i think that only EOS 3 and EOS 1v can do it... cuz i own EOS 1n, and it doesn't do AF at f8. i think that you might have to check on that... anyhow great review though

Bob Atkins , April 05, 2003; 05:22 P.M.

Only the EOS-3, 1v, 1D and 1Ds have AF at f8. I didn't expect it on the 10D and I didn't get it!

The "saving grace" is that due to the sensor size you get an effective 1.6x increase in focal length (or more accurately a corresponding decrease in angle of coverage) whether you want it or not, so the use of 1.4x and 2x TCs may not be required as often as they would if you were shooting with full frame body.

Raivo Vanags , April 09, 2003; 11:46 A.M.

Do you have some opinion on the memory card and storage issue? Regards,

Marcus Erne , April 11, 2003; 04:32 A.M.

Great addition to the dpreview article, indeed!!!

Bob, your article makes my decision to switch brands easier...

Steve Hovland , April 11, 2003; 09:35 A.M.

What I really want for a digital lens is a 15-60, which would be roughly equivalent to the 28-105 that my SLR wears all the time.

Ferenc Pataki , April 15, 2003; 04:00 A.M.

What about the D10's viewfinder? I have an Elan II and am not happy with it's viewfinder: small and dark. Once I had the opportunity to try a D60, and I was astonished by the even smaller (just masked to the match the size of the small CMOS sensor) and even darker viewfinder image. Is the D10 any better in this respect?

Ferenc

Marc Raila , April 18, 2003; 04:06 P.M.

I just got home from the camera store with my brand new 10D. I bought one sight unseen, based on some positive reviews and my positive experiences with Canon. My first impression is that it is wonderful. One of the most exciting camera purchases I have ever made (I'll be sure to report on the pay off). In response to Ferenc's comment, the first thing I checked was the viewfinder. It seems only slightly smaller than my EOS A2's (which I'm now planning to sell), and not much darker. In fact, I wouldn't have noticed a difference if I weren't intentionally looking. I never used a D60, however, so I can't make a specific comparison.

Marc Raila , April 18, 2003; 05:56 P.M.

My initial enthusiasm is slowly wearing off. I tried my 24mm Sigma lens and couldn't get the built-in flash to fire and record an exposure. "Err 99" was the error message I got. I called Canon and they said this is a known issue with some third party lenses. I don't cherish the idea of buying new lenses - luckily I don't use built-in flash too often. Otherwise, the camera is still impressing me with its feel, features, and quality.

Louis Tsai , April 19, 2003; 07:06 A.M.

Nice review Bob, your positive review combined with the idea of a affordable DSLR does really make me want to go out and buy one. However, I just purcahsed a FS4000-US, so I think I'll stick with film for a few more years. I quite enjoy the traditional darkroom processes.

I just want to point out that by going digital, it means taking the whole darkroom process into your own office, and making a good, high standard print from a commercial grade bubblejet is quite a challenge too! But it does allow a much faster turn around time in comparison to film.

Nice work Bob, keep it up!

Jay Washington , April 19, 2003; 11:04 P.M.

In response to Marc's comment regarding his Sigma lens and the "Error 99" message:

Certain Sigma lenses are not compatible with the EOS 10D without a hardware/software modification (chip mod). I have contacted Sigma and they informed me of the following (via email),

"First of all, we regret very much that our customer had such a trouble with the Sigma lens. Your lens is required for free upgrade to be compatible with Canon Elan 7/10D camera, therefore, we kindly ask you to return the lens to Sigma Corporation of America.

It will take 3-4 days for upgrade. Before upgrade, you cannot control aperture. Please do not use the lens with Elan 7/10D body."

I have sent in 3 lenses to them (costing $18 for 3-4 day mail and insurance) and hope to have these lenses back next week. To find out if your Sigma lenses need modification, I suggest you review this web site: http://www.sigma-photo.com/html/news/News.htm

Raffaele Tegas , April 20, 2003; 10:33 A.M.

Hi buy a Canon EOS10D few days ago, and I think it's great! I made some photos I made only with Kodak Portra film, about colours saturation and balance... It's also valid for portraits and glamour; it's a camera of a new art generation

-= Mr. Raffa =-

Bob Mauceli , April 24, 2003; 09:46 A.M.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised that my Sigma f/2.8 28-70mm EX Aspherical zoom has worked fine in initial (less than 20) exposures with and without the on-camera flash -- AF seems OK, exposures are nice, but, of course, it's no longer a 28-70mm lens...now 45-112mm.

Andre Tchen , June 29, 2003; 06:01 P.M.

This is a really great camera, the best in its price range and even a little above, since its intro 5.2003 till at least 6.2003...

I just wanted to clarify one point about the Err 99 "bug" or jam. It does NOT necessarily have anything to do with the Sigma lenses.

I am experiencing this problem, after a month of flawless functioning; am currently getting this resolved, and am sure Canon will fix it. BUT note: it happens with my Canon 50 1.8, and the Canon 24-85 as well as with my Sigma 70-200 2.8; I have tried the usual cures gleaned from the web so far ( taking the battery in/out, doing a fake mirror cleanup, trying with all different CF cards, 512 from SimpleTech, 128 from Viking, and 32 from Lexar etc) . No go, same symptoms.

Cheers, AT

Update: yep, Canon fixed it, (and no more err99's for a year now) though they didnt tell me what went wrong.

PS. Related note, valid actually for *any* digital camera: avoid editing (deleting) photos from the CF using your camera. This will increase the likelihood of jamming/losing photos, has happened a couple of times w/ the 10D, and w/other digicams too. Because of file fragmentation effects ( OT, computer related).

Gary Anderson , July 04, 2003; 03:13 A.M.

Just wanted to say i manage a camera store an`d sell alot of slr digitals th nikon d100 or fuji just is not as good as the canon d10 the ccd on the canon will not pick up dust like the others thats very good for you cleaning can cost upto 100.00 and the real ruber grip will that great too! the fuji and nikon the black fack ruber paint comes off! Fast and you do not have a solid camera feel like the 10d now the best of all it is the best deal on a slr digital! Oh the Olympus E20 no way ! All i can say is i sell them and i know what the real feedback is! ( The users ) Gary Anderson Camera Shop Tacoma Wash

Jose Hernandez , July 04, 2003; 06:26 A.M.

Just as Mr. Adkins mentioned in his review, the 10D does not autofocus at f 8. This is true when I combine my Canon 100-400mm IS with the Canon 1.4 X converter. However, when I use the 100-400 IS with a 1.4 X Sigma or a 1.4 X Tamron, it autofocus perfectly.

Brian Tsai , July 11, 2003; 12:14 P.M.

I am seeing this Err99 problem with the Canon 10D on a number of sites. It is DEFINITELY NOT a 3rd party lens problem only - I am having intermittent problems with my 15mm fisheye, 17-35mm L series zoom, 28-70mm L series zoom, and 70-200mm IS L series zoom, all top of the line Canon lenses. I have been on the road for 45 days in Europe and have been shooting 200-400 pix per day; some days I get this error every other shot for a couple of hours and I have to turn the camera on/off or remove the battery. Other days will pass without this error. I will contact Canon when I get back to the USA but this is a serious problem as it is not possible to have confidence in your camera to get that shot that you have been waiting minutes for. I have missed a number of shots after waiting 5 minutes for the crowds to disperse, or a moving one-time target has come into view.

Brian Cincotta , August 07, 2003; 12:33 P.M.

I am interested in getting a digital camera, to add to my collection, but it seems these things are obsolete in a year. Also the value really goes down on a digital body- if I got one now, and wanted to sell it in a year or two year's time. Also there's an issue of cost- the EOS1D is considered a pro body, but with the cost of the body, I decided not to buy it-especially if something better will come out in the next 18 months. the 10D seems more affordable but doesn't seem to have what I'm looking for as far as more "pro" abililties. I'm wondering if others have felt similar with regards to a digital camera purchase.

Pierre Phaneuf , September 18, 2003; 01:52 A.M.

I tried the 10D recently, and I must say it is very nice, I will probably get one. But still, I was happy to go back to my Elan 7e (EOS 30). Why? Ergonomics! I like the switches and dials that I can manipulate without moving the camera away from my eye, like the single-shot or continuous triggering, the one-shot/AI/continuous autofocus or selecting focus points (although this one might be possible, I may have missed it).

I'll be ordering one soon nonetheless!

Eric Knepper , September 28, 2003; 11:49 P.M.

straight out of the camera (using a 35-135mm lens)

The 10D is fantastic. I've recently upgraded from a G2 and it was well worth the expense. The only thing I've been surprised about is that the viewfinder doesn't seem to show the entire shot I end up getting. I accepted this with the G2, but it's a bit frustrating at times with the 10D - the final image has slightly more around the edges than was shown through the viewfinder. For me this is a minor inconvenience given all the other features and fantistic performance overall. I thought my G2 took nice pictures - images from the 10D pop-out at you!

Wayne M. Grant , September 29, 2003; 10:56 A.M.

The viewfinder has 95% frame coverage. Click on the dpreview.com link above for further technical details.

geo badger , September 29, 2003; 11:47 A.M.

Nice review. I've been thinking digital SLR for some time now and came home with the D10 last Friday. My only other digital experience has been with one of the Olympus Camedia models. The 10D feels and operates like a real camera, I use F1's, and has performed beyond my expectations over the weekend. I shot over 500 shots as I attempted to memorize the menu functions and it was fun.

I have two complaints. The first deals with all the EOS bodies, none of my extensive FL or FD catalog with operate with the new mount. Grrr. The second is the 1.6X due to the CCD. Since I primarily use macro and longer lenses, it's a plus. BUT, I do like the extreme wide angle once and a while and hope Canon releases a lens that will give ~20mm equivalency.

Now I'm looking for an EOS film body and plan to sell the FL/FD kit. I'm going to miss those old friends.

Renae Jackson , April 21, 2006; 01:37 A.M.

I'm new at this & I recently bought a eos 10D. I'm a "portrait" photographer(specializing in children) & I would really appreciate any recommendations as to which lens would be the best for my camera. Please let me know! Thanks-Renae

Katherine Prescott , November 01, 2007; 10:40 P.M.

To those who are having problems with the "Error 99" message on the 10D; I was also told that with some of the 3rd party lenses. I have found that I only have the problem when shooting with a ac/pc chord in the studio. It is the polarity of the two chords. If I take the connection chord and flip it around- change the prong holes I have no problems.

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