Ergonomics, Construction, And User Experience

It's been said before but I'll say it again, the EOS 300D has a plastic case. This is a minus for amateur photographers who like to take pictures in all weathers, as well as for professionals and anyone who uses a camera on a daily basis. This point having been established, this fact makes the camera lightweight and easy to handle. Canon had the bright idea of adding a layer of rubber to the handle, making it very pleasant to use the 300D.

The menu access wheel is ideally positioned, and is turned with the thumb, while the settings wheel is turned (where necessary) using the index finger which also operates the shutter button.

Although the SLR viewfinder is clear, there is not an enormously wide range of vision. This could be a problem for wearers of eyeglasses.

The back of the case contains the usual directional buttons and two (easily readable) LCD screens. One is a reminder of the shot settings (speed, aperture, and other subtleties), the other controls the internal functions (image quality, white balance mode and many more) and quickly displays the image when the shutter button is pressed. A reminder in passing, the EOS 300D is a single-lens reflex camera, that's to say, it has a mirror that reflects the light to the viewfinder through a pentaprism. This principle makes it impossible to view the shot through an ACL screen, because the sensor is only lit during the shot. In other words, you don't see the image on the screen while you are aiming the camera.

Otherwise, the menus are easily accessible and clearly marked. So you don't need user instructions, most of the functions are intuitive. Well done!

When studying the EOS 300D in greater detail, there are some surprises due to defects caused by the fact that it is targeted at the "amateur" market. Take the M mode, for instance. Since only one adjustment wheel is available, the photographer has to use it to choose the shutter speed. However, the aperture is set using the same wheel, the thumb also having to be used to press the Av button (located just to the right of the viewfinder). Consequently, it is quite simply impossible to adjust aperture and speed at the same time, which causes the operator to lose precious seconds and makes the manual mode inefficient. A pity.