Canon EOS 350D review

The Canon EOS350D was my 4th digital camera I purchased, following a Minolta, then a Canon A70 Powershot and a Canon A85 Powershot. This was my first digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera. The Canon EOS 350D (also known as the Digital Rebel XT in the US; the EOS 350D is its European name) is a lightweight camera. It features a large 8.0 megapixel CMOS sensor with a crop factor of 1.6x (meaning its sensor is 1.6 times smaller than that of a standard 35mm camera). The thing with SLR cameras is that you can and want to expand the body with lenses and accessoires that fit your photography style. Lenses are expensive though, so take care and think about which lenses you want and fit your budget. For me, portrait photography was one thing, next to landscape photography. I added the following camera add-ons to the body: Accessory Description Notes       Canon Speedlite 430EX (click to view Canon's description) Flash unit. Determing the right flash unit for the Canon was mainly driven by the need to be able to direct the flash (for 'bounce flash' photography). The distance seemed ok for most flash units, especially when considering portrait photography.       EF 50mm f/1.8 Fixed focal length lens. A good portrait lens for the EOS 350D, giving good 'bokeh' (blur) and not too much zoom.       EF 85mm f/1.8 Fixed focal length lens. A very good portrait lens, although with a crop factor of 1.6x of the EOS 350D, this lens actually zooms quite a bit, making it more useful for outside scenes where you can take some distance from the subject. For inside scenes, this really is more useful with a full-sized sensor, or zoomed-in photography. There are even higher focal length lenses, but this lens has just about the highest price / performance ratio. The 100mm might give slightly better bokeh, but for the 350D it zooms very far.       EF-S 18-55mm Zoom lens This is the standard lens which comes with the 350D body. The 'S' in EF-S means that this only works on the camera models that have the so-called 'shorter back focus'. This means the mirror inside the camera is slightly smaller, giving the option to mount a lens closer to the sensor without the mirror hitting the lens as it opens when taking a photograph. The 'S' also implicitly means the lens may be harder to sell on later, since specific camera models are required for this lens to be mountable (although some modifications can be done for it to work on other cameras). The wide angle position of the lens is quite wide, enabling nice shots of inside rooms for example. Although the lens is optional, I'd recommend getting it with the body purchase, since it has a quite high price / value ratio.       EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telezoom lens A very nice telelens for the 350D. Although it doesn't contains IS (Image Stabilizer) technology, it still delivers excellent zooming for a relatively low price (I paid around 200 euro for this lens).

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