Review of the Canon EOS D30 Digital Camera

Nowadays, digital cameras are in, and the search is for the next superstar camera that has all the desired features: affordability, quality, and relative smallness in size. One of these cameras up for consideration is the Canon's EOS D30, which contains an abundance of features as well as some drawbacks. My wife and I personally tested this camera for ourselves.

The Canon Cameras

Generally, Canon's EOS series is an autofocus 35 mm film and digital SLR camera system was introduced in 1989 with the Canon EOS 650 and is still in production as Canon's current dSLR system. The acronym EOS was chosen for Eos, the Titan Goddess of dawn in Greek mythology, and is often pronounced as a word, although some spell out the letters. It competes primarily with the Nikon F series and its successors, and holds the primary market share in most countries. At the heart of the system is the EF lens mount, which replaced the previous FD lens mount.

The bayonet-style EF lens mount is at the center of the EOS camera system. Breaking compatibility with the earlier FD mount, it was designed with no mechanical linkages between moving parts in the lens and in the camera. The aperture and focus are controlled via electrical contacts, with motors in the lens itself. This was similar in many ways to Nikon's 1983 F3AF, although other manufacturers including Contax (with its G series of interchangeable-lens 35 mm compact cameras) and Olympus (with its Four Thirds digital SLR system) have since embraced this type of direct drive system.

The flash system in the EOS cameras has gone through a number of evolutions since its first implementation. The basic EOS flash system was actually developed not for the first EOS camera, but rather for the last high-end FD-mount manual-focus camera, the T90, launched in 1986. This was the first Canon camera with through-the-lens (TTL) flash metering, although other brands had been metering that way for some time. It also introduced the A-TTL (Advanced TTL) system for better flash exposure in program mode, using infrared preflashes to gauge subject distance.