Canon's 300D (Digital Rebel) vs 10D: Battle of the DSLRs
by Stephen Caston on July 5, 2004 12:23 PM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Color Reproduction
GretagMacbeth ColorChecker
*Note: For all tests on this page, both cameras were reset to their factory default settings and the Large/Fine JPG mode was used.| Digital Rebel | 10D | |
| Auto WB |  |
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| Manual WB |  |
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 (Actual GretagMacbeth RGB reference values) |
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As we can see from the color charts above, neither the Rebel nor the 10D does that impressive of a job when set to Auto WB (white balance) in Tungsten lighting. There seems to be a pinkish yellow color cast on both of them. The Manual WB shots does a better job at replicating the colors on the original chart. Below are crops from the Manual WB color test.
| Digital Rebel | 10D | |
| Manual WB |  |
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From this crop, we can see that the main difference between the default settings on these cameras is that the Rebel has a touch more saturation straight out of the camera than the 10D.
Studio Shot
The pictures below are of our studio shot. They were taken in aperture priority mode at f/5.6. Click on a picture to download the full-version.| Digital Rebel | 10D | |
| Auto WB ISO 100 |
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| Manual WB ISO 100 |
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Again, we weren't very impressed with the performance of the Auto WB in either camera. Also, we noticed a sort of bluish look in the Manual WB pictures.
Built-in Flash
For our flash test, we set both cameras to their fully automatic setting. We took the picture from 5 feet away.| Digital Rebel | 10D |
 f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 400 |
 f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 400 |
In our flash test, the 10D did a better job of reproducing the colors of our hand. The Rebel picture had a little bit too much pink in it. However, both cameras do a pretty good job for a built-in flash.
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19 Comments
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Mday - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
how the hell are you going to compare these two cameras?This does not compare to what dpreview can offer.
GOSHARKS - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link
i agree with shuttleboi, there are many sites out there that already provide excellent reviews from varying viewpoints (dpreview, imaging resource, megapixel.net, steves digicams, dcresource, etc). anandtech should focus on the things that the other large sites dont cover, what shuttleboi listed is a good start.shuttleboi - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link
Although your review is nice, I recommend you focus your attention more towards computer issues related to digicams rather than the cameras themselves (which other professional websites already do extremely well). Some other issues might be: (1) There is a 3rd party hack to the 300D firmware that reveals features found in the more expensive 10D. Is this safe? Does it really work? (2) How well do portable storage devices work (that let you dump a memory card to disk)? Relibability? Performance? There is absolutely nothing on the web right now that fully evaluates the products on the market. Here is an expansive list: http://fhoude34.free.fr/PortableHD.htm . (I'm waiting for the Nikon Coolwalker, but only because I don't trust companies whom I've never heard of.) (3) Software that manages/downloads photos. Photoshop Album? Breezebrowser? WTF?opaper - Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - link
And if you go to this digital camera review site you see that they found no diffrence in the resolution tests. I'm not saying that thier test is more valid than yours it's just a second opinion.http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos300d/page2...
jliechty - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
For covering the basic differences between the two cameras, this was a good review. However, to me this was pretty old news, since this particular topic has been covered a gazillion places already in a gazillion different ways.And of course, any camera can be a "professional" camera if you use it to make money, but in the traditional definiton, the 10D comes close to being a pro camera. The Rebel is not. If you want to see some real pro stuff, google the 1Ds. Or if you'd like some real sticker shock, check the price of the Phase One P25 (then add $8K USD more for the medium format autofocus camera system to go with it). ;-)
stephencaston - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
#2, sorry if I didn't make it clear in the article, but on page 3 I did mention that I was using a Canon 50mm Macro lens for all tests. I will add another reference to the lens at the beginning of the image quality tests too.You make a good point though. The quality of the final picture lies in the quality of the lens used. Thats why I decided to use the same 50mm lens for all the tests on both cameras.
DerekWilson - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
I'm not the resident camera expert (hi Stephen), but these cameras are "prosumer" and not professional ... kinda scary isn't it :-)I liked the article too. Maybe I'm a little biased, but I thought it was both very thurough as well as easy to follow (especially not being a camera guy myself).
shuttleboi - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
How can you possibly have tests trying to show detail and colour and not even mention the lenses you use?? As any good photographer knows, the lens is far more important than the camera body, even for digital. Did you use the kit 18-55 EF-S for the 300D? That's a horrible lens. Unless you used the same lens for both cameras, your tests are meaningless.Araemo - Monday, July 5, 2004 - link
Great Article, I was very pleased to see you guys are going to do digital camera reviews, since I'm going to be in the market for a camera soon. I hope to see reviews of more 'prosumer' or 'consumer' level cameras, rather than these $1000 cameras.. though I understand you probably get pretty much what you pay for.