My first dSLR was the Canon EOS 300D a.k.a. the Digital Rebel. It was a 6.3 megapixel camera first released in North America on August 20th, 2003. It was sold with an 18-15mm EF-S (shortback) kit lens that was rather atypical since it featured nearly L lens image quality, but Dollarama build quality. I had pre-ordered and prepaid, getting my hands on my 300D one day early on the 19th. It was an upgrade from my Minolta DiMage 7 and it was so much fun to use that it blew my mind. Also so much easier to use than my Minolta that my former digicam was promptly tossed into a corner and forgotten for decades.
I put a lot of miles on my 300D while I had it so the fact that it was of consumer build quality with a plastic rather than metal body was concerning. The reflex assembly used too many nylon parts where metal was needed. I would rather have had a Canon EOS 10D like my friend Ray had with its much hardier, predominantly metal construction. My camera mostly had the same electronic guts as his, but I had the Fisher-Price version of the two cameras in terms of how they were built. I eventually upgraded to the Canon EOS 20D. More megapixels, but more importantly, more metal in the unit and less plastic. I had to sell the 300D to pay for the purchase of the new camera.
The 300D was a good friend to me and I have regretted selling it ever since. This past month I happened upon an eBay auction where an untested Canon EOS 300D with an 18-55mm EF-S kit lens was being blown out cheaply. I took a risk on it. The seller couldn’t test it because he didn’t have a battery for it or a memory card. Well, I did so why not? It arrived and it works. It’s in great shape and it will have its own diary entry shortly. The important part is that I have an old friend back and it not only feels good in my hands, but also in my heart.
Note: The images in this diary entry were produced using a Canon EOS 300D that is home where it belongs.
