How can we get canon to add this to the next rebel firmware

wont the russian firmware hack take care of most of those requests? i think theres even one for the mirror lock.

just curious.

Personally, I've never needed anything longer than a ten second timer, but that's just me. To be honest, the only thing I would change about my DRebel is that I wish it was black. The silver just looks kind of cheesy to me. But of course that's an extremely minor complaint and one that I'm not too concerned with. Oh, and the 10D was definitely not an option for me either, as my savings account still has not even began to recover after purchasing my camera in March.

Yes, and the camera store salesmen seized the opportunity and took advantage of that. They knew that they could *say* practically anything they wanted to say in order to force the deal, and they knew that the average customer trying to buy a DSLR camera would not be astute enough to know the importance or unimportance of mirror lockup and FEC and things like that.

---Bob Gross---

I don't think anyone has "extreme dissatisfaction" with their dRebel, and most of us are aware of its position in the lineup. I'd even venture to guess that most of us *would* have bought a better camera if we had the money for it.

IMHO, it seems wasteful to have a capability that cannot be utilized because the software was intentionally left out. In my idyllic view of capitalism, you make the best product possible and sell it at the best price that meets balance between supply and demand.

Don't get me wrong, I love my camera, and I don't lose any sleep over any of these issues.

Bill

You've never worked in the marketing department of a large manufacturer, have you?

More...
You've never worked for a large Japanese manufacturer, have you?

There are a lot of realities hidden here.

---Bob Gross---

The 10D by the way.. does not have the ability to alter the timer lenght either without the aid of the timer remote sold seperately for a tidy sum.

re: timer limit

i got a electronic remote RC-1 from canon for 24.00
works great...

On the issue of 10D vs 300D - I bought the 300D because of its size and weight advantages over the 10D. I would have spent the extra if the 10D was smaller camera.

I also feel slightly disappointed with the features on the 300D. Yes, I knew that it didn't have user-selectable metering and focus modes when I bought it.
What I didn't know (and as far as I can see, even the manual does not tell you) is that if you use a single focus point the camera goes into 'partial' metering. Since I always use a single focus point (I know where I want to focus - I don't want the camera deciding) this makes the metering on the camera very poor.
The occasional issues with the AI focus kicking in when you focus and re-compose were also not known before purchase - see much discussion on the dpreview forum! I'm sure I've seen Canon describe the technique, so the fact that it is unreliable on the 300D is a disappointment.
I also wouln't worry about FEC, except that the camera always under-exposes when using flash.

So on the whole I'm not impressed with the way Canon have implemented the reduced feature set, but until they introduce an improved camera of similar size/weight I guess I'm stuck I've looked into getting the Nikon D70 or Pentax *ist-D, but I greatly prefer the Canon image quality.

Look on google for a program called FECset.
You can use it to boost the flash output of the 300D by whatever you want.
Most find that +2/3 compensation is wonderful!
8)

I've never had a real job other than the Navy. I feel so naive...

I believe you are wrong about this. The camera is supposed to go into partial metering only if you press "*" button.

I almost never have a problem with the camera going into AI servo, because I almost always use different AF points and place them over the subject (and yes, I don't care about the rule of thirds, it is overrated )

Still, I find the discussion at Dpreview quite interesting. I was not aware of that issue before I bought the camera. But, I guess, it was my fault. I did not know that it is how the Rebel class SLRs work. I was sure that I was buying much more than point-and-shoot. Still, I would not change my decision to buy a Rebel and not a 10D even if I knew. I will get a better camera one day, in the mean time, the Rebel brings me into the DSLRs world, it gives me the excellent picture quality. And there is nothing wrong with complaining about its various features or lack of features from time to time.

I copy paste the message form Dpreview bellow and here's the link to the thread http://forums.dpreview​.com …orum=1031&messa​ge=6898592
It's interesting reading.

<<<<<Recent forum postings implied my camera needed fixing becuase it goes into AI servo mode when I recompose the picture. I have had several emails with Canon support. The last one is inserted below. The bottom-line is my camera is normal.

1) The camera may go into AI servo during recompose, even if all instructions on page 63 of the manual for Focus Lock are followed. My take is Focus Lock should really be called 'soft' Focus Lock or 'conditional' Focus Lock - until movement is detected.

2) Phil's review stated 'Once Autofocus is locked......the camera.....is not fooled by panning'. Canon's email contradicts this statement. Panning may result in motion detected and cause the AI Servo to kick in.

3) If your camera goes into AI Servo when recomposing that is a normal camera function. Many of you said your camera will not go into AI servo while recomposing. It should do so if you pan or recompose under the right conditions. [Try recomposing by panning that brings a plant into the frame where the plant is closer than the focus point - I've noticed the plant doesn't even have to get near the single AF point you are using]

4) Canon recommends using manual focus or buying a 10D!!


The bottomline for me is during two months of owning the camera this has only been an issue once. And during the testing of Focus Lock over the week-end, the camera over-riding Focus Lock was actually the right decision (from a picture perspective). While I would like the ability to turn AI Servo off, I'd rather have the camera with AI Servo and no off button than no AI Servo feature altogether.

*************email from Canon***************

The manual is correct (page 63 Focus Lock). However, as explained previously, it is possible that the camera will interpret your movement (recomposing) as panning

(which would be used to track a moving subject), and the AI Servo may
kick in. Again, this is not a camera malfunction; rather, it is simply
how AI focus works. If this does not match your shooting style, we
suggest that you focus manually, or shoot with a camera that does not
use AI Focus. Remember, the EOS Digital Rebel is not a professional
camera; it is designed for the amateur photographer for simple, almost
point-and-shoot operation. For more manual control, a more advanced
camera is necessary (i.e. the EOS 10D).
***************>>>>>>

It seemed to be the consensus from various threads on (mostly) dpreview that Partial metering is engaged when you select a single focus point. That could be wrong, but it would probably explain the poor metering results I get. Of course it may be me - I think I need to do some more experiments!

I tried digging a little deeper, and came up with:

http://forums.dpreview​.com …orum=1031&messa​ge=7959601
http://forums.dpreview​.com …orum=1031&messa​ge=7712567

The discussions are quite interesting.

with a single AF point it is still evaluative metering, just the area around the selected AF point gets more weight. That's how I understand it. As far as I remember, it's not unique to the 300D, there was a similar discussion regarding the 10D.