Canon’s 1000D, well loved by tyro lens men, just got an upgrade. The new 1100D is the succeeding version and comes with a 12.2 MP CMOS sensor and a 9-point auto-focus system. We were quite excited to review this camera and had high expectations of the baby from Canon. If we had any doubts about the newbie, it proved not to be the case. This camera picks up nicely from where the 1000D left. Along with an enhanced megapixel rating (the old one had 10 MP), the kit also includes the basic 18-55 mm lens. Together they make quite a team in the hands of a photography enthusiast.
But first, a look at the build and features. The HOOD’s body has a smooth finish. There are no rubber grips or matte contours on its body making it a tad hard to hold. All the buttons have moved to one side like in superzoom cameras where the LCD is on one side and the navigation and feature buttons on the other. This does give the interface a clean look and the user can easily access all the keys with one hand. There’s a 2.7-inch LCD along with a viewfinder at the back. When seen through the viewfinder, the image can be around 5 per cent truncated.
Clicking pictures with this feather weight DSLR is a lot of fun. From the basic auto mode to the hardy manual mode, there are a few other one-stop scene modes on the dial. These include portrait, landscape and macro. The images come out as close to life as they can be. The colors are vibrant and the blacks deep. ISO levels up to 6400 are supported, though after ISO 400, digital noise starts showing. It may not ruin the image completely, but you really do not want grains in the image, do you? What you can do to avoid speckles when in under-illuminated environments is to first try the onboard flash before cranking up the ISO.
A good addition to this entry-level camera is its video mode. The 1100D can take video shots in 720p resolution. The 860 mAh battery slot also places the SD card slot alongside. All in all, this is a neat upgrade to the beginner’s machine from Canon.
