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Canon EOS 500D Digital SLR Camera (incl. EF-S 18-55 mm IS Lens Kit)
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| List Price: | £969.99 |
| Price: | £569.10 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £5. Details |
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk
11 new or used available from £560.99
Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #519 in Consumer Electronics
- Brand: Canon
- Model: 3820B018AA
- Released on: 2009-04-24
- Dimensions: 1.06 pounds
Editorial Reviews
Manufacturer's Description
Canon Digital EOS 500D (body only) - Tell the full story.
With the Canon EOS 500D, every side of your story comes alive. Capture every detail in stunning 15.1 Megapixel resolution, or switch to shooting pin-sharp Full High Definition video.The EOS 500D records each moment in rich, intricate detail, ready to turn into poster-size prints or crop to perfection. When light levels fall, an ISO range of up to 3200 - expandable all the way up to 12800 - lets you carry on shooting in the darkest of conditions, while Canon's DIGIC 4 processing ensures that noise doesn't spoil images. This is particularly ideal for when you can't, or don't want to, use flash.
Alternatively, switch to Movie mode and record events as they unfold. Capture every last detail of a wedding, a day out with friends or your baby's first steps by shooting in stunning Full HD (1080P), then simply connect via HDMI to any HDTV to watch the results. For times when the action just won't stop, a choice of 720P and VGA resolutions allows you to shoot and store longer movies on your memory card.
Benefits
The number of megapixels determines the amount of sharp detail a digital camera can record. With more megapixels, you can print at larger sizes, plus crop and enlarge without sacrificing quality. EOS cameras provide all the resolution you need for finely detailed, photo-quality prints with plenty of scope for post-shoot cropping.
A 15.1 Megapixel sensor lets you capture every scene in ultra-high levels of detail - perfect for turning your experiences into poster-sized photo prints.
9 Point Wide Area AF
The precise auto focus system of the EOS 500D keeps you focused for sharp images. Featuring a diamond-shaped array of nine AF points, this newly improved system delivers outstanding coverage of nearly any subject, both in horizontal and vertical formats. The nine AF points - one high-precision cross-type center AF point with f/2.8 sensitivity and eight others compatible at f/5.6 - provide fast, accurate auto focus for any Canon EF lens even when shooting in low-light environments. Focus points can be assigned automatically using one of three different AF modes or manually.
EOS Integrated Cleaning System
The EOS Integrated Cleaning System combats sensor dust in three important ways: Reduce, Repel and Remove. The camera's Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit shakes dust particles off of the low-pass filter in front of the sensor. The dust is then trapped by an adhesive along the base, preventing it from causing further nuisance. Cleaning is engaged each time the camera is powered up or shut down or manually through the "clean now" function.
Processing the vast amount of data generated by the EOS 500D calls for power and speed. Enter DIGIC 4 with iSAPS technology, Canon's most advanced imaging processor yet. It is the power of DIGIC that delivers the superb image quality, responsive camera performance, faster AF, faster continuous shooting and extended battery life. DIGIC processors are so fast they can read, process, compress and write image data back to the buffer between exposures, reducing the data bottleneck for extended continuous shooting.
3.0" LCD Screen
The camera's 3.0-inch LCD screen gives you the big picture, whether you're shooting, reviewing or showing off your images. This extra-durable, high-resolution screen with tough scratch-resistant coating on the anti-reflective, PureColor LCD II screen offers a crisp, clear picture to make shooting, playback and using the camera's menu functions especially convenient.
RAW
The EOS 500D is supplied with a comprehensive software suite that provides everything the photograph needs to manage and process images. This includes Digital Photo Professional (DPP), a powerful RAW converter that provides complete RAW image processing control.
HD Movies
Shoot super-smooth, VGA quality movies with sound. In-camera editing gives you creative control and slow-motion playback highlights every precious moment. With the new HDMI connection, shoot HD quality movies straight from your camera. Direct movie playback is possible via the HDMI connection and Image playback is also possible through HDMI for slideshows and review.
The EOS 500D camera is fully compatible with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses, as well as EX-series Speedlites.
DPOF
DPOF (Digital Print Order format) is a format which allows the user of the EOS 500D to define which captured images on the storage card are to be printed, together with information on the number of copies or other image information such as paper size, image title text, image orientation, contact information and much more.
Picture Style
Pre-sets simplify in-camera control over image qualities. Picture Style pre-sets can be likened to different film types - each one offering a different colour response. Within each selectable pre-set, photographers have control over sharpness, contrast, colour tone and saturation. The camera's factory default configuration is set to deliver immediately-usable JPEG images without need for additional menu settings.
3.4 FPS
Capable of shooting 3.4 frames per second (fps) continuous shooting, in bursts of up to 170 JPEGs with a UDMA card, the EOS 500D Digital SLR camera is ideal for shooting everything from beautiful night landscapes to fast-action sports. The Canon EOS 500D camera provides ISO speeds from ISO 100 up to ISO 3200 in 1/3-stop increments, along with two high-speed settings - H1 and H2 - of ISO 6400 and ISO 12800, respectively. Along with a wide ISO range, Canon gives shooters more tools to help maximize clarity and color.
* Based on CIPA testing standards.
Auto Lighting Optimiser
Let the EOS 500D brighten your day by turning muddy, underexposed shots into bright, beautiful images. When shooting, the camera analyzes your photos to determine proper exposure and contrast. If a shot is too dark, Auto Lighting Optimizer applies just the right amount of brightness and contrast to save the day. This intelligent feature can correct underexposed images, shot in AE mode or with a flash, as well as images exhibiting low contrast due to mist or haze. There is also a new face detection feature that brightens faces in backlit scenes - ideal for obtaining crisp, nicely exposed portraits and group photos when shooting into the sun. Auto Lighting Optimizer can be turned off when not needed in Creative Zone mode.
Box Contains
Customer Reviews
Brilliant latest addition, but with a few reservations
Having just got this latest addition to the Canon EOS range (to replace my ageing 10D), I just had to try it out, of course!
This is a welcome upgrade, with the Digic 4 processor living up to expectations. Using the Custom Function7 (Auto Lighting Optimiser), you'll be hard-pressed to come up with a badly-exposed pic! However, remember that it only works for under-exposed photos, and over-exposed still remain so - there's never been much you can do about a bright sky with an otherwise dull landscape, unless you take multiple separately-exposed photos and manipulate with Photoshop trickery, or else manipulate the RAW photo! However, the overexposed highlights are of course monitored and pointed out to you in the playback monitor immediately afterwards.
The highlight tone priority is quite a good function (CF6), but then any CF2 use to expand the highest ISO from 3200 to 12800 is lost, as the two don't work together! Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, as the higher ISO's are mainly used for concerts and otherwise dimly-lit shots, but you'll do as well to remember the limitation.
The LiveView - not available in Basic Zone modes, but that's fair enough! - is not bad at all, and the vastly improved screen resolution helps a lot. However, the screen tends to get smudged easily, as with all cameras with the eyepiece so close to a large monitor. Nevertheless, the brightness is not bad, although viewing on a brighly-lit day tends to mute the colours you see. The biggest gripe is the choice of LiveView settings - the Quick mode functions well, but the Live Mode and Live Mode with Face detection feature a particularly annoying pause while the mirror flips for focusing. And why oh why did Canon decide that you would have to press an entirely separate button (the AE/FE lock "*" on the back) to establish focus? Surely it would have been better to use the shutter-release button?
Same goes for starting and stopping a video recording - you have to press the Live View shooting mode button to the right of the monitor to start/stop it!
Hovever, the gripes are only cosmetic, as are some of these features. Serious photographers won't be using them much at all, although they're nice to have "in an emergency"!
The camera body itself is light, although as usual adding a lens and Speedlite tend to vastly add to the weight. But individually the body sits naturally in the hand, with the slightly-better grip contributing to ease-of-handling and a firm grip.
Overall, a superb piece of kit, with the results exceeding expectations. Certainly comparable with the Nikon D90, but of course a must-have for a snapper having a range of Canon lenses already!
Highly recommended!
Fantastic DSLR
I bought this camera about 2 weeks ago and it has exceeded all expectations. Being my first DSLR I tried to make sure I bought the best camera for my money. Initially I was going to buy the 450D on price but the extra few megapixels and better screen (which is stunning) swayed me. I'll try not to repeat any previous reviews but my observations are as follows;
In many respects this camera does all of the work for you. You could quite happily use the basic zone modes (auto modes) and take great photos or just use them whilst you get to grips with the complexity of manual modes.
The camera is also stunning aesthetically. It is slightly more rounded than previous models but as a consequence is also a touch smaller, especially the grip. For someone like myself who has large hands it is still not too much of a problem but if you feel like this may be a problem then a battery grip should rectify this.
In 2 weeks I probably charged this camera once and took almost a thousand photos.. great battery life considering the performance.
The buttons on the 500D are cleverly thought out except in the live view where the '*' button serves as the AF button and when filming the 'live view' button is stop/start recording.
The HD video mode is very good - I didn't consider this feature when buying but it is a very useful one to have just in case.
The only problems I have had are with memory cards. I was initially using a 2Gb one I already had but this was way too small but have recently bought a new 8Gb one which holds about 1,100 JPEG images. When you buy a card don't go for the cheapest go for the fastest (class 6). A standard SanDisk one will take about 15-20 continuous shots then will slow down or stop.
All in all a fantastic DSLR that I would recommend to anyone, especially if you take pictures of sporting events or landscapes as the Canon really seems to capture vivid colours and action well. This is by far and away the best camera in this price bracket too when compared to a D90 for example.
Canon EOS 500D
I am about to attempt a DSLR course so guess what.... I needed a camera. My old Canon digital compact didn't cut it! This camera exceeds my expectations. It is easy to set up & use. My wife is an avid user of the point & click function & I use the rest. The 15m pixels & added ability to video in HD made the difference in selecting this camera over the Nikon equiv with the swivel screen (it was a close race).
I am over the moon with this purchase, but unfortunatly I have become very snap happy! I recommend you buy protective film for the camera display & a cheap UV filter to protect your expensive lens. I bought an 8gb HD-SD card & then had to get a USB adaptor as my old laptop SD card reader was not compatible.
Don't forget - your decision to by a brand name DSLR is for life, not just for one purchase. Your future Canon EOS 500D Digital SLR Camera (incl. EF 18-55mm IS Lens Kit)accessories tie you to the brand.
