I do have a lot of EOS DSLR bodies, I must admit, undoubtedly more than I actually need. Most of these have been bought used and I've never paid full list price for any of them. However, I've always loved the 100D because of its light weight, so much so that shortly after getting one I bought another, both at just over £200 with very low shutter counts. I use these more than any other, particularly because I hate carrying more weight than necessary, especially when (as usual) I'm out for a walk or doing something else other than going specifically to take photos. I can put both into a small shoulder bag with a different lens on each, depending on what I expect to see. However, even this isn't enough, so often I'll put the 80D with a third lens in a holster bag as well. This does increase the weight quite a bit and so I was naturally interested when the 200D was announced, with the prospect of being able to take three cameras with three lenses (I hate changing lenses in the field as much as I hate carrying extra weight) while still keeping the weight low. However, when I saw the price I really couldn't justify it, after all I can do everything (and more) that the 200D can do with the 80D.
But, when I saw the 200D on Ebay at £369 new (that's a saving of £210) I couldn't resist. Naturally the company involved is in Hong Kong and the camera isn't covered by Canon UK, but I was prepared to risk that for such a low price. In spite of giving 6 – 8 working days delivery it actually only took 2.5 days and the only obvious difference from a UK sourced camera is the charger comes with a two pin plug and an adapter.
Anyway, I've had it for a short while and it's exactly as expected. Slightly heavier than the 100D (hardly enough to notice) but otherwise much improved. It looks better, the controls are more ergonomic and it has the articulated screen, something I find very useful to save my knees when shooting from low down. There's nothing I can say about image quality, the sensor (Canon's best APS-C sensor) is identical to that on the 80D, 77D and 800D and so with the same lens and settings there's no difference in IQ. It also has the dual pixel CMOS a/f in live view which is excellent. However, the big weakness is that it still has the same 9 point, only centre point cross type, viewfinder a/f as in the 100D. This is pretty much the same (exactly the same?) as I had in the 450D nine years ago. I can only assume that Canon deliberately left this unchanged as part of its market segmentation policy, to justify the higher price of the 800D. Canon advertise it for people who are converting from smartphones and so they'd probably say that those people are used to using the screen rather than a viewfinder. But not the best camera for fast action then.
While there are more settings that you can change than on the 100D, there are far less than on the 80D (or 800D). Some of this is frustrating as they are software functions which must be available with the Digic 7 processor but not enabled, again presumably to do with market segmentation.
So my opinion :
Is it a big improvement on the 100D? Yes
Would I be happy with it as my only camera? No, because of the limited viewfinder a/f.
Am I glad I bought it? Yes.
Would I pay £579 for it? No (but I would if I didn't already have other bodies)
Would it be a good beginners camera? Yes, provided their interest wasn't fast action, if so get an 800D or (if weight isn't important) a good used example of an XXD model.
Will smartphone users be rushing to buy it? No, most will stick to their phones or go mirrorless for even less size and weight.
There's no reason why a more fully featured camera of the same size couldn't be produced and I'm sure it would be popular with many existing photographers who are considering mirrorless to reduce weight. However, Canon are obviously ignoring this possible market in favour of an, I suspect fruitless, effort to lure in smartphone users as suggested by most of their publicity for this camera. It's far more capable than that, but could have been even better if not deliberately handicapped to protect sales of more expensive models.
But, when I saw the 200D on Ebay at £369 new (that's a saving of £210) I couldn't resist. Naturally the company involved is in Hong Kong and the camera isn't covered by Canon UK, but I was prepared to risk that for such a low price. In spite of giving 6 – 8 working days delivery it actually only took 2.5 days and the only obvious difference from a UK sourced camera is the charger comes with a two pin plug and an adapter.
Anyway, I've had it for a short while and it's exactly as expected. Slightly heavier than the 100D (hardly enough to notice) but otherwise much improved. It looks better, the controls are more ergonomic and it has the articulated screen, something I find very useful to save my knees when shooting from low down. There's nothing I can say about image quality, the sensor (Canon's best APS-C sensor) is identical to that on the 80D, 77D and 800D and so with the same lens and settings there's no difference in IQ. It also has the dual pixel CMOS a/f in live view which is excellent. However, the big weakness is that it still has the same 9 point, only centre point cross type, viewfinder a/f as in the 100D. This is pretty much the same (exactly the same?) as I had in the 450D nine years ago. I can only assume that Canon deliberately left this unchanged as part of its market segmentation policy, to justify the higher price of the 800D. Canon advertise it for people who are converting from smartphones and so they'd probably say that those people are used to using the screen rather than a viewfinder. But not the best camera for fast action then.
While there are more settings that you can change than on the 100D, there are far less than on the 80D (or 800D). Some of this is frustrating as they are software functions which must be available with the Digic 7 processor but not enabled, again presumably to do with market segmentation.
So my opinion :
Is it a big improvement on the 100D? Yes
Would I be happy with it as my only camera? No, because of the limited viewfinder a/f.
Am I glad I bought it? Yes.
Would I pay £579 for it? No (but I would if I didn't already have other bodies)
Would it be a good beginners camera? Yes, provided their interest wasn't fast action, if so get an 800D or (if weight isn't important) a good used example of an XXD model.
Will smartphone users be rushing to buy it? No, most will stick to their phones or go mirrorless for even less size and weight.
There's no reason why a more fully featured camera of the same size couldn't be produced and I'm sure it would be popular with many existing photographers who are considering mirrorless to reduce weight. However, Canon are obviously ignoring this possible market in favour of an, I suspect fruitless, effort to lure in smartphone users as suggested by most of their publicity for this camera. It's far more capable than that, but could have been even better if not deliberately handicapped to protect sales of more expensive models.
Comment