My first DSLR: The Canon 1100d

Canon 1100d Review

Having owned my Canon 1100d for over 4 months now I thought it was about time I did a blog post about my experiences with it so far! In short: I love it. I've been seriously impressed with the kind of photos I've been able to produce, especially considering I've only taken photos using the kit lens so far, although I do have my eye on this 50mm f/1.8 which I'm thinking about getting soon! I love being able to play around with depth of field (getting the background to go all blurry in comparison to the foreground) and the detail when taking close-up shots is incredible!

There were a few reasons why I went for the Canon 1100d over any other camera. Brand wise I knew that Canon were pretty reliable and from my research I knew I'd have a bigger choice of lenses for when I wanted to start experimenting more. The price was a major factor for me too as I knew I didn't want to fork out more than a couple of hundred pounds (I bought mine in the Amazon sale just after Christmas so it was even cheaper!)

If like me you've never used a DSLR before but are thinking of buying your first there's a few things just to think about beforehand. I found it was a little strange getting used to it at first - even small things like having to look through a viewfinder rather than a screen on the front felt really odd! Definitely read the manual before getting started as well (as tempting as it may be) because I found it a massive help for learning how to work all the different functions.

I'd also recommend learning how to use it on manual mode as soon as possible to make full use of the camera's capabilities. I have a couple of friends who are into photography and were willing to show me the basics but I also used a couple of tutorials online which turned out to be really valuable. This video in particular is really good at explaining all about ISO, aperture and shutter speed, as is this blog post and this one!

Even Bilbo's given it the seal of approval ;)

I guess the main conclusion of this post is if you're looking for a reasonably priced first DSLR camera which is going to be relatively easy to use then the Canon 1100d fits the bill perfectly. Just be prepared for a lot of frustration along the way - even now I still find myself getting annoyed when the weather's crap and I'm trying to adjust the settings to get a decent shot or the photos just aren't coming out the way I want them to! It all takes practice though and I'm still so excited to carry on experimenting with it :)

What do you think of the Canon 1100d? Anyone with any specific questions about the Canon 1100d please feel free to ask either in the comments below or you can tweet me too :)

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