RedGage

My first camera was Sony DSC S930, typical idiot camera with nice macro (about 1:2 with good quality). I took many shots with this camera, but it wasn't enough for me. I was searching SLR cameras for amateurs like me ("entry level cameras") and I chose Canon EOS 1100D.

After taking thousands of shots I came to several conclusions I will write about them in the "chronological" order - from my first thoughts to the last.

Pros :

1. The camera is very light, about 0,5 kg (1 lb);

2. Menu, navigation is very easy to use;

3. Good quality of photos (depends on lens, kit-lens sucks) and movies (in 720p);

4. Iso 800 looks still ok;

5. About 300$ for body is a good price.

Cons :

1. Plastic look;

2. Battery is not enough for many photos with mounted flash;

3. No autofocus in videos when they're being recorded (and mono-sound in those vids, only 25 or 30 fps);

4. Lack of useful options and filters like "hdr photo" etc;

5. There's no sense to buy this camera with kit-lens, because this lens is for everything and nothing, so quality will be just average (if you want something really good you have to buy good lens);

6. There's no matrix clean system, you have to do this manually or give camera to Canon service if you see black spots or dust on your photos.

Conclusion :

This is good camera from entry level in my opinion. As I know from many reviews - this camera have good ratings (average 4/6). It's better than Nikon D3100, but a little worse than Pentax K-R (if we are comparing cameras with the same price). But quality of photo depends on your experience and interesting ideas, basis is a good lens and flash.

If you're thinking about new camera - I could reccomend this model. There are better cameras like Canon 550/600D, but you will save some money (about 250$) for good lens for example and quality of photos will be even the same ;]