Bypassing the idea of producing a highly portable mirrorless camera that can generate DSLR-quality photographs, Canon has decided to shrink down its entry-level DSLR instead, resulting in the EOS Rebel SL1 for the US market and the EOS 100D for the European market.
Claiming to be the world’s smallest and lightest DSLR, the EOS 100D measures about 117mm wide, almost 70mm deep, and just shy of 102mm tall, and weighs just 407g sans battery or memory card.
These dimensions make the new camera about 25pc smaller and 28pc lighter than the EOS Rebel T4i, known better in the European market as the EOS 650D. You can see the sizeable difference in the diagram below.
Diagram demonstrating the differing dimensions of the EOS Rebel T4i (blue), the EOS Rebel SL1 (white) and the EOS M (grey)
Inside, the 100D is packing a newly developed 18MP CMOS (APS-C) sensor and Canon’s Digic 5 image processor. On the rear is a 3-inch touchscreen Clear View LCD II that recognises two-finger touch gestures for zooming, scanning, focusing, shooting and adjusting settings.
Its nine-point centre cross-type autofocus system is said to be faster than previous models with a new Hybrid CMOS AF II sensor to provide a wider focus area when shooting in video or Live View mode.
For video recording, the 100D is capable of shooting full HD in a number of sizes at a variety of frame rates, and users can also manually control exposure, focus and Live View features. For still images there’s a range of scene modes to choose from, including some new additions, as well as Scene Intelligent Auto.
There’s also an Effect Shot mode, which automatically takes one shot with a creative filter and one without, in-camera editing and cropping, and the ability to see how Creative Filters and Background Blur Simulation appear in real-time during Live View shooting. All of which is packed inside a dinky package for a DSLR.
The Canon EOS Rebel SL1 hits the US market in April, priced at US$649.99 for the body or US$799.99 for a kit with the new EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. The EOS 100D will be available in Ireland from late April, with an SRP of €739.99 for the body only, or €909.99 with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens included. Individually, this lens will come with an SRP of €299.99.
Updated 2 April 2013: An earlier version of this article referred only to the US market model, the EOS Rebel SL1. However, changes have been made to reflect the name of the European model, EOS 100D, throughout.
