On this day 2003: Canon announces the Digital Rebel / EOS 300D

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As part of DPReview’s twenty-fifth anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the most significant cameras launched during the past quarter century. Today, we’re highlighting the Canon Digital Rebel / EOS-300D, which launched on this day way back in 2003.

The Digital Rebel is best remembered as the first DSLR to break the $1000 price barrier, arriving at a retail price of just $899 (body-only). Although DSLRs had been around for a few years before the Digital Rebel, the technology was still new and expensive, and earlier models were targeted mainly at professionals and well-heeled photography enthusiasts.

Click here to see Phil Askey’s original review of the Canon Digital Rebel

The Digital Rebel was, in fact, a bit of a rebel that disrupted the market, becoming the camera that democratized access to DSLR-quality photography. It appealed not just to enthusiasts but to anyone who wanted an interchangeable lens camera to take photos. It opened the floodgates for photographers of all stripes to jump into the DSLR game, and it sparked a wave of competition that continued until a new disruptor –the smartphone – entered the scene.

By today’s standards, the Digital Rebel may not seem impressive. At its core was a 6.3MP CMOS sensor. It would be another four years before most other brands made the move to CMOS sensors, so this was pretty cutting edge at the time. The camera had an ISO range of 100 to 1600 and the ability to shoot at 2.5fps – slower than some film SLRs of the day. Canon also used some cost-saving measures to keep the price down, including a plastic body, the use of a pentamirror in place of a pentaprism, and a single dial interface that defined the Rebel/XX0D series for another decade.

But consumers didn’t care. The camera delivered image quality that could compete with 35mm SLRs but with the convenience (and novelty) of a digital workflow. It sparked a wave of competition in the entry-level DSLR market and accelerated the demise of film as the dominant photographic technology. I knew several people who purchased Digital Rebels and immediately relegated their film SLRs to the dark corner of closets from which they never emerged.

The Digital Rebel was the first camera to support Canon’s new EF-S lens mount. The EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens cost just $100, keeping the camera’s kit price just under the magic $1000 price point.

The Digital Rebel is also notable for another feature: it was the first camera to support Canon’s new EF-S lens format (the ‘S’ stood for short back focus). EF-S featured the same lens mount and electronic contacts as Canon’s EF lenses but was designed specifically for APS-C cameras. It allowed for a rear element that extended further into the camera, bringing it closer to the image sensor. Canon packaged its first EF-S lens, the 18-55mm F3.5-5.6, in a kit with the Digital Rebel for an extra $100, which still kept the price of the camera and lens under the magic $1000 price point.

In his original review of the camera, Phil Askey called the Digital Rebel “formidable,” not for its build quality or feature set but for its value to consumers and what it could mean for the future of DSLRs across the entire prosumer camera market.

“There’s no doubt that there is an important place for cameras such as Sony’s DSC-F828 and Minolta’s DiMAGE A1,” he wrote, “But you would have to be wearing blinkers not to realize that anyone considering spending over $1000 on an all-in-one camera such as that will now put the EOS 300D Kit high on their list.”