Welcome back vintage camera lovers, and join me on a trip back to 2003 where we’ll visit the EOS 10D, Canon’s most affordable DSLR to date. This 6 Megapixel DSLR was the first in an enormously popular series which set the standard for Canon’s semi-pro bodies, while crucially at an attainable price for many enthusiasts. 

Just over two decades ago, the 10D was launched at a body price of $1500, but today you can pick one up for closer to 50 bucks. I grabbed one from MPB for just £35 and took it to the streets of Brighton and London to see what it can do 21 years after it was first released. As always my full review is in the video below, but if you prefer to read the written highlights, keep scrolling! I’ll also include a selection of photos I took with the EOS 10D in 2024. I embraced the interchangeable lens concept and decided to dump the boring kit zoom in favour of a thrifty-nifty-50, in this case, a recent EF 50mm f1.8 STM which worked just fine.

The 10D wasn’t of course Canon’s first DSLR. They collaborated with Kodak for a number of eye-wateringly expensive DSLRs in the mid-90s, starting with the DCS 1 and 3, both launched in 1995. These were followed by the D2000 and 6000 in 1998, but it wasn’t until the D30 in the Year 2000 when Canon built its first 100% home-grown model. This 3 Megapixel body began to reveal Canon’s vision for how a semi-pro body should look and feel, but at $3000 it was still way out of reach for many. If you’re interested, I have another video all about it.

Technology moves fast though and in 2002, the D60 doubled the resolution to 6 Megapixels with a new CMOS sensor, and came in much cheaper at $2000. One year later in early 2003 the 10D adopted the same sensor, but refined the design and reduced the price further to $1500. Later that year Canon produced an even cheaper version, the EOS 300D or Digital Rebel, that shared the same sensor but simplified the body and features to come in at $1000 or pounds, and I have a video all about that one too if you’re interested. 

But this review is all about the 10D and how it set the standard for many elements we still see across Canon’s interchangeable lens cameras over two decades later. And even in 2003, Canon clearly saw it as the start of a new series, resetting the model number and changing the letter D from a prefix to a suffix. This further helped to differentiate them from Nikon’s DSLR models which started with a D.

In terms of looks, the 10D on the right is clearly inspired by the older D30. The shape of the grip and position of the shutter release, the dial on the left shoulder with an LCD information screen on the right, and the large clicky thumbwheel on the rear, are all shared between both models. But pick them up and you’ll immediately feel a difference in construction, with the newer 10D adopting magnesium alloy for its shell, making it feel more confident, almost like a mini EOS 1D.

Atop the left shoulder is the main mode dial with six scene presets, green square auto, traditional Program, Time and Aperture Value, full Manual and Canon’s Automatic Depth of Field or A-DEP mode. You can select shutter speeds from 1/4000 to 30 seconds plus Bulb, while the top flash sync speed is 1/200. In the middle is a popup flash, activated by a button on the side of the head, and there’s also a hotshoe for mounting Speedlite flashguns.

On the right shoulder you’ll find a large LCD screen with an orange backlight for easier viewing in dim conditions. This provides a wealth of shooting information at a glance, including the exposure, shots remaining, image quality, white balance, AF mode, drive mode, ISO value, metering mode and a compensation scale for both exposure and flash. Three dedicated buttons along the top of the screen allow you to adjust two settings each, using either the front finger dial or rear thumb wheel, both turning with very satisfying clicky feedback. 

I know I sound like a broken record, but maximum respect to the Canon designer responsible for their rear thumb wheel, as it’s always been one of my favourite camera controls. So satisfying to turn and push that chunky button in the middle! Round the back, the wheel is obviously the dominant control, but you’ll also see two switches alongside it, the lower one used to power-up the camera, while the upper one enables or disables the wheel. I’ve never accidentally turned this wheel, so leave it enabled all the time.

Eagle-eyed Canon fans may also notice three buttons on the upper right side, with the left-most dedicated to resetting the focus point to a pre-defined position. Meanwhile the right-hand button is used to adjust the actual AF point, using the top LCD screen or viewfinder for feedback.

As Live View didn’t arrive on a Canon DSLR until the 40D, composition on the 10D is with the optical viewfinder alone. This pentaprism delivers a nice bright image with 95% coverage and 0.88x magnification. The seven point AF system is a big upgrade over the more basic three-point system on the previous D60, I believe inherited from the EOS 30 film SLR, albeit without that camera’s eye-control. The seven AF points are displayed as rectangles in the viewfinder, which light-up red when active. Note as a cost-saving exercise on the later budget 300D, active points were indicated by a simple red dot. Meanwhile the shutter, aperture, compensation scale and shots remaining in the buffer during a burst are displayed below.

The 10D’s main colour screen employs a 1.8in panel with 118k dots and is used for playing images now with up to 10x magnification, and navigating menus in a single long list. Note the custom settings menu near the bottom, allowing you to adjust exposure increments, register an AF area for the new button, configure the JPEG file stored with RAWs, and choose the flash sync curtain amongst more.

On the left side of the body, a single rubber flap covers the ports, although mine has split and is no longer attached to the body. At the top is a Mini USB port for data transfer only at 1.1 speeds, alongside a 3.5mm composite video output for TV slideshows. At the bottom are a PC Sync port for external lighting and an N3-type remote terminal. 

Behind a door on the grip side is the card slot, accommodating Compact Flash memory, either standard Type-I or thicker Type-II cards, the latter including the IBM MicroDrive. Since FAT-32 formatting is supported, you can use cards larger than 2GB in size.

Meanwhile underneath the body is the battery compartment with the 10D powered by Canon’s BP-511 Lithium Ion pack which should be good for about 500 shots. Note like most cameras of this time, you can’t charge the camera battery over USB. Also notice the circular compartment alongside for the CR-2025 battery to backup the clock and settings.

Like other Canon DSLRs, the EOS 10D is equipped with a standard EF lens mount, providing access to the vast EF lens catalogue from Canon and third parties, with the APSC sensor reducing their field of view by 1.6x. In the absence of a wide zoom designed for APSC cameras, Canon offered the 10D in a kit with the EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5, which thanks to the sensor became equivalent to 38-136mm.

Only a few months later the cheaper EOS 300D or Digital Rebel launched with a new kit zoom, sporting a wider 18-55 range. This was the first in a new series of EF-S lenses designed exclusively for APSC bodies, employing a modified bayonet that prevented them from being used on larger formats. Notice the red dot on the 300D’s mount for aligning EF lenses, and the white square for EF-S lenses.

While the 10D also had an APSC sensor, the body pre-dated this new mount, unfortunately ruling-out the use of any EF-S lenses. Subsequent models in the series from the 20D onwards could all use EF or EF-S lenses, but the 10D was limited to EF alone, making lenses like the 17-40 f4L your best bet for a standard range.

Meanwhile the 6 Megapixel APSC sensor, inherited from the D60, employed CMOS technology when most rivals including Nikon were still using CCDs. The maximum image size is 3072×2048 pixels and the sensitivity runs from 100 to 1600 ISO with an H option equivalent to 3200 ISO.

From the Quality section you can choose Large, Medium or Small resolution JPEGs, each with two compression levels, or RAW. While there isn’t a RAW+JPEG mode, the RAW file is still stored with a JPEG for playback and you can set its quality from the custom menus. New to the 10D was the chance to adjust image parameters, including sharpening, contrast and saturation, and there was also the chance to change the colour space to Adobe RGB.

Working alongside the sensor was Canon’s new DIGIC processor, introduced on the PowerShot G3. This reduced power consumption, accelerated processing and enabled new features like FAT-32 formatting. While the maximum burst speed remained the same 3fps as the D60, the faster processor helped extend the buffer to nine frames – Impressive stuff. No seriously it was for a $1500 DSLR in 2003.

Meanwhile today the 10D remains an easy camera to get working. Used bodies will almost certainly need a new battery pack, but the BP-511 was employed by so many Canon cameras that Canon BP-511 replacement packs are easy to find. Again like most DSLRs of that time the battery can only be charged externally using a separate AC unit, but replacements are readily available. It’s also fairly easy to find Compact Flash memory cards that work in the 10D, and if you don’t have an external card reader, you can access them directly from the camera through its Mini USB port with a suitable cable.

Canon EOS 10D verdict

After several generations of gradually evolving semi-pro DSLRs, Canon really hit its stride with the 10D. The earlier D30 and D60 may have been their first home-grown bodies, but it was the 10D in 2003 where the series number was reset and the letter D moved to the end. Canon was already satisfied by the quality from the D60’s 6 Megapixel CMOS sensor, but packed it into a tougher body, almost like a mini 1D, tweaked the controls and crucially reduced the price. DSLRs may have been steadily falling in cost over the years, but the 10D became more affordable than ever, making it the natural choice for enthusiasts.

The 20D arrived the following year sporting a new 8 Megapixel sensor, 9-point autofocus, faster bursts at 5fps, and compatibility with EF-S lenses. New models continued to arrive roughly every 18 months until the 50D in 2008, but from that point onwards, Canon split the line into the even higher-end 7D in 2009, and the simpler 60D in 2010, repositioning the double-digit series as more consumer than semi-pro. Upgraded bodies subsequently slowed to a roughly three-year cycle, with the 70D in 2013, 80D in 2016 and finally the 90D in 2019 – this would become the last model in Canon’s double-digit DSLR series.

But the original 10D’s design-DNA can be seen in each one of those DSLRs, not to mention recognised in several newer mirrorless models. It’s a classic body, representing the start of Canon’s imperial DSLR phase, although if you fancy reliving this period, it makes more sense to go for the more capable 20D or 30D on the used market for much the same price. Or how about stretching a little to the 40D which introduced Live View to Canon DSLRs in 2007. I remember reviewing it when I lived in New Zealand, with one of my early YouTube videos showing how Live View proved invaluable when focusing through a telescope. You could even connect a Garmin GPS unit and embed co-ordinates into your images, a process I detailed in a second video! And the 40D body is still readily available under $100 or pounds – check MPB and eBay for potential bargains, see links below!