Introduction

Ease of Use

The Canon EOS 800D follows the same kind of design as we’re used to seeing from Canon in this sector of the market. The camera is large and chunky, with a deep handgrip that helps you get a firm hold on the device. There is a covering around the front and side of the camera which gives it a nice texture, but there’s nothing on the top of the camera - this arguably results in a slightly cheap feel.

On the top of the Canon EOS 800D you’ll find a mode dial. It contains the usual complement of automatic and semi-automatic modes (PASM, Automatic), as well as a range of scene options. You’ll also find an option which you can use to shoot with digital filters to give your shots a creative look. Around the mode dial is a switch for switching the camera from off to on. If you flick the switch one step further, then you’ll be able to put the camera in video mode. This is a quick and easy way to enter video recording, and is much quicker than having to scroll to a mode on the dial.

Front of the Canon EOS 800D

Also on top of the Canon EOS 800D are three buttons. One controls the camera’s display, one can be used to alter ISO (sensitivity), and a third can be used to alter AF selection mode. There’s a scrolling dial on the top of the camera’s grip which you can use to alter different settings depending on the shooting mode you’re in - so for example when in aperture priority, you’ll find that it controls aperture. In manual mode, you can use the dial for both aperture and shutter speed, but you’ll need to hold down the exposure compensation button in order to switch between the two. Finally, the shutter release button is found in a convenient place to rest just underneath your forefinger.

The camera’s flash is found housed on the top of the Canon EOS 800D. To lift it, you’ll need to press a button close to the camera’s lens mount. When you’re done using the flash, you simply push it back into place.

Moving to the back of the camera, and the majority of the 800D’s buttons are found on the right-hand side. This makes it easy to quickly change settings using just your thumb - it’s likely your other hand will be engaged steadying the camera, especially if you’re using a large or a zoom lens. There are two exceptions to this rule however. The main menu button is joined on the left hand side by the info button. Neither of which you’re likely to need to press with any great frequency, so it’s easy to understand why they have been separated from the other buttons on the back of the camera.

Rear of the Canon EOS 800D

If you’re at all used to Canon cameras, you’ll be familiar with the button layout. There’s a four way navigational pad, with each button assigned to a specific function. The up directional key accesses white balance settings, the left button is for drive mode, the right button is for AF operation, while the down key can be used to change Picture Styles. In the middle of the navipad is a “set” button which you can use to confirm settings changes - it’s also useful for returning to the central AF point.

At the top of the Canon EOS 800D’s rear you’ll find the button which allows you to change the AF point, as well as the AE-L lock button. Next to the viewfinder is a button for switching Live View on. During Live View recording you can use the touch-sensitive screen to change AF point, and to fire off the shutter release if you want to. This setup can be particularly useful for macro and still life shoots, where you’re using the camera on a tripod and don’t want to look through the viewfinder.

Also found on the back of the Canon EOS 800D is an exposure compensation button, a wireless button (for quickly connecting the camera to your phone or tablet), a playback button and a delete button. A quick menu button is useful for swiftly accessing different commonly used settings - the options which are available via the quick menu will change depending on the shooting mode you’re in, but can include exposure compensation, ISO and aperture.

Top of the Canon EOS 800D

When you need to make further changes to settings, you can find more extensive options in the main menu. The menu is reasonably sensibly divided, giving you options to choose between shooting settings, playback settings and function settings. You can also change some display settings, such as whether or not the camera describes the shooting mode when you change it.

One of the changes Canon has made to the 800D, compared to its predecessor, the 760D is the new graphical user interface. It now has a more “friendly” design, which is likely to appeal to those who are new to DSLR photography. It displays helpful advice and hints on how each of the settings you’re using will affect your finished image. For example, if you change the aperture, it will advise that shooting at wide apertures is useful for blurring the background. 

The screen is mounted on an articulating hinge which means you can pull it out to face forwards, as well as tilting it downwards and upwards. This articulation is useful if you want to shoot from an awkward angle - but you will have to switch to using Live View in order to take advantage of it. The screen also folds into the body of the camera, which is great for keeping it protected from scratches and so on when not in use.

The Canon EOS 800D In-hand

As the Canon EOS 800D is a DSLR, it features an optical viewfinder. Many prefer optical finders over their electronic counterparts, but it’s worth noting that this optical finder offers only 95% coverage. That means that it’s possible for things to creep into the edges of your frame that you didn’t notice during composition, or for it to be not quite as you intended it to be. It also can’t show you how changes to settings will affect the final image, nor show you a preview of the shot you’ve just taken. It’s quite a bright and clear viewfinder though, with a display showing some key shooting information along the bottom - such as aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

Generally speaking, autofocus speeds are quick and accurate when using the camera in good light. Changing to AI Servo mode allows you to track a moving subject - the 800D copes reasonably well with movement which is not too quick and is moving in a predictable pattern. Shooting at 6fps should give you enough scope for some gentle sports and action, but you may struggle to capture super high speed action.

In lower light, the Canon EOS 800D still does well to lock onto the target most of the time. It is very unusual for a false confirmation of focus to be displayed. In very low light, the lens may hunt for a while - depending on the lens you’re using, but it’s only the absolute darkest of conditions that the camera fails to lock on to a subject at all.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 24 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 7Mb.

As we’ve come to expect from Canon cameras, JPEG images directly from the Canon EOS 800D are very pleasing and vibrant. They have a good level of warmth and saturation, without going overboard so as to look unrealistic.

The overall impression of detail is good throughout the normal sensitivity range. If you examine images taken at ISO 1600, it’s possible to see some image smoothing and loss of detail if you look at 100%, but even images taken at ISO 12800 are useable up to around A4 size. After that, you will probably want to avoid the very top setting of ISO 25600 unless you’re desperate to get the shot. At this point, smudginess is obvious, even when viewing the image at small sizes. In terms of noise, it’s not problematic at all in JPEG images, even up to high ISOs such as 12800 - this is because the camera’s noise-reduction does well to eliminate it. This can mean that with very detailed shots, you lose more detail than is desirable. By examining corresponding raw files with their JPEG counterparts, we can see just how much image smoothing is being applied - editing the raw file will allow you to add your own noise reduction for your preferred balance of detail with noise.

Most of the time, the general purpose metering option produces well balanced exposures. Canon’s metering system is weighted to expose using the area under the active AF point - on occasion this can mean it is slightly skewed if you’re shooting something high contrast. In these situations, it can pay to switch metering mode, or to dial in some exposure compensation as necessary.

When faced with artificial lighting, the Canon EOS 800D’s automatic white balance system tends to err slightly towards warmer, yellowish tones. That’s not to say that the effect is unpleasant, but if you’re after ultimate accuracy, it can be beneficial to switch to a more appropriate white balance setting.

The Canon EOS 800D can be bought as part of a kit with the 18-55mm f/4-5.6 kit lens. This new kit lens is smaller than previous versions, and makes for an overall more compact design. To achieve this, the maximum aperture at the wide end has been sacrificed from f/3.5, up to f/4. For the most part, this difference won’t be too noticeable by most users, but if you’re often shooting in low light, you might want to think about investing in at least one wide aperture prime lens. The kit lens is capable of producing some pleasing images in a variety of different conditions, making it a good starter choice for those new to DSLR photography.

Noise

ISO sensitivity can be set between ISO 100 and ISO 25600 in full-stop increments, and a boosted setting of ISO 51200 is also available. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)
ISO 25600 (100% Crop)	ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Canon EOS 800D are Auto, Manual Flash On/Off, and Red-Eye Reduction. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle	Flash On - Wide Angle
Flash Off - Telephoto	Flash On - Telephoto

And here are a couple of portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting nor the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On

Flash Red-eye Reduction

Night

The Canon EOS 800D's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's a Bulb mode for even longer exposures, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 30 seconds at ISO 100.

Night

Picture Styles

Canon's Picture Styles are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. The available Picture Styles are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. You can tweak these Picture Styles to your liking, and there are also User Defined styles so that you can create your own look.

Standard	Portrait
Landscape	Fine Detail
Neutral	Faithful
Monochrome

Creative Filters

Essentially a more extreme version of the well-established Picture Styles, Creative Filters offers 10 options, all of which can be interactively tweaked to suit your taste.

Grainy B/W	Soft Focus
Fish-eye Effect	Toy Camera Effect
Miniature Effect	Water Painting Effect
HDR Art Standard	HDR Art Vivid
HDR Art Bold	HDR Art Embossed

Auto Lighting Optimizer

Auto Lighting Optimizer performs in-camera processing to even out the contrast and correct brightness. There are 4 different settings - Off, Low, Standard and Strong.

Off	Low
Standard	High

Highlight Tone Priority

Highlight Tone Priority is a custom function which can be enabled from the menu. Use of this custom function improves highlight detail by expanding the camera's dynamic range in the highlights. As you can see from these examples, Highlight Tone Priority reduced the extent of highlight blow-out considerably.

Off	On

HDR

The Canon EOS 800D's HDR Mode captures three different exposures and combines them into one, retaining more shadow and highlight detail.

Off	+1EV
+2EV	+3EV

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon EOS 800D camera, which were all taken using the 24 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Canon EOS 800D enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Canon RAW (CR2) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Canon EOS 800D

Front of the Canon EOS 800D / Pop-up Flash

Side of the Canon EOS 800D

Side of the Canon EOS 800D

Rear of the Canon EOS 800D

Rear of the Canon EOS 800D / Image Displayed

Rear of the Canon EOS 800D / Info Screen

Rear of the Canon EOS 800D / Main Menu

Tilting LCD Screen

Top of the Canon EOS 800D

Bottom of the Canon EOS 800D

Side of the Canon EOS 800D

Side of the Canon EOS 800D

Side of the Canon EOS 800D

Front of the Canon EOS 800D

Front of the Canon EOS 800D

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

For those just starting out with DSLR photography, the Canon EOS 800D represents an attractive choice. It sits above the most basic camera in the company’s offering, the EOS 1300D, with a range of features which have come from Canon’s higher-end cameras. 

Although this camera doesn’t represent a huge overhaul from its predecessor, the biggest improvement comes in the shape of the 45-point all cross-type AF system. The accuracy and speed of this system is great for an entry-level camera, and while it’s true you won’t be bothering professional sports shooters with this model, it should serve you well for some types of moving subject. 

The design of the 800D sticks true to Canon DSLR form. That’s not necessarily a criticism as the design works well to give you lots of direct access to key settings. The touch-sensitive screen complements the physical buttons, meaning you don’t have to rely exclusively on either input method if you have preferences towards one particular way of working. The redesigned user interface gives the 800D a fresh and modern look, as well as helping beginners to get to grips with some of the terminology used by the camera. 

Videographers aren’t particularly well served by the 800D. It sticks with the Full HD format, which, at a time when even smartphones are equipped with 4K is starting to look a little bit old hat. Still, if you’re essentially a photographer who may just want to grab the odd video, you probably won’t be too bothered by not having the ultra high resolution format to hand. 

The 800D was announced at the same time as the 77D. The latter camera costs just a little bit more than the 800D, but for the extra money you get a top-plate LCD screen, dual control dials and electronic image stabilisation for video. Ostensibly, for photographers at least, both the cameras are the same with just a slight tweak in design - whether you want to pay extra for the differences will be entirely up to you. 

Overall the Canon EOS 800D puts in a solid performance for an entry-level camera. There’s enough here to tempt in those new to photography, and they shouldn’t need to upgrade too quickly either. Thanks to the helpful interface, this is truly a DSLR a beginner can learn and grow with. That said, the price is a little off-putting. Entry-level users may baulk at the high asking price, which is currently around £869 for the camera with the 18-55mm kit lens.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4
Value for money	3.5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Canon EOS 800D.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Canon EOS 800D from around the web.

Specifications

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