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It is 12.5x10.5x15cm with the supplied EFS 18-55mm lens attached. It weights 624grams.
This is a unit suitable for those who have progressed beyond what a basic digital camera can offer. Your first job will be to get used to using a viewfinder that has almost entirely disappeared on its smaller sibling. The screen is used to display a lot of important information about the shot you are about to capture. Once captured it can still be viewed on the TFT.
The next thing to adjust to is the added weight and of course rather than a wrist strap it comes with a neck strap but still the right hand is all important with the left hand deployed to make the fine adjustments on the lens before capture.
The left side has a door behind which are AV, HDMI and external microphone sockets. Also found just below the crown of the unit is one of the neck strap anchor points. The right side has the other neck strap anchor.
The 6.4x4.3cm TFT dominates the rear of the unit with three buttons and the ubiquitous five position joystick to its right but to the left of an extended rubberised section for the side of your right thumb. To the right of that two further well marked buttons. The shoulder has two buttons the viewfinder and a further button.
The top has a somewhat frightening twelve position wheel with an off/on/video slider to its right, then two further buttons and finally almost on the front the shutter release surrounded by a rubberised area to ensure good contact is made.
There is a built in flash on the top that will pop up and is never closer than 10cm to the lens and can be up to 12cm away. Once you progress more you can fit an external flash to the unit as there is a shoe available on top of it. I have been careful not to mention the items on the lens itself as these can vary according to lens used but the 18-55mm unit I was sent gives a good starting point.
Finally the base has a tripod anchor point as well as a door behind which the solid battery and any SD card you use sits. I found removing and reinserting the SD card can cause the lock button on it to engage so care when doing this can save time when your next shot comes along as you will get a warning on the TFT and by the time you have removed and re-inserted it the shot may be lost.
I took a range of images in a range of conditions including use of flash and was happy with the results. As a novice user take lots of shots and then study them to see where you have gone wrong. If possible then take the same shots again – without the errors of course – and learn that way.
This is a very powerful unit and along with RTFM the best advice is keep taking images and check them off the unit as the TFT will often tell a different story to that you get when viewed on a PC. If possible print some of your better images just to see where you can improve.
The Canon EOS 100D with 18-55mm kit is available from £399 with free delivery from the link below.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CMQEFG0?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634
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