Canon EOS Digital SLR System

The Canon EOS system of digital single-lens reflex (SLR) bodies and lenses is the standard choice among professional photographers worldwide. This page makes it easy to shop for Canon digital bodies and EOS lenses. Every component manufactured by Canon is covered, plus a few exceptionally good third-party components. If you are new to photography, you might want to start with our article "Building a Digital SLR System".

This article goes through every section of the Canon EOS system and concludes with some starter system recommendations.


Canon Eos body


Small sensor bodies are good for telephoto work, such as wildlife photography. A 100mm telephoto lens that would be ideal for portraits on a film or full-frame sensor body gives a 150mm equivalent perspective on a small sensor ("APS-C") body. The full-frame sensor bodies are good for wide angle photography, low-light photography, and ultimate image quality.
EOS-1Ds Mark III EOS-1Ds Mark III
EOS-1D Mark IV EOS-1D Mark IV
EOS-1D Mark III EOS-1D Mark III
EOS 5D Mark II EOS 5D Mark II
EOS 7D EOS 7D Digital
EOS 50D EOS 50D Digital


Normal lens

A normal or standard lens is light in weight and approximates the perspective of the human eye. Normal lenses have large maximum apertures, indicated by small f-numbers such as f/1.4 or f/1.8, and thereby gather much more light than zoom lenses. It may be possible to take a photo with a normal lens in light only 1/8th or 1/16th as bright as would be required for the same photo with a consumer-priced zoom lens. Another advantage of the large maximum aperture is that the viewfinder will be correspondingly brighter and therefore easier to use in dim light. (SLRs keep the lens wide open for viewing and stop down to whatever aperture you have set just before taking the picture; this is why the viewfinder always looks the same even if you switch from f/1.4 to f/8 to f/16.)