The Canon EOS 300
is a consumer-level 35mm

135 film

The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...

 single-lens reflex camera

Camera

A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...

, produced by Canon of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 from April 1999 until September 2002 as part of their EOS

Canon EOS

The Canon EOS autofocus 35 mm film and digital SLR camera system was introduced in 1987 with the Canon EOS 650 and is still in production as Canon's current DSLR system...

 system.
Designed under the supervision of Yasuhiro Morishita, the camera was intended as a replacement for the Canon EOS 500N

Canon EOS 500N

The Canon EOS 500N is a consumer-level 135 film single-lens reflex camera, produced by Canon of Japan from September 1996 until approximately April 1999 as part of their EOS system. It replaced the earlier EOS 500 and sat in the lower portion of the EOS range. It was superseded by the EOS...

. The camera was a success for Canon, selling exceedingly well and dominating its market sector until it was replaced by the EOS 300V (Rebel Ti, Kiss 5)

Canon EOS 300V

The Canon EOS 300V was a 24x36mm auto-focus SLR camera, introduced by Canon in 2002 to upgrade Canon's EOS Rebel series of autofocus consumer SLR cameras.Upon its release, the Rebel Ti had the fastest autofocus and most advanced autoexposure in its class...

.

Like other low-priced SLRs of the time, the EOS 300 used a pentamirror

Pentamirror

A pentamirror is an optical device used in the viewfinder systems of various single-lens reflex cameras instead of the pentaprism. It is used to reverse again the upside-down and laterally reversed image coming from the reflex mirror....

 viewfinder instead of a pentaprism

Pentaprism

A pentaprism is a five-sided reflecting prism used to deviate a beam of light by 90°. The beam reflects inside the prism twice, allowing the transmission of an image through a right angle without inverting it as an ordinary right-angle prism or mirror would.The reflections inside the prism are not...

, and had a polycarbonate

Polycarbonate

PolycarbonatePhysical PropertiesDensity 1.20–1.22 g/cm3Abbe number 34.0Refractive index 1.584–1.586FlammabilityV0-V2Limiting oxygen index25–27%Water absorption – Equilibrium0.16–0.35%Water absorption – over 24 hours0.1%...

 body.

The autofocus

Autofocus

An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...

 capabilities of this camera were identical to Canon's much more expensive Elan 7 with six single-line CMOS sensors surrounding a central cross-type sensor.

The EOS 300 should not be confused with the later Canon EOS 300D

Canon EOS 300D

The Canon EOS 300D, manufactured by Canon, marketed in North America as the EOS Digital Rebel, and in Japan as the EOS Kiss Digital, is a 6.3-megapixel entry-level digital single-lens reflex camera. It was initially announced on 20 August, 2003 at a price point of $899 without lens, $999 with the...

 (EOS Digital Rebel in the US and EOS Kiss Digital in Japan), a popular entry-level digital SLR from 2003.

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