Digital Camera Recommendation-Canon Digital Rebel (XT)

I am going to sound like a shill for Canon cameras in this post but in reality Canon is all I have used for my amateur photo hobby for the past 15 years.  The picture at left was taken from my backyard with my Canon Digital Rebel and a 75x300mm Canon AF lens.  Click on the thumbnail for larger JPEG image. 

I started with a couple of point and shoot models and then moved up to the EOS A2E SLR body and AF lenses about 12 years ago.  In late 2003 I bought a Canon Digital Rebel and have used it extensively for the past 2 years.  I made the Canon decision for 2 reasons; I liked the camera, it's features and price, and I already had a significant investment in Canon lenses.  I have not been disappointed.  In fact, I initially kept one of my A2E bodies with the intention of using it in conjunction with the Digital Rebel, but have since sold it and use the Digital Rebel exclusively.  At the time, the Canon Digital Rebel had the functionality, compatibility, and price ($900 for the body) I was looking for. 

With today's model (Digital Rebel XT) you get even more, for less ($800 for the body only on amazon).

Most of my photography is hobby oriented, but I have used the Digital Rebel to produce high quality prints up to 16x20 inches or so.  You can see examples of my Digital Rebel photos on my web site in the photo category or any of the photo albums listed on the right sidebar of the home page.  The 6.3MP sensor in the Digital Rebel is capable of 3072x2048 pixel images, while the XT is 8.0MP and produces up to 3456x2304 pixels. 

The Rebel is fast (2.5 fps for 4 shots) and the Rebel XT is faster (3.0fps for 5 shots) when shooting 6-8MB RAW files.  I use SanDisk Ultra II 512MB Compact Flash cards which are pretty high speed and I have not experienced any situations where shooting speed was not what I required.  Each 512MB card will hold 64 RAW shots in the Rebel.

The Rebel also offers a lot of flexibility, from automatic focusing and exposure control through almost complete manual control.  The controls are intuitive, although it took me a while to figure out the complete capabilities of the camera.  When I moved from the A2E platform to the Digital Rebel, most of the controls were very similar.

I bought an extra of the Canon BP-511 Li-ion batteries, and get 300-600 shots per charge, depending on temperature and flash use.  With 2 batteries (one in the camera and a fully charged one in my case) I have yet to run out of juice before finding an outlet to recharge.

About the only thing I don't like about the Digital Rebel is that with the sensor size, the field of view is more limited than with a film camera.  I think the ratio is 5/8, so a 50mm focal length lens on the Digital Rebel has the field of view of an 80mm focal length lens on the A2E.  I have only noticed this when working close up to subjects.  I would recommend a short focal length, close up lens as part of any lens package when purchasing a digital SLR camera. 

My bottom line is that after 2 years of use (and 10 years on the A2E's) I have been very happy with  Canon and the Canon Digital Rebel, and have experienced no problems at all.  I think the XT would deliver the same satisfaction, and at $800 is an even better buy than the Digital Rebel was 2 years ago.  (Or if your are adventurous, you can find Digital Rebels on eBay for $500-600).

Either way, I don't see how you can go wrong with a Canon Digital Rebel (XT) for high end, hobby digital photography use. 

Comments

[Jay Kominek]

Matt, I've gotten a few third party batteries for my Rebel that all last significantly longer than the Canon-provided battery. They were cheaper, too. I don't recall the name, but you might poke around.

[Rob]

MDV-
Here are setup and steps I used for the moon photos.

1. Digital Rebel with Canon AF 75x300mm lens set at 300mm.
2. Focus set on manual and infinity.
3. Various exposure settings using the manual shooting mode, but f9 and 1/200 was pretty good, depending on how much of the moon is illuminated. See this post-http://www.robertmcnickle.com/rob_mcnickle/2005/12/exposure_test.html for examples. ISO100-400 setting. RAW image size.
4. I use a tripod and the timer setting so I am not touching/moving the camera when the shot is taken. (It's hard to hold still with the big lens.)
5. I use Canon Digital Photo Pro for post shot adjustments, like sharpness, cropping, contrast and brightness. It came with the camera, and the latest version v2.0.3 (from the Canon download site) is best.
6. Sometimes I will also use Adobe Photoshop Elements v2.0 (which also came with the camera) for post processing.
7. I also get some shots which are a blur, probably coz I have bumped the camera or tripod. Faster shutter speeds and larger aperture can help mitigate this.
8. And I play around a lot with it, and delete the shots that don't come out well.

Good luck!

[MDV]

I also have a Digital Rebel but have not had the luck with it you have so far. Any chance you could fill me in on your settings for taking that moon photo? I saw in an earlier post that you're at F9.0 and 1/200, but that isn't working for me. All my attempts come out like a blurry white blob.

[Matt]

I totally agree. We bought our XT in February after having both our Canon 35mm and our digital fail while on a trip to India. The XT is almost perfect and has paid for itself many times over.

My only complaint is that a few weeks ago I notice that the battery life is seriously degraded. On a full charge, it will go from full to one bar after only a handful of shots.