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Dare to Rebel - My first impression of Canon Rebel XT
Submitted by zen on 30 November, 2005 - 00:49.
| Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera |
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| Model | Digital Rebel XT | | Producer | Canon | | Media | Electronics | | Catalog | Photography | | Rank | 35503 | | List Price | US$499.99 |
Goto Amazon.com
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After buying a new digital camera every year for the last five years, I finally settle on the Canon Rebel XT. Would this become the ultimate camera I own?
My first response is: it's too big. I've used a couple of film SLR cameras before. They were great in the good old days. But then I was spoiled by the compactness of the many digital cameras I owned. Now suddenly I go back to a full size SLR, it does take some time to get used to and certainly limits my freedom quite a bit.
But what did I sell off my freedom for? Speed. What is speed? Speed is the speed of the shutter. The speed to focus. The precision of the focus.
To prove my point of speed, here's one of the first photos I took.
So I took a picture of a sea gull, big deal. Compare with the vulture I took with my Canon S1 (only US$400), there's really not much of difference...
But after spending close to two grand, I've to justify my purchase a little bit. So I would say the main difference is the action. The first picture has action, the action of hope. The second picture is static, the bird is only a decoration.
So I spent two grand so I can take some action photos, photos with hope and meaning (OK, so that's how I comfort myself).
Come back later, I'll add more smaples to this page (like night photos, problems and tips etc).
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Reviews:| Rating 4.5/5 from 527 reviews | | A fantastic camera for the amateur or the enthusiast! | | Rating: 5/5 (2 out of 2 think this is helpful) 2009-12-06 | I have had this camera for over five (5) years and I absolutely love it. I have never had any problems with this camera and it has performed amazingly. I have taken around 50,000 pictures with my Rebel and it is still going strong. I have the same original batteries that I got with my camera. My batteries have always lasted a long time before needing to be recharged; when I shot sports I could use one battery for roughly the whole day. Canon products are very high quality, which is what you can expect with brand name Japanese electronics. The Canon lenses are also fantastic; I have owned the high-quality standard 50/1.4, the portrait 85/1.8, the mid telephoto 70-200/4.0, the amazing 100/2.8 macro,and the wide-angle 17-40 L. These are all fantastic lenses to put on your Rebel, and you can rest assured that there is a whole range of Canon products to suit your needs. The only downside to these products is that they are quite expensive.
As far as the Rebel, the only complaints I have are these:
1. The amount of noise at 1600 ISO makes these pictures generally unusable.
2. The AF system is not robust enough for sports; you can do it but it's hard.
3. The grip, somewhat small, can take getting used to.
4. The camera can't take too many RAW or high quality JPEG pictures in succession (important for sports).
In general this camera is a dream for most peoples uses. Eight MP will give you high-quality prints. Unless you want to blow up your pictures to poster size this camera will be great for you.
| | awesome...no need to spend more | | Rating: 5/5 (2 out of 2 think this is helpful) 2009-12-04 | I'm a professional photographer who not only started out with this camera but still use it exclusively. Now with that said, I did invest in some high quality but affordable glass and some off camera flashes with triggers. The next step up from this camera would probably be a full frame camera that would cost thousands of dollars. This little affordable camera will take you VERY far. It has plenty of megapixels even for enlargements up to 11X14 without losing quality. I shoot models, family portraits and weddings and have never wished for a better camera. I think my only complaint and it's minor, is that the LCD screen is rather small. If you want to see the quality this is capable of check out my flickr site [...]
Buy this camera with the 50mm F/1.8 lens, the 18-55mm IS lens and a cheap Sunpak 383 flash and you'll be happy with your pictures -providing you read up on how to use it to maximize the quality of this camera. Good place to start is blogs and especially the forums on flickr....everything you ever wanted to know or ask has already been addressed there...just search | | Fantastic entry-level camera; will frustrate more advanced users. | | Rating: 4/5 2009-10-26 | Allow me to preface this review by saying that I love my little Rebel and would hate to part from it. It was great when I was just learning how to deal with a dSLR - easy to use, simple controls, intuitive (much more so than the Nikon I use occasionally)...all-around a great little guy.
However, for the really serious photographer, it leaves some things to be desired. The autofocus is slow, and faulty for dark places. The ISO goes only to 1600, and even then the noise is nearly unmanageable. 1600 is not that great either - I am lucky that I have a f/1.8 lens. There have been times where I have shot at f/1.8, 1/30, and still been underexposing by 2/3 of a stop. Thank goodness for the RAW format!
For what it is, the Rebel is great. Just don't expect it to be more.
Oh - and that 18-55 f/3.5-5.6? it is a good thing to skip. Get a 50mm f/1.8 instead, or a Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4.5, or be like me and get an 85mm f/1.8. All better lenses, and the 50mm is even less expensive. | | Canon EOS Rebel XT | | Rating: 5/5 2009-10-21 | | This item works wonders. It was everything I expected. It is extremely helpful with my photography, I mean, of course, it's a Canon. I was very pleased with my purchase. | | Beware of lemons | | Rating: 1/5 (1 out of 2 think this is helpful) 2009-07-16 | I received my Canon Digital Rebel XT in 1/08. Despite some minor complaints with the design of the camera, I enjoyed it for just over 12 months until it seemed the battery was quickly fizzling out and then suddenly stopped powering on all together. I thought it was a poor battery so I ordered 2 more, which had no effect. Canon tech support was compltely useless and bascially told me that the only option was to send it in. There are not local shops to fix these cameras because they are so intricate and specialized. So I went ahead and spent the money to send it in, which isn't cheap when you add the insurance factor. Now I just found out that it will cost $228 to get the thing fixed. That's a lot of money for something I owned for such a short period of time! However, I feel it has to be paid because of the amount of money I already invested in it and how much more it would cost just to buy a new camera. To add to my frustrations they never indicated what was wrong with the camera. All I was told was how much it would cost to fix it. Just like another reviewer asked, is it wrong to think that such an expensive piece of equipment should last longer than 13-14 months? Needless to say I have lost my faith in Canon and don't plan on buying another one of their cameras. Now that I go back and look at these camera reviews again I am seeing that other people had the same problem as me...what a disappointment.
FYI - Should this happen to you and you haven't sent your camera in yet, the written warranty is 12 months, but the Canon repair rep told us they will honor warranty repairs up to 14 months (they don't advertise that).
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Editorials:Product DescriptionFor convenience, ease of use and no-compromise SLR performance, look no further than the EOS Digital Rebel XT. Featuring Canon's Digital Trinity - an 8.0 Megapixel CMOS sensor, Canon's own DIGIC II Image Processor and compatibility with over 50 EF Lenses-the new Digital Rebel XT has an all new lightweight and compact body, improved performance across the board and the easiest operation in its class, simplifying complex tasks and ensuring the perfect shot every time. With intuitive simplicity, powerful performance and unprecedented affordability, the Rebel XT is the EOS digital camera for everyone.
Features:- 8.0-megapixel CMOS sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 22-inch prints
- Captures images at a rate of up to 3 frames per second
- DIGIC II Image Processor provides fast, accurate image processing
- Fast start-up time--.2 seconds
- Powered by rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (included, with charger)
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