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"Great for the price..." on by forensic_crypto_man
Pros: Image quality, responsiveness, multi-frame shooting
Cons: A little light & 'plastic'
Summary: For the price, this camera is hard to beat. Using a Sandisk UltraIII CF card, it will keep shooting at around 3fps until it fills the card. A slower CF card finds the limit of the buffer at around 12 frames, but still great for motorsport shots etc. The AF is very good - on a par with other EOS models (both digital & film). Image quality is unbeatable at this price point. I have an EOS 10D as well, and for outright image quality - using the same lens on both bodies - the 350D is superior. If you already have an investment in Canon EOS kit - lenses, flash, etc. - you can't really go wrong with this body. Sure the 20D is better built (magnesium .vs. plastic for most parts), but it costs a hell of a lot more, and the essential guts of the two are the same. If you can live with the lightweight body, go for it (but leave the 18-55 lens behind unless it's *really* cheap!)
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"Good Camara for the bigginer/ amature/ low on cash" on by jcampos1
Pros: Easy to use the basics (novice); options for the amature; sets up quickly (you won't miss a shot); set up just like my 35mm Rebel ; Auto focus
Cons: small lcd screen; lcd screen quality
Summary: I love my 35mm Rebel xti; I LOVE my digital rebel XT that much more!!! The ease of use is great for the novice like my wife and has enough options to keep my 10 year hobby moving strong. I wasn't sure I wanted to move to digital because of the price of the cameras themselves; but whn this 2nd generation digi-Rebel's price came down I new I had to take the plunge. The quality of my pictures is unbelivable. I can crop a portion of a picture and magnify it with tremendous detail. I was able to use most of my lenses that I used on my 35mm rebel. <<< that was the best part. Bottom Line: Well worth the relatively small investment; It's like playing with the big-boys the auto features make up for my short-comings...
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"Four Year Mark" on by clokverkorange
Pros: Excellent starter DSLR, lots of auto shooting modes, hefty manual uses lots of layman's terms, more inexpensive than most high-end point and shoots (Sony H-series)
Cons: lightweight and plastic-feeling, included lens tends to be soft, black version gets dirty quickly, no automatic lens/sensor cleaning
Summary: The Canon EOS Digital Rebel has been attached to me nearly since I purchased it. It is a powerful photographic tool, capable of a wide range of things a regular point-and-shoot simply can't complete with.
I've had this particular camera for four years now, and I have no intention of changing any time soon. I mentioned the lightness of the camera as a con, simply because it tends not to feel like a professional level camera. However, when wearing it around your nexk, the light weight can be a blessing.
Image quality on this camera out of the box tends to vary widely. I notice it has small problems with low light shots - even on a tripod, most of the automatic user settings will give "pixellation" and red splotches in night time blacks or dimly lit areas. For any sort of serious shooting, I recommend that you take the extra time to familliarize yourself with the manual shooting modes.
One excellent thing about this camera that puts it above point-and-shoots is the quick and easy access to features like ISO, White Balance, and Metering with the press of one button. Spot focus is also easily accessable, and displays as a red dot right in the viewfinder, allowing you to adjust focus on the fly. As I personally found, this comes in handy in portrait situations.
All in all, I would recommend the Digital Rebel XT as an above-average starter camera for anyone looking to get into more professional level shooting. For the advanced user, however, you may want to look at any upper end Nikon, or even the Sony Alpha series. -
"Canon stands up to their reputation!" on by jonathan_a
Pros: Amazing quality camera.
Cons: A bit hard to use, bring the instruction manual with you.
Summary: Okay, I'll admit it right now, I don't know ANYTHING about photography. Many people told me I should of went for something cheaper or easier to use. But the main reason I didn't want to buy another cheap digital camera is because:
- I wanted a reflex camera! I hate that 1 second delay after I press the button to take a picture.
- I wanted good quality pictures and a good quality lens! No more plastic lenses for me! Glass lens all the time!
- Big bulky camera! I have big hands, and I hate tiny cameras. They aren't very comfortable to handle.
- Good quality pictures using the Automatic settings.
I picked Canon because of it's reputation. It was either going to pick in between a Nikon or a Canon. The first thing I prefered about the Canon was the automatic settings. Many cameras under $500 have a terrible automatic setting. Sometimes i'm in a hurry, and I just want to flip my camera to "automatic" and take a quick picture. And I LOVE the Rebel XT's automatic setting! I turn it on, aim, press the picture button halfway to auto-focus, it detects the correct settings for me, then I take the picture and I get an awesome image under any condition.
Okay, so if I really want to take advantage of this expensive camera, I should be using the manual features. I do, but I have to bring my manual along with me everywhere I go until I learn it all by heart. This camera has everything! It was worth the investment. At least I'm not missing any features that other cheaper cameras do not have at all. For example, Over-expose is something I always wanted to try out, and there isn't any digital cameras out there that have that unless I invest at least $500 in a good camera.
The camera is big and bulky, but not too big that I need a big Video Camera carrying case to bring it around. The lens screws off really easily so it fits in a conventional camera carrying case. But it's big enough and the body is well designed so I have a nice firm grip and it's comfortable to handle.
My only complaint about this camera comes from the Automatic Settings. The "flip flash". If the flip is down, and the camera thinks it needs the flash, it flips up and always surprises me. Sometimes it makes me wonder how it was programmed since there were moments where the room has tons of light, I press the button to take a picture and the flash flips up. Then I take a picture and it looks ugly, so I put the flip back down and take the picture again and now the image is nicer. So I guess I can't always rely on the automatic settings when using it indoors. The camera doesn't seem to always know what's best when it requires a flash or not.
Also, for someone that doesn't know anything about photography, make sure you read the manual to know what all the manual settings do. I guess you could play around with the settings, but since the camera itself lacks instructions, you will be using the manual as reference all the time. Not that it's bad! Like I mentioned before, at least I have the features! Unlike cheaper cameras which would not have it at all.
Out of all the digital cameras I bought in my lifetime, I am very happy I chose this one. It was worth the wait. Going from a 640x480 Kodak digital camera, to a HP Photosmart 2MP, to a Fuji Finepix A303 (4MP? I forgot) up to this baby... I think I'll be keeping this camera for a long time. I don't see why I would replace it. It has everything you could ever want in a camera. And 8 megapixels is too much! I took a few pictures at this resolution and it's very big. 4 megapixels was enough for me, but I spoiled myself and went for 8 just in case. -
"Gr8 camera for begineers" on by mustu316
Pros: Good deal with 17-85 mm lens
Cons: Small body compared to other SLR's
Summary: Usinf it for more than 4 months and just simply loving it.. Get a tripod for taking photos at nigth and you waont regret it..
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