I wanted to get the Canon Digital Rebel XT for a while now. Finally, the price after rebate got so low (comparing to what the camera used to cost) that I bought the Canon Digital Rebel XT with an 18-55 mm lens as a kit. The camera is available in either silver or black color. I got the black version.

Pictures

The pictures of the Canon Digital Rebel XT (EOS 350D) as well as sample photos I took using it are available at the address below:

Click here to see the sample photos I took with this Canon Digital Rebel XT (EOS 350D) 8MP Digital SLR Camera and photos of the camera

What Is Canon Digital Rebel XT (EOS 350D)?

The Digital Rebel XT is a digital SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) camera with 8-Megapixel resolution. The camera is also known as Canon EOS 350D. The camera supports interchangeable lenses of Canon EOS series. The kit also includes the 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 EF-S lens, which is 29-88 mm equivalent.

The camera has a 3:2 aspect ratio sensor, which is perfect for 6x4 prints and very close to other formats. It stores the images on inexpensive Compact Flash memory cards and is powered by a rechargeable proprietary battery pack. The camera features fast Digic II processor and in addition to JPEG can record images in RAW format.

The camera has a built-in flash as well as the hot shoe for external flashes. The camera has automatic modes as well as manual ones. The camera has a 1.8-inch LCD screen and an optical through-the-lens viewfinder. The camera uses a CMOS sensor instead of a CCD that most other cameras use.

The lens features manual and automatic focusing and a solid construction. The camera supports ISO 100-1,600 and features USB 2.0 connectivity.

Getting Started

The camera and the lens arrived in one box. I have to say that I did not even open the manual, but was able to attach the lens to the camera, charge and insert the battery and the CF memory card that I have and was ready to shoot. You should also attach the supplied shoulder strap to the camera.

If you get one, you should probably read the manual and especially the part that pertains to attaching the lens. It describes how to align marks on the lens and the body. Also, make sure there is no excessive dust present where you are attaching the lens, because the dust is a big problem and a headache if it gets on the sensor (CMOS).

The memory compartment lid is solid as is the door of the battery compartment lid.

Usage

I immediately noticed how well constructed the camera and the lens are. The camera is on the heavy side and the lens has the zooming and focusing rings that require just enough effort to rotate to have solid feel. Maybe even a bit too much effort, especially as is the case with the zoom ring at the end of its travel.

The camera came pre-set to its automatic mode and I was able to take pretty good pictures in that mode by switching the lens into automatic focus mode (the switch is on the lens itself) and just pointing and shooting. The camera even pops its flash up when there is not enough light.

If you have used a compact digital camera before, you might be surprised that you cannot use the LCD when composing the shot. The screen stays blank until you take the picture. Aside from this kind of review, the screen is also used for menus and control functions. You use the viewfinder to compose the shot, confirm the focus in manual focus mode or the focus points in the automatic focus mode.

Just above the 1.8-inch screen described above, the camera also has a simple LCD screen (with available backlight) with basic shooting information like shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation. The shooting parameters are also shown in the viewfinder, under the frame in green.

The camera lets you adjust the shooting parameters (aperture on aperture priority mode or shutter speed in the shutter priority mode) by rotating the thumb-wheel on the upper part of the handgrip.

Ergonomics and Ease of Use

The camera is convenient to hold. The handgrip has good surface texture and configuration and the lens lends itself to being held by your left hand SLR-style. The viewfinder is slightly dim with the supplied lens (the lens has a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at wide angle or f/5.6 at telephoto) but adequate for most situations.

The major controls are within easy reach. As with any SLR camera, you have to remember that you zoom using the ring around the lens and manually focus by rotating the outer barrel of the lens as well.

The camera shows you where it focused in the automatic mode by briefly illuminating the selected focus points within the viewfinder, which is convenient. The tripod mount is located well and the camera is stable when mounted on the tripod.

The menu system is easy to use and some functions are called directly by a push of a designated button (e.g. ISO).

One concern I have is with the zoom on my lens. The zooming is generally smooth and easy, but at the end of the zooming range, the effort grows substantially. Maybe it is just an issue with the particular lens I got.

The lens has an outer barrel that rotates when focusing, which may make using a polarizer difficult. The zooming ring has clearly marked focal lenghts, but the focusing ring has no distance markings.

Parameters

The camera lets you adjust a wide range of parameters. There are three different resolutions for shooting JPEG and each one of them is available in two compression levels. The highest (8MP: 3456x2304) resolution at the lowest compression (best quality) produced a file exceeding 4 MB in size. There are also two modes of RAW shooting: RAW and RAW+JPEG Fine, where the JPEG file is the largest and best quality. Very convenient.

The RAW files that I got were about 11-12 MB in size.

You can also adjust the ISO (100-1,600), white balance, sharpness, contrast and other shooting parameters using the menus. The manus are pretty easy to use.

Performance

The camera powers on or off instantaneously. The focusing is very fast at under a second, even in the dim environments (the camera has an autofocus-assist light). The shutter lag is virtually absent when pre-focused or when using the camera’s manual focus.

The camera can take pictures at about 3 frames per second. In RAW mode it does it for 5 consecutive frames, then slows down to 1-2 seconds per shot. In JPEG mode, takes more than 10 frames at 3 fps, then slows down to about 1 fps.

Image Quality

I mostly used the camera in its RAW mode, adjusting white balance, contrast and other parameters in Adobe Photoshop CS2. The JPEG pictures were very pleasing in color, had good white balance and color saturation. All images had very low noise levels, excellent detail level and dynamic range.

The kit lens produces generally sharp results with slightly soft corners at telephoto. The photos at wide angle were sharp corner to corner. There is some purple fringing (chromatic aberrations) at wide angle, as can be seen in the sample photo that I took, but not so at telephoto.

The sample photo was produced from the RAW file. I discovered that the JPEG files could use better automatic white balance. The automatic white balance made photos taken in incandescent light too warm and photos taken in sunlight slightly too cold.

Sample: Wide angle at ISO 100. Converted from RAW - 8 Megapixels. 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 EF-S kit lens used. (click for full-size image)

The noise levels are very low. There is no noise visible at ISO 100-400. At ISO 800, there is some noise, but it has fairly fine pattern. And there is more noise at ISO 1600, but not as much as what consumer-level compact digital cameras produce at ISO 400.

The camera produces 8-Megapixel images that can be printed as large as 13x19 at pretty much any ISO up to 800 and ISO 1600 photos will look great at smaller sizes.

Battery Life

The battery that comes with the camera is rated by Canon as being able to produce 400 shots with partial use of flash or 600 shots with no flash use. I took about 100 photos with no signs of battery depletion.

How Does It Compare To Nikon D50?

The Nikon D50 has a larger screen, uses smaller SD cards and has a 6-Megapixel CCD sensor vs. 8-Megapixel CMOS of the Digital Rebel. Both produce comparable photo quality (depending on the lens you use, of course). I like the fact that the Nikon has a larger screen and the small LCD with shooting parameters is on the top deck. But the Canon has a slightly higher resolution and I have to say that, maybe it is very subjective, but I like the CMOS color better.

Bottom Line

I am very impressed with the Canon Digital Rebel XT and its kit lens. Not only the camera and the lens are solidly built and feature-rich, they perform very well too. The excellent image quality, low noise levels and great battery life make it an excellent choice. I highly recommend it.

Recommended
Yes

Product Rating
(Excellent)

This review is also available at Epinions.com: Canon Digital Rebel XT (EOS 350D) Digital SLR Camera Review on Epinions.com

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