Pros: Interchangeable lenses, price point, hot shoe, good response
Cons: No movie mode, no digital zoom, no LCD preview, no separate flash exposure adjustment
The Bottom Line: A digital SLR for under a grand. Interchangeable lenses, can use older EF or new EFS lenses. Investment is secure as newer bodies come out with more features.
suemccartin's Full Review: Canon Digital Rebel / EOS-300D Digital Camera with...
I've been shooting digital pictures for several years. My first digital was a Canon G2, my second digital was a HP Photosmart 850 (see reviews for both on epinions). While both of these are what I'd call fairly good cameras, they both have the limitations of being slow (between shots) and not having interchangeable lenses.
I shot pictures for years with my trusty film SLR. I like my film cameras but I hate waiting for the processing to come back and I'm usually disappointed with the results--I much prefer to see the results right away and reshoot as necessary. I've been waiting a long time for a digital to come out that could come even close to the response times I'm used to with a film camera and that didn't cost my right arm--the Rebel finally fits that bill.
I checked out all the reviews and while the EOS Rebel wasn't all the camera that I wanted, it was going to be better than what I had in the G2 and the 850 for only slightly more money than I would spend on something such as a Canon G6. The final straw that convinced me to go with the Rebel is the Canon rebate that is available until sometime in January 2005. If you buy a Rebel and a EF lens the rebate is over $200.00. If you buy yet a third lens (or another body) the rebate increases even more. Basically I paid for the Rebel with a lens and the rebate made my 75-300 zoom lens nearly free.
The big difference between the Rebel and other interchangeable lens bodies is the type of image sensor it uses. Canon's relatively new CMOS (as opposed to CCD) sensor is getting a lot of raves for its ability to capture low-light scenes without the usual obscene amount of noise (looks like white spots everywhere in the frame) ruining the shot. There have been reports of acceptable 8X10 prints in ISO 1600 mode with the 20D--if this is true that's quite an achievement, most digitals just get too noisey in anything other than ISO 50-100 mode.
What's in the box:
Rebel body wrapped in plastic (includes hard plastic body cap)
18-55mm EFS lens (with good quality hard plastic caps for both ends of the lens) This lens is supposedly not available for sale except in this kit with the EOS body.
Books for software and the camera (Two each - one in English and one in Spanish)
Software
Video output cable
Strap with Canon logo (wow-I thought that no one was including straps any more!)
Warranty card
Separate AC charger for BP 511-512 battery package (no more charging the battery in the camera)
BP-511/512 battery
Not in the box but available:
AC adapter
Remote control (wired or wireless) (gee my G2 came with the remote)
BG-E1 Battery grip (holds two BP-511/512 battery packs for extended shooting)
Lots of other goodies but not as much as what's available for the 10D or 20D the more expensive big brothers to the Rebel.
Setup:
Not much setup. Charge the bp-511 battery package (I already had some fully charged ones since my G2 uses the same battery pack). Take the body cap off the body and the tail cap off the lens and twist the lens it onto the camera. Open the battery compartment and install the standard and easily available (at walgreens/target/etc.) button cell battery for the menu memory/clock backup. Install a charged bp-511 battery. Turn the camera on and make any menu selections you need. Since this camera doesn't have preview mode and the screen isn't viewable while shooting I just shut off image display to save on battery usage. Experiment with the LCD brightness to your taste. Set file size: You really don't need full quality, setting it down just one notch doubles your CF card capacity and I think the images are just as good as full quality mode unless you're really enlarging a tiny section of the image a great deal.
Camera layout:
When you first examine the EOS body it looks very much like any single lens reflex film camera. There is the traditional mirror that supplies the image seen within the TTL (through the lens) optical viewfinder, the very familiar twist-on lens mounting system, a stop down button that stops the lens down to the chosen aperature is there also--I've not seen this on too many film SLRs but they do exist on some cameras, the lens release button located around the lens mounting ring, and, finally the shutter button jutting out from the right front of the camera on the grip (which is also the battery compartment). Here the similarities to a film SLR end.
Immediately behind the shutter button is a knurled knob, mounted horizontally, that looks like it turns but has no immediately identifiable function. This knob activates certain menus (when the menus are active in the LCD or sometimes the black and white function screen above the LCD) and when in certain shooting modes it allows you to select shutter speeds, aperatures, etc. Also on the right side of the camera is a large black knob that selects several different shooting modes. Shooting mode choices are full Auto, program mode, Tv, Av, portrait mode, landscape mode, sports (fast action) mode, Manual mode, Depth of field mode, flash disabled mode. Physically beneath the mode dial, as a separate switch, is the camera on/off switch. On the right side back is the AF point selector button and these buttons also function to zoom in and out while displaying an image on the LCD.
The Right side of the camera is taken up by the access door for the compact flash memory card slot. The right bottom of the camera is the BP-511/511a/512 battery compartment door.
The left side of the camera doesn't have a lot on it. Primarily there is a button that activates the pop-up flash and a rubber door that covers the AV out plug, the usb port for downloading directly from the camera and the AC power input if you use the external AC adapter. (You could also say that the lens release and the stop down button are on the left too but those are on the front around the lens mount.)
The back of the camera is dominated by a generously sized LCD screen and immediately above it is a black and white (backlit by pressing a button) screen that shows information about shutter speed, flash mode, shooting mode (i.e. single shot, continuous shot, timer). Along the left side of the screen are buttons for menu, jump, playback, info, and the trash can for deleting images (one or all). On the right side top of the camera is a button that controls AE focus point selection and also deals with zooming in/out and multi-image mode while playing back images.
How does the Rebel compare to my G2 and HP 850?
The G2 is a powerful point and shoot camera with enough professional control capability to keep many advanced amateurs happy but it's old technology and slower than a snail by today's standards. The G2 also has a manual focus mode (that doesn't work very well if you ask me). The HP 850 has a really great lens on it and lots of digital zoom, other than that it's basically a fully automatic camera with few professional settings and it completely lacks manual focusing capabilities.
What the Rebel can't do:
The Rebel doesn't have preview mode (via the lcd), stitch mode, movie mode, separate exposure settings for flash or digital zoom.
Preview mode: is unavailable on the Rebel because of limitations imposed by the SLR like shutter system (it even has that satisfying click like an SLR does when the mirror flips up and down during/after exposure). I thought I might not like this as I use the LCD to frame shots a lot on my G2, however, I'm finding that an optical viewfinder is really much better for fast action and I've already gotten over that slight annoyance.
Stitch mode: Is only for panorama shots, the G2 will still be my panorama camera.
Movie mode: Quite honestly I've never even used it on my G2, it works quite well on my HP850 but movies are just not something I'm really into, still cameras are my thing. It's not something I'll miss on the Rebel.
Separate exposure settings for flash: Now that is something I think I'm going to miss. It's nice to be able to set it a half stop under on the G2 for flash exposures and not have to worry about it when the camera decides to pop the flash in auto or program modes. It might just be that the Rebel doesn't include this capability. When you view the information for a shot displayed on the LCD it includes a separate readout for flash exposure, so it's my guess that the more expensive 10D/20D bodies may indeed have the separate flash exposure controls.
More on the flash: For some reason Canon on-camera flashes seem to be a teensy bit hot (overexposed) in close shots at least on the canon digitals that I'm experienced with. Other opinion writers for the Rebel say they think the flash is a lot overexposed. So far I disagree with that, but I do notice that the LCD on the camera makes flash shots look more overexposed than they look when I get them onto my computer monitor or print them on photo paper. I'm wondering if the flash issue got addressed in the 1.1 firmware update, if there is variation from camera to camera, or if they just plain fixed that in recent production runs. In my case, the built-in flash will only be used occasionally, my 380EX speedlight will be used the majority of the time when shooting action. The exposures with the speedlight have so far been right on. The EX speedlights integrate with the camera circuitry and account for zoom levels automatically. I'd never buy another camera that lacks a hot shoe.
Actual use:
I took the Rebel to Busch Gardens in Tampa to shoot the tigers, the HP 850 still has it all over even the 75-300mm zoom lens because of the additional digital zoom, however, the extra megapixels of the Rebel should allow me to make up for what I don't have in a lens by cropping the final shots. I can also save up for a bigger lens or a 2x teleconverter later. I'm looking forward to shooting an upcoming Karate test to see what the sport mode can do with all the fast action. It's interesting to note that Program (P setting) mode, Tv mode and Ae mode all store their own settings (up to and including quality selections)so if you were shooting at iso 1600 in Tv mode with full quality then switch back to full program mode and go back to Tv mode later you will have all your previous settings back (nice feature but it means you've got to remember to reset your iso if you don't want it that high when you go back to that mode--i.e. the camera doesn't reset defaults, which is a good thing if you ask me but you've got to be more cognizant of what you might have been doing special the last time you used that mode--either that or get in the habit of resetting everything before you put the camera away).
The modes:
Full Auto: Just like it says, the camera does everything, even pops up the flash by itself without pressing any buttons. Tends to pick settings that aren't good for action unless the scene is really brightly lit. No ability to modify any settings in this mode.
Program Mode: You can adjust exposure, ISO, several choices of properly exposed shutter speeds/aperatures are selected by turning the dial. I believe the flash also automatically activates in this mode. The program mode on the Rebel is not like the program mode on the G2. On the G2 I can press a button and change either shutter or aperature (then the camera picks the other one), on the Rebel you just get to scroll through choices (which I guess is in essence the same thing--you're just turning a wheel).
Tv Mode: This is shutter priority mode, you pick the shutter speed with the dial, the camera selects the proper aperature. This is useful when you are shooting action and want to be sure the shutter speed is fast enough to stop action or slow enough to catch some artistic blur of the action if that's your desire. ISO settings are also adjustable.
Av Mode: This is aperature priority mode, you select aperature to control depth of field the camera picks the shutter speed.
Portrait mode: Sharp focus on the center subject, low aperatures so the background is blurred.
Sport Mode: This mode supposedly uses some kind of artificial intelligence to predict where your subject might move and keep tracking it for proper focus. The only thing I've read about this mode that discourages me a bit is that the camera shifts into ISO 400 in this mode. My 850 does ok at that setting but my G2 doesn't (images are very noisey), will be interesting to see how much image quality will suffer from the increased light sensitivity. I understand why they do this, to keep shutter speeds fast and aperatures small, but it would be nice to have a choice of ISO and not be stuck with something that might work fine indoors but be a problem outdoors in bright sunlight. Again this is probably something the more expensive bodies can do but not the Rebel. Got to use this the other night, it's a lot like continuous focus mode on the G2, i.e. the camera refocuses every time the subject moves (I bet this mode will suck batteries but it seems to work quite well).
Depth of Field Mode: Supposedly will pick several prominent parts of the picture and pick proper aperatures and happy medium focus points so it all looks focused. This would be best for scenics with near and far objects in the frame.
BP511/512 batteries:
This is an extremely popular and well tested battery--almost a Canon standard. Off the shelf they cost over $40.00, however, you can regularly find them much cheaper on ebay. Beware of the sub $10.00 batteries of this type, they're generally junk. If you stick with someone that professes to offer a good warranty they are generally decent batteries that will last a couple of years. My original G2 battery pack is still going strong, some of the cheapies I bought on ebay have gone bad (but you get what you pay for). I shot over a hundred pictures at Busch Gardens this week and used the lcd quite a bit to delete bad shots, it didn't start complaining about low battery till the time I was ready to leave (5 hours later) and the cf card was full (122 shots at one notch under full quality). If you buy off ebay beware of the squared case batteries of this type, they may not fit properly in the camera. I just bought two that won't work in my G2 (fits too tight in the battery compartment) but work fine in the Rebel. The squared cased batteries also don't work in the bg-e1 grip--I had a heckuva time getting them out once they went in too tight to pop out via the spring at the bottom of the battery compartment.
Digital Memory:
The Rebel uses compact flash media and can also use Microdrives for even more capacity. Microdrives, as the name implies actually have moving parts and will generally not survive a drop to a hard surface. I would also naturally assume that operational life might be lesser but I don't know that for sure. Flash memory is solid state and is much more likely to survive if you drop or jar the card.
I've got a 256 CF card made by Viking. It seems to work fine in the Rebel. Viking has a five year warranty. I just purchased a 512 CF card from Sam's club last night. This card is made by Lexar and also seems to work great. It also has a five year warranty and the company is very easy about replacements within warranty period (you just go on their web site and start a live chat to get what you need to get your card replaced, very quick and easy you don't even need your receipt). A third card I've tried by Sandisk also works great. Compact flash has been around long enough that you don't hear about too many compatibility issues, at least nothing like problems with Secure Digital (SD) cards that are still fairly rampant. In full quality mode I get about 77 shots on a 256 CF card and double that on the 512 card. Dropping quality down just one notch (making it closer to 4 megapixels instead of the full 6 plus the camera is capable of, increases storage on the 256 to 124 shots and 248 shots for the 512 card).
You might ask why you would need all that storage? If you're going to shoot action like I am you'll like the extra storage if you plan to use the continuous shooting mode a lot--especially if you won't have time to review your shots and delete the unwanted. CF memory in one gigabyte sizes are available and quickly becoming more affordable (down to about $80.00 on costco's web site). I for one, prefer not to keep my eggs all in one basket and I prefer to use several smaller (256 or bigger) cards instead of one huge card.
Most flash memory errors are isolated to just a couple of lost pictures (I've never had more than one shot get ruined), but occasionally a serious error can wipe out the entire card. If you've got several hundred shots on a big CF card you're really going to cry if they all get wiped out in a card error.
All flash memory is not created equal and they don't last forever. All flash memory has a set number of write/rewrite cyles but the number is generally very high and you should feel like you got your money's worth before it fails and is out of warranty (expect several years use--even if you shoot a lot). The more expensive high speed cards would probably help this camera to be faster between shots, when I get a chance to try one I'll post my results. I've also heard of a new flash memory product being marketed by Lexar (I think) that offers a huge number(more than the usual by a factor of 10) of guaranteed read/write cycles. Right now, unless you happen to find a good instant rebate (I hate mail-in rebates), the prices for CF memory seem to be best at Sams and Costco (around $40.00 for a 512 CF card).
Continuous shooting mode:
The camera has a decent amount of fast built-in buffer memory, although the 10D & 20D have more (which has a lot to do with the higher prices for those camera bodies). How many shots you can shoot continuously is dependent upon quality mode, however, you can never get more than 4 shots no matter how low you drop the quality (which doesn't make sense if you ask me--I guess they're trying to force you to fork out 2-3 times the money for a 10D/20D). In full quality mode on the Rebel you get 2.5 frames per second, if you drop the quality one notch you get 4 frames per second, the buffer empties quickly--so far 4 frames continuous is plenty for the way I shoot. It is important to note that continuous shooting is not available in full program mode only in the "creative modes" Tv, Av, etc.(Why this is I don't know, maybe the poor little cpu just has too much to do in program mode).
Shutter lag???
Compared to my G2 the Rebel has no really noticeable shutter lag, especially if you're already into the habit of prefocusing/exposure locking by pressing half way down on the shutter button. Focusing is lightning fast (at least with real Canon lenses), even if you don't prefocus. The Rebel focuses a LOT faster than my G2 ever could. Since there's no film to move through the camera, continuous shots feel faster than what I could get with a motor drive on my film camera--even when you take into account the time it takes to write to the CF card.
The Rebel doesn't quit working like my G2 does after a shot. It can display on the rear LCD and simultaneously be ready for another shot (although I believe pressing the shutter button does cancel image display). It feels like Canon built sufficient memory and buffers into the camera that it can literally do two things at once.
Focusing:
The Rebel has a large number of AF points. The AF points are laid out in the viewfinder and the active AF points briefly illuminate in the viewfinder so you know where the camera is focusing. When the camera is focused you get an audible beep by default (I believe this can be shut off if it annoys you). This is true in most modes except sport mode, in sport mode it continuously focuses so it doesn't give you any AF point indicators.
Some have commented that the camera has trouble focusing in low light. I can't say that I agree with that, I shot about a hundred pictures last night in the dark illuminated only by a street lights and a couple of portable lights (not photo lights) and the Rebel seemed to have no problem locking on. Focus may be somewhat lens dependent(especially with third party products) as well from what I'm reading. This camera lacks a IR focus assist lamp. If it's dark enough, the flash will let off a burst of short flashes to assist with the focus--this has disadvantages if you're trying to surprise your subject or stay unseen.
The viewfinder is very good in my opinion, if the focus is off and the light is good, you will be able to see that the image isn't focused. The camera also has a button on the side of the camera to stop the lens down to the automatically/manually chosen aperature so that you should be able to see depth of field and correct focus without too much problem (the viewfinder image does get noticeably darker if the aperature is small but that should be expected).
If you just can't get a good automatic focus because of intervening objects--like foliage, tree branches, fences, etc. the switch on the lens barrel lets you switch to manual focus. The EF lenses do not use a "one-ring" style zoom/focusing arrangement (push/pull for zoom, twist to focus) as found on many SLR lenses. Zoom and focus are controlled by two separate rings on the lens barrel, which did take a bit of getting used to but if you use autofocus most of the time you won't even notice this.
Lenses:
Canon makes tons of lenses, some much better than others. There's a very confusing coding system (I'm sure it's made confusing on purpose). There is cheap canon glass with plastic housings and MUCH (think double/triple) more expensive L series (as signified by the L after the aperature range printed on the lens--the barrels are also often silver instead of black)lenses that tend to be far superior. The newest whiz bang that canon has added to their lenses is image stabilization, as signified by IS in the designation of the lens. Image stabilization, as the name implies, adds a scheme to help steady the image during exposure (uses gyros to move lens elements and correct for movement). Most seem to agree that you only really need IS with the bigger lenses but when shooting in low light it can be really helpful (while also adding 200-300 bucks to the price of the lense).
There are also apparently several different types of drive systems for the Auto Focus capabilities of the lens. USM is supposedly the best but there's also apparently a lesser version of USM drive. All this means you better be doing some careful research before laying out money for Canon glass--be especially suspicious of a price that looks just too good to be true! You might see something like 28-105 IS USM III....which means it's got image stabilization and a USM drive but it's the third version they've produced (whether the newest is better than the II that's what you've got to research).
Be aware, third party EF compatible lenses are often a crapshoot. This is because no one has officially licensed the Canon EF mount and command set--the third-party (Sigma, Tokina, Tamron) lenses have been reverse-engineered, and, often a new EF body comes out with a different command set and the lenses just won't work any more. Of the three off-brands Sigma and Tamron seem to have the best reputation although many comments say they are slow focusing in low light situations and may be noisier than Canon lenses.
What Accessories should you get right away?
Anyone that owns a lot of photo equipment will tell you to run right out and buy a UV/skylight/haze (pretty much the same filter) for each lens you own. Why? wouldn't you rather lose a $15.00 filter to a bump or a scratch (not to mention kids that think it's funny to put their fingers on your lenses) than a $300+ lens? That small investment protects your lenses and improves your pictures somewhat by filtering some of the blue light out of what reaches the camera. A screen protector for the lcd and black and white readout is a good idea (I just took an extra one I had for my pda and cut it down) too many scratches on that screen will get annoying after awhile--might as well protect it from the start. An extra bp511 battery or two or three is also a good idea since you generally can't walk into walgreens or cvs and buy this battery pack. The Rebel comes with an external battery charger that operates off AC and takes a few hours to charge, if you travel a lot you might look into one that will work off 12V and charges faster(see my review on the Mach 1 rapidcharger/speedcharger, great unit). I don't have the battery grip BG-E1 yet but that is on my list for later--it's supposed to help balance the camera a lot when using big lenses and the extra battery lets you go twice as long without having to stop to change batteries. A good external flash can be almost as much investment as a lens, but if you shoot a lot of fast action indoors it may be a necessity. The canon speedlight 550EX or the newer 580EX support all the fancy E-TTL and flash metering functions of this camera and also offer external battery pack capabilities to speed them up (between flashes) even more. If you buy a body without a lens the lens that everyone agrees is the best "all-around" lens for a variety of applications is the canon 28-135 f3.5 IS III USM, this lens runs about four hundred dollars but is considered one of their better non-L series lenses and will keep most folks happy unless shooting animals from long distances (such as at a zoo).
What do I think of the Rebel?
Having used Pentax SLR film cameras for years and an early good quality digital (the G2) and then the slightly more advanced 850 I would say the Rebel comes very close to the speed and flexibility of the film camera at a decent price for a good digital camera.
The G6 will still have its followers because of the panorama/stitch modes and the compact size but the lack of interchangeable lenses and the relatively small optical zoom on that camera will make the Rebel shine in comparison for many applications. I've never used a G5/G6 so I can't speak on whether it has the shutter lag or focus issues that my G2 has. I can honestly say that the Rebel is much more like a film SLR in terms of speed and flexibility and the fact that it can supposedly use just about any genuine Canon EF lens made in the last few years (for the film version or the digital) as well as the newer EFS lenses is also very attractive.
I will definetly miss the ability to preview my shot on the LCD, that's a very useful mode, especially if you're trying to shoot over the heads of a crowd or down into a display case when you can't actually stand over it. I've only shot the tigers and a few shots after my karate class test but already I've caught some great action shots that I never would have caught with the G2. I'm very happy with the camera so far. Unless you have a stash of EF lenses laying around I'd definetly look for the kit I got with the 18-55 EFS lens, this lens is perfect for shooting in a gym environment when the subject is not more than 20 feet away from you. At the same time I bought the camera I bought the 75-300 Canon USM III sold at Walmart, this is a good lens but I still need something in the low telephoto (like a 28-135mm) for the way I shoot. When displaying photos the zoom in/out function is very useful and you can easily tell if the shot is sharp even on the small screen--there's also a multi-image playback mode that makes it a little easier to find the shot you're looking for instead of paging through every single one (which on a big card could be hundreds of shots). The screen is bright enough to be seen clearly in sunlight and has adjustable brightness levels.
I got more chance to use my 380EX flash with the camera the other night, for whatever reason shots more than a few feet away were coming out with really dark backgrounds when shooting in Tv mode (shutter priority mode). I got much better results shooting in program mode. I'm willing to chalk that one up to inexperience, will post more when I can determine if I just need to switch to a higher ISO or if there is some kind of issue with this older 380 EX speedlight. I get all the proper indicators on the flash that indicate it's talking to the camera but it seemed like it was popping off full power flashes with every shot and I shouldn't have needed that with the lighting available in that gym. After more use I think I've decided the 380EX is just too slow for the rebel. I was shooting some more live action with it and it just can't keep up with the continuous mode--just doesn't cycle fast enough. It does help a bit to move the ISO up to 800 so less light is needed but I just plain need a faster flash for the Rebel. Too bad, if it had the high voltage plug on it that might cure the problem but it doesn't, time for a new flash.
update 11-22-04: Had a chance to really give this baby a workout shooting the blackbelt test for my karate school on Friday night. Shooting indoors in a gymnasium with my 550EX flash, I took about 300 pictures. I've learned that I need to change settings for mixed lighting situations like this, normally I shoot with full saturation in daylight. In this kind of lighting the shots come out too saturated and whites were coming out quite yellow in the background (my G2 never had this issue with full saturation selected. Interestingly they mention this situation in the book for the 550EX but don't really tell you how to cure it.). The gymnasium lites are mercury vapor(I think) which are a different color than daylight so the camera was correcting for the subject and the backgrounds were coming out yellow. The 800/1600 mode on this camera really helps in a situation like this to keep the shutter speeds up and the flash coverage adequate but there is noticeable graininess on the 4X6's I printed that were shot in 1600 mode, most were shot in 400 speed and the backgrounds came out a bit dark while the subject was fairly well lit(why? I don't seem to have this issue in full program mode). I guess it's just going to take a bit of practice to figure this out. I also shot a lot in sport mode and a lot in Tv mode using high speed sync and 400 iso. I probably need to move up to 800 iso to really get well lit shots but there will be the graininess tradeoff. The 550EX flash did better than the 380 at keeping up with the camera but I still had a number of ruined shots (it's great you can just delete them off the card instead of having wasted a frame of film) when the flash didn't go off. I'm going to grab the CP-E3 external battery pack which about halves the cycle time.
I have a lot of investment in this camera now but I'm having a lot of fun and the pictures are just amazing--my old G2 could never catch the action I've caught with this camera (but right now I think it does better with flash shots in mixed lighting). The IS (image stabilization) system on my new 28-135 Canon EF lens worked wonderfully, I even got some shots that came out clear when the flash didn't fire at all--wow. This lens is great for shooting in a gym situation from the bleachers when your subject might not be directly in front of you, if your subject is too close this lens doesn't offer enough wide angle--for that I use the 17-55 that came with the camera.
First problem 12-23-04: I shot another karate demo last night using a high speed 1 gig cf card. I also used my new flash external battery pack and BG-E1 battery grip. I shot over 250 pictures in about 90 minutes. Definetly if you're shooting heavy action, step the quality down one notch to keep the camera ready to shoot, in highest mode it just takes too long to write to the card (even a high speed card) at times and I was stuck not being able to shoot again till the camera buffers cleared out. I shot in 800 ISO mode and the results were unexpectedly good, the Canon CMOS sensor just has it all over other digitals with CCD when it comes to low light--they're not noisey at all in 4x6 size (haven't tried blowing one up big yet). Increasing the ISO to 800 also alleviated the dark background problem somewhat when shooting in Tv mode with high speed sync.
I've decided I just plain need a 20D or better for the much larger transfer buffers than what is on the Rebel--when the price comes lower that's on the list. I also ran into the infamous "Error 99" last night. My memory card was nearly full (fortunately the demo was also almost over) and the camera started giving me this error message. Once or twice during the shoot I had trouble with my 17-55 lens focusing properly. From what I've read Error 99 is "most often" a lens communication error (dirty contacts or third-party (i.e. tamron/sigma/tokina) lenses a big culprit) but there are other reported causes as well. If you see this, try reseating the lens before panicking too much. I also saw a post saying if the battery grip isn't attached tightly you can get that one. There is a history of this error on the Rebel and canon has apparently replaced a few bodies for this issue. My camera cured itself after I took it out of the bag when I got home--probably when I took the lens off to put it back in the bag. I've got to watch this one....more later.
update 8-2005: I just broke down and bought a 20D, my heaven's what a difference in these two cameras! The Rebel is like the poor relation, I will be writing a review on the 20D soon (as soon as I figure out all the fancy new things this baby can do). The rebel is a good starter camera and will stay in the bag as a backup but compared to the 20D.....there just isn't a comparison. My advice, if you want a professional level camera and you're torn between getting the rebel and saving longer for the 20D.....save for the 20D it's twice the camera the Rebel is. The 20D is just plain a faster camera, starts faster, shoots faster, has three different focus modes available in all modes except auto and the difference in the internal buffers mean no more overloaded buffers stopping you from shooting more pictures. The 1600 mode on the rebel is just too grainy if you want to blow the frames up at all (noise ninja makes them acceptable but that's an additional expense), the 20D does some post processing so that even iso3200 isn't bad and gets better if you run it through a program such as noise ninja. The Rebel vs the 20D is just plain like comparing an instamatic to an SLR; save for the 20D!!!!!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 897.00 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
Outstanding Image Quality: 10.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor with DIGIC III Image Processor. Auto Lighting Optimizer: The EOS Rebel XS's Auto Lighting Optimi...More at Amazon Marketplace
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