25 thoughts on “Canon Digital Rebel XTi review drafted”

  1. While I would love to have the two lenses that you recommend, I think the price is going to be way over budget for most people who are looking to buy the XTi. The lenses cost almost twice what the body does.

    I don’t disagree with your lens choices, but I think a lot of potential buyers would appreciate some suggestions for some lower-cost lenses to start out with. I love the Canon 50mm/f1.8, and while the focal length makes it a less than perfect match for the Rebel, the value can’t be beat with the $70 price tag, and it gives one an idea of what is possible if you upgrade from the cheap kit lens.

  2. You mentioned that the 30D and 5D are both bigger and heavier, but how are the ergonomics different? Is the grip on the XTi smaller, and would that be annoying if you have large hands? I’ve heard that the viewfinder is smaller in size as well. Could you address that?

    Also, I don’t quite understand this sentence: “It is easy to view the entire viewfinder image and the LCD display underneath, even while wearing eyeglasses.” Are you looking through the viewfinder and down at the LCD at the same time?

  3. When you wrote ” It is easy to view the entire viewfinder image and the LCD display underneath….” did you actually mean ” It is easy to view the entire viewfinder image ON the LCD display underneath…”?

    Also I’d appreciate knowing very much if it is worthwhile to upgrade from the previous model Rebel XT you previously reviewed, since that is what I own (and love). Can you add a comparison section?

  4. Chris: There is an in-viewfinder one-line LCD display as well as the big screen on the back of the camera. I guess I need to make that explicit.

    Grant: If you’re specifically going out to take photos, the larger bodies are easier to manipulate. The viewfinders are also bigger and better on the more expensive cameras. I don’t have much experience with the older XT. I wouldn’t think it would be worth the trouble of upgrading. Maybe every other generation of camera body. Otherwise, concentrate on newer/better lenses.

  5. Philip,

    The first link in the first paragraph seems to have a typo, where the text of the link is: “theb Canon Rebel XTi body only”. You probably meant “the” instead of “theb”.

  6. I picked up an XTi in October and when shooting in RAW mode noticed some problems in Picasa with a purple tint to the coloring. I emailed with Google and they said that the camera isn’t yet supported. Not sure what is changed between the XT and XTi. Google gave the standard “we’ll give this information to the dev team”.

    Also, glad to see the Canon 50/1.8 get a plug for those of us on a budget. For $80, I can’t complain…

  8. Hallo Phil,

    especially for newcomers who don’t want to buy more than one lens, I would
    recommend the EF-S 17–85 mm 1:4,0–5,6 IS USM. It is somewhat large, but it serves well even as a medium telephoto lens because of the sensor scale factor of 1.6

    Best regards,
    Rainer

  9. I agree Sigma 30/1.4 is a nice lense. A lot of people complain about softness at 1.4 when in fact they are not able to focus properly. The AF easily can be off by a few inches or it can pick a wrong focus point and that becomes very visible at open aperture. On the other hand the viewfinder in XT is not good enough for manual focusing. I wish it had split screen or some other focusing aid.

  10. I’d love to hear more about why in-lens image stabilization is better than sensor-based image stabilization. I’m sure you know what you’re talking about, but it would be nice if you could expand this argument a bit.

  11. I wonder why the quick dismissal of the Nikon D80, as well as the entire Nikon system. I understand it’s a review of the Canon camera, but I’m surprised that the major reason not to buy the camera is dismissed with a “no” rather than with some arguments — for example, it might reassure someone if you also pointed out the strengths of the Nikon system, and why they might not apply to some photographers you might be taken more seriously. I also wonder whether shooting RAW is really at all important for any normal photographer — why would someone who would buy the Rebel XTi want to shoot a proprietary format that demands an expensive card, interacts poorly with operating systems, and demands extra processor time in return for a very minimal improvement in almost all pictures.

  12. Sam: I was’t trying to dismiss the Nikon system (though it is fading very fast among professional photographers), only the idea of comparing bodies from different systems in isolation. That’s why I referred folks to my longer article where I give the Canon/Nikon system comparison (most of the people reading this review wouldn’t have had an SLR before and for them, with no investment in legacy lenses, I would say that the only brands worth considering are Canon and Olympus (though perhaps Sony will charge full steam ahead with the system they acquired from Minolta)).

    Why capture RAW? In a low contrast situation it might not matter that much, though it is comforting to know that mistakes made in the heat of photographing can be fixed after the fact, but for higher contrast there is so much that can be captured by a skilled lab technician from a RAW. If someone only wants JPEGs they might not want to bother with a digital SLR at all.

  13. jek: I’m not sure that I can explain why the in-lens stabilization is good for 2-3 f-stops and the sensor stabilizers seem only to be good for 1-2 f-stops. I don’t know enough about optical and mechanical design.

  15. Excellent review, and I agree with your conclusions. From reading photo.net over the years, I know you are usually against off-brand lenses so I was happy to see you mention that Canon has been slow to develop lenses for their small sensor cameras. I would also suggest the Sigma 17-50 2.8 as a nice upgrade over the kit lens. One additional item: There has been much talk on the internet about the XTi underexposing, or at least requiring a stop or two more exposure than the XT. Not sure you’d want to address that or not.

  16. Phil, I’m curious what you think about the reasonably priced (~$400) Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM pair with the Digital Rebel? With it’s 1.6 crop, that would seem to bring the 28mm to almost 45, which is a little on the wide side, but probably not that bad. It’s got USM and it’s pretty fast. What’s not to like?

  17. Justin: The folks who’ve compared the Sigma and Canon say that the Sigma is substantially better, which is what you’d expect given that Sigma is able to put all of their $$ and glass into making a sharp small image. Medium format lenses, adjusted for price, are never as sharp as 35mm lenses. You wouldn’t get Hasselblad lenses to use on a Nikon film body. Why use 35mm lenses on an APS-C body such as the Rebel?

  18. phil, you wrote in your previous comment:
    “with no investment in legacy lenses, I would say that the only brands worth considering are Canon and Olympus”

    while I am a Canon shooter, I don’t get why you would consider Nikon not “worth considering”, maybe I missed something in your other article, I admit I only scanned through it very quickly as it is rather long… 🙂 The latest Canon offerings continue to disappoint and the D200 has features that are quite desirable to me. Nikon also shines for macro photography, the lack of effective aperture display really bothers me as it makes it very difficult for me to use non-TTL flashes for macro works. The Nikon 100VR macro has AF that is as fast as the 70-200/2.8 (both Canon and Nikon) even at macro ranges, my 100/2.8 USM Macro’s AF plain doesn’t work in macro ranges, not even the center cross-type point.

  20. Andrew, Jim: The article is for people who want to take pictures, e.g., because they’ve had a baby, not for folks who want to spend the rest of their lives in a camera store trying to figure out why every year more and more professionals switch from Nikon to Canon or whether the Nikon D200 is slightly inferior to the EOS 5D or significantly inferior. The Canon EOS system is good enough to tackle most photographic challenges and it will be around in 10 years when the readers want to buy more lenses. The Olympus Four Thirds system is compact. As for the rest, they are good if you have a cabinet full of lenses in their peculiar mount.

  21. Agreed, Phil. But that doesn’t mean folks shouldn’t be made aware of other options. Heck, the Nikon D40 fits your description of what this article is about perfectly…and it costs less! And I’d bet that Nikon will last a lot longer than Olympus based on comparing last years sales figures for both companies.

    Anyway, Canon is indeed a wonderful system. The files from my 5D are stunning.

  22. Jim: We actually have history to look to here. Consider someone who spent $5000 on wide-angle lenses in 1990. They could have gotten wide angle lenses in a bunch of different mounts to fit cameras from a bunch of different companies, e.g., Canon, Contax, Leica, Minolta, Olympus, Nikon, Pentax. One of these companies was much bigger and richer than all of the others (Canon). Move forward 15 years and ask “Under which system are my $5,000 in wide angle lenses still functional (as wide angles)?” The answer is “only Canon” because only Canon had enough money to design and manufacture full-frame sensors. It doesn’t make sense to tell readers about the option of spending their hard-earned dollars on lenses that bear a significant risk of being useless 15 years from now. These legacy 35mm camera systems with their legacy lens mounts make sense for only a tiny proportion the world’s photographers. Nobody else will want to carry that much weight around if they can get satisfactory quality from their camera phones and much smaller systems such as Olympus Four-Thirds. There is no reason to expect more than one company to survive in the 35mm lens mount compatible market.

  23. Interesting theory, Phil. But I believe you’re totally wrong. We’ll just have to wait a few years to see how it turns out 🙂

  24. I’m surprised you’d summarily dismiss the no.2 in the DSLR market – its market share is significantly larger than Olympus. Moreover, DPreview notes that the D80 is close to the 400D in noise control.

    We need a survey to see the proportion of pros. who are still keeping with nikon but really your review is pretty useful

    Perhaps you might consider avoiding a criticism of the D80 in general and state that you prefer canon for having a system for the reasons you express in your earlier post (quoted below)

    This way readers who need a camera quick for baby shots know what to do, and others who disagree with the reasoning would give other brands consideration. Consider that someone who spent $5,000 on telephoto lenses would have benefitted from Nikon’s choices….

    …”Consider someone who spent $5000 on wide-angle lenses in 1990. They could have gotten wide angle lenses in a bunch of different mounts to fit cameras from a bunch of different companies, e.g., Canon, Contax, Leica, Minolta, Olympus, Nikon, Pentax. One of these companies was much bigger and richer than all of the others (Canon). Move forward 15 years and ask “Under which system are my $5,000 in wide angle lenses still functional (as wide angles)?” The answer is “only Canon” because only Canon had enough money to design and manufacture full-frame sensors. It doesn’t make sense to tell readers about the option of spending their hard-earned dollars on lenses that bear a significant risk of being useless 15 years from now. These legacy 35mm camera systems with their legacy lens mounts make sense for only a tiny proportion the world’s photographers. Nobody else will want to carry that much weight around if they can get satisfactory quality from their camera phones and much smaller systems such as Olympus Four-Thirds. There is no reason to expect more than one company to survive in the 35mm lens mount compatible market.”

  25. Justin-
    The 28mm is a great lens on a 1.6 crop. It is my everyday lens on the 30D. Another (cheaper) option is to pick up an older 28mm 2.8. It’s not USM, but it’s very sharp and can be found on eBay for under $100. Pair it with a 50mmm 1.8 and you have a very inexpensive pair of primes that are great on a 1.6 crop sensor. The 50mm is $80 new and extremely sharp, fast enough for most too.

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