Canon Digital Rebel Xti Lenses
canon digital rebel xti lenses Which lenses should I buy for Canon Rebel XTI? I just recently upgraded from a Canon Powershot with 12x optical and 4x digital zoom. I just purchased a Canon Rebel,...
canon digital rebel xti lenses
Xsi Rebel - Another Outstanding Rebel Offering
I am a semi-pro photographer who usually shoots with much more expensive bodies. Every now and then, however, I need to bring a smaller camera with me for whatever reason, and this is the one. Also, like a lot of pros and semi-pros I need to have an APS-C body in order to use the cult-followed Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens that only works on APS-C boides such as the Rebels.
In fact Rebels have been the one I go to to fill those needs for a few years now. A lot of semi-pros and pros criticize the performance of these cameras and/or the perceived weaknesses in ergonomics, size, and available functions. Is this a $1000 camera body? No it is not. Is this a $2600 camera body? No it is not. Is this a $6999.99 camera body? No it is not. I am hammering that point home because some people insist on comparing the Rebels to cameras like that. The comparisons are fine as long as price is factored in; if you leave price out of the equation then yes, this camera will likely lose out to a body costing more than a grand.
The following are some my random thoughts on this camera; I am not going to cover everything because others have done that well enough. I am going to address the issues important to me, a semi-pro photographer who sometimes needs to travel light.
ISO performance (this is most important to me in any camera for any price):
ISO 100: Outstanding
ISO 400: Great (and professionally competent) except for higher than desirable noise in the darkest shadows. Even shooting RAW and carefully post-processing, you will probably need to leave the shadows alone and not bring them out too much. I am nitpicking a little here for the sake of being thorough in the review; it is not by any means a terrible or "deal-breaker" level of noise in the shadows.
ISO 800: Usable for sure and better than expected, but noise certainly is apparent at this level--or rather the effects of noise reduction are apparent--and the in camera noise reduction is aggressive enough that some detail and sharpness is lost as a result of cleaning out the noise. Certainly usable but best at smaller sizes (8x10 or smaller) when printing and viewing.
ISO 1600: To me it's out of the question. I do have a higher standard than the average consumer as a semi-pro, so keep this in mind. I would use this setting only in such a dire situation that ISO 800 would be completely unusable. The noise reduction in ISO 800 is too aggressive, but it does result in the elimination of a great deal of noise. It seems they didn't even bother in ISO 1600. There is noise all over the place in ISO 1600. I haven't used a camera that I can remember that had such a huge difference between ISO 800 and ISO 1600. So, bottom line, IMHO you should stay away and only use in a pinch. I can't see printing anything larger than 4x6 with this setting. If that's your bag then you will probably be fine.
I do want to say regarding my opinions on the ISO handling that I did not buy this camera for high ISO performance. If you are planning on doing that I would think twice. Is it better than the Rebel, Rebel XT, and Rebel XTi? Certainly. Does that make it a good performer at high ISO? Not necessarily.
I do the vast majority of my shooting between ISO 100 and 400. I use fast lenses and I typically shoot during the day. This is especially true of the times I am using this camera. I don't go to a camera like this for high ISO performance. For that I grab the 5D. I go to this camera for the few times the 5D is not best for the situation. This camera delivers an outstanding image quality at ISO 100-400 and a usable one at ISO 800. To me this is all that matters. a 12MP DSLR with outstanding image quality for a little over $500 is what this is. You throw a nice Canon lens (nicer than the kit lens) on this and you have professionally acceptable results. I wouldn't use this camera if it didn't provide those results.
The only way the aforementioned 5D will outshoot this is (in an image quality respect) is if you are making enlargements or shooting higher than ISO 400. If you are using good glass, shooting RAW, and setting the ISO manually (which is what I do) this is an awesome camera. I don't care if anyone says otherwise, either. I don't have to--and won't--argue that point because I've seen the results.
Now, if you have never used a Rebel I do have to inform you that it is much smaller than the 20D, 30D, 40D, etc. bodies that you may or may not be used to. It is much harder for me to keep a good grip on this body than, say, the 40D. Again this is OK with me because I am not buying this for ergonomics. Again, I am buying this for value. Price combined with performance is how this arrives at a place of value. I need to keep repeating that because for some reason people always feel the need to compare cameras that are incomparable. If you are looking for the best performance in a DLSR combined with best price, it is my firm opinion that this is the camera.
Lastly, I want to say that if we are talking strictly image quality and nothing else like ergonomics and construction, IMHO the IQ from this camera is just as good if not better than the mildly overrated 40D. Given the vast difference in price of the two--almost 100% different actually--unless you are an ergonomics stickler I think the decision is a no brainer. You buy this and save the $500 for better glass, or just save the $500 for no reason other than saving $500 is cool. What I am looking forward to doing down the road is comparing the IQ from this to the IQ from the 50D. Again it equals or bests the 40D if we are talking strictly IQ. I returned the 40D last year after using it for 2 weeks. It just wasn't worth the price. The 40D to me is simply a Rebel XTi (XTi; not XSi) with better ergonomics.
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