Rebel XT is worth the time and money

For the past two years I have enjoyed using the Canon A80. I think that was a great camera but the last 6 months I have really been bothered by its limitations. The camera can be slow to focus indoors and that did not really bother me when my son was very young and did not move very fast. Now that he is running around, the A80 is too slow to use indoors without using the flash.

I have had the Rebel XT for two weeks and taken over 1800 pictures in that time. I don’t normally take that many pictures but it has been fun playing and learning about the camera. The camera is still on the second battery charge so I am satisfied with the battery life. I probably only use the flash 1-5% of the time and most people report 400-500 shots per charge using the flash about 50% of the time.

I purchased the body and the 17-40mm F4L lens. My first impressions are that the camera is fast, takes great pictures and is just right for someone who wants more performance and flexibility than a point and shoot. Canon is running a rebate campaign right now and the body only costs $700 at B&H photo before the rebate and $600 after the rebate. This was my first B&H purchase and the whole process was fairly uneventful. The Rebel XT with the lens I think only costs $100 more. That price is not far from the top end of the point and shoot cameras.

The camera is smaller than I thought it would be. I had read the reviews so I knew the spec was 5x3.7x2.5”, but it still surprised me the first time I picked it up in a store. This may sound contradictory but as small as it is; it is still much larger and more obtrusive than a typical point and shoot. The lens on a point and shoot might be 1” wide while the lens I chose is 3” wide. My son and dog ran from me the first day I had the camera because it was scary from their perspective. The flash can also startle subjects that are not expecting it to pop up so quickly.

While I’m griping there are a few things from the A80 that I wish they would have had on the Rebel XT. The first is the ability to record short movies. That was one nice thing if you wanted to travel really light is that the A80 could take great pictures and fair quality short movies with sound. The second is the ability to preview the shot in the LCD instead of having to using the optical viewfinder. I know that most serious photographers would frown upon these two amateurish features but I still miss them.

Ok after all that whining, I have to say those are the only negative things and considering that the body and lens cost well over $1000, I am blown away by the performance and results so far and think it is worth every penny. This camera and lens are exactly what I was looking for. The primary use right now is indoor shots of the family without using the flash. There is nothing wrong with using the flash and sometimes it is necessary but I really prefer pictures that use natural light. The combination of a large aperture and high ISO (up to 1600) result in great low light pictures with very little grain. There is some grain at ISOs of 800 and probably too much at 1600 but most noise removal software (Noise Ninja, etc.) will do a decent job of smoothing it out. I do not think you would really notice or find the grain at high ISOs unappealing on photos smaller than 5x7.

The camera does almost everything fast. The startup time is almost instant. The camera has several automatic focus modes and I have not taken a blurry picture yet that was not my fault (selected too slow shutter speed, did not hold the camera steady or did not pay attention to which auto focus point the camera had locked on to). I recently shot an Easter egg hunt and as you can imagine there’s a lot of motion and it was easy to take clear pictures while still having a decent depth of field. I have not taken many continuous shots but I read that it can do 14 high quality jpgs using a fast CF card. I was using an older Sandisk 512 MB and did not have a problem with the buffer getting full. I recently started using a Kingston 2GB Elite Pro card and do not really notice any kind of speed increase. It does seem to perform a little faster in burst mode and for some reason you can get in 6 RAW shots versus 5 RAW shots in burst mode with the Sandisk card before the camera says it is busy.

I got in the habit of using a card reader with the A80 because using USB1 to transfer 512 MB took too long. As expected, transferring 512MB from the Rebel XT with USB2 took only a couple of minutes.

The ergonomics of this camera can be challenging depending on the size of your hands and the lens that you choose. I like to use my left hand in the shape of a C to support the lens on the zoom ring with my thumb on the bottom. Other people like to use their left hand in the shape of a U with their hand underneath the camera. My brother in law likes to use the battery grip, but then that makes the whole setup bigger and heavier. I encourage you to go to your local electronics store and try it out for yourself.

There is a lot to learn about this camera and it is less forgiving than a point and shoot, but isn’t that the point. You get an SLR for more control and performance in exchange for a higher price and a harder to use camera. Not to worry though, it has the usual array of presets that will let you take great pictures from the very beginning without worrying about all the technical details.

The simplest is the fully automatic or green square setting - just point, let it autofocus and take the picture. I use the "P" preset the most.

I have tried to use the sports setting indoors and did not have much luck with it. That setting tries to use a fast shutter speed with no flash and that is not appropriate for indoor motion. It is great for outdoor motion and has no problem keeping the subject in focus most of the time.

I have only used the night setting twice so far and it seems to do an ok job of syncing the flash so that the subject and background are properly exposed.

I mentioned before that I do not care for using the flash but most of the flash pictures taken with this camera have been usable so far. The pictures have been clear and not overexposed. Maybe I will change my mind about using the flash.

Aside from the camera, the software seems adequate for now. I have used ZoomBrowser for the past few years and I have no complaints about how it downloads, organizes and manipulates the pictures. It has several preview modes with options for showing some or all of the shooting information and even the active autofocus points in a picture. Software installation was surprisingly easy and trouble free on Windows XP SP2. I have not had any issues so far.

Aside from all the technical stuff, I have taken some pictures that we have really enjoyed. It is easy to take photos with good depth of field, indoor shots in poor lighting turn out well and it is fast enough to capture those spontaneous events that happen with kids and pets.

This is not a camera I would recommend for complete beginners since the menus and controls can be intimidating and of course experts would prefer the increased performance and more streamlined controls/menus of the 30D or the Mark II. This camera is not one that you can stuff in a pocket or purse so I will hang on to the A80 for those occasions and also for times when I'm not trying to scare small children and dogs!

If you want a very thorough and technical review then I think the following by dpreview was excellent. That article was the kind of detail overload I was looking for when I started doing my research.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos350d/

6 month update
Well 6 months has flown by and I have taken 8000 pictures in that time. I still love the performance of the camera and every day I am learning something new about photography and the camera. The controls seem second nature now and I have a better understanding of how to make the camera flash or not flash when I want to. I use the "P" mode the most since it allows for greater control than the Portrait mode.

Battery life is still good with 500-800 shots per charge depending on how often the flash is used. I also recently received a 50mm prime as a birthday gift and it really makes your subject stand out. The camera itself is also a lot less bulky with the prime on there compared to the 17-40mm F4L.

3 yr update
Several years and over 40,000 pictures later and the Rebel XT is still going strong.  The camera has held up well to day-to-day use as well as numerous road trips and overseas trips.  It could use a sensor cleaning but otherwise the camera is still in good working order.

The two major things (short movies and live preview) that I missed in upgrading to the Rebel XT are now available in the Rebel T1i so it may be time for another upgrade.