 When I finally decided to buy a digital camera, I decided to go all out and get a digital SLR. Canon had recently released the first consumer digital SLR, called the Digital Rebel, so it was the logical choice.
I had read a number of good things about the Digital Rebel before buying it, so expected it to perform exceptionally well. Fortunately, it met all my expectations.
The Digital Rebel is marketed as a consumer-level digital SLR camera. However, because of the camera's extensive features and high picture quality, it is good enough to be used for professional purposes.
Since the Digital Rebel is an SLR (single lens reflex) camera, you can adjust the zoom manually using the barrel, and the camera will auto-focus for you (if the lens is set to auto-focus). This allows for fast zooms, which is great for taking many pictures at a time. You don't need to wait for the camera's motor to move the lens in and out, like you do with most digital cameras. Also, this camera takes pictures the instant you push the shutter button down all the way. There is virtually no lag, which enables you to "capture the moment," instead of capturing half a second after the moment.
You can use any EF-compatible lens with the Digital Rebel, meaning there are dozens of high-quality lenses that will work with this camera. I purchased the model with an included lens (for $100 more than just the body), which is a great for everyday use. However, it has relatively little zoom and is not as clear as some more expensive lenses. It also doesn't do a super job in low-light situations, but for $100, it is a great lens to start with.
The downside of the using an SLR camera is that you can't view the picture on the screen before you take the shot. You have to use the viewfinder, like a non-digital camera. I initially thought this would be a frustration, but once I got used to using the viewfinder, I completely stopped thinking about using the screen. The LCD still shows the shots after you take them and is also used to view the camera's menus and options. Because the Digital Rebel does not record anything before you take a picture, there is no movie mode with this camera.
Aside from theses minor drawbacks, I am glad that I chose to buy an SLR. I still have yet to see a non-SLR camera take pictures that are as high quality as the ones that I have captured with my Digital Rebel. While the Digital Rebel has a 6.3MP sensor, I've seen photos from other cameras with 7MP and 8MP sensors that don't look nearly as good. I think the main reason is the way this camera captures the photos. Everything involved in the capturing process besides the sensor, such as the lens, aperture, and shutter speed, all function like a traditional SLR. This gives the user excellent control of the photography and sends a perfect image to the sensor.
The interface of the Digital Rebel is both intuitive and powerful. The knob on the top right-hand part of the camera allows you to shoot in a number of manual modes, including aperture priority, shutter priority, or fully manual. Of course, there are plenty of automatic modes as well, including portrait, landscape, close-up, sports, twlight, no-flash, and fully automatic. When shooting in the manual modes, you can set the shutter speed and f-stop to whatever you wish. You can also choose whether the flash is on or off, and what ISO and white balance settings to use. The white balance on this camera is pretty good, but not perfect. You definitely want to set the white balance to "florescent" if shooting in florescent lighting or to "tungsten" for normal indoor lighting conditions. You can also create you own custom white balance setting by taking a picture of a white object in your environment's current lighting and then setting that image as the white balance. I've found this technique produces surprisingly accurate results.
The Digital Rebel can take 2.5 photos a second (up to 4 photos at a time), which is great for sports or times when you need to take a bunch of pictures quickly. I've found this feature is useful for making sure you get a good shot of something, since you can choose from four similar pictures instead of one. There is also a 10 second timer for those family shots, though I wish there was also a 2 second timer. This would help avoid camera shake when taking tripod shots and you wouldn't have to wait for 10 seconds for the shutter to go.
The Digital Rebel's LCD is bright and clear and gives you a good representation of the photos you take. You can scroll through them one by one or use the "Jump" feature to skip through ten photos at a time. I especially like the ability to zoom in and move around photos on the LCD, using the arrow keys. This is helpful, when for instance, someone is not sure if they had their eyes closed when the shot was taken. Typically, when people think they may have closed their eyes, they did. Zooming in is a good way to double-check.
The LCD menu system is easily navigable using the buttons on the back of the camera. Some options include choosing the picture resolution, setting the white balance, protecting certain images, and setting the date and time. Don't forget to set the date and time, because this information is automatically recorded with each photo! The screen above the LCD conveniently shows your shutter speed and f-stop settings as well as an estimate of how many pictures you have left on your Compact Flash card. I typically get between 140 and 150 pictures in the highest resolution, using a 512 MB card.
Finally, the Digital Rebel's battery lasts several hours, or for several-hundred pictures, which is pretty impressive. Of course, this camera has an advantage over most digital cameras since it doesn't show anything on the screen before you take the picture, which saves significant battery life. Fully charging the battery takes about an hour.
Overall, I am extremely happy with the Digital Rebel. The quality of the photos consistently impress me and it is simply a joy to shoot with. It is a comfortable camera to use for long periods of time, and while it doesn't fit in even the largest pockets, it is worth carrying around if you want quality pictures. |
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