Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 Lens (Silver)

I am 67 years old and started out in photography as a kid with a contact printer and a box camera. I have had all types of cameras over the years, mostly 35mm film Canon slr's. I too bought all sorts of these 5-7 MP point and shoot digital cameras before returning to my true love, SLR's. I have had my digital Canon Rebel XT about a month now and I can't keep my hands off of it. It lacks nothing. Although the kit lense is good, I bought a 28-135 Canon zoom lense with image stabilizion and have produced stunning photo's with it. I love the way you can use the 7 points to focus, I mainly use only the center point with focus lock and never get an out of focus picture. I guess the nicest thing for me is that I now don't have the urge to buy every point and shoot camera that is paraded out on QVC or HSN that has a "wonderful" new feature like "low light or non-shake." This Canon has every good feature in the known universe and you can't outgrow it. Its a camera that will let you be as good as you can be, it won't hold you back. The battery life is great, the built in flash is good but I bought a 430EX and that's even better. I never figure I'm wasting money buying accessories for this camera as it will be my main squeeze for many years to come. I always missed my 35mm Canon slr's and now feel that I have an old friend back again, only much much better. Believe me, you can't go wrong getting this camera, its beyond description....

Received the Rebel XT as a bday present and here are my impressions after a couple of weeks. Note: I had a 35mm Rebel SLR, so I did not need to purchase lenses.

Pros: Granted my previous digital is a 2.1 MP point and shoot, but the Rebel is insanely fast. Near instantanous start up, and can shoot 3 shots/second. I purchased a 1 GB Sandisk high speed CF card to make sure the speed kept up.

Canon's website has an extensive tuitoral about the Rebel, and from it I have found that Aperture priority (AV) mode works best in most situations. I am really a beginner with advanced modes, but have easily found setting that make the photos come out well.

Other settings I have been playing with include the B/W and filter modes.

The auto-focus works great in all situations I've tried.

I haven't needed to recharge the battery in 2 weeks.

Cons:

Camera is slighly compact, which is slightly uncomfortable in large hands.

I have Paint Shop Pro already, so the included software (Photobrowser, ArcSoft Photo Editor and Canon Photo Professional) are mostly useless to me, with the exception of Canon Photo being the only software I have to process RAW images.

The camera is still a work in progress, as I still have a lot of paces to put it through.

If it where weather sealed (dust), it would be Pro Quality!

With the included software, you can connect this camera with your PC and shoot photo's directly to your PC. I used two 5ft USB extection cables along with the included USB cable, and had no trouble shooting 81 photo's so far.

Initial battery charge lasted 76 RAW shots @ 96% flash usage. (stock flash & 18-55mm kit lense).

Opteka Battery Pack Grip is a good option at half the street price of Canons Battery Grip (same product).

The kit lense is worth the small price, if you'll ever get into a dusty situation that you wouldn't want to use a more expensive lense in. (In my opinion.)

RAW images have averaged 6.44MB, and (for example) one image saved as RAW + JPEG == 6.88MB RAW and 6.45MB jpg === 13.33MB total. (This is just one image example, but it gives you an idea of what memory cards to get -> 1-2GB) Type II Compact Flash is the reccomended memory card. Anything faster will not improve camera speed... only "download to PC speed".

Self timer is 10 seconds, and I cannot change it to 2 seconds, although you can change setting to "Mirror Lockup: On" which will then give a "2 second delay" while using the self timer function.

Adorama Camera shipped my Canon Rebel XT w/ kit lense FASTER than Amazon shipped my 75-300mm USM lense. Don't be affraid to order from them though Amazon. I almost was, but am glad I did. That's why I shot direct to my PC... waiting for memory card, lense, hood, and Cannon UV Haze Filter.

Read the manual. I LOVE this camera!!!

We purchased this camera about 2 months ago and have been nothing but pleased with its performance thus far. What you have in this Canon Rebel XT is all of the function, expandability, and speed of your standard SLR teamed with the convenience and flexibility of digital photography with Canon Quality. I don't think you can beat the quality to price ratio on this Camera - it's the sort of investment that we won't be kicking ourselves for 3 years down the road.

The Pros:
1. As stated, function, expandability, and speed of an SLR built into a digital Camera.
2. The camera is built to last for quite some time - it's durable in its construction and the 8MP capability will produce super prints for years to come.
3. The battery: The life has been phenomenal so far - I don't think that I've seen the meter drop below "full," while taking photographs, and that's at taking over 400 photos at a time (not all at once though, of course). Plus, it's rechargeable - Kudos to Canon for their forward thinking
4. Speed, Speed, Speed. The camera acts just like a 35mm which means that it has a pretty fast processor.
5. Cost - a very economical choice considering what you have in this camera.

The Cons:
1. Expect it to be heavy, because it is.
2. There's no built in memory. So buy a compact flash card when you buy this camera as you will need it.
3. Related to the above: A good compact flash card is not necessarily "cheap."

Altogether, this camera is worth it. Buy a 1GB Compact flash and you'll be able to take more pictures at one time than most will need.

[...]

After a long and detailed due diligence on a mid-level professional digital cameras, my search ended between Nikon (D70/D50) and Canon (20D/350D). I finally decided on 350D for its balance of a great value and a huge variety of after-market accessories and web-based support and advice.

I recently received this camera from Amazon and, though my expectation was rather high and the camera did not blow me away, I'm very happy with the purchase.

PROS:
- Light, compact, and ergonomically designed.
- The camera does NOT feel plasticky at all. It feels solid and radiates the craftsmanship of a prosumer product.
- Easy to use. Take the camera out of the box and start snapping away.
- The bundled software is useful if not professional quality.
- Amazing flash performance. Pictures taken in total dark comes out looking professionally lit.
- Quiet when snapping pictures. Fast startup time. Very good batter life.
- For a fan of Canon, add to the inventory of other Canon products, from camera to lenses to printers to photo paper.

CONS:
- The EF-S zoom lens that comes with it is rather slow and a bit disappointing in picture quality.
- The camera - as many reviewers complained - is ergonomic but does not feel very well balanced. It's very awkward to take a picture with only one hand holding the camera - you need two hands. No matter how I tried, my grip on the camera never feels comfortable.
- Documentation is buggy and uneven. Some of the step-by-step instructions simply do not work, and I had to figure out the correct steps by playing with the controls myself.

(...)Amazon double-boxed the package, which arrived without a dent.