20 replies to this topic

[Swad]

So I'm looking at getting a Canon Digital Rebel XT so that I can get into photography as a hobby (my DiMage Z1 is nice, but not up to that level). If I got it, I could use my mom's lenses from her old non-digital Rebel which means I'd just have to buy the body... and I've found that for under $400 a few places.

For those of you who have used it, what do you think? Is it worth getting? Would it be a good starter camera?

[jfn]

I don't have one, but I do have a 20d, and when I was researching which to buy I realized there were few differences and that the XT was very popular.  It ended up that a friend had a 20d to sell so I took it, but otherwise I would have gone with an XT - lighter, less expensive, with as good a sensor and almost all the key features.  From others that I've talked to I know it as an excellent camera at a great price, and I'm a very happy Canon owner (I had an Elan II before this).

[RiceTea]

Excellent starter camera. Some feel that the cam is too small and does not handle comfortably. Give it a try...

Mash, on Jul 3 2006, 03:44 AM, said:

For those of you who have used it, what do you think? Is it worth getting? Would it be a good starter camera?

[biped]

SammyOSX86, on Jul 3 2006, 06:40 AM, said:

Excellent starter camera. Some feel that the cam is too small and does not handle comfortably. Give it a try...

you can buy an additional grip for it, but yes it is small.  I would consider this a step above a 'starter' camera.  The only thing stopping you from achieving professional results ( at this format ) is your lense selection, and skills.

keep in mind you get a 1.65 magnification factor with EF type lenses

[lambsporriegetta]

http://www.bobatkins...mware_hack.html

this may be useful. i found it last week.
I don't have one, thus i haven't tried it, but i would if i could!

[user2]

lambsporriegetta, on Jul 3 2006, 12:05 PM, said:

http://www.bobatkins...mware_hack.html

this may be useful. i found it last week.
I don't have one, thus i haven't tried it, but i would if i could!

I had that installed on my rebel and it was great.  I don't think it will work with the XT though.  I really really loved my rebel but unfortunatly it was stolen.  I was going to buy the XT but coulsd not get used to the size so I upgraded and went with the 20d and it's great.  Better still in the updated 30d which is basically the same as the 20d but with a much bigger lcd.

[munky]

digital rebel would be an excellent starting point mash.  lenses are the expensive part really, so its good you have access to some existing lenses.

i've yet to take the plunge into the dSLR world, because to replicate the range my Fuji S602z can acheive i'd need to spend around £1000 (or roughly $1900) on camera + lenses, which aint an option right now.

there is a new entry-level dSLR you might want to look at, the Pentax *ist DL2, but since you already have lenses for the rebel, that might be better after all.

good luck!

[mohoyt]

The Canon Digital Rebel XT or EOS 350D is an immense camera, I got one at the start of this year and it is soooooooo nice. Previously I was using a relatively Kodak point and shoot camera and I got so annoyed when using the viewfinder as it was so inaccurate, the Canon is so much better at this.

I even got a nice adaptor that lets me use Pentax screwmount lenses on it as my dad had loads lying around, especially a 17mm Fisheye!

One small quibble about the camera I have is the Cropped field of view (x1.6 I think), it generally just annoys me as lenses aren't quite as wide angled as they should be... But to get rid of that problem  you have to go for a EOS 5D which is bigger and is a hellofa lot more pricy.

There is a nice review of it at http://www.dpreview....s/canoneos350d/

Enjoy...

[Swad]

So should I buy a kit or just the body? Does the body come with the cables, etc?

[solarlips]

Get the camera, I bought the 300D a few years back and haven't looked back.  The photos it takes are great - crisp with excellent colors and shadowing.  Get to know the camera, there are so many options and features that you'll take that much better photos if you know how to effectively use it.  My friend Tatiana has a the Nikon D70 - unfortunately she doesn't know what it can do - in turn a standard point and shoot camera would have been great for her.  The lens that comes in the package is great to have - it goes from wide angle to something like 55mm.  The wide angle is great for architecture and landscapes!

[Wayland]

Mash, on Jul 16 2006, 11:24 AM, said:

So should I buy a kit or just the body? Does the body come with the cables, etc?

I have a digital Rebel, the original, and i love it. It's much bigger than the XT, but the xt has a bit more res. However the body is bigger on the rebel, which I love. I would recomend you get the kit with one standard lense. The kit has everything same with the body, except of course the lense. There are only two cables, the video out and the usb cable. Other than that there are no others, and even those are pretty standard. I would recomend the kit, just because it's not that much difference really in price. Check out Bhphotovideo.com They have some great deals at times!

[lambsporriegetta]

I was talking to someone about this topic yesterday, one thing that came out was that some nikons can use the old manual lenses, which will give you a few more options.

http://www.nikonians...patibility.html
check for your chosen camera in the chart.

Also i think the olympus e330 can be used with an attachment that allows you to use the older zuiko lenses. this is a cheaper alternative to the nikon, but the nikon has a bigger CCD so the lens magnification factor is less (1:2 v 1:1.5ish or in other words wide lenses stay wider on the nikon)

Wayland, do they still supply them with standard lenses? and what would be standard for the smaller ccd? 35mm?

[Icebreaker]

I once held a XT and it felt like a toy in my hands compared to e.g. D70 and D50 that I have owned. That being said, I think XT is ok, but I would rather buy the new Nikon D80 that will arrive in beginning of August. See more on www.dpreview.com or elsewhere.

In my opinion these dSLRs need good lenses if you want good results. The cheap consumer zooms, especially the Canons really suck, so if your budget is limited a top of the line Point and Shoot camera will give you much better image quality as they come with a decent zoom lens. Last time I looked, Sony R1 was nice and before that the Olympus C8080 was the best I think.

If you really want a dSLR and are on a budget, you can pick cheap primes that offer outstanding image quality, like the 50mm F 1.8 and others.

[lambsporriegetta]

just so you know, here's what i'm going to do......
keep the film cameras going and buy an epson perfection V700 scanner.....
http://www.photo-i.c...V700/page_1.htm
(and by the way, this is one of the best review styles that i've come accross.....talk about thorough)
make sure you read to the end to see what he learned as he was going.

i'm not a digital hater, in fact i use canon 1ds's at work all day everyday, but for the best quality for the best money, i'm going to just shoot on neg film, get it processed at the local chemist with no prints or cd and pop it into the scanner for batch scanning, then go to bed. I got my ricoh gr-d if i'm not feeling patient.

and another thing...... one thing that i have reservations about with most digital cameras is the reduced size ccd chip. apart from making your most expensive wide lenses much less useful, you have a larger depth of field, meaning, those nice short depth of field selective focus shots of your loved ones, the ones with the background all blurry and nice, are much more difficult to achieve. check out the canon 5d, this is the cheapest full frame ccd camera.........

[kday]

Mash, looks like we are into a lot of the same things.  I have also been looking for a DSLR for a while, and I am having trouble making a decision on what camera to get since I have a fairly low budget.  I have been looking at the Rebel XT along with the EOS 30D.  The EOS 30D is a bit out of my budget, but I like the feel of it a lot better than the Rebel XT.  The Rebel's plastic body just felt really cheap.  I like the magnesium body feel of the 30d, but I don't know if that justifies an extra few hundred dollars.  The 30D is also a bit faster, but I don't know if I need those extra couple frames per second.  I tried out the 30D side by side with the Rebel XT, and it just feels so much better to me for some reason.  I guess I just don't like the cheap camera feel.

I was also considering Nikon for a while since their cameras have extremely low noise, but I don't think I am going to go that direction since I am not into Nikon's proprietary RAW format.  I don't want to be stuck with their crappy software.  I don't see why Nikon doesn't release info about their RAW format.  I've seen many people not choose Nikon for this very reason.

[Swad]

Wow, that is dumb about the RAW thing - I wasn't aware of it.

I actually tried a Rebel at OfficeMax the other day, but their stupid little alarm system kept going off when I tried to hold it. So after the lady shut the alarm off, I left. Didn't want to cause a scene...

It did feel a little lighter than I had expected, mostly because my work just bought this really nice Nikon. I don't use it much, so I haven't messed around with the RAW stuff, but it's great.

[kday]

Mash, on Aug 6 2006, 06:04 AM, said:

Wow, that is dumb about the RAW thing - I wasn't aware of it.

I actually tried a Rebel at OfficeMax the other day, but their stupid little alarm system kept going off when I tried to hold it. So after the lady shut the alarm off, I left. Didn't want to cause a scene...

It did feel a little lighter than I had expected, mostly because my work just bought this really nice Nikon. I don't use it much, so I haven't messed around with the RAW stuff, but it's great.

Heh, funny.  I was looking at cameras at Fry's Electronics, and those Alarms go off just from touching the cameras.  They seriously don't want customers.  Anyways, I just held and played with the EOS 5D today, and now I want one of those!  The body will only set you back a few grand

[Arsenicson]

BTW, I've already tried using my Rebel XT together with Aperture 1.1 on a 10.4.6 Hackintosh. Works like a charm, and all the camera bundled software works too, although with Aperture you may choose not to install this bundle at all.
Take a look at my http://arsenicson.livejournal.com (sorry, text is in russian, but pictures say it all), now comfortly maintained from a Hackintosh

[John the Geek]

Mash, on Aug 6 2006, 07:04 AM, said:

Wow, that is dumb about the RAW thing - I wasn't aware of it.

I actually tried a Rebel at OfficeMax the other day, but their stupid little alarm system kept going off when I tried to hold it. So after the lady shut the alarm off, I left. Didn't want to cause a scene...

It did feel a little lighter than I had expected, mostly because my work just bought this really nice Nikon. I don't use it much, so I haven't messed around with the RAW stuff, but it's great.

The Nikon RAW is ok, but it usually takes Photoshop and Aperture a few tries to get it right once a new camera comes out.   I like my Canon 20D better than Nikon though, but it's all preference.

[kday]

Arsenicson, on Aug 7 2006, 02:17 AM, said:

BTW, I've already tried using my Rebel XT together with Aperture 1.1 on a 10.4.6 Hackintosh. Works like a charm, and all the camera bundled software works too, although with Aperture you may choose not to install this bundle at all.
Take a look at my http://arsenicson.livejournal.com (sorry, text is in russian, but pictures say it all), now comfortly maintained from a Hackintosh

Wow, those are incredible pics.  Where is the first set of Panorama's from? (sorry, can't read Russian)

Also, those Islams seem a bit, ermmmm, pissed.  Every sign seems to be about killing/burning/beheading people that insult Islam.  I'm not trying to insult them or anything, but I think they need to hit the strip joint, have a couple beers, and chill out a bit.  Sheesh.   I never understood why disagreements about religion can cause so much hate.  Oh well, I guess that's what I get for being agnostic.