? about Canon digital rebel

[ShutterGirl]

Can someone give me some pros & cons for the digital rebel?

[Michael Fanelli]

Can someone give me some pros & cons for the digital rebel?

Related to what? Pros and cons are personal choices.

[ShutterGirl]

I noticed in someone's post that they had problems with the 2 they owned & wondered if anyone else had.

[Peter_AUS]

Steve Lutz has one and the battery cover broke on it, he had to get it fixed. Are you considering between the Canon Rebel Digital and Canon 10D, is that why you are asking. If you want in depth reviews on the digital Rebel have a look at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec...on_eos300d.asp and you should find all the info that you want there.

[ShutterGirl]

I'm leaning more toward the rebel right now. It's more in my price range plus I've never owned a digital.

Thanks

[Michael Fanelli]

I noticed in someone's post that they had problems with the 2 they owned & wondered if anyone else had.

In terms of reliability, the Rebel line, both film and digital, looks more fragile than it is. I was surprised by how heavy the digital Rebel felt compared to the film Rebel.

The plastic allows the camera case to bounce if it falls. This protects the internals more than a metal case that transmits the impact energy. Although I haven't dropped the digital Rebel yet, the film version has been dropped much more than once (yeah, I know). There has been no damage.

I wouldn't be concerned about physical strength when choosing which digital camera to buy.

[Steve Lutz]

Can someone give me some pros & cons for the digital rebel?

The battery door on my Rebel did fall apart one day, for no apparent reason. Since I bought the camera used, I called Canon, got the number for their parts distributer, and ordered a replacement door. It cost $12, and I got it in a week.

Also, I had a rattle in the pop-up flash housing. The metal linkage is designed with a little play in it, so the metal rattles on the plastic. It bugged me, that a camera that cost 1K had a rattle, so I put some paper between the housing and the metal and got rid of the rattle. Since I never use the pop-up flash anyway, it isn't any big deal.

Anyway, I have a 10D as well as the Digital Rebel, and the image quality is indistiguishable. However, the buiild quality on the 10D is much better. The Rebel is a nice camera, though, and I am happy with it.

[SmartWombat]

Personally, I liked the images and hated the camera.

I worked a weekend in Ireland at a conference with my own Minolta A1 (soon to be replaced by the A2) and a loaned EOS300D. Extremely poor lighting, down to

I found the 300D almost uncontrollable.
In Manual mode I never managed to adjust shutter speed and aperture before the 6 second timeout, I couldn't dance my fingers and thumb over the buttons to make the control wheel do what I wanted.
In contrast the A1 has two tumbwheels, one for shutter speed and one for aperture.
I think there's a reason the two controls are separate on my OM10 so why DSLR manufacturers think one wheel plus a "shift" button is acceptable I have no idea.

The eye relief on the viewfinder was almost nonexistent.
My wife says I'm portly, girls in the office say I'm cuddly, I know I'm just fat
So working with a tripod or monopod presented a little challenge getting to the 300D viewfinder.
The A1 in comparison has a good eye relief and caused me far less eyestrain and back pain.

I couldn't find any flash control on the 300D.
Turns out that it was smart enough to get it right in almost all cases.
On the other hand the A1 has manual control, or adjustment +/-2 or pre-flash TTL, all of which gives me the flexibility to play with the exposure.
Of course it also gives me more ways to screw it up when I forget to set the flash power back to automatic after getting creative

I couldn't match the A1 lens with the single loan lens I had on the Canon.
Which will probably increase the price of the package still further.
Something that I am unwilling to do right now, but won't be a problem later this year or next year.

Battery life on the Canon was far poorer than the A1.
Not surprising since the A1 has a higher capacity (same size/shape) battery.
I didn't need to change the A1 battery all day.
The Canon I had to recharge during the lunch break - it only came with 1 battery.


Bottom line?
I wouldn't want a 300D today, I prefer to go from the A1 to the A2.

Yes, I suspect image quality will be poorer on the A2. Particularly noise on the 8MP sensor compared to a 6MP DSLR.
But there are software tools to compensate for that.

For me what is important is usability, controllability, comfort and good enough quality.
If I can get that by spending £750 on an A2 instead of a over £1K on a DSLR with equivalent lens range then I'm happy.
Particularly with the faster higher resolution EVF, it should suit sunny pictures of motor racing well (F1 GP Catalunya) though it will be a challenge in the rain at Spa I'm sure!


Definitely, I will be buying a DSLR once I find one that works well for me.
It's a personal choice, and I don't expect others to agree, buit the 300D wasn't it.
In fact I'll go get my asbestos suit on now ;)

[Sebastian]

In fact I'll go get my asbestos suit on now ;)

If you'll get flamed for anything, it won't be for disliking the rebel, it'll be for not doing your research before you bought the camera. All those things have already been covered by many people, on many forums. If you want a camera that lets you work quickly and consistently in hurried conditions, it should be one of the mid to high-end cameras. The DRebel is NOT one of those cameras.

As for the A1/A2, how do you manage motorsports with the AF on those things?

[ShutterGirl]

Ok. After much thought & research I've decided to get the Rebel. Should be here in a couple days. Thank all for the info! One more question though, do I have to format the memory card?

[Sean Dempsey]

No, but might as well.

I got a Digital Rebel last week and I love it, it is fantastic. If you aren't a professional with high standards and a picky, analytical eye, you'll love it and never complain. It's a 1000 dollar digital SLR... take a look at some of the much more expensive ones, and you'll be glad you got it. I know I am. It's really great.

[Peter_AUS]

Good luck with the Digital Rebel, I hope it works out for you. I was in similar minds and jumped the other way and got the 10D, happy ?? Yes I am. The only thing I don't like is the X 1.6 factor as it makes my lenses longer at the smaller end that I need to use and will now have to look at getting something in the 17-40 range to compensate. Even the 50mm that I purchased late last year is now an 85mm so that has changed my uses for that. I find myself using the 28-135 IS lens more and more but today found that to be a little limiting in a couple of shots where I needed a wider angle of lens, hence the 17-40 lens. Just need the bucks to buy it now. 17 x 1.6 takes me back to 27.2mm which I think will be an OK size for me. I'm talking about indoor shots like for real estate photos, although I don't take real estate photos at all, just example.

Let us know how you feel about the Rebel, after you have been using it a while, I know Liz loves it, I was concerned about the plastic feel of it, that is why I went the 10D way. And it feels like my EOS30 anyway.

[noladave]

I love the Rebel. My 2 previous digitas were the Olympus 700uz and the Nikon 5700. I loved my Olympus, but the 2 MP sensor, and only 400 ISO speed were very limiting. Great daytime pictures.

In my case, my Nikon 5700 experience was similar to what Smartwombat had with his Rebel. To me, the buttons and setup on the 5700 are not "logical" to me. I especially disliked the buttons on the lens, and more often than not, I accidentally hit those buttons while holding the camera! Picture quality on the 5700 was great, but again, the limitation of ISO 800 made me wanting something else.

I've had the Rebel 3 weeks, and love it. 1600 ISO pictures are grainy, but very accepatable. I just ordered the 70-200 F/2.8 (non is) lens, so I can't wait to take night pictures with that!

I use the rebel to take baseball pictures (or the occasional - "Honey please take a picture of the kids for me!" ). I love the fact that you can get up to 1/3200 or 1/4000 of a second speed, as it really freezes the ball. Here's a before and after picture of the ball arriving, and then the catcher trying to tag the runner. I never would have gotten these 2 pictures with either the Olympus or Nikon - it's just a limitation of the cameras.

I hope you enjoy your Rebel as much as I'm enjoying mine.

http://www.wavebaseball.com/images/2...pper/nate1.jpg

http://www.wavebaseball.com/images/2...safeathome.jpg

Both pictures were taken from 3rd base (around 90-100 feet away) using a 70-300 4.5/5.6 L Canon lens.

[SmartWombat]

I like the pictures from that loan Rebel.

I didn't like the controls (try altering aperture in Manual mode) and my colleague didn't like the autofocus in low light conditions.

But I couldn't fault the images, even at 1600 setting.
Noise performance in low light was far better than the A1 at 800.

[Liz]

is perfect. I was one of the first to receive it when B&H got their first shipment, and I fell in love with it. Before the Rebel, digital was for me a p&s, namely the G3 which I also really liked. I sold the Elan7e and a few lenses to get the Rebel, and I have never regretted it.
I recycled my lenses and now have less pieces but better glass.

I wanted the 10D, but because of back problems I couldn't handle it easily for any length of time (tried it out many times at B&H). The results I've gotten from the Rebel are better than I even expected. For me it is easy to manipulate (I was used to the Rebel 2000 & Elan7). Digital itself was (and is) quite a learning curve, and I still don't know everything. All my friends love the prints I show or give them. Some friends have asked me to do some portraits of their children and family portraits (which I don't do well with). The children's portraits were very good. They could have been better (but they don't know that!)

Enjoy your camera, and don't worry about how it works for others. If you like the "feel" of it, you will enjoy using it. Take your time, and enjoy your new camera. You will be surprised how great the results will be. You will have to do some post processing, and feel free to come around anytime and ask questions.

I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures. ;)

Great choice IMO!

Can someone give me some pros & cons for the digital rebel?

[canonguy]

The battery door on my Rebel did fall apart one day, for no apparent reason. Since I bought the camera used, I called Canon, got the number for their parts distributer, and ordered a replacement door. It cost $12, and I got it in a week.

Also, I had a rattle in the pop-up flash housing. The metal linkage is designed with a little play in it, so the metal rattles on the plastic. It bugged me, that a camera that cost 1K had a rattle, so I put some paper between the housing and the metal and got rid of the rattle. Since I never use the pop-up flash anyway, it isn't any big deal.

Anyway, I have a 10D as well as the Digital Rebel, and the image quality is indistiguishable. However, the buiild quality on the 10D is much better. The Rebel is a nice camera, though, and I am happy with it.

I too bought my Digital Rebel 'previously owned' and it came with the dual Battery Grip. Can you please share the Canon Part number of the Battery Door so I can order it ?

Gary

[grentz]

i should add i guess that i just ordered my digital rebel, i looked at the 10D but for my needs i dont need the few extras the 10D has for the extra price

[Christer]

I considered the rebel as well as the 10D. Ended up going with the rebel when I found it for $875 including the kit lens (this was when it was selling for $1k everywhere). Realized eventually that I really really wanted flash exposure compensation. Luckily, I found the firmware hack.. and now I'm happy.

[Reminisce]

If you're just stepping into the Digital SLR world, the Rebel is one of the best cameras to get. I purchased mine 2 weeks after being slightly disappointed with my Nikon 5700, and I havent even begun to look back. What some people mention as problems are easily covered in the manual and on forums.

Bottom line, this camera takes FABULOUS pictures and the lens lineup is so extensive, you can find a lens or 2 or 3 for any occassion you want (baring, you have the bucks). Controlling everything is pretty straight forward. It feels just right in your hands (thick enough to feel professional, not too bulky for tugging around), and has all the starter options you'll need to learn, grow, and even progress in a career with. Flash Exposure Compensation, Mirror Lockup, and selectable AI Servo can be had by downloading the Russian firmware version to your camera, but thats another story.

Its a great camera for the price, you simply cannot beat it. I hope you enjoy your purchase as much as I did.