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Canon EOS 6.3MP Digital Rebel Camera with Lens 18-55MM Lens

Canon EOS 6.3MP Digital Rebel Camera with Lens 18-55MM Lens

List Price: $1,199.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awsome Camera
Review: I am sold on this camera! It is by far the best digital camera on the market for the price! Canon has put together a profesional quality digital camera for under 1000 dollars and this includes a great lense! Many of the complaints I have read about this camera are simply because the user doesn't know how to read his operating manuel. Gary stated he wanted more flexibility with this camera and that it took out of focus indoor photos. This is not true at all! The Rebel was designe to be very flexible and very automatic. It has a scroll bar that is at finger tip that allows you to adjust the apeture or shutter speed. It is fully manual or fully automatic. It allows you to swap lenses from other EOS cameras giving it even more flexability. Indoor shots are great if you know how to use the 7 focus points in the viewfinder. It is hard for me to shoot a bad shot. The download time from the camera to computer is slow, but I solved this with a 10 dollar memory card reader from Best Buy. It's great. Plug the memory card into the reader and attach it to any Windows XP USB port and it transfers even the large photos at a much faster speed. Then you don't have to worry about carrying around a cable. If your looking at spending around $1000 on a camera this is the one you need. Like all cameras you have to take time to get to know the camera, and understand some basic photographic principles.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An OK camera
Review: If you are looking for a point and shoot camera this isn't it! If you are looking for a camera for outdoors this takes great pictures in good lighting. If you are taking pictures indoors expect a good number of your pictures to be blurred and out of focus. I even purchased the most powerful flash Canon sells and I still do not get good results. It appears the camera often sets exposure incorrectly by metering incorrectly but this is just a guess... In compairison a $200 point and shoot digital camera beat the pictures I took with the digital rebel. Perhaps if I could customize some of the settings more that would help but then if I have to set everything all the time then it sure isn't a point and shoot as the automatic mode, I found, doesn't do very well figuring out lighting.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's the best for less than $1,000!!!
Review: As with any digital camera on the market, there is no "perfect" price/perfomance ratio. The DRebel however at the time it was released was arguably a excellent camera for the cost! The pictures (if taken correctly) can be amazing. And the manual control of the camera gives you a lot of artistic freedom I have yet to see in other cameras. Even though all my friends are dissapointed that one cannot look at the LCD there's assurance in the viewfinder because what you see is really what you get. Oh, and that wide angle lens... wow! You have no clue what a difference that makes in a small room! This camera is a great value! The only problem I had is that after 18,000 shots in 90 days the auto-focus went out, something that could be easily repaired by Canon but since the store I bought it from has a 90-day return policy I opted to return the camera and buy a Canon 10D.

Some small annoyances I wish Canon will fix since Nikon is hot on their tail
- The slap of the mirror is in excess. Really. Trying to take pictures in a quiet room can be very unnerving.
- The Compact-Flash Read/Write borders on pitiful sometimes. Yeah I know the files are large but it really takes just too long.
- You learn easily that the 4 image buffer isn't enough if you photograph action.
- Uh, why on earth are the Aperature and LCD Light buttons about an inch away from my thumb? They need to be moved closer.
- When ISO or WB are adjusted it would be nice to have that information in the viewfinder- it's annoying having to hold the camera down to adjust these two paramaters (no real excuse about the ISO!)

I think that's about it. If you have NO investment in lenses I may suggest a Nikon D70 if you can afford it, should you think you will become a serious photographer. If you have any Canon EF lenses the D-Rebel is a great choice, especially if you cannot afford a 10D or a new investment in Nikon and the D70. If you barely have the cash for a D-Rebel buy the D-Rebel. Or if you want to be a casual user.

I would buy a D70, however bought an extra 28-200mm Tamron Canon Lens so I will end up purchasing a Canon 10D. :)

Hope any of this helps!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If You're A Canon 35mm Fan, Time To Make The Move To Digital
Review: I bought a Canon 35mm Rebel SLR 8 years ago and loved it so much, I eventually bought two more Canon film cameras over the years, including lots of lenses and goodies. But a couple of years ago, I wanted to make the switch to digital. The Canon digital SLRs were out of my price range ($3K to start), so I purchased a Powershot G2 digital point and shoot, which I loved, but my lenses sat unused in my closet.

Well, I fret no more as Canon came out with the much more affordable Digital Rebel for under $1,000 and I finally took the plunge. A great decision. Now I can use my lenses. I have a 50mm 1.8 (word of advice - if you don't have it yet, get this lens - the best $80 you'll spend on your hobby), 28-135mm Image stabilizer and a 75-300mm zoom along with the 18-55mm kit lens that came with the Digital Rebel. This along with the 380EX flash that I have had for 5+ years give me the arsenal to take good shots in most conditions. You can set ISO to 800 or 1600 to get clear indoor shots or sports action, and the noise associated with these settings is much more acceptable to me than the 400 ISO setting provided on my G2. And as far as portraits go, combine the 50mm lens with the flash and I've taken some of the best face shots in my life.

Also making me happy is that Rebel takes the same battery as the G2, so I use my G2 battery plus the Rebel battery along with the two extras I bought), meaning I should never run out of power (what helps with battery life is that unlike the G2, you can't use the display monitor to frame the picture, you must use the viewfinder). Plus the camera takes Compact Flash cards, again like the G2, so I don't have to spend on new memory.

If I have a gripe, is that some pictures come out a tad underexposed even with the flash, but this is generally remedied in image software. And I miss the movie mode in the G2, but certainly can live with it.

After 4 months, all is well with the Rebel and I can't wait to upgrade in the future.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Canon Digital Rebel_Excellent Camera
Review: I've owned two different Digital Rebel bodies, both the 18-55 and the 55-200mm lenses. In my view, the D300 is the camera for anyone's entry into DSLR based photography. The images generated by this camera and either of the afore mentioned lenses are simply amazing. When proper effort is put into learning the functionality and capability of this piece of equipment, you can expect images that are the equal of any 6 megapixtel camera on the market. The lenses are not the equal of the top of the line canon glass, nor are they intended to be. They are entry level lenses that will allow you to get a feel for DSLR photography without investing thousands of dollars. A top of the line Canon lens on the D300 and on the higher end D10 generates images that are indistinguishable from one other. I know this because I have both cameras, some of canon's finer lenses, and I've tested. The D300 is an exceptional value and the addition of the $100 18-55mm lens is unbeatable by any manufacturer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic pictures that equal or exceed film
Review: This is our second digital camera. We shot about 10,000 pictures with a Nikon CoolPix 950 in the couple of years before getting the Digital Rebel.

This camera does several things for you.

The noise is extremely low. If you have sufficient light to shoot ISO-100 then the results are marvelous. Even at ISO-400 the results are better than that of our previous camera.

Because the noise is so low in dim light you can push the ISO too 400 or 800 and still take really good pictures. Even at ISO-1600 the results are very acceptable. My biggest gripe with the Nikon was the low sensitivity. I would line up a good shot but the camera wanted to set the shutter to something like 1/2 second making it impossible to get a good picture without a tripod.

The camera operates very quickly. The total time for sensing light, auto-focus and shutter operation is a fraction of a second. Combined with the low noise of the sensor this means you can take pictures that would have been missed otherwise.

Battery life is very good. You can take something like 400 pictures (without flash) on one charge. You'll run out of storage before running out of battery life.

The auto white balance is sometimes not perfect in various indoor lighting situations. However, the manual white balance works beautifully. Just shoot a pure white piece of paper as a reference then all subsequent pictures come out perfect.

My one complaint is that the interface is only USB. It should have been Firewire. It is a shame they released this camera without Firewire.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great value and excellent technology. Film is dead!
Review: The Digital Rebel is an excellent digital camera that proves, to me at least, that 35mm film is rapidly dying as the medium of choice even for rather casual amateurs. At under $1000, the Digital Rebel allows the amateur photographer to use the fine Canon autofocus lenses on a 6.3 Megapixel camera that can take superb pictures that are indistinguishable from film. As of Spring 2004 six megapixels is more or less the standard for the best digital SLR cameras.

The advantages of digital images are many. First of all, the digital camera allows the user to check the images as they are being taken, and even delete the "dogs" on the fly, freeing up storage space for another try. No more suspense, as was the case with film, about how, or whether, the pictures turned out. The CF cards that the camera uses will hold several hundred images depending on the type of file format that the user selects. After a shooting session, the user can examine the shots in detail on a personal computer and determine which ones are worthy of printing. Then we can either print out professional-quality photos on a PC printer (photo-quality printers are not at all expensive these days, although the ink is not cheap) or email the image files to any of several printing companies that will mail back prints in a day or two. The convenience is incomparably better than film.

The results are better than film as well. Using any of several inexpensive computer programs, even a casual amateur can modify, crop, and make other changes to the digital images that surpass what could once only be done in a $20,000 chemical darkroom. The "digital darkroom" has arrived!

The Digital Rebel is positioned well below Canon's excellent flagship camera, the Canon 10D. It lacks certain features of the 10D including certain metering options. It is not built as sturdily as the all-metal 10D. But build quality is not at all bad on the Digital Rebel, and I liked the ergonomics of the camera and the layout of the menus. And the price is truly competitive, around $500 less than the 10D--a significant difference.

For a 35mm photographer looking to make the jump to digital, the Rebel is definitely one to consider. If one has an investment in Canon autofocus lenses, the Rebel may very well be the way to go. Users who do not have an investment in lenses will also want to compare the Rebel to the Nikon D70. The two cameras are priced roughly the same, and the feature set is somewhat different--the D70 provides for different metering options that may (or may not) make a difference to the buyer.

Overall, the Digital Rebel is a hot seller for good reason--it can take stunning digital images, it uses the same lenses as Canon's more expensive 10D, and is priced for the serious amateur market rather than the semi-pro market.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Can't say enough good things
Review: When I first read the reports about this camera, I was a little bit dismayed that Canon left off features like user-selectable auto-focus modes, flash exposure compensation, and selectable metering modes. After some due reflection though, I can only remember a handful of times when I've used those features on my film cameras. In the end, a six-megapixel digital SLR that can use the same lenses as my beloved Elan II, for under $1000 was an irresistable combination.

I haven't been disappointed. I picked up my Digital Rebel at the end of February. Since then, I've shot nearly 1000 frames, and I don't think I can be happier. The pictures are crisp, with excellent color representation, and the camera is responsive and acts exactly the way I expect an EOS to act. I've used it so far for landscapes, portrait, casual snapshots, and sports, and all of the pictures have been excellent. I've had a number of them printed, including one at 20"x30". Battery life is good, and I've yet to lose power during an outing. Ergonomics are good, and the camera is light and easy to carry all day.

My suggestions for anyone buying this camera is to get a large memory card, (The pictures will take up about 3MB a-piece.) a USB 2.0 reader for downloads, and lots of ink and paper for your printer.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Camera for the Price, but could stand some improvement
Review: Ok, first off I have to say that I bought my camera about 3 days ago. I have used it for several personal events, but I have not used it yet to do the main thing I bought it for, which is sports and action photos.

I have read some great reviews about this camera, and overall I am very pleased with it. But I do think that there are 2-3 items that I should address that annoy me about this camera, which I did not realize before buying.

First, I came from a Canon EOS A2, which had most features that I ever needed. About my only complaint on this camera was that the flash-synche wasn't quite fast enough for me. But that was minimal.

Now, with the Digital Rebel, I realize I am taking a step down in the EOS "family line" but I was hoping the Rebel would be upgraded as such with the features that it's predecessors lacked. Some were, and some weren't.

The first lacking feature is the inability to change metering modes. The camera has preset metering modes in the different "creative" and "preset" settings. I cannot change from center-weighted metering to full-frame metering in Tv (shutter priority) Av (aperature priority) or full program (P) The camera presets the metering for each of these modes and does not give me the option to change.

The same is true for Single Shot and AI Servo focussing. I cannot tell the camera to focus on a moving subject, unless in the "Sports" mode, and then in this mode, I cannot set the shutter speed manually. In Tv, the camera "senses" whether you are following a subjext or not, and focuses either single-shot or AI Servo, depending on the movement of the subject. But I have noticed that it takes a small amount of time to detect the subject moving. After this, the lightning-fast EOS focussing system kicks in and all is well.

These may be minor features to most, but they are features I became accustomed to with the EOS A2, and that camera is several years old. I was hoping this new and improved rebel would be more munipulative, but it is not.

Overall I would still rate this camera at 4 stars. The photo quality is outstanding and the ease of use is great. The focusing still screams and I can use my former lenses. I just wish I would have known about these other features before-hand.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Stay With the Sony
Review: Purchased a 300D to be able to change lenses and add a pro strobe. I haven't as of yet been able to get the manual mode to expose correctly (always underexposed) Even using the 550EX flash. To date I have yet to get a lens that compares to the sharpness of the zeiss on my sony 707. I wish I would have bought the Sony 838. Spent a bundle on lenses and what I've ended up with is basicly a range of 28 - 300 (35mm equivelant)with none giving comparable sharpness to my 707.
You get that range stock on the sony for the same $1000 bucks or so you get the cannon and its 18-55 (29-88 35mm equivelant) cheap plastic lens for. I like to use aperature priority with a bounce flash for portraits. Nixed on the cannon by its metering background lighting in A mode with flash. This would be Ok if the manual mode flash metering was acceptable but its not. I feel I've been trapped in a money pit buying lenses and strobes tyrying to get this camera to peform to my expectations. I probabally would have been perfectly satisfied if I had not owned the 707 and known what a sharp lens was capable of producing. I see that most of the lower reviews are from former sony owners. I guess we have been spoiled.


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