Canon EOS Digital Rebel EF-S

[Southern Man]

Has anyone played with one of these yet?

I have owned several 35mm Canon Cameras in my life (AE-1 / AT-1 bodies, and assorted lenses). I was at one time a pretty respectable hobbiest in fact. Had a dark room and all.

I have been sitting here looking at my Kodak DC290 (2.1 mpl) that I got 3+ years ago. I have been using it a lot recently and it just isn't giving me the service I want. I want to go back to a SLR.

So.... any opinions on the Canon EOS Digital Rebel EF-S?

Specs

[Aedan]

I'm using an EOS 350D, which is an update to the EOS300D. I beleive that the EOS 350D is effectively the same as the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. From what I understand, it's fixed some of the complains about the EOS 300D/Rebel.

There are some very good resources on the net covering Digital SLR cameras, and I recommend reading up on them.

What are you looking for in a camera?

[Southern Man]

Originally Posted by Áedán

I'm using an EOS 350D, which is an update to the EOS300D. I beleive that the EOS 350D is effectively the same as the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. From what I understand, it's fixed some of the complains about the EOS 300D/Rebel.

There are some very good resources on the net covering Digital SLR cameras, and I recommend reading up on them.

What are you looking for in a camera?

Wow.... you are up late tonight......

I am looking for something in these ranges:

Price: under $700.00 usd

Pix Rate: 6 - 8 megapixel (price prohibits much over 6mpx - I know)

HAS TO BE SLR

Has to have manual settings. (Shutter Speed, etc)

Has to be a name brand.

Has to accept different focal length lenses.

Has to use Flash Card (I have about 3 gigs of cards)

Would like it to have a built in flash.

[Southern Man]

Well..... after a little reading I have to say those out there who are using the 350d choose it hands down over the 300d.

I guess what I need to do it to find someone who wants a darkroom set up and a couple of old 35mm bodies and see if I can fill in the missing $$$.

Also, this isn't a priority item so I could sit back and wait till the price gives a little.

Next thing is that I will be wanting a 70 - 200 lens and those d@nm things are almost the price of what I was wanting to spend on the camera in the first place. I made the mistake of buying 1 less than quality lens once upon a time. I will NEVER buy another.

[dod]

Have a look here SM.

Don't just run for the Rebel XT. The original is a larger camera and there are plenty of people who decided not to "upgrade" simply because the XT doesn't suit them that well. Also if you're only really looking for prints up to say A4 size the original rebel is more than adequate. Throw in the fact that the rebel is available for a song now it still makes good sense.

One of the main benefits of the XT is the ability to select the autofocus mode in all shooting modes. The rebel only allowed predictive autofocus in sports mode unless you applied a firmware hack, which also voided the warranty, LOL no change there then

You can also get an adapter to fit your old FD lenses onto the EF mount. ebay is probably your best bet now as Canon no longer produce them.

Also look at the Nikon D70, very solid and reliable.

[Rondog]

Ive used an EOS 350D. I dont actually own one, but a guy I work with during school holidays at Harvey Norman, (the camera specialist) used to be a professional photograher. He is old-school before digital camera's and all that. He taught me a little about cameras.

The EOS 350D is a beast of camera. Sit it on a tripod and its like watching high-def DVD. Absolutely fautless! Picture can be enlarged to more than A3 sizes, without a problem. Im almost certain it takes CF cards. The only thing you should know, is that your old lenses will NOT work. Wide-angle lenses especially, only work as regular lenses.

[dod]

Originally Posted by Rondog

Ive used an EOS 350D. I dont actually own one, but a guy I work with during school holidays at Harvey Norman, (the camera specialist) used to be a professional photograher. He is old-school before digital camera's and all that. He taught me a little about cameras.

The EOS 350D is a beast of camera. Sit it on a tripod and its like watching high-def DVD. Absolutely fautless! Picture can be enlarged to more than A3 sizes, without a problem. Im almost certain it takes CF cards. The only thing you should know, is that your old lenses will NOT work. Wide-angle lenses especially, only work as regular lenses.

I'll clarify a couple of things here Rondog

1. 350D does not take video. The viewing screen does not give you a preview of the shot you're about to take, ONLY a review of the shot you have taken. Because of the size you can also be fooled into thinking you have taken a sharp shot only to realise once it's on screen that you have camera shake, poor focus etc.

2. Print sizes of larger than A4 are normally irrelevant to most of us. However the 300D/rebel is more than adequate. As an example take a look at this link which shows what the old D30 is capable of with roughly half the pixels of the rebel With both the rebel and the rebel XT the resolution obtained really isn't an issue.

http://www.nyphotographics.com/blowupsample.htm

3. Definitely takes Compact Flash

4. Old lenses CAN work, just not in AF. Depending on the lens you might also have to stop down manually. Additionally on the canons you need to be careful about choosing non-Canon autofocus lenses. Some manufacturers reverse engineer the lens mount. As bodies change the lenses do not always work and cause body lock ups. They can normally, but not always, be rechipped to make them compatible again.

5. Wide angles on a Dslr work in exactly the same way as they do on a normal slr. However what hapens is that the sensor on a dslr is smaller than the size of a normal 35mm film frame. For easiest explanation this results in the lens image being cropped somewhat. In effect a lens appears to be longer than it is. In the case of the Canon the lens length appears to be longer by a factor of 1.6. In turn this means a 50mm lens appears to have the perspective of an 80mm lens etc.

You're right though in specification the 350D is a beast, but it's small. For some people it's too small. I'd recommend getting into a shop and trying them before parting with any cash.

[Rondog]

I didnt mean it takes video, I mean the image clarity is comparable to high-def DVD. Sorry for the mis-communication.

Yeah it appears cropped, and it crops it down from wide-angle to almost regular angle. Maybe the camera guy, has different lenses, im not sure...

[dod]

Originally Posted by Rondog

I didnt mean it takes video, I mean the image clarity is comparable to high-def DVD. Sorry for the mis-communication.

Yeah it appears cropped, and it crops it down from wide-angle to almost regular angle. Maybe the camera guy, has different lenses, im not sure...

no probs You're right about the disadvantage of the crop for wide angle. If you're used to working at 28mm or so your lens now appears to be round about 45mm which isn't that wide anymore. That's one of the reasons you're now seeing a lot of very good wide zooms being introduced. 10-20mm, 17-40mm etc. It's also why the 18-55mm kit lens with the 350D is very usable for a lot of people. Some say it's poor quality but I've seen an awful lot of very good stuff produced with it.

The advantage of the crop factor of course is that for a 200mm lens it feels like it's working as a 320mm on the canon.

[Southern Man]

Thanks for the input guys!!!

I have to agree.... I think a trip to the local camera shop is in order for some hands on inspection.

[Rondog]

Any decent camera shop, let you use them demo camera, to get a feel for it.

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by Rondog

I didnt mean it takes video, I mean the image clarity is comparable to high-def DVD. Sorry for the mis-communication.

No, it's not comparable to high definition DVD. The image clarity blows hi-def DVD away! HD DVD is 1920x1080, whereas the EOS 350D is 3456x2304 pixels. The EOS has pretty much four times the number of pixels as the HD DVD image.

Incidently, the image sensor on the 350D is slightly smaller than the 300D. I'm not sure if this affects the output at all though.

[Rondog]

Originally Posted by Áedán

No, it's not comparable to high definition DVD. The image clarity blows hi-def DVD away! HD DVD is 1920x1080, whereas the EOS 350D is 3456x2304 pixels. The EOS has pretty much four times the number of pixels as the HD DVD image.

Incidently, the image sensor on the 350D is slightly smaller than the 300D. I'm not sure if this affects the output at all though.

LoL, I wasnt sure of the camera's photo res. so I didnt say it, incase I was wrong. I knew it was about 3000x2000 though.

[dod]

Originally Posted by Áedán

I'm not sure if this affects the output at all though.

It's a more sensitive sensor entirely, along the same lines as the top end cameras. A big benefit you would see is reduced noise in high ISO exposures. Certainly better than the 300D.