The Canon EOS Rebel XTi Digital Camera Review

The Canon EOS Rebel series might possibly be the most widely known SLR camera series of the past ten years. The Digital Rebel XTi is the updated version of the Digital Rebel XT. Priced at $899 with the kit lens, this model represents Canon EOS tradition of providing excellent pro camera features at entry level prices.

Though the CMOS chip used by the XTi is the same physical size as the version in the XT, Canon crammed more pixels into the space to bump up the resolution and improved the design of the microlenses- the “eyes” of the CCD. The microlenses gather indirect light and focus it back on the sensor. The XTi also features increases in the size of the photosites themselves.( The photosites are tiny electrical diodes that convert light into electrical charges. ) The result of this improved technology is an affordable camera that has enough sensitivity to render adequately rich blacks and low light colors. That said, “adequate” is a subjective term. It bears mentioning that XTi's measured and visible image noise was significantly worse than that of the CCD-based Nikon D80 for any given ISO speed.

The CMOS chip in the XTi is now self-cleaning. Similarly to many other DSLRs, the low-pass filter layer vibrates when the camera powers off or on in order to shake dust away from the sensor; plus, there's an antistatic coating on the filter that repels dust.
Unfortunately, like the Rebel XT, the XTi lacks a spot meter; it supplies only center-weighted average, and partial center-weighted metering. This amounts to a serious oversight. Spot meters are critical in many situations where a subject is backlit. I had to move in close to a subject who was standing in front of a bright background, get a general meter reading off his face before backing up and composing the picture. Even then, there was some trial and error involved. The lack of spot metering might be one of the most critical shortcomings of this camera.

The shutter is fast, though slightly sluggish compared to the Nikon D80 and the higher end Canon D30. The 18 - 55 mm kit lens that comes with the camera is light and balances well with the camera body, but it’s fairly slow; only allowing for an f / 3.5 maximum aperature . This limits your photography in low light situations and how shallow you can make your depth of field. There is something even more insidious about the shallow depth of field/low light performance; even well focused images tend to become slightly soft when shooting at the widest aperture. But keep in mind that you have a plethora of Canon options with the compatible EF and EF-S prime lenses that Canon offers. These will give you considerably increased light sensitivity and depth of field manipulation. Just remember that, because of the physics of the camera’s CCD, your “actual” focal length will be boosted by 1.6X from what is indicated on the lens. For example, a 50 mm prime will have the field-of-view of an 80 mm lens.

Also, the on board flash’s exposure control still has a tendency to blow out fair complexioned people at close range with a noticeable amount of chromatic aberration. But with a little of the manual flash exposure adjustment, you can get the hang of taking well exposed and color balanced flash photos. Moreover, the camera takes pictures in uncompressed, RAW format, which enables you to capture extremely high resolution images that can be optimized in Photoshop CS2 and CS3.

The most noticeable change on the Rebel XTi is its new 2.5" LCD display. If you recall, both the original Digital Rebel and the Rebel XT had 1.8" screens, which looks comically small these days. The LCD has 230,000 pixels, which makes it competitive with the other entry-level D-SLRs out there. As is the case with most D-SLRs, the LCD is only used for reviewing photos and navigating menus -- it's not for composing photos.

As is the case with all D-SLRs, Canon does not include a memory card with the Rebel XTi, so you'll have to factor that into the total purchase price. Thankfully CompactFlash cards are inexpensive these days, and I'd recommend a 1GB card as a good starter size. The Rebel XTi supports Type I and II cards, including the Microdrive. Buying a high speed CF card (50X or better) is a smart idea.

Overall, the Cannon Rebel EOS XTi takes good, solid pictures under a decent variety of circumstances; particularly in high to moderate light levels. It’s an ideal camera for photo hobbyists interested in using an affordable camera with some pro features that will improve their skills, take good pictures, and leave you just a little hungry for more.