Canon Rebel XSi: Great New Entry Level DSLR
My photography is intermittent at best. Sometimes I love my Canon Digital Rebel XT, while other times I'd rather just leave it at home and take crappy snapshots with my phone. I wait so long between sessions that I forget half of the theory I learned, meaning I've got to figure it all out again when I next pick it up. I bought a flash which I used religiously for a while, then stripped the whole rig down to just a 50mm fixed focus lens and tried to learn how to shoot without using any flash at all.
I think I know a bit more about photography than the average person and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what my XT can do. That's why I don't talk up every new DSLR or camera that comes out here on BBG, because they so rarely do anything that the majority of amateur shooters will find useful. The low end is fine for almost everyone. Most people with DSLRs don't even swap out the kit lens.
Which is why I think the new Canon Rebel XSi (EOS 450D in the rest of the world) is pretty noteworthy, especially for a sub-$1,000 camera. Many of the features have been seen on other high-end cameras, like the "Live View" that shows what's coming through the lens on the 3-inch LCD (as well as through the viewfinder via the prism). But I think I'm most happy about the new kit lens, an 18-55mm lens with Canon's electronic Image Stabilization, a feature absent from most lower-end Canon lenses.
Press Release [DPReview.com]
the latest
latest episodes
I am sure that is a dope camera -- but if you want features like live-view and lens stabilization (built into the body) fer a lot less, you should consider the Olympus e510. Only about $670 on Amazon.com with a 2 lens kit = very nice!
I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the non-IS kit lens is no longer available at Wolf/Ritz, having been replaced by the IS version at a slight markup. Since the XSi will likely mean the XT is being discontinued (get 'em firesale style, kids, they're great cameras) I wonder if the XTi will get the IS update as well.
I'm not sure I follow what the live view would be useful for. I can't imagine composing a shot via the LCD.
I love my Rebel XTi, but I have to say I'd still go the route of body only, and add the 17-85mm IS lens as opposed to the kit lens with IS.
I love my XTi, which I bought without the kit lens, and one of my favorite things about it is actually the lack of live view—sometimes it forces me to be more mindful of what I am shooting, sometimes it lets me be more spontaneous by not being able to confirm that everything is perfectly composed all the time.
Live view is one of those "switcher" functions that are meant to ease the transition to DSLR shooting for those folks used to walking around with their point-n-shoot at arm's length... in other words, it's a feature included purely for marketing purposes (kind of like video mode).
Once anyone has spent more than a day shooting through-the-lens, it becomes apparent that using the screen to compose is just a retarded idea. For one thing, you aren't holding the camera correctly to reduce shake. For another, especially when taking action shots, the refresh rate on an LCD screen is so slow that you are almost guaranteed to have missed whatever it was you were trying to shoot by the time you've fired the shutter. Finally, having the screen on all the time chews through your battery life like nothing else. I've only had to recharge the battery on my Nikon D40 that I got over the holidays twice... and I've taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 shots!
Liveview shouldn't be written off as a noob function, IMO... It would be very useful in situations where it's neigh impossible to do TTL framing, for example taking a picture with the camera at ground level - the floor is wet or you're in your new shirt and you can't go prone.
Using the screen to compose has legitimate uses -- for the same reasons that TLRs and view cameras have sometimes had advantages over SLRs. Sometimes looking at a screen (optical or LCD) allows you to compose shots from an angle that would be difficult/dangerous with an eyepiece viewfinder.
Also, there are times in marginal lighting conditions where you can actually get a better view through the CCD and screen than through the optics. And this approach also means no SLR mirror shake, which is also useful in low-light conditions.
A non-eyepiece viewfinder can also make candid shots easier to grab, though for that I favor learning to shoot by pointing the camera casually in the right general direction rather than relying on the viewfinder at all.
When appealing to tradition, remember that there's more than one tradition!
I tend to use the optical viewfinder most of the time myself, since I'm an old-timer. But flexibility is a fine thing.
(My only problem is that I'm still peeved with Canon over their incompatable lens-mount change. I
understand why they went that way, but I'm really not happy about being asked to give up my old FD glass.)
I love my XT, but I've been disappointed with the quality of the kit lens. Photos are so much beautiful with a simple 50mm fixed lens (though that's a lot of flexibility to give up). I wish I could afford a nice zoom lens.
Anyway, on the XSi, I wonder if they've improved the quality of the kit lens. It sure would be a waste to put something fancy like image stabilization into the lens if the optics haven't been improved.
Prism? I think you mean mirror (it's a cheap camera)!
Lots of changes listed in the DP Review hands on article:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0801/08012415canoneos450dchanges.asp
I kinda fail to see why cannon has brought out a new camera, the 400D (as its known in my part of the world) is a perfectly good camera and is selling like hot cakes (I used to work in a camera shop, we were almost constantly out of stock). I think it was assembled primarily to put in the new live view function (a hand me down from the 1DmkIII), yeah its useful for shots where you cant actually get your face up to the camera but i'd rather stand on a ladder or something as and screen to capture mode switch is going to be very slow.
As to the Olympus, I'm sorry to say that although not a truly terrible camera its about the worst decision you can make with its tiny sensor and very limited lens range.
One of the main "legitimate" uses of Live View will be for underwater photographers, as it is a lot easier to see the rear screen than the standard view finder. But otherwise I would agree with the comments that it generally leads to bad practice and make camera shake more likely.
I am curious why the previous poster says that a non-eyepiece viewfinder can also make candid shots easier to grab. My experience with any SLR is that its too big physically to hope for a good candid shot and the only hope is to make the camera part of your being so the audience simply gets used to it. Either way its hard for some old timers to get used to a LCD viewfinder model. Overall I think the Rebel 450D is a nice improvement and represents further refinement of the Canon line. I am pretty impressed by their cameras overall.