I am not a pro, semi pro, but I do shoot around 7K pictures a year for personal pleasure. I have about 600 pictures through the XTi and I have had no problems with it.
I purchased the XTi as a replacement for the XT based on the fact that the used market for XT's is dropping daily. For the $250 it cost me to upgrade, the features of the XTi were worth it to me.
Here is the better features of the XTi vs. XT.
1. Dust Control (yes it does work once you get the Canon Factory dust off..)
2. LCD Screen. It makes all the difference and is worth it just for this.
3. Auto Focus. It's better than the XT imho
4. Sharper Images. As a whole if I do my part the pictures are better, but not by much
5. LCD shut off when raised to eye.
6. Easier menus
7. XT's accessories. fit it.
I will respond to a few of the complaints.
1. Too Small - somewhere along the way we all got bigger hands. I can remember the day when the Nikon FE was considered the as good as it got for the money. Place one next to the Rebel XTi... BTW...The battery grip (off brand eBay) makes this a WHOLE NEW camera. This allows my HUGE hands to have the best of both worlds when I want it.
2. Too Plastic - Both the XT and XTi aren't billed as PRO, so what do you expect for $799. BTW...I have never shot a war, in heavy rain in the jungles of "somewhere", or every day for a living. I never had weather/climate issues with the XT either...lol
3. 30D is the way to go. I would wait until FEB 07 and see what comes out...jm2c This is why I didn't upgrade to it. The XTi has all the features of the 30D that I liked.
I think it's a fine camera and will work as a great back up when the 5D gets reasonable in price.
After using my XTi for a weekend let me add a few comments. I have a few thoughts to share about why this was a good choice for me.
I have events where I need to use 2 cameras, as I do not have time to switch lenses but need 2 different shots. Since my Powershot S2 did not fill this need (these events can sometimes be low light situations and the S2 is just to slow to get the job done) I had to do something else.
I had 3 choices: 1) an XTi 2) another XT (new or used) or 3) a used 20D.
I could not find even a used 20D that was in my price range and I was concerned that the 20D was going to be too heavy, also. (I tried using my wifes' 300D but the size of it bothered me and reading the display was a bigger problem for me.)
Another XT would have been a workable arrangement I suppose. But the 'improvements' listed on the XTi were too attractive I guess, as I did not pursue this option after the XTi was released.
So what do I like about the XTi?
The new burst rate is my favorite change. I did not think that it was ever going to stop taking pictures!! It is a lot better than the XT, the specs call for almost twice the burst rate and I'd have to say that they are correct. But if you do not take 'action' photos this may not be any incentive for you.
Visibilty! The 2.5 inch screen is marvelous. I wore glasses almost all my life up until about 3 years ago when I had implant surgery. So now I just have to wear reading glasses in certain situations. With the 300D I could not read the displays with out my glasses, on the 350D I only needed the glasses in low light. But with the 400D I have not hauled the glasses out of my bag at all.
The display is easier to read in full sunlight and the menu screen is much easier to navigate at this size.
All in all this was a huge improvement for me but may not be for everyone.
The increased sensor size really doesn't impress me all that much. I've never been too keen on more megapixels as a reason for buying a camera. Most times I cannot tell the difference other than the file size. The XTi files are larger than the XT's but not that much. But the image quality of the XTi is excellent.
The dust removal system was a big plus for me as I am outside shooting most of the time.
The nine-point autofocus system is nice but as yet I have no opinion on it.
'Picture Styles menu' I have not played with this too much yet.
I have not shot in RAW as yet with it but do not anticipate any problems in this area.
Size as I had no trouble with the size of the XT I have no problem with the XTi either. Both are perfect for me.
I took over 600 photos with the XTi this last weekend and was very pleased with the results. (I took another 300 with the XT.)
mrcoons wrote: An amateurs point of view:
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I have not shot in RAW as yet with it but do not anticipate any problems in this area.
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Well, don't be so sure. I've used DPP 2.2, Adobe Lightroom beta4 and ACR3.6, which all "read" XTi RAW files, and they aren't all the same. The Adobe products clearly interpret the data differently than the Canon product does. A new version of CameraOne is supposed to read the files, but has odd color problems. There are many posts on other forums about RAW conversion and the XTi. I'm generally happy with the results from DPP and Lightroom, but I'm not very picky.
"and coming soon, support for the Canon EOS 400D/Rebel XTi and Nikon D80, planned for inclusion in the DxO Optics Pro Standard package by late October. "
Just got my XTi in the mail today (on a saturday!!). Good deal on the body only from Beach Camera and got it overnight with standard shipping (of course, I'm in NYC and they're in Jersey). Haven't even turned it on yet, which brings me to my first question:
Does the battery charger change colors or anything when the battery is charged? I kinda miss the little blinking light from my 300D charger.
munckee wrote:
Does the battery charger change colors or anything when the battery is charged? I kinda miss the little blinking light from my 300D charger.
It will turn green when the charge is complete ... nice. The battery charges quickly < 90 mins.
It has been stated here that one of the advanteges of the 30D over the 400Tx is the ISO 50 capability...I believe this to be incorrect,the 30D does not allow such ISO setting.If I am proved to be wrong that would make my day because the only reason I am considering the purchase of the 5D over the 30D is precisely the 50 ISO for longer exposures...
Photon-hunter wrote:
Please correct me if I am wrong:
It has been stated here that one of the advanteges of the 30D over the 400Tx is the ISO 50 capability...I believe this to be incorrect,the 30D does not allow such ISO setting.If I am proved to be wrong that would make my day because the only reason I am considering the purchase of the 5D over the 30D is precisely the 50 ISO for longer exposures...
PLEASE PROOVE ME WRONG!!!!
For longer exposures, why not just buy a neutral density filter and continue to shoot at ISO100? You can buy different strength filters, and even a 'variable' 1-8 stop ND filter too
This will give you many more options than just one stop (going to ISO 50 from ISO100). A 1 stop filter will take you down to the same speeds at ISO50, 2 stops to ISO25, 3 stops ISO 12.5 and so on, all the way to an 8 stop ND filter (ISO 0.4 ?) !
Thanks for that link Art. Unfortunately it won't let you distinguish between black & silver bodies. Aggravating that everybody seems to want about $80 more for the black body!
In a quick look it appears zipzoomfly might have the best price ($759 with free shipping) on the black body from a reasonably well rated vendor.
Dell Business has the Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1-Megapixel Digital Camera Body (Black A0726001, Silver A0726002) for $799 - 20% off coupon from eBay = $639 with free shipping. http://bensbargains.net/deal/8679/
The camera takes nice pics. But... bang for buck.... it is no longer a first choice camera considering the opposition, if you are just starting out. If you have canon lens, then fine. Otherwise, consider the K100 Pentax, the Olympus E500 or the Nikon D80. Sorry, but using the 400D amounts to a ho-hum feeling. Its the little things that are a problem. Image quality is not one of them, the pictures are great.
Whats missing from the 400D? The user interface is much better, but there are things that should be displayed in the viewfinder that are not. It took me ages to work out how to get the Auto Focus assist to work (I finally read the manual). And why on earth is there no spot metering. The level of configuration I thought could be better.
It's good, but if you are considering buying an entry level DSLR for the first time, keep the other makes in mind with this one.
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... this will get my workflow back in one piece.