[Mikester]

What are people's thoughts or experiences with this camera: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...587677-9747027

I'm a keen photographer but have never used a digital SLR. This model seems to be a good introduction but has all the features a more experienced photographer would expect. It therefore seems a good compromise. I don't really want to spend more than around £500-600 so this is right in my price range.

Thanks for your advice

[chucker]

I keep reading great stuff about it, but I'm no DSLR guy.

[euain]

I got one a few months ago (in preperation for the birth of my first child )

Nothing but good experiences with it. Great pictures, fast response (no delay between pressing the button and the shutter going) and it works well with OS X.

A friend at work has a Nikon D[something] - for about the same price as well and he likes it well enough.

[Edit]- This is the same camera as the Rebel XT for the folks on the wrong side of the Atlantic

[admactanium]

the digital rebel is due to be upgraded in the fall i think. they just upgraded their 20d to the 30d. people think the rebel is not that far off.

[chucker]

Must be during photokina then. (German photography expo. Canon usually updates a lot of products then.)

[admactanium]

yes, i think it will be at photokina. i was considering waiting for that but i think i might just upgrade to the 30d instead.

[ghoti]

Mikester, are you using an SLR right now? Do you have any existing lenses or other equipment? What kinds of things do you shoot?

[gsxrboy]

Have a EOS50n with a collection of lenses and waited for ages to get a DSLR, almost got a 300D but then the 350D came out.. its a very nice bit of kit, very happy with it. Maybe would have preferred a 20D or 30D for the metal bits but the 350D (Rebel XT) does everything I need for a realistic affordable (to me) price.

[Barto]

If I could afford a 350D I would get one. But I can't, so I'll be getting a Fujifilm S9500 soon.

Check out Digital Photography Review's Canon 350D review. DPR is pretty much the first and last place to go for information and reviews of cameras.

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by admactanium the digital rebel is due to be upgraded in the fall i think. they just upgraded their 20d to the 30d. people think the rebel is not that far off.

it was barely an upgrade... nothing fundamental to the camera changed, so maybe you can pick up a 20d at a stupid person's discount...

[CoolToddHunter]

Being on the side of the Atlantic where we purchase the Rebel XT , I purchased one of those about a year ago. It was a big step up from my Pentax ZX50, so I've been nothing but pleased. Good camera, relatively easy to use, though I think the menus aren't the most intuitive.

[faust]

Totally a great camera, the update from 300D to 350D was well worth it.

I've taken it to Oregon, Peru, Budapest, Maine, Canada - nothing but good experiences with it.

[Mr.Fusion]

I've had my Rebel XT since last June. A Canon user for many years, I had put off the switch from film to digital for quite some time, but they finally sold me. From then 'til now I've used it in many different places, and carted it with me all over the country. Daytime, nighttime, indoors, outdoors, backwards, and upside-down - this camera is a joy to use.

Of course, you ought to take Barto's suggestion and check out DPReview, but I'd definitely recommend the 350D.

[TeraHz]

Very good DSLR body in deed. The kit lens also work well.
I have only one complain about this camera. In manual mode when you want to change the aperture you have to press a button that is kind of unconfortable (for me) to press while turning the wheel.
Nikon bodies have two wheels that allow you to control exposure and aperture without any wierd combinations

In any case it is a great body and even with the kit lens it is a good combination.

[copland]

I got one last christmas. Great camera. Vivid colors. Great detail in the dark (little grain). Very fast. Turn it on, ready in less than 0,2 sec. Press the shutter, picture taken within 0,05 sec (but I have to look it up). I like the smaller body of the 350D a lot more than that of the 300D. During the analog time I used a Canon Eos IX (APS films). When reusing lenses from analog cameras results can slightly differ in border areas of the picture. You can distinguish the two lens when mounting them to the camera. The digital lens will need less rotation to lock.

[aythami]

Best buy I've done in years... The camera is amazing, unless you're a pro and need a extremely robust body this is the camera to go... The 8MP CMOS sensor and the internal DIGICII processor are basically the same ones used in the 20D and 30D. Great noise processing. Some complain about its light weight, for me it's and advantage as I usually take the camera with me everywhere I go. Just one issue, which has nothing to do with the EOS 350d body, IMHO the kit lens doesn't match the camera. It produces really soft images at apertures lower than 5.6, basically unusable at wide angle and tele, so instead of a 18-55 f3.5-5.6 (28-88, 35 mm. equivalent) I would say you get a 20-40 f.8.0 lense. Colors as well are poor and need post processing and saturation using photoshop or the raw converter software of your choice (i use AdobeCamera RAW, a PS plug-in, which works really well to my taste). I mean, it is a REALLY GREAT CAMERA, it's just that the kit lens can be disapointing, on it's behalf it must be said that the kit lense it's approximately priced between $60-$90 depending on the pack you get, so they're not cheating you, you get what you pay for. As aditional equipment I went for a prime lense (50 mm 1.4 Canon) and now I'm hesitating between the 17-40 L lense from Canon (extremely pricey) and the newly arrived Tamron 17-50 f2.8 (still to be tested). I've shot some 1.500 photos with the kit, and some are really good, you simply have to spend more time before and after shooting. My advice if you have a tight budget (as I did) is to go for the camera with the kit lense, discover its inmense posibilities and try later an optically better lense. Owning a Canon you get access to literally dozens of different quality lenses, as do Nikon users as well(Be aware the quality of some lenses will hook you ).

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I've had the 300D since 2003 and I love this camera. The 350D was a good step up from the 300D so I can only imagine how much better it is (selectable AI Servo on 350D vs. only in sports mode on 300D; 8MP vs. 6.3MP; more pics/sec).

My shutterbug friend has a 350D and raves about it. He had borrowed my 300D to see how well his L glass worked with digital and shot some really great stuff. Luckily for him the 350D came out when he decided to pull the trigger.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

aythami,

The 17-40 L is pricey (about the cost of the 350D), but I've seen nothing but excellence produced by this lens. The 1.4 50mm is a great deal too, <$100 for one of Canon's best selling lens. I wanted to get the 1.0 50mm (~$349) for stronger low light abilities but I can't seem to find it anymore.

While I've definitely had to apply sharpening in post process (I shoot all RAW so no in-camera sharpening), but I've yet to have trouble with color saturation. I have tweaked the camera settings a touch though so that may have done it for me.

[Meltedbutter421]

Its my birthday and I just got my 350D! woooh i love it so far, ive taken about 200 shots

[jbsengineer]

Originally Posted by Meltedbutter421 Its my birthday and I just got my 350D! woooh i love it so far, ive taken about 200 shots

I got one on tuesday and have taken around 2000 shots. hehe. it's great.

does anyone know how to get the dust/speckles out from the inside of the viewfinder?

[polvoronn]

the 350D is great. picture quality between that and the 20D are identical (arguably). I personally chose the 20D because I wanted the magnesium alloy body, scroll wheel, and faster burst (5fps vs 3fps)

If those features weren't very important to you, I'd say get the 350D and a combination of these lenses:

- kit lens or 17-85IS
- 50 1.8 or 1.4

[ghoti]

He already got it . But the 50mm is a great idea, that will teach you a lot about framing. Oh, and Happy Birthday!

[polvoronn]

Originally Posted by bassplayinMacFiend aythami, I wanted to get the 1.0 50mm (~$349) for stronger low light abilities but I can't seem to find it anymore.

where did you see a canon 50mm f/1.0 for $349?! afaik, canon has only made one 50mm lens @ f/1.0 and it's an L lens. They can easily sell for $3000

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by polvoronn where did you see a canon 50mm f/1.0 for $349?! afaik, canon has only made one 50mm lens @ f/1.0 and it's an L lens. They can easily sell for $3000

My bad. It was the f/1.4. I was thinking the f/1.4 was ~$80 and f/1.0 was ~$350, but in actuality it was the f/1.8 for ~$80 and f/1.4 for ~$350. Guess that explains why I couldn't find a 50mm f/1.0 for $350 then.

[ghoti]

A 50/1.0 would be useless anyway. How much depth of field do you get at 1.0? It certainly would make you bad-ass, but that additional stop down from 1.4 won't buy you much, and the quality at 1.0 is probably also rather limited. It's just another number to brag about.

[Ryan]

I got a Rebel XT a few months ago, and so far I love it. I took it out a few days after I got it to shoot some photos of the flood damage around the North Bay after big storms a few months ago, and the all came out great.

I bought it from BeachCamera.com in a bundle that included a 75-300mm telephoto zoom lens. This isn't the lens included in the Canon bundle, it's much better, though it doesn't have image stabilization. (A tripod is my next purchase)

As a side note, it's interesting to see that Amazon hasn't updated their UK site with the revamped style of its US counterpart.

[Mikester]

Thanks to everyone for all the replies - I get the impression that this is a great little camera, especially at the price. I'm not too fussed about the upgrade coming out soon as the 350D does everything I want and more! Any upgraded camera is likely to cost more and may push down the price of the 250D even more.

Originally Posted by ghoti Mikester, are you using an SLR right now? Do you have any existing lenses or other equipment? What kinds of things do you shoot?

I do use an SLR at the moment but it is an old 1980s Minolta and isn't great. I have a couple of lenses but I'll probably trade in the lot against a telephoto for the 350D when I get it. Mostly I like to shoot architecture and people, but I'm hoping a better camera will give me more versatility, especially experimenting with night shots. I also want to learn more about Photoshop, although I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to taking the shot. My dream is still the perfect shot with minimal tweaking on the computer.