This model is the evolution of a line that seeks to put professional features in the hands of the amateur photographer. The loss of the second LCD is actually a major plus -- there's no major impact on battery life compared with the XT and yet there's more information that's better presented and far more visible. I like the user interface, too, it's slick and flows easily from feature to feature. I no longer have any excuse for taking a bad shot. The camera is fast -- way, way faster than previous models, and has no lag while writing to the disc. Stick a 4 gig card in here and you can shoot all day without worrying about space, speed or battery life. Shot quality is as good as it gets at 10 mega, but make sure your glass is good -- 10 meg is enough to expose the flaws in that kit lens. Shooting with the 17-85 IS or a prime such as the 35 f/2 produces very satisfying results.
I should point out: some of the reviews on here claim there's more noise from the XTi than previous models or even than competitor's cameras. This is the exact opposite of my experience, and leads me to believe that either those posters had bad hardware or were shooting JPG. I don't shoot JPG, so I don't know how noise is being handled by the in-camera JPG conversion. When I turn off noise compensation for RAW files in Aperture, ISO 800 & 1600 shots off the XTi look a little better than shots off the XT, way better than shots of the digital rebel, and they all look better than practice shots I took with CCD cameras (the A100, the D70s and the *ist, of which the D70s was the best of the three). At ISO 100, there's no noise to speak of in any black region, and with noise-compensation on and a good RAW converter, shots at ISO 400 and above look very, very nice. I print and display them proudly.
Problems
The biggest problem I've got with the camera is the right hand grip, which is wierdly shaped. It's deep but shallow, like it was made for people with long fingertips and tiny knuckles. Probably difficult to use with gloves on. Still, I've got huge hands -- the gigantic, original Digital Rebel was still small for my grip -- and I've spent four hours behind the XTi. It was a bit cramped, but my hands weren't in any pain.
Certainly I'll take a slightly strange grip in exchange for the relatively low price, great user experience and stellar photographic output of the XTi. But that doesn't excuse Canon from making a foolish blunder, creating a handgrip that's not ideal for a human hand.
Intelligent auto-ISO in the manual modes would be nice, and the bundled software is kind of crummy -- I'd have preferred a demo version / rebate of P-shop, Aperture, Capture One or any of the other great third party raw conversion and workflow apps.
Date:
2007-08-24 - 06:49:49
Author:
Ulma
Rating:
Good SDLR! I have no problem with grip.
Images are good, sometimes underexposed, as usually with non natural light.
Lens kit not so good. I will change it as soon as possible.
Date:
2007-11-02 - 18:35:32
Author:
michael45
Rating:
My first DSLR. Easy to get to grips with the controls to produce pretty good photographs on day 1. I have two criticisms: (1) it looks quite "plasticky" and doesn't feel particularly sturdy, but that goes for nearly all digital cameras except one with a much higher price tag; (2) some shots are slightly underexposed - I see several users have experienced this problem.
Date:
2007-11-28 - 12:36:08
Author:
oli
Rating:
Great choise!!
I have this camera the last 2 months and I admit that I don't have experience any problem. It's my first dSLR and the picture quality is excellent. The noise level is very low, even when I use ISO 1600. Another great advantage is its price, as it is much cheaper than Nikon D80 nad Sony A100.
Date:
2008-01-02 - 06:14:44
Author:
Rating:
Highly recommended
I've been shooting 35 mm film for many years. Got a few point and shoot digital cameras over the last 8 years or so, and I have been longing for manual SLR for a long time.
I am very pleased with this camera.
I purchased an adapter that allows me to use my AE1 lenses, and that has been great, since I prefer manual settings anyway.
It is light but very sturdy.
Date:
2008-07-02 - 06:37:19
Author:
Rating:
For an entry level SLR there´s nothing better,affordable and ease to use than the XTI.
