The Canon Digital Rebel XT
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Type | Digital SLR |
| Shutter Range | 1/4000 to 30 seconds | |
| Shutter Type | Vertical Travel, Electronically Timed Focal Plane | |
| Meter Type | Silicon 35 zone (capable of 9 % semi spot) | |
| Meter Range | EV 1 to EV 20 | |
| Exposure System | Multimode AE, and manual | |
| Lens Mount | Canon EF Autofocus S-compatable | |
| Battery | NB-2LH |
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| Sensor Type | CMOS | |
LCD Display | 1.8" color 144K pixels |
| Sensor Size | 22.2 x14.8 mm | Recording Media | Compact Flash | |
| Sensor Resolution | 8 MP (3456x2304) |
File Size | 3.3 mb |
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| Focal Length Compensation | 1.6 | Film Speed Equiv. | ASA 100-ASA1600 | |
The Rebel series, is Canon's offering to the amateur or casual photographer, as opposed to it's pro oriented D, and DCS series. The Rebel has a plastic body, is a bit more
plain, and may be somewhat less feature laden, than the more advanced
pro versions of the Canon digital line up. This is in no way meant to slight
the Rebel. These are all great cameras, and would have been unobtainable,
at any price, just ten years ago. So far, there have been three versions
of the Digital Rebel. The origonal had the 6.3 MP imager, and is no longer
in production. The current models, have improved features, more advances
autofocus and processing systems, and have higher resolution, than the origonal.
This is my fourth digital camera, and my second digital SLR. It was purchased for a trip to Alaska, specifically to permit the use of the new S series of lenses, offered by Canon for it's digital cameras.This new series of lenses addresses one of the big drawbacks of the new generation of digital SLR. This is the focal length compsnsation factor, required by the small size of the average digital imager unit. For most cameras, this is a factor of 1.6 to 1.
Focal length compansation can come in handy, for the nature photographer, or sports photographer. It can make a 200mm lens, act like a 320mm lens.. Unfortuantly, for most photographers, wide coverage will be required far more often than extreme close up. The same focal length compensation that does such wonderful things for telephotos, will also turn your 28mm wide angle, into a normal lens, equal to a 42 mm. To get anything like a good wide angle coverage, with this type of camera, you will need to go with an 18mm, or even smaller. the problem here, is that lenses in this range are really expensive, and tend to be rather slow, as well as quite large.
| The Effect of
Film Speed on Image Quality of the Digital Rebel |
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ASA 400 (cropped down from a much larger photo) |
A friend as he looks in average room lighting.
Note that the ASA 1600 photo lacks the resolution, and color rendition of
the ASA 400. Note also that the ASA 400 photo is a bit less sharp, due to
the lower shutter speed required. |
ASA 1600 (cropped down from a much larger photo) |
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One of the ways that digital cameras can fight back, and get more versatility, is by the use of film speed settings, and quality settings (parameters can also be used, but I do not use them, or know enough about them to really comment). This give the user a bit of versatility, though not to the degree of that enjoyed by the film photographer. Still, the technology is moving along, and who can say what types of imagers might be a few years down the road. Of course, film and chemical technology are not standing still either. It will be interesting to see what development lie ahead in both areas.
| The Effect of
Image Quality Settings on the Canon Digital Rebel |
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High Quality |
These two photos are taken of the exact same
subject, with the exact same exposure, under the exact same conditions.
Only the quality level has been changed. Some added detail loss can be seen
in the cross hatch pattern (this is a photo of a Fresnel lens) in the average
quality image. |
Average Quality |