Canon EOS 6.3MP Digital Rebel Camera with Lens 18-55MM Lens

Rating:
Summary: great product !
Review: I purchased this camera about 3 months ago, it's a great camera and I haven't had 1 problem with it. I bought a few accessories..EX420 Flash, Canon 75-300 lens (there least expensive one, USM & IS wasn't an issue me)<br />

Rating:
Summary: Yup,...one more good review.
Review: I haven't owned a camera since 1989 or 99. And it was a polaroid.
Hey... don't smirk.... it took instant pictures of.... "what-ever".

One day, I loaned it to a friend. (big mistake!)
Her "spoiled brat" kids broke it....and she never offered to replaced it.
(yea... I need more crappy friends like this in my life ).

The next day, as I was driving to a wedding... I stopped at a Store 24
and bought a disposible camera. Somehow....purchasing disposale camera's for special events became the "norm" for me.
(But, I still missed my Polaroid's instant gratification).

When I got married in 91, my husband brought his huge, heavy, Canon T70 SLR.
I was terrified to use it.
I thought for sure I would break it .... (just like my girlfriends rotten kids broke my camera).
When my new hubby saw my apprehension... he shrugged and said
to me......"just point and shoot".
So, I did.
I was amazed at the clarity of the lens and how easy it was to focus.
(i was instantly hooked).
I ran around the house and yard... and shot the entire roll of film.

When we got the film back (about a week later), I saw that I had taken several really lousy shots....but 70% of the pictures (I took) came out really good!!!! I was very impressed by the picture clarity and colors of an SLR.
(But, I still missed the instant gratification of my old polaroid).

Two years later....
My husband and I became "Master Gardeners".
(Some people call us...Tree hugging, bug kissing, nuts).

I heard about a contest that "Ortho" and "WalMart" were sponsoring.
It was called : "THE BEST GARDEN IN AMERICA".

I grabed my husbands Canon SLR (film) camera and his camera books .
and I studied them. Then I took about 200 pictures of our garden.
And after a couple of days, I picked up the pictures..... choose the best picture and entered it in the contest.
A lot of work....but it paid off.
Yup!.... We won best garden in the North East!!!

Since then, my husband and I have taken about a trillion pictures of our garden.
10% are awful !!!, 20% are lousy!! .... 30% good!....and 40% fantastic!

This January I sat down and looked at all our garden pictures.
I always do this in the dead of winter .....cause the beauty of the flowers always makes me smile.
But this winter.....I didn't smile!
All I thought about was:...
"Wow, I probably spent well over a thousand dollars in developing fee's for all the yucky pictures!"
I have a dual G5, over 10,000.00 in software and hardware ....and I just bought (in my opinion) One of the best small buisness printers anyone can own. (It's the Canon I9900 printer).
Then I asked myself....
"Why don't I own a digital camera"?!?!

After (literally) weeks of research on the web and reading consumer reports and going to large camera stores to ask a million questions......
I finally decided on the Canon Rebel.

All I can say is.....WOW !!!!!!!!
This camera combined with this printer ..... is nothing less than amazing!
(Not to mention the instant gratification I felt, after seeing pictures instantly appearing on the LCD screen)

I am astonished that a complete novice (me) can put this camera in AF mode and take 95% Fantastic pictures!
And it's great that I can simply delete lousy pictures.

I can't wait to read about how to use "manual focus"!
I bet my pictures will blow the cardboard off my album covers!
I Hope this (long winded) review helps all you other novice people out there.
[...]

Rating:
Summary: Great Camera for the Price
Review: If you are a photographer looking for a low priced SLR camera that takes quality pictures, this camera is for you. Its fast, easy to use, and an extremely long batterry life. I bought this camera 3 weeks ago and already shot about 500 pics with it. The quality is great!!! The best thing about the camera is the ability to take action shots. I had some of my friends jump and the camera was able to focus on them and shot pictures while they were in the air and the pictures came out great. Macro shots were perfect, with or with out the flash, I could not be happier, all the pictures were sharp and in focus. I wanted to edit some of the pictures I took with photoshop, but even the photoshop told me the pictures were perfect and did not need to be edited.

There are a few problems with the camera and most of them can be solved with a few accessories. One of the biggest problems is pictures shot indoor are underexposed, the built in flash is not powerfull enough. But all I had to do was buy a flash (420EX works great) and the problem is solved. Second problem is that the camera is very selective as far as lenses. I have a Rebel2000 with a Sigma 200mm lens and the lens did not work with my new camera. (I kept getting ERR99 on the screen) So I guess I have to buy a new lens for it. Camera is also have a plastic body, but i guess for the price its ok. (If you want a metal body get Canon 20D and pay $500 more)

Overall the camera has some minor problems with it, but for the price I am willing to live with it. (if want them fixed either buy Canon 20D or get some accessories) Personally changing from G5 to Rebel was great. This is my first digital SLR and I am very happy. Canon did a very good job with it.


Rating:
Summary: Semi-Professional Camera at great price
Review: I was lucky enough to score one of these of a friend. It was but two months old and was as new.

It is easy to use as a point and shoot, but also gives you all the capabilities to take your time over a shot and really take a truely beautiful picture.

Canon products seem to have an extra quality to them that makes them robust and intuitive to use.

Rating:
Summary: Almost idiot proof
Review: I had an Olympus digital camera for several years but it started to frustrate me. The two HUGE advantages the Canon has is that 1 -- there is NO shutter delay that makes you miss the shot: the shot is taken as soon as you press the button and 2 -- you can buy high quality lenses that make the camera even more amazing. Let me say I'm not a pro photographer or anything, but I figured out how to use all the features of this camera within a day or so. It's very intuitive and fun. Don't be afraid to step up from your non SLR camera. Besides, you can still "point and shoot" in automatic modes, but it's awesome to be able to control just the aperature or just the shutter speed. The pictures this camera takes are incredible!!! I have to admit I've gotten gadget fever. I'll make some recommendations based on my two weeks with the camera.
1 -- buy a 1GB or bigger compact flash card with fast download speed. At big megastores they are very much discounted. Also, don't forget to REFORMAT the card every time you put it back -- my old cards always got "corrupted" and the way to avoid that is to reformat every time (just takes 2 seconds -- use the "format card" option on the camera menu).
2 -- buy an external flash. You'll notice that the internal flash tends to overexpose yoru subjects -- I bought the Canon 420 (or something like that) and it's amazing. My pics are TWICE as good
3 -- I'd recommend NOT buying the kit lens and putting that money towards the exact Canon EF lens you'll need. I bought one zoom and one prime lens and the quality is 10 times better. Plus, a 1000 camera deserves high quality lenses.
4 -- don't forget the crop factor when you buy lenses! It's hard to find this out on your own, but because of where the sensor is on Digital SLRS, you have to multiply the focal length of the lens by 1.6. So, a 35 mm lens if you put it on this camera is equivalent to a 55mm lens, and so on. Plus, if you have other non-digital cameras, be sure to be EF lenses only, not EF S which only fit on digital cameras.

My only complaint (and this is nitpicking) on this camera is that I wish the finish were tougher looking and not quite so plasticky. I like the Nikon cameras and upper level canon camera materials, but I understand that this is how Canon can sell a camera which is optically as good as the 10D for a lot less. On the plus side, it's nice and light.
These are my thoughts after the first few weeks -- I LOVE the camera overall and now that I have two great lens, my pics look almost professional, not bad for a mom who doesn't know much about photography.

Rating:
Summary: Lenses and download speed
Review: The reviews below pretty much say it all. This is a high quality camera at a very reasonable price. A few points to note from my experience.

Lenses
I had a film EOS so I thought I did not need the kit lense and did not buy it. Lenses for film cameras do work with the digital kiss but there are two problems. Due to the size difference between the digital sensor and a 35mm film, the stated focal length of the film lens becomes about 1.4 longer when used with the digital camera. I.e. a 28 mm film lens becomes a 40mm lens when used on the digital Kiss. This means that I lack a wide angle lens for use with the digital. Secondly, while humans can accomodate for the fact that what it says on the lens is not the correct focal length, when using with a canon flash (I have a 380EX) the lens communicates its focal length to the flash gun based on the numbers on the lens not on the adjusted focal length. This means that the flash gun inturn adjusts its flash dispersion width to meet the incorrect focal length and so the exposures is out. One can adjust the exposure manually but the size of the adjustment does not seem to be consistent over the range for my "28" to "70" Canon zoom. So be wary when hoping to use your film EOS eqipment on your digital EOS camera. Buy the kit lens.

Download Speed
A lot of people point out that the camera is a little to download. However it only costs a about 30 dollars (or less?) for a USB 2.0 adapter for the compact flash. I never download directly from the camera. I just change the compact flash and download from that. Using this method, download times are as fast as any other camera, or as fast as the media will allow.

Pixels
While 6.3 is a lot for any amature use. If you want to sell your photos then it is about the minimum. If you plan to turn pro then get the next version up if you can afford it.


Rating:
Summary: Great Camera-Buy Sigma Lens
Review: As I wrote in my review of the Canon s60, I planned to purchase the digital rebel...Well, I did and the camera is all that other reviewers say it is....super easy to use, superb photos, decent price considering the competition...The fact that I am shooting through the lens and seeing what i am capturing is well worth the extra money for an SLR.
The main reason that I am posting this is review (which really seems redundant to most of the other reviews of this camera) is to recommend to additional accessory purchases which I found invaluable:

(1) The Sigma 55-200 lens specifically made for digital SLR.s. I bought this lens at B&H for $139. It is very sharp, very light and compact and gives me a total shooting range (combined with the Canon included lens) of 18-200, taking to over 300 in the 35mm format equivalent.

(2) The Pelican 1400 Case: also at B&H for about $61....The case protects the equipment far better than any case at anywhere near the price....It nicely holds the camera body with either the kit lens or the Sigma 55-200 attached...In addition it perfectly holds the lens that you are not using at the time, as well as the Canon external flash..I have the 420EX..This is about it...not a lot of wasted space..the case is now full and easy to toss in the compartment above my seat on the plane..and knowing my equipment is fully protected....The case also is easy to operate from when in my car.

Rating:
Summary: Great SLR with only one feature I miss...
Review: I have been using this camera for nearly a year now and have since purchased additional lens for it. It takes very sharp pictures and I don't feel like I am limited by the feature set in anyway except for lack of being able to shoot RAW in some of the user modes. The lens that it comes with is a good starter lens and takes good pictures but once you get addicted you might end up purchasing a Canon L and or Prime like I did. :) This camera is great for learning photography with because you get to see your results very quickly! This camera just takes great pictures and gives you all the control you need to get creative with exposure, focus, etc. The plastic body is relatively durable although I wouldn't want to drop it but then would you want to drop a metal body camera either?! Do not fear, even with a plastic body it has that solid SLR feel. All my hard copy prints from the online digital photo lab look very sharp. I even had a poster print done and it came out great. Many people claimed that 6 Megapixal camera is not enough to make a good poster print. After seeing the results I say hogwash. The poster print I got back from the online photolab(Ofoto in this case) was a better quality print than any poster print I have seen at the mall poster store. 8x10 prints are simply stunning. Take the time to go through the manual and learn all the features of the camera. I can not really comment on the software that comes with the camera because I never mess software that they bundle with cameras. I use a good card reader, Windows XP for my OS, Irfanview (which is free) for viewing and mild editing, and Photoshop(not so free) for any major editing. I found the Sandisk Ultra II Compact Flash cards work very well and are worth the extra dough for the faster performance. I wish I had RAW in all the user modes but I guess Canon had cripple something like this to convince people to shell out the extra dough for the higher end stuff. Happy picture taking!

Rating:
Summary: Great DSLR with few drawbacks
Review: This is a great camera. Before I purchased the Rebel, I had only used mid range point and shoot cameras, such as the PowerShot S410. I didn't know what I was missing until I used this camera.

My favorite thing about this camera is that you can quickly take shots with virtually no shutter lag. You push the shutter, and almost instantly you have your image.

I also love the ability to quickly and easily change lenses, as well add other accessories, such as external flash units.

The only thing that I don't like about this camera is the plastic body. Even though it is durable, I would prefer a metal body. However, in order for Canon to sell this camera at such a low price, they had to choose plastic. It is well made, nonetheless.

The included lens in the kit also feels very cheap. The included lens takes decent pictures, but I recommend that you upgrade. It provides decent results for a $100 dollar lens, however. You get what you pay for.

Aside from those minor flaws, this is a great camera that produces life like photos. I highly recommend this camera to anyone.


Rating:
Summary: SLR Photography at its best
Review: I have been using this camera for just about a month now and all i have is good comments on the camera. Every time i use it i learn something new, and come out with more interesting photos each time. I have been into my digital photography since the start. (Started with a Casio w/ no removable memory, no flash, or zoom) In the past i have prefered the Sony cameras, i went from the casio to the digital mavica with a floppy disk, then the cyber shot. Both of whiuch took wonderful photos, but were limited in their manual modes. I had been skeptical to the digital slr, but i got to use one and loved the control that was available. The 18-55mm lens that comes with it is ok, but if you want to do more sophisticated photos, then i would recomend stepping up to at least a 28-135mm lens. The write speed is fast with the Sandisk Ultra II 512 mb card (about 2 seconds) But the camera has a small internal memory and will allow you to take up to 5 shots sequentially before it writes to the card.

Overall very satisfied, and highly recommend