Canon EOS Rebel XS

Viewfinder (6.25)
The viewfinder captures the standard 95% of the view from the lens, which means that there is a small amount of the image you won’t see, but will appear in your photos. The viewfinder is surrounded by a rubber ring, which can be removed and replaced with alternative eyecups.

We found the diopter adjuster a little too easy to change. Usually these small dials are stiff to prevent you from accidentally altering the focus of the viewfinder. The XS adjustment feels a bit loose, and we found it gets nudged easily.

One of the small but handy features of the XSi is a detector beneath the viewfinder that turns off the LCD when you bring the camera up to your eye. This feature has been removed with the Rebel XS.

The viewfinder captures 95% of the view

Live View
Live View is becoming increasingly common in SLR cameras, as it replicates some of the convenience of using a point-and-shoot camera. Rather than the light reflecting off a mirror into the viewfinder, the mirror is raised and the light hits the image sensor directly, which transmits it to the LCD screen. This lets you view what the lens sees on the LCD, much like compact camera. It also lets you digitally zoom in on the image on the screen to check for precise focus.

In the XS, Live view has to be activated through the menu system, and is toggled on and off using the Set button on the rear of the camera.  The refresh rate in Live View mode was impressive, keeping up with even fast movements. However, be aware that using Live View will significantly reduce your battery life.

Canon recommends using manual focus while in Live View mode, but does offer two types of auto focus if you prefer. Both need to be activated before using, and are buried deep in an obscure part of the menu system, under the 7th page of custom settings. The types of auto focus are Quick Mode and Live Mode. Quick Mode briefly lowers the mirror and uses the standard auto focus technology before switching back to Live View. Live Mode attempts to focus while still in Live View, but is slower and less accurate than Quick Mode. However, neither seems to function quite as well as the Live View auto focus on the Olympus E-520.

Live View is most useful when using a tripod, as you can manually focus precisely, and don’t have to keep moving your face up to the viewfinder as you would when shooting without Live View.

While shooting, the LCD shows a large amount of information about the settings of the camera, all of which are written clearly and in a large font. Shutter speed, aperture, shooting mode, exposure compensation, ISO, white balance, picture style, metering, battery level, image size and shots remaining are all displayed in white against a black background in easy to read letters.

The options available while shooting

Flash (6.75)
The built in flash is quite powerful, and relatively even. You will see some darkening around the edges, and a small hot spot in the middle.

Interestingly, the XS uses a small light to the side of the lens for Red Eye Reduction, and fires multiple flash bursts to assist auto focusing in the dark. Usually, cameras have a small auto focus assist light, and prevent red eye by firing multiple flash bursts to contract the subject’s pupils and prevent the reflections that cause red eye. Canon has inverted this. The advantage to using a flash burst to help the auto focus is that the light produced is far brighter than that of the small auto focus assist lights often used, so the camera can focus better on objects further away. Of course, the bright flashing lights are also distracting to your subject.

The relatively high flash position helps minimize red-eye.

The Canon EF-S lens mount is compatible with a wide variety of lenses