Canon Digital Rebel XT First Impressions Review

Attracting attention and making a spectacle, Canon stole the show at the annual Photo Marketing Association convention in Orlando with the release of their second generation Digital Rebel. Many heads were turned to the Canon booth from the start, desperate for a glimpse of the EOS Digital Rebel XT.

The 8 megapixel Canon Digital Rebel XT single lens reflex camera (Kiss Digital 2e in Japan and EOS-350D in most of the rest of the world outside the US) is the successor to– but not a replacement for– the original 6.3 megapixel Rebel. It will be available in March 2005 for $899 (body only) or $999 (with the surprisingly sharp EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens). The original Rebel will remain available, dropping into a more affordable area of the consumer market, selling for $799 with the series I 18-55mm EF-S lens; however the original Rebel will no longer be offered as just a body.

The new Rebel outperforms the original in almost every respect: it's 15% smaller and 10% lighter, turns on faster, has a higher pop-up flash, reduced shutter lag (an important number often omitted from the spec sheets) to go along with an 8 megapixel CMOS sensor, and 1.7 million (20%) more pixels than its precursor, with a feature set closely resembling the prosumer EOS-20D. The faster XT also records subsequent images at 3 frames per second with an inflated 14 shot buffer, up from the 2.5 fps, 4 shot burst of the original Rebel — a substantial and necessary improvement!

The Rebel XT is almost small enough to be mistaken for a compact digital camera, but compared to compacts of similar size and appearance, the XT offers a much larger sensor (nearly 6 times the area of the sensor in the 8.0 megapixel PowerShot Pro-1). While the pixel offering is the same, the larger sensor will provide an expanded dynamic range with less visible noise. It also has interchangeable lenses and less shutter lag. But, like all digital SLRs, its LCD screen cannot be used to preview and compose the image.

The Rebel XT seems destined for success with photographers who want high quality imagery but have to watch the weight– or cost– of their gear. It will certainly put some heat on the Nikon D70 and looks to establish a new precedent within the sub-$1000 DSLR market.