Canon EOS 400D Digital Camera with 18-55mm + 75-300mm lens

I consider myself an intermediate photographer and I owe all of my enhanced interest in the subject and art of photography to the rapid onset of digital cameras to the marketplace. The ease of use and the end of taking film to get developed has increased my awareness of photography and led to a better understanding of digital cameras and how they work. This has led me to trying out different cameras and one that I like very well is the Canon EOS 400D/Rebel XTi, a professional camera with interchangeable lenses.

Basic Facts About This Digital Camera:

The Canon EOS 400D/Rebel XTi is a large- size camera that measures about 5 inches in width, 2.5 inches in depth (not counting when you add a lens, which makes it much larger in this dimension), and about 3.75 inches in height. The large dimensions cause this camera to weigh more than the norm- just over one pound total weight.

This camera offers 10.1 megapixels of resolution. The image resolution with this camera is very high, with a maximum of 3888 x 2592. The image screen is 2.5 inches in width; has 230k pixels; and offers an adjustable brightness control.

To help take pictures that look as sharp as possible, the Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi offers six settings: Standard, Landscape, Portrait, Neutral, Faithful, and Monochrome. The start- up time for the camera is very quick- 0.2 second, to be exact, and the shutter release lag time is only 0.01 seconds. It offers 3 frames per second continuous shooting,

Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi comes with a USB 2.0 interface, lens, battery charger, strap, software, and a manual/guide. The camera is powered by a rechargeable battery pack.

On- Line Information:

The web site for Canon cameras and other products is usa.canon.com. Product information, consumer support, where to buy, and other useful info can be found in the web site.

Final Thoughts:

Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi is a professional photographic device and it ranks as one of the best cameras I have ever used. Like I stated above, I was an amateur photographer for most of my life and my attitude toward picture taking was simple: If it produces a picture that is clear enough to easily tell who is in the picture and what is going on, then it is good enough for me. Or, if I need a picture with a sharper image than that, I will hire a professional. This was my attitude toward photography for most of my adult life.

But times have changed, and in the world of photography, the change has been for the better. Today's cameras are much better than those of yesteryear. Not only are the images much sharper, but there is no longer the need to take your camera film to a photography store or photo department in a large store for development. Now, you can take pictures at your leisure, preview them on the camera screen, delete ones you don't like, and print your own whenever you're ready. This vast improvement in technology has spurred my interest in photography and I have now graduated from the amateur to the intermediate phase.

It's a good thing my knowledge level has improved, because the Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi is no ordinary camera and what it offers is likely beyond the needs of most casual photographers. Prior to using this camera, my experience with digital cameras was limited to about five different models and every one of them was compact in size, offering the basic tools needed to take a good, quality pictures. Knowing little about photography at the time I used most of these small cameras, I thought they were all very good and I mistakenly assumed their features were every bit as good as most other digital cameras on the market.

Now that I have used the Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi, I can understand just how simple my other digital cameras really were. The first major difference is the size. Other digital cameras I have used were small enough to fit into one's pocket, and the compact size made them easy to store and easy to take places. Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi is substantially larger in size and is not easy to conceal. Add a large lens to the front, and the dimensions become very bulky. The weight (slightly over one pound) is also quite a bit more than other cameras I have used over the past five years. However, from looking at other digital SLR cameras, this one is actually a little smaller than most, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.

Now, let's talk about what matters most with a camera: The picture taking capabilities and the quality of the pictures. One thing that is certainly different with this camera is that it requires the use of the viewfinder in order to select an image and take the picture. With most other cameras, the LCD display screen shows the image and it can be used essentially as a viewfinder. But the Canon EOS Rebel XTi is a little different. You have to hold the camera up to your eye and look through the viewfinder. While looking through the viewfinder, photographers will notice that there are nine active focusing points and they are illuminated so that you can easily identify them, along with other facts about the current settings (like shutter speed, ISO setting, etc.). Once the picture is taken, the LCD display will then show the image and the photographer can then use the various functions of the camera to edit.

Even though the Canon EOS Rebel XTi is larger than I'm used to, it is still easy to hold and the different settings are all within reach of your fingers. If you use auto focus, there is nothing else to do but point and shoot. If the manual focus is used, the lens has to be rotated. I used nothing but auto focus when I used this camera and I had no trouble getting the pictures to look crisp and clean.

Probably the best feature of this Canon camera (compared to others I have used) is its fast power up and low shutter lag. In about two seconds, the camera is powered and ready to go. And once a picture is ready to be shot, a press of the shutter takes the picture with almost no lag time at all. I don't know about other people, but the lag time for taking a picture is one of my greatest complaints with many digital cameras. I have missed some great shots because the camera was taking too long to respond after I pressed the shutter. But the Canon EOS Rebel XTi appears to have eliminated this problem. It takes pictures quickly, greatly reducing the possibility that you will lose an important shot.

As far as picture quality goes, it doesn't get much better than this! I don't have any other SLR digital cameras to compare to, but when I stack up the pictures taken with the Canon EOS Rebel XTi and compare them with those taken with other digital cameras, the quality with this camera is unmistakably superior. Not only are the colors just right, but the brightness and other factors are exactly the way I want them to be. And the detail is excellent. The area I noticed this most acutely was with photographs of people. I took a few pictures of my girls with this camera and I was very impressed at the quality of their hair. I could actually see the individual strands of hair very distinctly. You just know when quality is that sharp with the hair that it is going to be just as sharp elsewhere, and it is. The main image in the picture was crystal- clear, and it put my first digital camera (a Hewlett- Packard model) to shame.

This digital camera is powered by a battery pack that must be periodically recharged. A single charge can handle between 350 and 500 pictures (depending on whether or not the flash is in use) before running out of juice. I didn't have any issues at all with the charge since I didn't take anywhere close to 500 pictures, but it is good to know that the charge can hold for this long. This camera is much more power- efficient than other digital cameras I have used.

Overall, the Canon EOS Rebel XTi is an excellent camera for photographers like me who are still accustomed to a smaller, point and shoot digital camera but want to investigate the world of SLR digital cameras a little more closely. The picture quality produced by this camera is excellent, the low shutter lag time is unbeatable, and the ease of use when using auto focus is better than average. It takes some time to get used to the fact that you have to look through a viewfinder to take pictures, but once you get past this minor inconvenience, the Canon EOS Rebel XTi will become your photographic best friend. Its price (around $700) is quite a bit higher than other, smaller digital cameras. But for quality like this, it is certainly worth considering.