Overview of Canon Digital SLR Cameras and Lenses
by Philip Greenspun
The Canon EOS system of digital single-lens reflex (SLR) bodies and lenses is the standard choice among professional photographers worldwide. This article gives an overview of the Canon EOS system: camera bodies, lenses, flashes, and accessories, and concludes with some starter system recommendations.
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[Editor's note: The Canon Digital Rebel has been discontinued. There is a review of the replacement, the
Canon Digital Rebel XT]
Introduction
The Canon Digital Rebel, also known as the Canon EOS 300D, was introduced in October 2003 and was
the first digital SLR (DSLR) to break the $1000 barrier at its introduction price of $899.
In fact it's still the lowest price DSLR on the market. It is also available as a kit with
the EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6 lens (more on that later), and is still priced below $1000 ($999).
Though it's a Rebel, which is the designation for Canon's most basic, entry level,
cameras, it has many features you might only expect to find on more advanced models, such
as depth-of-field preview, white balance bracketing and flash sync at 1/200.
The CMOS sensor is 22.7 x 15.1mm and can generate a 3072 x 2048 pixel image. Since the
sensor is smaller than a standard 35mm frame (36mm x 24mm), lenses will have a narrower
field of view when mounted on a Digital Rebel than when mounted on a full frame 35mm
camera. This gives rise the the 1.6x "cropping" or "multiplying"
factor, so a standard Canon 50mm lens when mounted on a Digital rebel will give the same
field of view as an 80mm lens (50 x 1.6 = 80) would on a normal full frame film body.
There are 3 image sizes and a total of 7 image capture modes:
Large/Fine: Approx. 3.1MB (3072 x 2048)
Large/ Normal: Approx. 1.8MB (3072 x 2048)
Middle/Fine: Approx. 1.8MB (2048 x 1360)
Middle/Normal: Approx. 1.2MB (2048 x1360)
Small/Fine: Approx. 1.4MB (1536 x 1024)
Small/Normal: Approx. 0.9MB (1536 x 1024).
RAW: Approx. 7MB (3072 x 2048)
The Lens
The Canon Digital Rebel is an SLR body, so there's no lens if that's what you buy. However
there is a kit which includes the EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6 lens - which is reviewed here in a separate article.
Basically this lens gives you similar coverage as a 28-90 lens on a film SLR in terms of
angle of view. It's a decent lens, better when not used wide open, and is certainly very
good value for only $100 when purchased with the Digital Rebel body. Note that it is ONLY
available as part of the kit, so if you want one, buy the kit. If you buy the body, then
decide you wish you had bought the lens, you're out of luck if you want a new one. You'll
have to search around for someone selling a used one.
Exposure Modes
There are the usual Canon EOS exposure modes found on all film based consumer EOS
cameras, so if you've ever used a Rebel or Elan, these will be very familiar. The
"Creative Zone" modes allow more user control (for example you can select ISO
and one shot or continuous shooting). The "PIC" modes are designed to
automatically give the best choice of settings (metering mode, AF mode, shooting mode,
flash mode, ISO setting) without the user having to think much.
Creative zone modes:
Program AE (shiftable)
shutter-priority AE
aperture-priority AE
auto depth-of-field AE
full auto
manual.
Programmed image control modes ("PIC" modes)
Portrait
Landscape
Close-up
Sports
Night Portrait
Flash Off
E-TTL autoflash program AE
ISO settings and noise
The camera can be set from ISO 100 to 1600 in full stop steps (100, 200, 400, 800,
1600) in the "creative" modes. In the "PIC" modes ISO is set
automatically to ISO 100, 200 or 400, depending on the mode. For example in portrait mode,
ISO is always set to 100. In sports mode, ISO is always set to 400. In the other PIC
modes, the ISO setting depends on shooting conditions.
Because of the large sensor, and hence large pixel size, noise levels are much lower
than normally found on digicams with physically smaller sensors. Below are 100% crops from
test images shot at each ISO setting. At ISO 100 and 200 noise is pretty much invisible.
At ISO 400 there is just a hint of noise. At ISO 800 noise is visible and at ISO 1600 it's
quite evident. However remember these are 100% crops. The samples are 107 pixels square,
so the full image would be 28x wider and 19x taller. On my monitor (17", 1280x1024)
they would represent sections from something like a 20x30 print.
White balance
There are the usual preset modes, which are auto, daylight, shade,
overcast, tungsten bulb, fluorescent light, flash. There is also a custom mode, where you
take an image of a neutral tone card (white or gray) and then use that as the color
reference. In addition there is the ability to bracket WB in steps of +/- 5, +/- 10
or +/- 15 Mireds over a sequence of 3 frames. A Mired is a unit of color correction (it
stands for MIcro
REciprocal Degree), but it's a pretty small unit as
you can see from the image sequence below.
Under normal outdoor conditions, the auto WB setting does a good job, but
indoors under difficult lighting (e.g. tungsten) it's not so good. The custom mode always
does the best job, but takes a little time to setup since you first have to shoot an image
of a neutral card, then use the menu system to select that image for the custom WB
reference.
Note though that you might not always want an image fully corrected to
standard "daylight" color balance. Here's an example of Auto and Cloudy WB taken
on a fully overcast day. The shot on the top left was taken using Auto WB, the shot on the
top right using the Cloudy WB setting, the shot on the bottom left was taken using custom
WB based on a shot of a sheet of white paper as the reference and the shot on the bottom
right was taken using Auto WB, but later color corrected in PhotoShop.
I think the Auto WB shots gives a better impression of what the scene
looked like from a subjective viewpoint, though the Cloudy WB shot maybe has more
"accurate" colors based on what it would look like under
"standard" illumination conditions (i.e. sunny daylight). The custom WB probably
does even better at producing "standard" colors, but it's pretty close to the
Cloudy shot (with a touch less magenta). Just to show that all this isn't really that
important, the bottom right shot is the top left shot after a slight color tweak in
PhotoShop and is, I think, the best of the four! Personally I don't expect the camera to
fully optimize colors to what *I* will like best. I expect to work on all my images. Some
newcomers to digital though expect 100% perfect shots right out of the camera every time.
Realistically, they will be disappointed quite often.
Here is a neutral (gray) target shot under illumination from a 100W
tungsten bulb. You can clearly see that neither auto WB nor Tungsten WB do a particularly
great job, but the custom setting is very good. In passing I'll note that the 10D shows
similar performance, so this isn't just a Digital Rebel problem.
In general if you want "standard illumination" colors rather
than effects, it's probably better to use the preset modes rather than leaving the camera
in auto WB all the time, especially when shooting indoors, but if you want precise color,
use the custom WB mode. Note that if you shoot in the RAW mode rather than JPEG, you can
adjust the white balance after you have taken the shot when you convert the RAW file to a
TIFF or JPEG. This gives you the most post-exposure flexibility.
Autofocus Modes
There are 4 focus modes, One-Shot AF, Predictive AI Servo AF, AI Focus AF
(automatically selects One-Shot AF or AI Servo AF selected according to shooting mode),
Manual Focusing (MF). However these modes are not user selectable. The camera chooses the
AF mode depending on the shooting mode. For example in the creative modes, AI Focus is
used. This means that if the subject is static, One Shot AF is chosen, but if the subject
under the active AF zone(s) starts to move towards or away from the camera, the focus mode
will switch to AI Servo AF and focus will attempt to track the subject as it moves. One
shot AF is used in most of the PIC modes, but in the Sports mode AI Servo is used.
Metering Modes
The camera normally operates in a 35 zone evaluative metering mode in all modes except
for manual.. Partial metering is available only in conjunction with the exposure lock
button and when in M, Av, Tv or P creative modes. There is no indication of the partial
metering area (9% of full screen) on the viewfinder screen. In the manual mode, default
metering is centerweighted, but exposure lock activates partial metering. There does not
appear to be any way to decouple exposure lock and partial metering. If you want partial
metering you have to have exposure lock. If you want exposure lock, you have to have
partial metering. In the PIC modes, metering is always 35 zone evaluative.
Viewfinder
The viewfinder image is rather small (0.8x) and has 95% coverage. The relative small
image size is probably a consequence of using a pentamirror system rather than a
pentaprism. Though a pentamirror is lighter and cheaper than a pentaprism, it also loses
more light and so to compensate for this and to brighten the image, the image has to be
made smaller. There is a built in adjustable (-3 to +1 diopter) dioptric correction. The
eyepoint is 21mm. Coupled with the smaller screen size this means you can see the whole
screen of you wear glasses, but you do have to have your glasses pressed against the
rubber eyepiece cup to do so.
LCD screen
There is a rear mounted 1.8" LCD screen for image display, with 118,00 displayed
pixels. It gives 100% coverage of the image and there are 5 levels of brightness. Like all
DSLRs, the LCD screen can only be use to view images after they have been taken. Unlike
digicams, there is no "live" display of images. This is impossible in DSLRs
since there is a mirror between the lens and sensor and a mechanical shutter, so no light
reaches the sensor until an exposure is made.
Data Display
The Canon Digital Rebel displays a comprehensive set of data, including an optional histogram
in both shooting and playback modes. Displayable data includes date, time, shutter speed,
exposure compenstaion, ISO, metering mode, shooting mode, image size and quality, number
of frames shot and image # being displayed. An example is shown below
The quality of the LCD image is excellent - much better than it appears in the image
above. For some reason it's camera shy and doesn't reproduce well!
On replay images can be displayed one at a time of in groups of 9. It takes about 5
seconds to display the 9 frame index page (1.6MB files). The image can be magnifed up to
10x to check focus.
Accessories
Many of the standard Canon EOS SLR accessories fit the Digital Rebel, from
remote releases, through extension tubes to external Speedlites. Examples of typical
accessories purchased for the Digital Rebel are:
Battery grip BG-E1 (holds two batteries, doubles shooting time)
Semi-hard case EH-16L (holds camera plus 18-55 lens)
AC Adapter CA-PS400
Remote Controller RC-1
Remote Switch RS-60E3
Flash
The Canon Digital Rebel has a built in flash with a guide number of 13 (ISO 100, meters) and
an angle of coverage the same as an 18mm lens mounted on the Digital Rebel. The
approximate maxium range of the flash is given in the following table:
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
f4
3.25m
4.6m
6.5m
9.2m
13m
f5.6
2.3m
3.25m
4.6m
6.5m
9.2m
f8
1.6m
2.3m
3.2m
4.6m
6.4m
There is a red eye reduction light (white) which can be user selected. The Digital
Rebel takes any of the Current Canon Speedlites which attach via the hotshoe. The Digital
Rebel supports E-TTL flash capability and the built in flash is E-TTL (this means there is
a preflash used for metering before the main flash fires). There is no PC socket for
external flash connection.
There is no flash exposure compensation available on the Digital Rebel body. To get
flash exposure compensation you have to use an external Speedlite with that function built
in (e.g. 550EX).
In the indoor flash tests I tried, exposure and color balance were pretty good. I'm not
a big flash shooter myself, but I was happy with the results I obtained.
Timing Issues
Timing measurements were performed by imaging the sweep second hand of a running analog
stopwatch. Measurements were repeated several times in order to average out errors. Errors
are estimated to be smaller than +/- 0.1 seconds.
From the camera in the "Off" condition to the first exposure takes a minimum
of 3.5s. This is with the lens in manual focus mode. The time will be longer if the lens
has to first achieve focus, so a realistic estimate of camera-on to first-expose time
would be 4 seconds.
In continuous shooting mode the frame rate was measured at 2.5 frames per second for a
maximum of 4 shots, consistent with Canon's specification for the Digital Rebel. Using
several "normal" speed CF cards (Viking 512MB, Simple Technology 64MB) the
Digital Rebel took 14 seconds to fully write 4 Large-fine JPEG frames shot at ISO
100 (average file size 1650 Kbytes). However you don't need to wait for all 4 files to
finish writing before you can shoot again.
For example, in continuous mode, if the shutter is held down, the first 4 frames shot
at a frame rate of about 2.5 fps, the next 8 frames shot at 1 fps and from there on the
frame rate dropped to 1 frame every 4.5 seconds. This latter rate is consistent with the
write time for a file (measured at 4.5 seconds in the paragraph above). Clearly the Rebel
has various shooting and writing buffers. When they are all filled, the frame rate depends
on the time to fully write a file. These rates will certainly be somewhat influenced by
the speed of the CF card used. A faster CF card won't change the maximum shooting rate of
2.5 fps, but it will probably speed up the reduced shooting rates which are ultimately
limited by the rate at which files can be written to the CF card.
If you want fire off 4 shot bursts at 2.5 fps, you can fire the first burst starting at
0 seconds, the second burst starting at 5 seconds, the 3rd burst starting at 10 seconds,
the 4th burst starting at at 24 seconds and the 5th burst starting at 42 seconds . Again
you see the effect of the buffers filling up.
Batteries
The Canon Digital Rebel uses the Canon BP-511 battery which is common to a number of Canon
DSLRs and Powershot series digicams. They are easy to find both as Canon OEM products or
generic copies. A line voltage powered charger for one battery is supplied with the
camera.
Canon claim around 600 shots per charge if the flash isn't used, or about 400 shots
with the flash used 50% of the time for normal temperatures (68°F/20°C). At low
temperatures (32°F/0°C), this drops to 450 frames without flash, 350 frames with 50%
flash usage.
Software
The Digital Rebel comes with software support for both the Mac and PC. Adobe PhotoShop
Elements II is provided, and it's a decent basic image editor. Certainly enough to get the
average user up and running. Canon also provide their own software suite (Zoombrowser) for
downloading images, browsing and cataloging them and converting RAW files to TIFF (8 or
16bit) or JPEG files.
Other features
The Canon Digital Rebel is compatible with CP direct, Bubble Jet direct and Pictbridge
enabled printers, so you can print directly from the camera without the need for a
computer.
Unlike many "do it all" digicams, this is a Digital SLR and has the features
you'd expect to find on a film SLR. There's no movie mode, no voice recording or sound
mode, there's no "B&W", "Sepia tint" or other odd color modes. It
doesn't give a real time display of the image. It doesn't play MP3 files. Basically it's a
film SLR with a digital sensor replacing the film and this is pretty much the case for all
DSLRs from all manufacturers. It's serious equipment for serious digital still
photography.
Image Quality
Image quality is high. Better than anything you'll get from an "all in one"
digicam, mainly because of the larger sensor and, of course, the ability to pick and chose
lenses. In particular the low light/high ISO performance of the Digital Rebel is much
better than that of digicams using smaller pixles. In s few side by side tests with an EOS
10D I could see no difference in image quality (though note that the default
settings for contrast, saturation and sharpness are higher on the Digital Rebel then the
10D, so default JPEGs from the two cameras may look different). Since the two cameras
share the same sensor (and presumably very similar electronics and software), this would
be expected.
Sample Images
If you have the bandwidth, Canon have some full size Digital
Rebel images for download, and these are available as both JPEG or TIFF files. Note
that the TIFF files are 18MB each (there are 6 available), so if you don't have a
broadband connection go for the JPEGs ("only" 4.5MB each!). You'll still have a
long slow download of course, but it will give you a good idea of the image quality that
the Rebel is capable of.
What's good, what's not so good?
It's ahrd to find too many faults with the camera. If I had to find faults, I'd say the
viewfinder display is a bit small, but you quickly get used to that. The auto white
balance could also be better in some situations (e.g. indoor shooting under tungsten
light), but that's not a big deal for me or anyone who expects to do some image
optimization prior to printing. The lack of user control over metering and AF modes can
also be somewhat frustrating for more experienced photographers who like total control,
but it's something the novice DSLR user might not really notice.The lack of flash expsoure
compensation could be a problem for heavy flash users who don't like the auto settings.
These and other differences from the EOS 10D are disccussed in more deatil in a seperate
article comparing the EOS 10D to the Digital
Rebel (EOS 300D)
What's not so good are really the things I'd like to see but which the Canon Digital Rebel
doesn't offer - but then if it did it would be $1500, not $900 and it would be an EOS 10D
not an EOS Digital Rebel! I don't much like the silver body and under some lighting
conditions it can be a bit hard to read the labels on the controls (light blue text on a
silver background isn't as clear as white on black), but that's a pretty minor complaint.
Conclusion
The Canon Digital Rebel is an excellent camera at a remarkably low price given the cost of
other Digital SLRs. No doubt prices will drop further and cameras will improve over the next few
years, but right now the Digital Rebel sets a price/performance standard that's hard to
beat. It's clearly better and more versatile than similarly priced non SLR digicams in the
same price range, though it may be slightly larger and you do have to buy lenses for it.
However the 18-55mm kit lens is a very good performer, especially when stopped down a stop
from full aperture (see separate lens test on
the EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6) and if you're buying the Digital Rebel and you don't have a
wide-angle lens already (remember, 18mm on a Digital Rebel is equivalent to 29mm on a full
frame camera), I'd recommend getting the kit with this lens included for only $100 more
than the body itself.
Photographers with no investment in Canon lenses or who already have an investment in
Nikon lenses will probably look at the new Nikon D70 DSLR ($999 or $1299 with an 18-70
"kit" lens). It's certainly looks like a nice camera, but this isn't the time or
place to address the "Canon vs. Nikon" issue! There's a full review of the D70 here on photo.net. In the rapidly
evolving world of digital cameras it's probably true that whatever you buy will be
replaced by a better and/or cheaper model in about 12-18months. Of course if you wait for
it, you may wait forever because there will always be something better yet another 12-18
months down the line!
Again, Photo.net would like to thank ADORAMA
for providing a demo camera for review
[Editor's note: The Canon Digital Rebel has been discontinued. There is a review of the replacement, the
Canon Digital Rebel XT]
Introduction
The Canon Digital Rebel, also known as the Canon EOS 300D, was introduced in October 2003 and was
the first digital SLR (DSLR) to break the $1000 barrier at its introduction price of $899.
In fact it's still the lowest price DSLR on the market. It is also available as a kit with
the EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6 lens (more on that later), and is still priced below $1000 ($999).
Though it's a Rebel, which is the designation for Canon's most basic, entry level,
cameras, it has many features you might only expect to find on more advanced models, such
as depth-of-field preview, white balance bracketing and flash sync at 1/200.
The CMOS sensor is 22.7 x 15.1mm and can generate a 3072 x 2048 pixel image. Since the
sensor is smaller than a standard 35mm frame (36mm x 24mm), lenses will have a narrower
field of view when mounted on a Digital Rebel than when mounted on a full frame 35mm
camera. This gives rise the the 1.6x "cropping" or "multiplying"
factor, so a standard Canon 50mm lens when mounted on a Digital rebel will give the same
field of view as an 80mm lens (50 x 1.6 = 80) would on a normal full frame film body.
There are 3 image sizes and a total of 7 image capture modes:
Large/Fine: Approx. 3.1MB (3072 x 2048)
Large/ Normal: Approx. 1.8MB (3072 x 2048)
Middle/Fine: Approx. 1.8MB (2048 x 1360)
Middle/Normal: Approx. 1.2MB (2048 x1360)
Small/Fine: Approx. 1.4MB (1536 x 1024)
Small/Normal: Approx. 0.9MB (1536 x 1024).
RAW: Approx. 7MB (3072 x 2048)
The Lens
The Canon Digital Rebel is an SLR body, so there's no lens if that's what you buy. However
there is a kit which includes the EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6 lens - which is reviewed here in a separate article.
Basically this lens gives you similar coverage as a 28-90 lens on a film SLR in terms of
angle of view. It's a decent lens, better when not used wide open, and is certainly very
good value for only $100 when purchased with the Digital Rebel body. Note that it is ONLY
available as part of the kit, so if you want one, buy the kit. If you buy the body, then
decide you wish you had bought the lens, you're out of luck if you want a new one. You'll
have to search around for someone selling a used one.
Exposure Modes
There are the usual Canon EOS exposure modes found on all film based consumer EOS
cameras, so if you've ever used a Rebel or Elan, these will be very familiar. The
"Creative Zone" modes allow more user control (for example you can select ISO
and one shot or continuous shooting). The "PIC" modes are designed to
automatically give the best choice of settings (metering mode, AF mode, shooting mode,
flash mode, ISO setting) without the user having to think much.
Creative zone modes:
Program AE (shiftable)
shutter-priority AE
aperture-priority AE
auto depth-of-field AE
full auto
manual.
Programmed image control modes ("PIC" modes)
Portrait
Landscape
Close-up
Sports
Night Portrait
Flash Off
E-TTL autoflash program AE
ISO settings and noise
The camera can be set from ISO 100 to 1600 in full stop steps (100, 200, 400, 800,
1600) in the "creative" modes. In the "PIC" modes ISO is set
automatically to ISO 100, 200 or 400, depending on the mode. For example in portrait mode,
ISO is always set to 100. In sports mode, ISO is always set to 400. In the other PIC
modes, the ISO setting depends on shooting conditions.
Because of the large sensor, and hence large pixel size, noise levels are much lower
than normally found on digicams with physically smaller sensors. Below are 100% crops from
test images shot at each ISO setting. At ISO 100 and 200 noise is pretty much invisible.
At ISO 400 there is just a hint of noise. At ISO 800 noise is visible and at ISO 1600 it's
quite evident. However remember these are 100% crops. The samples are 107 pixels square,
so the full image would be 28x wider and 19x taller. On my monitor (17", 1280x1024)
they would represent sections from something like a 20x30 print.
White balance
There are the usual preset modes, which are auto, daylight, shade,
overcast, tungsten bulb, fluorescent light, flash. There is also a custom mode, where you
take an image of a neutral tone card (white or gray) and then use that as the color
reference. In addition there is the ability to bracket WB in steps of +/- 5, +/- 10
or +/- 15 Mireds over a sequence of 3 frames. A Mired is a unit of color correction (it
stands for MIcro
REciprocal Degree), but it's a pretty small unit as
you can see from the image sequence below.
Under normal outdoor conditions, the auto WB setting does a good job, but
indoors under difficult lighting (e.g. tungsten) it's not so good. The custom mode always
does the best job, but takes a little time to setup since you first have to shoot an image
of a neutral card, then use the menu system to select that image for the custom WB
reference.
Note though that you might not always want an image fully corrected to
standard "daylight" color balance. Here's an example of Auto and Cloudy WB taken
on a fully overcast day. The shot on the top left was taken using Auto WB, the shot on the
top right using the Cloudy WB setting, the shot on the bottom left was taken using custom
WB based on a shot of a sheet of white paper as the reference and the shot on the bottom
right was taken using Auto WB, but later color corrected in PhotoShop.
I think the Auto WB shots gives a better impression of what the scene
looked like from a subjective viewpoint, though the Cloudy WB shot maybe has more
"accurate" colors based on what it would look like under
"standard" illumination conditions (i.e. sunny daylight). The custom WB probably
does even better at producing "standard" colors, but it's pretty close to the
Cloudy shot (with a touch less magenta). Just to show that all this isn't really that
important, the bottom right shot is the top left shot after a slight color tweak in
PhotoShop and is, I think, the best of the four! Personally I don't expect the camera to
fully optimize colors to what *I* will like best. I expect to work on all my images. Some
newcomers to digital though expect 100% perfect shots right out of the camera every time.
Realistically, they will be disappointed quite often.
Here is a neutral (gray) target shot under illumination from a 100W
tungsten bulb. You can clearly see that neither auto WB nor Tungsten WB do a particularly
great job, but the custom setting is very good. In passing I'll note that the 10D shows
similar performance, so this isn't just a Digital Rebel problem.
In general if you want "standard illumination" colors rather
than effects, it's probably better to use the preset modes rather than leaving the camera
in auto WB all the time, especially when shooting indoors, but if you want precise color,
use the custom WB mode. Note that if you shoot in the RAW mode rather than JPEG, you can
adjust the white balance after you have taken the shot when you convert the RAW file to a
TIFF or JPEG. This gives you the most post-exposure flexibility.
Autofocus Modes
There are 4 focus modes, One-Shot AF, Predictive AI Servo AF, AI Focus AF
(automatically selects One-Shot AF or AI Servo AF selected according to shooting mode),
Manual Focusing (MF). However these modes are not user selectable. The camera chooses the
AF mode depending on the shooting mode. For example in the creative modes, AI Focus is
used. This means that if the subject is static, One Shot AF is chosen, but if the subject
under the active AF zone(s) starts to move towards or away from the camera, the focus mode
will switch to AI Servo AF and focus will attempt to track the subject as it moves. One
shot AF is used in most of the PIC modes, but in the Sports mode AI Servo is used.
Metering Modes
The camera normally operates in a 35 zone evaluative metering mode in all modes except
for manual.. Partial metering is available only in conjunction with the exposure lock
button and when in M, Av, Tv or P creative modes. There is no indication of the partial
metering area (9% of full screen) on the viewfinder screen. In the manual mode, default
metering is centerweighted, but exposure lock activates partial metering. There does not
appear to be any way to decouple exposure lock and partial metering. If you want partial
metering you have to have exposure lock. If you want exposure lock, you have to have
partial metering. In the PIC modes, metering is always 35 zone evaluative.
Viewfinder
The viewfinder image is rather small (0.8x) and has 95% coverage. The relative small
image size is probably a consequence of using a pentamirror system rather than a
pentaprism. Though a pentamirror is lighter and cheaper than a pentaprism, it also loses
more light and so to compensate for this and to brighten the image, the image has to be
made smaller. There is a built in adjustable (-3 to +1 diopter) dioptric correction. The
eyepoint is 21mm. Coupled with the smaller screen size this means you can see the whole
screen of you wear glasses, but you do have to have your glasses pressed against the
rubber eyepiece cup to do so.
LCD screen
There is a rear mounted 1.8" LCD screen for image display, with 118,00 displayed
pixels. It gives 100% coverage of the image and there are 5 levels of brightness. Like all
DSLRs, the LCD screen can only be use to view images after they have been taken. Unlike
digicams, there is no "live" display of images. This is impossible in DSLRs
since there is a mirror between the lens and sensor and a mechanical shutter, so no light
reaches the sensor until an exposure is made.
Data Display
The Canon Digital Rebel displays a comprehensive set of data, including an optional histogram
in both shooting and playback modes. Displayable data includes date, time, shutter speed,
exposure compenstaion, ISO, metering mode, shooting mode, image size and quality, number
of frames shot and image # being displayed. An example is shown below
The quality of the LCD image is excellent - much better than it appears in the image
above. For some reason it's camera shy and doesn't reproduce well!
On replay images can be displayed one at a time of in groups of 9. It takes about 5
seconds to display the 9 frame index page (1.6MB files). The image can be magnifed up to
10x to check focus.
Accessories
Many of the standard Canon EOS SLR accessories fit the Digital Rebel, from
remote releases, through extension tubes to external Speedlites. Examples of typical
accessories purchased for the Digital Rebel are:
Battery grip BG-E1 (holds two batteries, doubles shooting time)
Semi-hard case EH-16L (holds camera plus 18-55 lens)
AC Adapter CA-PS400
Remote Controller RC-1
Remote Switch RS-60E3
Flash
The Canon Digital Rebel has a built in flash with a guide number of 13 (ISO 100, meters) and
an angle of coverage the same as an 18mm lens mounted on the Digital Rebel. The
approximate maxium range of the flash is given in the following table:
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
f4
3.25m
4.6m
6.5m
9.2m
13m
f5.6
2.3m
3.25m
4.6m
6.5m
9.2m
f8
1.6m
2.3m
3.2m
4.6m
6.4m
There is a red eye reduction light (white) which can be user selected. The Digital
Rebel takes any of the Current Canon Speedlites which attach via the hotshoe. The Digital
Rebel supports E-TTL flash capability and the built in flash is E-TTL (this means there is
a preflash used for metering before the main flash fires). There is no PC socket for
external flash connection.
There is no flash exposure compensation available on the Digital Rebel body. To get
flash exposure compensation you have to use an external Speedlite with that function built
in (e.g. 550EX).
In the indoor flash tests I tried, exposure and color balance were pretty good. I'm not
a big flash shooter myself, but I was happy with the results I obtained.
Timing Issues
Timing measurements were performed by imaging the sweep second hand of a running analog
stopwatch. Measurements were repeated several times in order to average out errors. Errors
are estimated to be smaller than +/- 0.1 seconds.
From the camera in the "Off" condition to the first exposure takes a minimum
of 3.5s. This is with the lens in manual focus mode. The time will be longer if the lens
has to first achieve focus, so a realistic estimate of camera-on to first-expose time
would be 4 seconds.
In continuous shooting mode the frame rate was measured at 2.5 frames per second for a
maximum of 4 shots, consistent with Canon's specification for the Digital Rebel. Using
several "normal" speed CF cards (Viking 512MB, Simple Technology 64MB) the
Digital Rebel took 14 seconds to fully write 4 Large-fine JPEG frames shot at ISO
100 (average file size 1650 Kbytes). However you don't need to wait for all 4 files to
finish writing before you can shoot again.
For example, in continuous mode, if the shutter is held down, the first 4 frames shot
at a frame rate of about 2.5 fps, the next 8 frames shot at 1 fps and from there on the
frame rate dropped to 1 frame every 4.5 seconds. This latter rate is consistent with the
write time for a file (measured at 4.5 seconds in the paragraph above). Clearly the Rebel
has various shooting and writing buffers. When they are all filled, the frame rate depends
on the time to fully write a file. These rates will certainly be somewhat influenced by
the speed of the CF card used. A faster CF card won't change the maximum shooting rate of
2.5 fps, but it will probably speed up the reduced shooting rates which are ultimately
limited by the rate at which files can be written to the CF card.
If you want fire off 4 shot bursts at 2.5 fps, you can fire the first burst starting at
0 seconds, the second burst starting at 5 seconds, the 3rd burst starting at 10 seconds,
the 4th burst starting at at 24 seconds and the 5th burst starting at 42 seconds . Again
you see the effect of the buffers filling up.
Batteries
The Canon Digital Rebel uses the Canon BP-511 battery which is common to a number of Canon
DSLRs and Powershot series digicams. They are easy to find both as Canon OEM products or
generic copies. A line voltage powered charger for one battery is supplied with the
camera.
Canon claim around 600 shots per charge if the flash isn't used, or about 400 shots
with the flash used 50% of the time for normal temperatures (68°F/20°C). At low
temperatures (32°F/0°C), this drops to 450 frames without flash, 350 frames with 50%
flash usage.
Software
The Digital Rebel comes with software support for both the Mac and PC. Adobe PhotoShop
Elements II is provided, and it's a decent basic image editor. Certainly enough to get the
average user up and running. Canon also provide their own software suite (Zoombrowser) for
downloading images, browsing and cataloging them and converting RAW files to TIFF (8 or
16bit) or JPEG files.
Other features
The Canon Digital Rebel is compatible with CP direct, Bubble Jet direct and Pictbridge
enabled printers, so you can print directly from the camera without the need for a
computer.
Unlike many "do it all" digicams, this is a Digital SLR and has the features
you'd expect to find on a film SLR. There's no movie mode, no voice recording or sound
mode, there's no "B&W", "Sepia tint" or other odd color modes. It
doesn't give a real time display of the image. It doesn't play MP3 files. Basically it's a
film SLR with a digital sensor replacing the film and this is pretty much the case for all
DSLRs from all manufacturers. It's serious equipment for serious digital still
photography.
Image Quality
Image quality is high. Better than anything you'll get from an "all in one"
digicam, mainly because of the larger sensor and, of course, the ability to pick and chose
lenses. In particular the low light/high ISO performance of the Digital Rebel is much
better than that of digicams using smaller pixles. In s few side by side tests with an EOS
10D I could see no difference in image quality (though note that the default
settings for contrast, saturation and sharpness are higher on the Digital Rebel then the
10D, so default JPEGs from the two cameras may look different). Since the two cameras
share the same sensor (and presumably very similar electronics and software), this would
be expected.
Sample Images
If you have the bandwidth, Canon have some full size Digital
Rebel images for download, and these are available as both JPEG or TIFF files. Note
that the TIFF files are 18MB each (there are 6 available), so if you don't have a
broadband connection go for the JPEGs ("only" 4.5MB each!). You'll still have a
long slow download of course, but it will give you a good idea of the image quality that
the Rebel is capable of.
What's good, what's not so good?
It's ahrd to find too many faults with the camera. If I had to find faults, I'd say the
viewfinder display is a bit small, but you quickly get used to that. The auto white
balance could also be better in some situations (e.g. indoor shooting under tungsten
light), but that's not a big deal for me or anyone who expects to do some image
optimization prior to printing. The lack of user control over metering and AF modes can
also be somewhat frustrating for more experienced photographers who like total control,
but it's something the novice DSLR user might not really notice.The lack of flash expsoure
compensation could be a problem for heavy flash users who don't like the auto settings.
These and other differences from the EOS 10D are disccussed in more deatil in a seperate
article comparing the EOS 10D to the Digital
Rebel (EOS 300D)
What's not so good are really the things I'd like to see but which the Canon Digital Rebel
doesn't offer - but then if it did it would be $1500, not $900 and it would be an EOS 10D
not an EOS Digital Rebel! I don't much like the silver body and under some lighting
conditions it can be a bit hard to read the labels on the controls (light blue text on a
silver background isn't as clear as white on black), but that's a pretty minor complaint.
Conclusion
The Canon Digital Rebel is an excellent camera at a remarkably low price given the cost of
other Digital SLRs. No doubt prices will drop further and cameras will improve over the next few
years, but right now the Digital Rebel sets a price/performance standard that's hard to
beat. It's clearly better and more versatile than similarly priced non SLR digicams in the
same price range, though it may be slightly larger and you do have to buy lenses for it.
However the 18-55mm kit lens is a very good performer, especially when stopped down a stop
from full aperture (see separate lens test on
the EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6) and if you're buying the Digital Rebel and you don't have a
wide-angle lens already (remember, 18mm on a Digital Rebel is equivalent to 29mm on a full
frame camera), I'd recommend getting the kit with this lens included for only $100 more
than the body itself.
Photographers with no investment in Canon lenses or who already have an investment in
Nikon lenses will probably look at the new Nikon D70 DSLR ($999 or $1299 with an 18-70
"kit" lens). It's certainly looks like a nice camera, but this isn't the time or
place to address the "Canon vs. Nikon" issue! There's a full review of the D70 here on photo.net. In the rapidly
evolving world of digital cameras it's probably true that whatever you buy will be
replaced by a better and/or cheaper model in about 12-18months. Of course if you wait for
it, you may wait forever because there will always be something better yet another 12-18
months down the line!
Again, Photo.net would like to thank ADORAMA
for providing a demo camera for review
Where to buy the Canon Digital Rebel
The Digital Rebel and Digital Rebel Kit (body + 18-55 lens) is available from the
following photo.net affiliate stores. Buying via these links helps to support the
photo.net website.
Canon EOS Digital Rebel (EOS 300D) Review
