News

• The Good: Dust-reduction features are clear winners. Larger LCD screen makes for better viewing and a good fit for the menu interface. Comes in both black and silver models. 10.1-megapixel resolution is great, especially when shooting in RAW.
• The Bad: No image stabilization mode. Sensor and lens don't handle motion and movement extremely well. Feels like an upgrade of the previous Digital Rebel.
• The Verdict: A very good digital SLR — and what the previous Rebel should've been.
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A year removed from the Rebel XT, Canon puts an "i" at the end of this model and releases it to market. But there's more than a letter to this one, especially since the Canon XTi is arguably the type of model its predecessor should've been in the first place.

This isn't to say that the Rebel XT was a bad camera, only that Canon has billed the XTi as "no mere intermediate upgrade." That's probably overstating things a bit. In reality, the XTi totally resembles the previous model in its look and its functions, except for the obvious additions and upgrades that make it better.

Let's get a better view here

Aesthetically speaking, the LCD screen in the back is now a 2.5-inch with six brightness settings so you can view photos under different lighting conditions. The screen also handles all the menu options as well, which wasn't the case before (a separate smaller screen did that previously). And in an impressive addition, the screen will automatically turn off the moment you put your eye to the viewfinder, which does help save some battery life.

The battery life of the XTi remains unchanged from its predecessor in that you're looking at about 400 shots with the flash being used intermittently (up to 600 if the flash is never used).

When it comes to the kind of shots the XTi takes, there are a couple of small changes that really help. The previous Rebel had a bit of an issue with dust being attracted to the lens. The XTi avoids this in two ways: it uses an anti-static filter so that dust doesn't gravitate toward the lens, and on top of that, there is an option through the menu to apply "dust delete."

What the latter one basically means is that the sensor within the XTi will locate the dust particles in every image and then extract them prior to transfer over to a computer. Think of it almost like a vacuum that takes all those little specks off a carpet. All you have to do is use a white piece of paper, or even a white wall, point the camera at it and engage the function at that time for best results.

Rapid-fire shooting

The presence of dust-free functions definitely helps when the megapixel count is higher. The XTi sports 10.1-megapixel resolution at its highest setting, and still shoots photos at the same clip as the previous Rebel (three frames per second), albeit with a faster burst rate. For instance, if you're shooting dozens of images in a row, the eventual speed between photos diminishes, so that you get all the images in half the time. As expected, full RAW support is part of all this, though you will get excellent quality images no matter what mode you're shooting with.

I mentioned before how the menu has been upgraded, and part of that package includes an RGB histogram and preset photo styles for specific shots. The histogram was overdue for the Rebel series, and it works well here by showing you how under or overexposed a photo is. But the specific photo style settings don't go far enough.

The Matrix effect or just blur?

Competitor models have as many as 25 specific photo settings that cover various types like movement, fireworks and even documents, whereas the XTi only offers settings that are geared toward shooting people and landscapes in both colour and black and white.

Part of the problem with shooting movement, unsurprisingly, lies in the default lens. Where the previous Rebel had issues with capturing action because of slow reaction from the lens and the sensor, it seems that little has changed with the XTi. I found the lens to be too sensitive to moving people or objects, despite raising the ISO level to 1600. There was too much blurring and it became a chore to find manual settings that would allow for sharp and frozen images.

It's possible to make it happen but it entails some real creativity in finding the right mix of settings in order to get the best results. Thankfully, you can save that mix as a preset to go with the other existing shooting modes, which means you can just access it through the menu again when needed. Plus, if you decide to make some subtle changes in the settings, you can easily overwrite the previous saved preset.

A Rebel with a cause

I don't own a Rebel XT but if I did, I would probably be a little annoyed at the fact that Canon released what is essentially a better, upgraded version only a year later. There's about a $250 difference in the retail price between the two models, but the extra cash is worth it if you value the options the XTi offers.

That said, the XTi does these things well with plenty of help from an interface that won't take long for users to understand. Those who are pretty serious about their photos or love photography as hobbyists could get started pretty quickly with this one.