Buy the camera, read the manual first, then shoot five pictures at each setting, indoors & out, study the results, then read the manual the second time. Repeat the above and read the manual the third time. Only then will you understand what a great camera this is and what fantastic pictures you can take with it. This camera has a great 'electronic brain', the photographer must make sure his brain is connected to it.

I have been a Navy photographer for over 18 years and have used the top of the line Nikon and Canon cameras. This is by far the simplest, user-friendly camera I have ever used. The image quality is outstanding, as is the construction. This is a great camera for beginners and those who are more advanced. Remember, in the "old days" of film, it was the lens and film that made the image quality, not the camera. Well, digital takes care of the film part of the equation. So do yourself a favor, get this camera and save your money for a good quality lens. The kit lens is a good start though. A good Canon or Sigma lens will give you better quality.

All the shooting modes give you above average quality, but the Monochrome (black and white) setting is pretty darn close to black and white film. Add the fact that in the settings mode, you can digitally add red, yellow, orange or green filters for more effects and you have a pretty amazing camera. Learn to use the camera and you will not regret buying it. One item I can suggest getting is a add on battery grip. If you have large hands or shoot a lot, the extra grip space and battery power will keep you shooting more comfortably and for longer shoots. Amazon sells both the Optika and Canon grips.

The professional photographer who takes our family pictures recommended this to me when I told him I wanted to get a digital slr camera. He said I would likely not need more than 8 mp unless I wanted to enlarge my prints beyond 16x20.

For the past 6 years I have used a point and shoot Canon digital Elph, and have been quite satisfied. However, it is too slow to capture images quickly, one after another, and it has only 3.2 mp.

I researched the Canon Digital Rebel Xt, Xti, and others in its class prior to buying. The Xt and Xti came out on top. I went to a local store to handle one in person before I bought it online. One thing I had forgotten is that with a slr camera I have to use my hand to twist the lens to the desired closeness or depth, and then when I press the shutter button slightly it will focus the subject into clarity. --Previously, I thought pushing the button would do it all! I miss the ease of the point and shoot, and the size, but I love being able to use interchangeable lenses. A wide angle for Thanksgiving dinner, classroom photos, etc. And my telephoto lens for getting closeups without needing to be so close up and disturbing the scene, i.e. attracting attention to myself and distracting the little kids in my daughters class while taking pictures of them playing. And I can't wait to take sports pictures from the sideline.

I bought the digital rebel xti, as opposed to the digital rebel xt, not for the additional 2 mp, but for the bigger lcd screen on the back of the camera. The additional $150 was worth me not having to squint every time I review a picture over the next 10 yrs. (My Canon Elph is 6 yrs old and still going strong.) I expect to have this camera for at least 10 yrs and to build a lens accessory collection around it to use in various settings.

The only thing I found a bit awkward was that the camera didn't fit in my hands as well as I would have liked, and it seemed to tilt forward a bit (front heavy). Both of these minor issues were remedied by purchasing the battery pack grip. The grip not only provided a better handling surface (and battery life) but also seems to balance the camera's weight in the center.

I am still pleased with this camera and continue to be excited about every opportunity to take photos.

I've got 30 years experience as a professional travel and fashion photographer and photography instructor. 10 yrs ago I retired and sold all of my Nikon 35mm SLR equipment for an Olympus C-3030 digital point & shoot that allowed me to override the exposure settings. I loved the picture quality of the camera but missed the SLR capabilities and hated the 'lag time' between pushing the shutter button and taking the picture. Too many action shots were missed. (I retired to taking action shots of my newborn granddaughter)

This camera is EVERYTHING you could ever need. The 10MP lets me take macro shots as close as 15" (using the new Tamron 18-250mm lens) and blow them up to 20"x30" posters that are good enough to display in exhibition or to sell!

The shutter is instantanous and the exposure meter is astounding. I'm a little too old fashioned to enjoy all of the focusing targets but I just set the target for the series I'm shooting (usually weighted towards a rule of thirds arena) and it performs flawlessly.

If you want a nobrainer this is your camera. If you want to control and change anything and everything this is your camera. With my experience I've yet to find anything it wouldn't do, commercially or privately.

To see what the Canon XTi/Tamron 18-250 lens combination can do, go to the Tamron 18-250 for Canon page and look at the 'customer picture uploads'. I put 5 lowlite and macro shots there.

Although I would NEVER RECOMMEND WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY, IT NEVER THE LESS HAPPENED AND I THINK I SHOULD REPORT IT. After a floral shoot at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center near Austin, Tx. (102 degree heat) I lazily laid the camera on the floor of the backseat of the car and took off. On the freeway back into town I had to slam on the brakes. The cola cooler on the seat fell forward and a half quart of water (thawed ice)spilled directly onto the floor and camera. I grabbed the XTi and immediately took out the card and battery, then rubbed everything dry. I then waited until morning allowing EVERYTHING to dry out. Water and cameras aren't fatal, but water and electronics are, so LET IT DRY BEFORE TURNING IT ON! I haven't missed a shot. Now again, it's not recommended but it is pretty darn impressive!

PRO: Light weight, excellent quality,easy to use.

CON: none

Dust on the image sensor is a problem inherent to all DSLR cameras. Whenever the mirror box is exposed to the environment, dust can (and will) get in and get statically attracted to the image sensor. Canon, with the ultrasonic dust cleaning feature and the image-degrading dust delete and detection software, seems in principle to have solidly addressed the problem. Unfortunately, this does not impress in practice.

If you are not familiar with how sensor dust appears in photographs, look at the sample in the Product Description, where they attempt to demonstrate the strength of the dust management features- or go to pbase.com and look at samples of the XTi from regular, everyday users. In particular, look for samples that have lots of blue sky. The dust will appear as spots/dots or splotches. The more your lens is stopped down (small aperture, >f10), the more prominent the dust spot in the image.

I purchased an XTi body and Canon's EF 28-135mm USM lens from Amazon and, in my rather clean office, I carefully unpacked the camera and lens from their display boxes and immediately mated the two. I only had one lens, so the two were never unpaired. I took the camera on a mountain trip and was horrified to find dust spots on many of my shots. At first I thought I got something on the lens filter (purchased separately) but no. The spots appear in the exact same spot from shot to shot and become sharper if the aperture is stopped down. They are non-existent when the lens is wide or moderately open (shallow depth of field).

Before I enflame a bunch of pro photographers, once I realized the dust was present on my images, I ran through the forced cleaning and allowed the camera to map the dust for removal in the DPP software. Subsequent shots of sky with small aperture revealed no improvement. Amazon instantly replaced the camera, but it was actually worse. After doing some research, I was led to the Giottos Rocket Air Blaster, but this just moved some of the spots to a different location on the sensor. I have an expectation that a factory fresh DSLR would be clean and free of debris on the image sensor. Even higher-end Canons apparently have this out-of-the-box problem- just google it. I refuse to resort to physical methods (swabs/fluid) to clean the sensor of brand new camera, the very act makes me a bit nervous.

I would accept a dust problem if I changed lenses in the field, wind blowing and all, but this is not the case. However, the special dust management features of the XTi fail under the most benign conditions. I give the XTi 3 stars as a penalty for failing on the dust promise, but would give it 5 stars otherwise. It does take fantastic pictures, especially on photos taken with low f numbers and without big areas of light-colored objects.

Review of Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Black)

Pros:

Small size great for vacation and car / motorcycle trip photos smaller hands etc!

1,800 photos taken on 1 battery charge when not using flash!!! Who even comes close to that??

839 photos taken on 1 battery charge using built in flash for 60 of the shots.

Fast accurate focus even in low light even with a long zoom lens

High Image Quality even with kit lens when set at F8 / 28mm

Accurate outdoor sunlight metering slightly biased towards dark which I like (easily over ridden).

Absolute reliability so far even after carrying on motorcycle thousands of miles!

Love the rear viewing screen for setting exposure.

Cons:

Slightly small to hold and control buttons on back are a little small. Could be a plus for small hands but I have really large hands.

Built in flash is very slow to recycle after a couple of shots (buy the Speedlite if you do much indoor flash)

Inconsistent metering using flash indoors (most of this was caused by the kit lens, more below on this)

Soft photos on standard setting (a lot of this was from the kit lens, you can over ride see comments below from 9-3-2007)

Kits lens is really bad: its very soft at all settings, has high levels of chromatic aberration especially when using indoor flash, consistent under exposure by a 1/3 of a stop in sunlight, inconsistent exosure with flash, bad vignetting at 18mm, perspective distortion at 18mm. Want to get ride of most of those problems? I just borrowed a great lens that blows this one and most L lens into the weeds. If you can get a good copy it's much much sharper and very low chromatic aberration. It's the Sigma AF 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC macro. Sigma seems to have some QC issues.

Thoughts:

I can not begin to tell you how many shots I missed at weddings with my old Konica Minolta Maxuum 5D camera because the auto focus would hunt, especially with a zoom lens indoors.

I borrowed a friends 70 - 200 Canon lens and was amazed how fast this camera responds and is capable of focusing from minimum focus to infinity in what appeared to be less then 1 second!

Speed:

Using a Transcend 266X 8 GB card this new Rebel XTi ROCKS!! My Rebel XTi would in sports mode consistently shoot 30 rapid frames in 10 seconds flat at Large High Quality JPEG before slowing down to store the buffer.

Conclusion:

This is an amazing camera for the price. If you value fast focusing and shooting a lot of photos between battery charges this is the camera for you! I went to the zoo this weekend and kept thinking the battery was going to run dry, it didn't run down until I had taken 1,800 photos!!! I woudl have had to have 3 batteries with me to do that with my old camera.

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Update:

7-8-2007

I have taken over 5,000 photos (5,934 to be exact) with this camera now and can tell you the following:

Pros:

Amazing battery life as much as 1,800 photos JPEG no review at ISO 100

Amazing photos outside in daylight even using the kit lens at F8 or above.

Amazing auto-focus anywhere anytime, day / night inside our out.

Cons:

Terrible Flash photography: (Update 929-2007 most of this was caused by the kit lens) The flash exposure is consistently poor. It changes from shot to shot even shooting the same subject with the same lens in the same light. It can very from shot-to-shot of the same subject, it doesn't seem to know if the subject is too light or too dark. And that's even using the Canon Speedlite 430EX flash!! To top if off when I review the shots on the cameras screen the exposure ususally looks fine, then when I get back to my computer it looks under exposed. The best settings I have found for flash is either to use the full program mode, or use Manual Mode at 1/200th F8 with one third stop + flash compensation.

If you are trying to use the built in flash the camera locks up and displays a busy light so the flash can recharge and it has even worse results then using the Speedlite.

No auto ISO: I love this feature but the Canon Rebel XTi only has it in the full automatic mode.

Conclusion: If you are an outdoor action photographer you can't go wrong, this camera is amazing. However if you require indoor shots using flash you may want to look elsewhere.

For this reason if I could I would change my rating to 4 stars.

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Update:

7-9-2007

Called Canon tech support about the Flash photography settings and they were very helpfull.

After several trial and error settings we came up with the following settings that seem to be consistent and work well when using the Speedlite 430EX flash and kit lens

People photography use Manual Mode at 1/320th F5.6 with one third stop + flash compensation ISO 400 H Speed Flash Sync Mode 24mm zoom manually set.

Macro photography use Manual Mode at 1/320th F11+ with one third stop + flash compensation ISO 400 H Speed Flash Sync Mode 24mm zoom manually set.

Update:

7-24-2007

Flash Photography fix:

Well at least it works better it's not perfect but it helps.

1. Set the Canon Speedlite 430EX Flash to High Speed Sync.

2. Go to manual mode and set the shutter speed to 1/250 or higher at F8.

3. Try different speeds with the shutter to get the effect you want and watch the meter if you are using fill flash in daylight as you will have to compensate manually. I have found 1/500th at F8 or higher to work really good for close-up photos and Macro work at ISO 100. Just watch your distance because this setting takes a lot of flash power.

9-1-2007

Still love this camera I'm at 10,867 shots now.

Have found this camera is great for taking on a trip as it's so small you can put it into a car center console and reach for it to take quick shots on the road.

Plus my wife loves the small size which she says fits her hands perfectly.

9-3-2007

Have fallen in love with the Picture Styles.

I'm using a modified settings for Standard mode and have set it for sharpness of +7 Saturaton +2. This givess me JPEG photos that are sharp and full of color right out of the camera.

9-20-2007

How to take rich super sharp photos with the Canon Rebel XTi.

These are the types of photos I thought the camera should be taking in the first place.

This worked for me your results may vary. Test these settings out before you shoot anything important. Set the camera for both large JPEG and Raw if you are in doubt as the settings below only effect the JPEG and not Raw files.

From trial and error I found the following steps really work to make rich super sharp photos.

1. Go into Picture Styles and select the style you will be using.

2. Change the Sharpness to maximum.

3. Change the color saturation to +2.

4. Set the camera to produce Large JPEGs.

5. Put on a lens known to be sharp. I found through trial and error testing of many Canon L lens and after market lens the sharpest lens I have ever used

is a Sigma Zoom Super Wide Angle AF 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro Autofocus Lens. My Canon 50mm F1.8 stopped down to 5.6 is sharp as well but not as sharp as that Sigma.

6. Put your camera on Program mode and an ISO between 100 - 400 go outside and have fun.

For inside flash photos

1. Set settings as above.

2. Put on a good quality lens like Sigma Zoom Super Wide Angle AF 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro Autofocus Lens or Canon 17-40L etc.

3. Attach and turn on Canon 430EX Speedlite.

4. If that's not sharp enough set the camera for high speed flash sync and put camera in manual mode with shutter to 1/320 second and F5.6.

9-29-2007 11,900 photos taken

I just bought a new lens for my Rebel since the kit lens is so bad (See new comments above in Cons) It's much much sharper and has very low chromatic aberration. And as a bonus it opens up a little wider 17 vs 18mm and zooms out further 70mm vs 55. It's the Sigma AF 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC macro. It's my new walk around lens stays on my camera at least 60% of the time now.

11-16-2007 13,112 photos taken.

Have been busy doing other things but I'm sure will be taking lot's of photos during the holidays. One thing I have noticed is if the battery strength is down to 2 bars or less (I.E. not full strength) some of my lens will not auto focus accurately. The worst lens about this is my Canon 135mm F/2 and the next worst is my Canon 70-200 F/2.8 L zoom. The 135 will miss focus and the 70-200 will hunt more often. A simple swap out with a fresh battery always solves this.

3-28-2008

I recently purchased a new Canon 40D. I haven't touched my Canon Rebel XTi since. The 40D is THAT much better. I keep the Rebel now as a backup. The Rebel now has just over 20,000 photos taken.

4-7-2008 Focus test update. As a test of auto focus power I tried the Canon 85mm F/1.2 L II Lens (this lens will push your auto focus to the limit even with the USM) with the Canon Rebel XTi and Canon 40D back to back. Talk about over taxing the system! I thought this lens was slow to focus on the 40D. The 40D will focus from minimum distance to infinity in a second or so with this lens (all other USM lens faster then I can even time or think). The Rebel takes what seems like an eternity to focus through the limits with the 85mm F/1.2 L II or well over 2 seconds. The funny part is how unbalanced this combo feels the Rebel XTi is this little camera body hanging off the back of the lens. Still in the end the Rebel does focus and you can use it even though you have less shots in focus then with the 40D. So I'm thinking most people that can afford this lens will be buying at least a 40D or higher but you can go for it if you get the chance.

Awesome features, but don't buy the package with the "kit lens". The XTi is not an "L-Series Quality" Digital SLR, but with Canon's unlimited choice of superior lenses for the XTi, you will shoot like a pro before you know it. Buy the camera body and decide which lens works best for you. I chose to get the inexpensive, EF 50mm f/1.8 II, for starters (April 2007). If you want a quality lens for under $100, this is a must-have in your arsenal. Sure it has a plastic housing and doesn't look sophisticated, but the optics are the same as the much more expensive 50mm f/1.4 lens! My wife and I have taken over one thousand pix already with this camera & lens since April. We couldn't be happier with the versatility and quality that this camera is capable of producing! Thanks Canon.

I owned a Canon Rebel film SLR that I used well into 2002. Like many others, I got tired of paying for film, so I made the switch to digital, buying a point-and-shoot. It wasn't until I purchased this Rebel SLR in March of 2007 that I realized how much I missed my SLR!

I purchased the body only because I had a lot of Canon gear that was still compatible with the digital SLR. Buying the Canon was therefore, an easy choice for me. However, I did compare the Canon to the Nikon D40 and D80 and found that the Canon compared very favorably, dollar-for-dollar.

The Canon Rebel XTi has a very high-quality feel about it. It is very well made, with rubber grips at all the right contact points, buttons and doors that feel "made for the long run," EXCELLENT bundled software, and fast camera-to-PC transfer times. Unlike a lot of other electronics purchases I've made recently, it comes will full versions of all of its software- no "lite" versions requiring you to pay more for the full version. And again, the software is EXCELLENT. It is much better than the software that came bundled with my Kodak point-and-shoot.

Even if you don't have any Canon lenses in your arsenal, I'd still advise against buying the kit with the lens. The lens included with the kit is not a great lens- it won't disappoint, mind you, but it's not a high-quality optics lens. Most local camera stores are offering Canon-sponsored specials that allow you to buy the body and a separate lens for about the same price as the Camera kit. This would be a much better deal. Note that the only difference between the "Kit" and the "Body Only" is the kit lens. The "Body Only" still includes all of the cables, software, manuals, battery, and charger.

If you're interested in flexing the camera's true muscle by shooting multiple frames at high resolution (I've gotten mine to fire 49 straight frames in about 17 seconds) you'll want to get a top-quality Compact Flash card; the camera does not come with one. Note that there are differences in memory cards with respect to read and write speeds. I purchased the SanDisk Extreme III 4GB card. The Extreme III line is capable of 20MB/sec min write and read speeds. Check other cards carefully- I've tried the slower cards and the camera cannot respond as quickly as you might want with slower cards.

This is an excellent camera- it takes high-quality 10MP JPEG images with excellent color depth, white balance, and clarity, with as little or as much control as you care to specify. You can use it as a novice's point-and-shoot, or a professional's wedding camera, and get excellent results every time.

I'm probably an advanced amateur in skill level. We transitioned from film to digital around 2004 with two Nikon Coolpix cameras and one Canon Elph, all 3-5-megapixel machines, all nice enough but I wanted to get back to an SLR (I have several old Nikon F, Ftn, and F2 film SLRs that I still love), in digital. The technology has improved since our first digitals only a few years ago, now having little or no time lag on start-up, between shots, etc. We have a friend who is a pro who has shot for National Geographic and done some splendid photo books and he recommended the Canon Rebel XT, but by the time I got around to purchasing, the XTi was available and looked better. It is full-featured, takes quality shots, and is ridiculously easy and intuitive to use, a really nice job by Canon. It's bigger than our older, compact digital cameras but a bit smaller and a lot lighter than my venerable Nikon F film SLR's, and the power of the XTi - - range of "film" speeds, frames-per-minute in action mode, scenes settings, battery life, etc., are all very competitive. Auto-focusing is very fast and accurate. I think that digital SLR technology has evolved to a wonderful degree and it's probably tough to find a "bad" camera, but the Canon XTi is certainly an excellent choice. The comprehensive anti-sensor-dust approach is also a nice feature, although the wide zoom ranges on many of the lenses reduces the need and frequency for lens changing, which is fine with me, changing lenses is, at best, a bit awkward under most field conditons.

The built-in flash is, predictably, very limited in application and output, and the neckstrap rings could be better designed and perhaps better located on the body, but other than those minor caveats, I have no complaints and I absolutely love using it, which is as it should be.

I'm sure that there are several other excellent digital SLR's out there, but I'm very happy with the XTi and recommend it.