Forget the tired Andre Agassi commercials. Canon's EOS Digital Rebel is a new breed of digital camera -- an SLR with pro-quality features for less than $1,000. Ben Long takes it for a spin.
In the realm of digital cameras, there's a very simple dividing line between "consumer" and "professional" models: the SLR. Single-Lens Reflex cameras with removable lenses fall heartily on the "professional" side of the digital camera market, thanks to their flexibility, thorough feature sets, and superior image quality.
Canon has been steadily moving that dividing line between consumer and professional cameras ever since it released the $3,000 EOS D30 three years ago. Though lacking high-end professional features such as weatherproofing and high burst-rates, the D30 still put pro image quality into consumer's hands for $2,000 less than its main competitor. Now, with a single product, the EOS Digital Rebel, Canon has thoroughly re-shaped the entire digital camera market by producing an exceptional digital-SLR package for less than $1,000. For most users, the question of whether or not the Digital Rebel is right for them will not be based on the camera's merits, but simply on whether they need an SLR or not. If they do, the Digital Rebel is an excellent choice.
One Lens or Two?
SLRs have a number of advantages over the range-finder designs that most digital cameras use. With an SLR, you look through the same lens that the camera uses to expose its sensor, as opposed to a rangefinder camera, where one lens is used for exposure and a second lens is used for framing the shot. With an SLR, you know that the framing in your viewfinder is accurate, and that you're seeing the effects of any filters you might have installed.
What's more, with an SLR with removable lenses, you have a choice of a huge variety of lenses that range in focal length and quality. Finally, most digital SLRs offer performance, features, and image quality that far surpass what is currently offered by sub-$1,000, all-on-one cameras.
So, if you're looking to spend less than $1,000, your real choice is whether you want the extra complexity of an SLR. The $899.99 Digital Rebel is larger and heavier than the typical all-in-one camera. On top of that, you have to choose a lens then shell out at least another $100 for it. Right off the bat, if you elect to go with the Rebel, you'll be confronted with an extra level of complexity.
Whether an SLR is right for you depends on the type of shooting you do. But, if you decide you want the superior image quality and greater flexibility, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better camera value than the Canon Digital Rebel.
Granted, It's Silver...
As one would expect from the name, the Digital Rebel is based on Canon's popular film Rebel body, though the digital version is a little larger and substantially heavier. The good news is that the Digital Rebel has a much sturdier feel than the film model. Though its body is plastic, the Digital Rebel feels very solid and squeak-free, and has a nice heft. It lacks the black finish of a "professional" camera, but its silver matte-finish is very attractive.
The camera is very comfortable to hold thanks to its well-designed body and intuitive control layout. In one way, the Rebel marks Canon's fourth-generation consumer D-SLR, and that experience with digital interfaces serves it well. All of the controls you need are located on the camera's body, meaning you rarely have to dig into a menu to change a setting.
Like its more expensive sibling, the EOS 10D, the Rebel provides a control wheel on top of the camera, near the shutter button. However, it lacks the 10D's second control wheel on the back of the camera. We found this lack of a second wheel to be somewhat annoying, as it complicated the interface to the camera's exposure compensation controls, one of the most commonly used adjustments.
Otherwise we were impressed with Canon's simple, efficient approach to control design. Buttons and controls are well placed and economical in their use. The camera is not overloaded with buttons or switches, making for a very un-intimidating interface.
As with Canon's other D-SLRs, the Rebel uses CompactFlash Type I or II cards (it's MicroDrive-compatible) and the same excellent, long-lived LiION battery as the 10D.
You May Fire When Ready
Canon has appropriated a lot of technology from the EOS 10D including the same image sensor and image-processing chip. What's more, they've loaded the Rebel with a good-sized RAM buffer. If you've never used a higher-end digital camera before, you might be very surprised by the responsiveness of the Rebel. In all of its functions, it's much speedier than the typical all-in-one digital. Booting up, menu access, viewing images, deleting images, scrolling through a large card of images -- all of these functions are extremely zippy, resulting in a camera that can better keep up with your needs.
What's more, the Digital Rebel's buffer and efficient caching scheme mean that the camera can shoot bursts of four or five images without having to pause to store images. Because of its responsiveness and clever buffering schemes, you'll rarely find yourself waiting on this camera for anything. When you're ready to shoot, it probably will be, too.
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