The Digital Rebel XT, Digital SLR's, & a question about Compact Flash Cards...

[Rob]

I'm headed to New Zealand, and I need a new digital camera before I go.  I've been looking to buy a semi-professional DSLR for several months and this has sort of kicked me into action...

So I'm most likely buying a Digital Rebel XT tomorrow.  I'm very excited about it.  I've reasearched the camera pretty extensively and almost everything I've read has been practically glowing, but I was looking for opinions from people who own one.

Does anyone here have one?  If so, do you have any problems with it?  Anyone have a different brand that they feel very strongly about?

Thanks in advance.

[Rob]

Not many photography enthusiasts around here I see?

[Paul]

Rob,

The "Good" camera of ours is a Canon Digital Rebel.  It is about 2 years old, and it is currently in St. Louis so I can't tell you the model.

It was WORTH it.  We had a digital Elf prior to that and it took way too long to process the image, so by the time our daughter was done being CUTE the camera was finally ready to take the pic.

We got the digital rebel because of the fast processing and awesome photos it makes (with the right person behind the shutter).

It has a semi-auto focus and the telephoto lense is fairly powerful, but very clear.

We put a 1GB card in it for the January Disney Trip and were able to make it 2 days before we had to unload the images.  The battery lasts pretty good too.

Call me if you want more details.

[SilverZ]

I read a lot of positives on the XT and was going back and forth on it or sticking with the Sony 828. Its an excellent prosumer for sure. I'd buy it.

[JesseVader08]

I'd love to upgrade to a camera like the Digital Rebel.  I've got Canon's S1 IS which has treated me fairly well, but without a macro feature on it, it's pretty useless when it comes to action figure closeups. 

Unfortunately, I'm just not ready to commit the money to a camera like that yet.  DPReview.com seems to have a lot of good things to say about it, if that helps.

[Rob]

Okay, so I pulled the trigger on this one today... here's my new question.

The girl told me that this SanDisk "ultra II" Compact Flash card was better than the regular old Compact Flash card.  She implied that it was special for DSLR's and that it was the only way to go.  It's about $30.00 more for this one gig card than the other one gig card.  I bought it with the intention that I'd research it before I opened it.

So does anyone know if there's 'really' a difference - my impression is that it reads and writes faster than the regular type - but if there isn't realy a difference I could get two gigs for a little more than I paid for one.

[SilverZ]

Screw that, unless you're shooting in raw mode it's a waste.

[Rob]

I might be shooting in RAW mode in the future - what would be beneficial about the fancier compact flash in that situation?

I'm now considering keeping the better card, today's ad has them for $30.00 less with instant and mail-in rebates.  Infact, I'm thinking about grabbing one more of them because if I shoot exclusively at 8 megapixels I can only put about 250 on a 1 Gig Card.

[SilverZ]

I found that an enormous amount of patience was required with RAW mode because of the file sizes. I don't think a faster flash card is going to overcome the huge files either writing to the card in the camera or reading from the card on the PC. At least it wouldn't make the task go from laborious to breezy, I'd think.

I guess if cost  has been levelled by sales now it's all moot anyway.

[Rob]

Cool.  I ended up doing it this way.

1 Digital Rebel XT
1 One Gig Compact Flash Ultra II card
1 Compact Flash reader
1 Extra Digital Rebel XT Battery
1 Four year service plan.

I normally don't buy the service plans, but on something like this I figured I'd better...

[Famine]

1 Four year service plan.

I normally don't buy the service plans, but on something like this I figured I'd better...

This may seem like a stupid question, but does the plan only cover repairs? I'm actually concerned about theft, because your going to be in another country and tourists are an easy target for taking such things.

It would be nice to have a way to replace it if it's stolen, without having to spring for a new one.

Kevin

[Rob]

The plan is only for if it breaks or parts go bad or anything occurs do to normal wear and tear.  I'm going to call State Farm today, but I'm 95% sure that if it's stolen or I lose it I can get it replaced through my regular insurance, minus the deducatble.  The irony of course is that if I drop it and break it, State Farm won't replace it - but if I drop it off the side of a mountain and can't find it at the bottom, they'll replace it as lost.

As for being in another country and crime - it's always possible, but New Zealand isn't the den of crime that some of the bigger cities that I've been through in Europe are.  I'm pretty good about keeping my bag wrapped around an arm or a leg at all times and such.  In the end, I'm a pretty experienecd traveller and always do my best to not look like a tourist...  I'm 10 times more worried that I'll drop it than I am about theft.

[JoshEEE]

Sorry I didn't see this topic sooner, but I went through the same exercise last fall before my wedding.  I bought the Rebel XT after comparing all the various alternatives.

Ultra IIs have a faster write speed, which makes them worth the extra cash (Your shot to shot time goes down the faster your card is). I bought a 1 and a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II.

However...the most important part of your purchase (and the part you've failed to mention) is your lens.

Rebel XT is a great camera, but like any camera....it's only as good as the lens you've got on it.  So....what did you get?

[Morgbug]

Josh, did you ever resolve the dust issues you were concerned about and if so, how?

[Rob]

Rebel XT is a great camera, but like any camera....it's only as good as the lens you've got on it.  So....what did you get?

For now I've got the 18-55 Canon lens that came with the kit.  While it's not top-of-the-line it's not horrible either.  I've also got a slightly nicer one (27-80 or something like that...) that we got when we bought our Elan 7e a few years ago.  It may or may not be L-series, I've got to get it out and check.

Given the already large cost of what I've bought this week, I decided that a better lens would have to wait until later in the year.   I'd like to get something around 200mm (or 300mm if I'm feeling crazy) and I'd like to get a nice wide-angle lens.  I'd probably be looking into L-series lenses when that day comes (I'm a Canon whore).