Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD (Body Only)

I've had this camera for about a week and I have to say I'm more than a little impressed. I bought just the body as I have several Canon lenses already. I find the camera easy to use and not uncomfortable for my type of shooting. Some have said they find the grip just a little small. I find it to be quite comfortable so far. (I played football and boxed, so my hands are somewhat stiff and a little torn up.) I like the Main Control Wheel on this camera much better than the SX10/20 series. I have an older A2E and the wheel is similar. I was very frustrated by the SX10's wheel. I've used a 35-70mm Canon lens and the 100-300mm telephoto with exceptional results. (I tried contacting Canon about 2 weeks ago about using the older EF lenses with this camera. No answer from them to-date. And yes they work perfectly.) Some people call this an introductory camera. I don't think that classification does it justice. I started many years ago with a little 35mm Pentax, moved up to a Mamiya RB67 2¼ format, then a Hasselblad. I've won some awards and shot many a cover in my day. I left photography behind for many years, job, family, etc. One of the truths I've personally learned is that almost any camera can go beyond the "beginner" title if the person behind the viewfinder is willing to put in the time. I am NOT saying that I don't appreciate the more sophisticated elements that higher price cameras afford, just that to make really good photos doesn't always take real fancy equipment. I love really good equipment, I just think that people shouldn't think the camera is the ONLY variable. Clyde Butcher roams the Everglades with his large format cameras and stick to poke alligators on the nose so he can get his shots. Ansel Adams did not know anything about digital cameras and some would say he was a fairly good photographer and he even gave us the Zone system. And Stephen Frink shot some really incredible underwater stuff with a Nikonos underwater camera, which has never been known for its exotic capabilities other than being able to go deep underwater. Point being, these guys learned about photography, lighting and composition. Do those things first. Remember, a camera is light gathering device. If you can see it through the viewfinder, then you can find a way to record it.And this camera makes it so easy. I find that the automatic mode is fine for a lot of quick shooting. But if you shoot in bright sunlight, I find that with Canon lenses, it's best to set the exposure control down by 1/3rd of a stop.But this mostly a personal choice. The camera itself is absolutely wonderful. Balanced, easy to use and fast. Read the manual. I'm not kidding. Read it with the camera in front of you. Then study and shoot. Another good piece of advice I received when I was starting out was find a picture you like and try to shoot the same shot. Things look different through a viewfinder. Once you can duplicate with some degree of accuracy shots you like, you'll find your own work getting better.Sorry if you were expecting a more traditional review, but I thought something should be said about the photographer using it. As for video, I don't use it unless some guy is yelling "Don't tase me bro!" If you want video, get a video camera.Update: Had the camera now for over a month and I'm really very happy with it. It shoots well and fast. If you buy this or the T2, spend some time using the different metering modes so you can see which is best for each situation. Learn about lighting. It's crucial to getting good shots. If you want to see some remarkable examples of lighting technique, look at the Dutch painter, Vermeer. Look here: but ignore some of the junk people have added: [...] Once you get a feel for this camera, changing metering modes and settings is really very easy. And get the best lens you can afford. Don't gow with third party lenses if you can afford Canon lenses. After awhile, you'll really be able to tell the difference.

I had been planning to upgrade my Olympus SP-510 to a newer point-and-shoot, but when prodded by my wife to get a "really good" camera I upgraded to the T1i instead. It was, of course, a considerable increase in price ($350 to $700, body only), but seems well worth the cost. Along with the camera I also bought the Canon 18-200mm lens because I did not want to be constantly changing lenses.My overall impression in the last 6 weeks has been very positive. The photos are full of deep, rich colors, the images are clear and do not seem to have much distortion. I find I can take pictures at ISO 800 without any really noticeable noise and, when needed, even at 1600. The camera has a rich feature set and, in general, I have not been disappointed by much. On the positive side I found the following:1) The camera fits in my hands well and the buttons are all easy to reach and use when taking pictures,2) The auto-focus using the viewfinder works well (OK, this is a function of the lens, not the camera, but when taking pictures I tend to group both together),3) As I stated above I find the pictures up through ISO 800 to be clear and 1600 more than just usable,4) There seems to be much less shutter lag with this camera compared to my previous point-and-shoot,5) Write time to the memory is much shorter than with my Olympus,6) I love the ability to bracket my exposures so I can be reasonably sure I will actually get a decent picture,7) I have had a chance to use the continuous picture setting and it works very well,8) The HD movie mode (1280 x 720) takes excellent movies. This was important to me and was the reason I bought the T1i instead of the Olympus E-620,9) I like the ability to create and use my own set of menu items for most of the functionality I usually need,10) The battery life for the included battery is very good. I can usually take 600+ pictures without having to change the battery.There are, however, some things about this camera that I find disappointing:1) When taking panoramas using the optical viewfinder Canon provides a way to lock the exposure setting so subsequent pictures will be taken using the same setting. The manual tells you to push the * button and use it for subsequent pictures. This works well, but since the * button is co-opted as auto-focus when using Live View, there does not seem to be any way to lock the exposure when using Live View. Canon's suggestion is to use the fully manual mode and set the shutter speed and exposure that way. However since there is a way to lock the exposure when using the viewfinder it seems reasonable to expect there to be a way to do the same when using Live View. And there is not,2) The camera seems small to host the 18-200mm lens. The lens is so heavy that the camera ends up facing toward the ground all of the time when carrying it around. The lens has a lock on it to prevent it from "creeping" out to its full length and I use that all the time, but the weight of the lens for the camera seems high. Again, I know this is a lens issue, but it seems hard to separate from the camera,3) Auto-focus seems to not work as well when using Live View as when using the optical viewfinder. In low light situations when I have no trouble getting a focus lock with the optical viewfinder I often cannot get a lock when using Live View,4) As much as I like the videos that this camera produces, it uses the LCD screen when taking videos and I often find that the LCD to be almost useless in daylight because the LCD is so washed out by sunlight. Thus unless I am in some shade I cannot see the scene I am supposed to be taking making a movie of. And I have to trust that it will come out OK,5) The 15 MP picture size on disk is typically greater than 5 MB by default. This seemed a little large and I wanted to set the size slightly smaller. However the next smaller picture size is 8 MP. 8 MP seems small and 15 MP seemed large. I was hoping for something in between (perhaps 10 or 12 MP), but there is no intermediate size. I currently have the picture size set for 8 MP but I would like something a little larger than half the full size.While these items are somewhat of a disappointment for me I have to say that overall this is a great camera. It takes great pictures that are sharp and full of color, it handles well, focuses quickly and takes and writes pictures very quickly. I am glad to have bought it and recommend it to anyone who, like me, is moving up to their first DSLR. And, as large and heavy as it is, I also recommend the 18-200mm lens. Its size is more than made up for by the convenience of not having to change lenses all the time.I would have liked to give this camera about 4 1/2 stars, but since I cannot give partial stars I am giving it 4 stars because of the items I listed above. But I find I really like this camera and think others like me would also.

I bought this camera as a replacement for my old XTi.I am no professional but I shoot a lot, especially family, sports and children events. I usually do not rework the pictures much beyond sorting out the bad ones and some reframing and exposure correction, simply due to a lack of time. The XTi essentially satisfied my needs though access to some advanced features was not practical or just not available. I had a happy 40,000 pictures from it and it is still fully functional, to the point I am passing it on to my father whose one was stolen from him. The picture quality of the XTi was enough for my needs.I also wanted to do stop motion which is not easy with the XTi for lack of a video feed.So I bought a new T1i two months ago. After some playing around and testing as well as about 1000 pictures in real conditions, here are my thoughts:* Access to the so called "advanced" features is much more intuitive than with the XTi, allowing for very easy usage of for instajnce first or second curtain sync on the flash, or complex exposure modes. I thought these were difficult to use with the XTi to the point I did not.* Exposition metering is really excellent, thanks in good part to the capability to shoot with auto ISO and a very low noise in very high ISO (3200).* The 15+ Mp sensor gives very nice picture details as long as you shoot with a boosted sharpness for the picture mode - this to correct IMHO overly soft pictures in the default settings. The results are visibly improved using my L 70/200 IS USM f4.0 which I must admit was a little overkill for the XTi.* Capability to have a video feed and to take good 780p movies (@1080p the motion does tend to be jerky). Although this is a nice side capability that can come in handy in some cases, I would not buy this camera just for the capability especially considering the price of HD camcorders these days. For me it mostly means that I can use the camera for the video feed and shoot full resolution stop motion movies.* The LCD is gorgeous - not a necessity buit a pretty nice icing on the cake.A quick note on full resolution stop motion movies: It is worth trying with just the 1080p resolution if you want to play them on a decently powered compute for full frame movies @24fps will not play well. In practice I just capture the video feed and avoid using the shutter to spare the camera, but it is nice to know you can if you want to.I am overall extremely satisfied with this camera as a main camera for what I do most; I tend to shoot a lot of pictures in kids parties and my rejection ratio has dropped significantly compared with my previous camera, using the same lens and external flash.On my particular concern with stop motion, the T1i appears not necessarily best suited for the level of quality I am aiming for: it delivers way more that what is necessary for a hobbyist and would be best suited for professional work. It delivers, mind you, but it is clearly overkill.

For its price and size, this camera is an excellent choice. This is not the best Canon camera--it is not a 7D for example. The size of blow-ups and severity of cropping will determine how many MP are needed. Fifteen megapixels are more than enough for decent sized blow-ups. The T1i is a lot smaller and lighter than the 7D, which was important for me because I planned to take it while backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas. In deciding which camera to buy, I finally realized that now digital DSLRs are really light-capturing computers, and we should purchase the camera with some of the same expectations that we have when buying computers: we don't plan to use them for a decade, but instead expect to upgrade. So the price (less than half that of a 7D) was a big factor. The money not spent on the body can then go into lenses.I have had no problems with the camera so far (1700 exposures). Folks having experience with Canon DSLRs (I was upgrading from the 300D) will have no trouble navigating the buttons and selections. The large screen and screen resolution are good features. The smaller physical size is not a problem for folks with large hands (as mine are).This comes with Canon Digital Professional software. This software allows cropping, rotating, level adjustment, white balance adjustment, etc. of the RAW files. As far as I can see, the software allows application of all of the menu choices that one might make in the camera if one were saving images as JPEG files. I have found that I don't actually need to go to Photoshop unless I am doing "special effects" as long as I work with RAW files. Also, I find that printing from the Canon software produces prints on Canon printers that very closely match what I see on my iMac screen. The RAW format for this camera is CR2, which was not supported by my version of Adobe Photoshop. I did upgrade my Adobe software (unanticipated additional expense), but it is possible from the Canon software to write a JPEG file ("Convert and Save" from the "File" menu) that can be handled with the older versions of Photoshop.When upgrading the camera, I decided to upgrade my photo habits by recording all photos as RAW (CR2) files. This of course means upgrading storage capacity--I could only fit 200 images on a DVD-R. This meant that I had to buy a 650 GB external hard drive.

I upgraded to this camera after owning a used Rebel XT for a year for portrait photography. This has been a fantastic upgrade for me. The picture quality and new settings that the T1i allows is greatly liberating and lets me express my creativity even more.I also love that it has video capabilities, though they are quite limited. It's enough for me to play with, and that's all I wanted. My only complaints about the video, is that the HD records at 20fps and is very choppy. I see no reason to use it because of that. It's just not worth it. But the Standard Definition works great at 30fps and is very smooth. I've already used it to document class projects at night of video projections and (other than my neglect to white balance) it worked wonderfully. My other complaint is the audio recording. It records in mono, and since the mic is in camera, it picks up every noise and movement you make. Focusing or zooming with your lens while recording makes horrible noises, and though I'm using my much lower quality XT kit lens, I don't see it getting much better with motor movements.I understand there are microphone attachments that can do a better job, but for now, I'm satisfied just to work with the video and most pieces I create are either left silent or get a nice track of music anyway. That being noted, THIS IS NOT A VIDEO ONLY CAMERA. Much of my review is on the video quality, but it should be noted that if you're serious about working with video, get a real camcorder. I use this primarily for photos, but it's my toe in the door to see if I want or would use a real camcorder. I still use it primarily for the great photos it gives me. And as I've mentioned, it's a great upgrade from the XT and more gentle on my budget than going to a 7D. Overall, I love this camera and would highly recommend it for serious amateurs and semi-pros.Photos taken with the T1i:[...]