« Desire | Main | Sony Rolly »
Love at First Sight
By Michelle | June 22, 2008
After years of stubbornly avoiding the DSLR market (though at one point in my life I actually did use a conventional SLR as my primary camera), I’ve finally decided to take the plunge into photography-geekdom. And now that I’ve decided to bite the proverbial bullet, it seems that Canon somehow read my mind. According to word on the grapevine, it looks as though the new Canon Digital Rebel XS / 1000D, entry-level cousin of the Canon XSi, will be hitting the US market this summer.
Lately I’ve become quite a fan of Sony electronics, but when it comes to digital cameras I’m a loyal Canon-user through and through. Serious digital photographers probably roll their eyes when I pull out my trusty second-hand Powershot S60 and take aim, but honestly, the thing takes better macro photography than almost any other point-and-shoot camera I’ve seen out there (scout around Flickr and browse by camera if you want to see for yourself).
 |
So why make the jump for the Rebel XS? One of the main reasons I’ve shied away from DSLR’s until now is the size and the weight — after semi-retiring the S60 last year, I picked up a Powershot TX1 to use as my main digital workhorse. Though it’s received mixed reviews, it has great optical zoom and video capabilities — two worthwhile features that go well hand-in-hand — and I particularly like the flip-out LCD display and the vertical design. |
For a camera-camcorder hybrid, it’s a scant 3.5″ x 2.4″ x 1.1″ — just 9.2 cubic-inches (like a chunky cousin to the Canon PowerShot SD750). And although the position of the controls (especially the shutter button) was a little confusing at first, I’ve become so used to the design that it almost feels strange to go back to the S60’s more “standard” setup. Unfortunately, I’ve been frustrated with its performance in low-light and action shooting situations — essentially because it lacks certain manual controls that would allow me to minimize the blur in these two scenarios.
And after that long detour, onto the Rebel XS — one of the most appealing specs for this camera is its 17.7 oz weight, which makes it the lightest ever Canon DSLR. It retains most of the appealing aspects of the Rebel XSi (and after all this I might just get the XSi anyway), and perhaps most importantly in my mind, it is backed by Canon’s reputation and technology.
Topics: Technology |