Is the Canon 400D/Rebel XTi – worth the price?

November 21, 2006 in Photography by Mark Levison

Unlike the D80, the 400D has only been around for a couple of months, so many of my favorite reviewers only have Initial tests up. However there are enough reviews out to give an excellent idea of the strengths and weaknesses of EOS400D.

Pros:

Sensor cleaning system – should mean very little dust to cleanup in photoshop
Fast, Fast, Fast – like most SLRs (digital or film), fast startup time, fast auto focus, no perceptible shutter lag. In continuous shooting mode and a fast memory card it can handle 27 JPEG’s or 10 RAW images in a burst.
2.5” LCD
10 Megapixel Sensor (if you’re not a pro this will more than enough)
9 point AF sensor
RGB histograms
Mirror lockup

Cons:

No top mount LCD to display ISO/Shutter Speed/Aperture etc. Its
all displayed on the main LCD – which can be tough to read in bright
light
Kit lens tops out at 55mm (equivalent to 88mm on a film SLR) – some reviewers find it disappointing
No spot metering
No grid lines in the viewfinder
Setting the aperture in manual mode seems awkward

The Best reviews

As always Phil Askey at dpreview has an excellent review
that includes very detailed comparisons to the Nikon D80 and Sony Alpha 100
Imaging Resource only has an initial test up – but their
initial test is more detailed than many other complete reviews
Digital Outback Photo has an excellent Experience Report (basically a user’s diary)
-Camera Labs have two reviews, first a straight up detailed review and the second a
comparison with the Nikon D80 and Sony Alpha 100. Both are
solid the reviews the comparison adds very little to Phil Askey’s
already through job.

Good reviews

Luminous Landscape has a quick look –
not a review as Michael is a pains to say. BTW check out the rest of
Luminous Landscape – one of the
best photography sites on the web.
DCViews has a Canon/Nikon side by side again the previously mentioned comparisons are better.
Jeff Keller at DCResource has solid review
Lost in Blue has a short blog entry

Hopefully after all this reading you can decide for yourself if the Rebel XTi is worth your cash.

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5 Comments

November 21, 2006 at 9:03 pm | Gdog

I just purchased the 400D/XTi as my first dSLR…and I am satisfied with my purchase. It’s an amazing camera that’s really easy to use. Go for it and don’t look back!
November 27, 2006 at 10:38 pm | David Hicks

I recently upgraded from my trusty 300D to the 400D. I considered the D80 due to its positive reviews but considering I have a fair bit of Canon kit now the jump to Nikon didn’t make much sense. The 30D was the other primary contender, but other than a more professional construction (magnesium vs composite) and a few esoteric features which I probably wouldn’t use anyway, the price differential seemed difficult to justify.

I’ve snapped off a couple of hundred shots with the 400D and am very happy so far. It solves my biggest complaints with the somewhat long in the tooth 300D it replaces, namely the slow, unpredictable AF, noisy/streaky image sensor (at higher ISO speeds), and tiny input buffer.

The AF system is identical to the 30D and provides much faster response and follows a more logical AF point layout that obeys the rules of thirds. The CMOS image sensor is smooth and relatively noise free until you climb above 800, and even at that level it is still extremely smooth. In raw mode the camera can snap off roughly 10 shots over about 3 seconds before it buffers out (writing to a SanDisk UltraII 1GB card), then firing in 2-3 shot clusters in 1.5 second intervals thereafter; in fine JPG mode it shoots continuously until the CF card is filled.

The body is light and very compact, the grip itself might be a little too compact for some people with bigger hands although in my case it seems quite comfortable. As a newer camera, it is not fully supported by all the imaging software. Photoshop CS2 tends to crash more frequently when openin the 400D’s raw .CR2 files, a problem that will hopefully be addressed with a path in the near future.

Canon falls down on their kit lens which is definitely not on the same level as Nikon kit glass. The stock 18-55EF-S lens is about as cheap as they come and while it may be better than no lens it quickly shows it’a limits. In my case I already own a Sigma 18-50 EX DC which I am very happy with.

The Canon vs. Nikon holy war continues to rage with adherents in both camps. Personally both companies make excellent cameras and have strong legacies behind them. Canon’s L-series lenses are universally hailed as some of the best around, and may give a DSL-er some extra room to grow; however, in the end I suspect that if you are shopping the 400D/D80 an upgrade path to L-series glass is not a deciding factor. At the prosumer (my, how I hate that word) level the cameras have almost identical feature sets and the main factor (if you already don’t have an existing equipment alliance with either faction) in a purchasing decision should fall to which camera you like better from a usability perspective. I am familiar with ‘the Canon way’ and moving to the 400D required virtually no re-education. That said, I am still irked that Canon insists on using a single input wheel for all major settings, requiring an awkward thumb-index finger double touch to change aperture settings; Nikon wisely assigns different wheels for each function.
December 6, 2006 at 8:58 am | Kristina

Timely article! I am in the market for my first DSLR and am torn between the Nikon D80 and Canon Rebel XTi. I think the Nikon, for me, wins in many areas except two: price (the features don’t really support the $500 higher price point), and size (I have small hands, and the Canon just feels better to me). I found some great articles on the photo.net site. They advocate:

“If you don’t want to read this article and are impatient to get started immediately, get a Canon Digital Rebel XTi and Sigma 30/1.4 lens; if you must have a zoom, the Canon 17-55/2.8 IS USM is a good choice.”

As for the quality of the kit lens. Photo.net also has an excellent review of the lens here

http://photo.net/equipment/canon/efs18-55/

All in all, I’m more than likely going to go with the Rebel and, for the extra $100 bucks, you can’t go wrong with the kit lens provided you know it’s limitations.
February 22, 2007 at 6:38 am | Johan Peers

Here are some more reviews, aggregated by yet another review service called alatest.

http://alatest.com/Digital+SLR+Cameras/Canon+EOS+400D+—+Digital+Rebel+XTi/pro-reviews/

They seem to like the camera as well, basing the overall aggregated score on >200 reviews. Does that make any sense?

What service do you guys think is best?

Cheers
August 13, 2007 at 10:48 pm | Milan

Thanks for the information. I have been thinking about choosing one of these when I ultimately take the plunge and buy a dSLR.

I just wish there was an affordable full-frame option; I do so love the look of a 28mm lens.