Digital Still Camera Advice

Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

VHS Member Old Skool
My wife has been interested in photography for a long time; even moreso since I started making films. It's nice for her to have lights and stuff around to use. She does pretty well with our point and shoot digital camera. Our anniversary will be coming up at the end of the summer and I was thinking of getting her a digital SLR body. I know that I can get a film one much cheaper, but I think the digital one would be more fun for her to experiment with: no developing and immediate gratification.

I was looking at the Canon Rebels both because of the price, and because they have some automatic features if you choose to use them. Anybody have experience with these? I'm at a bit of a loss and the pimply faced 17 year old at the camera store didn't engender much confidence.
 
The other reason to go with the XT is the Digic II processor.
From the Canon website: "The EOS Digital Rebel XT's sensor is driven by the DIGIC II Image Processor, which has been enhanced across the board with improvements in speed and image quality. Information captured by the sensor is processed and assembled into images of exceptional clarity and resolution. Consuming very little energy, DIGIC II works with the sensor to ensure natural colors, accurate white balance and speedy write times, letting you focus on taking pictures."
The 6.3 meg. Rebel has the Digic I processor.
 
You won't go wrong with either.

But the 6.3 Rebel is a few hundred cheaper.

The extra $$$ can go for extras.
 
...like lenses

heheheh

Do you use the auto features at all? I just don't want it to be so overwhelming that she decides it's too much to learn.
 
I use the auto settings all the time for just everyday snapshots. It works great. I use manual settings when I'm trying to get a specific effect that requires a certain shutter speed or f-stop.
I have the 20d BTW.
 
The Rebels are nice and very simple to use! But I myself own the Nikon D70. A little more complex but a very nice camera! I'll post an image soon..
 
the XT has a ton of features over the normal rebel and is worth the upgrade.. the digic 2 alone is worth the 200 bucks.. the camera is so fast. its also USB 2.0 if that matters to you. Its a little smaller as well, which is good for some people. I got the battery grip to make it a good solid system, and with the extra cells it can take thousands of photos on one charge.
 
I think I wil go with for the extra bucks. I have some photographer friends who will lend me some different lenses to try out (which is what I would use the money I saved with the older version for)
 
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