Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi Digital Camera with 18-55mm Lens

Very nice camera for entry level DSLR enthusiasts!

I got this camera over a year ago as a birthday present to myself. My girlfriend was treating me to a "safari" at the Wild Animal Park and I figured, what the heck why not splurge! So I bought the camera with the 18-55mm Kit Lens. I already had several lenses from my film camera, but Circuit City didn't have the body only version. It has taken me well over a year to write a review because I simply wanted to give it a lot of use before making an opinion. I have taken about 17000 pictures on it so far so I feel confident in my review. This review is geared more towards the first time user, but anyone can benefit from my experience with this camera. I'm not going to get into the technical parts of the camera because you can read about that just about anywhere. This is simply my experience and what I got out of it.

Well I must say that I am quite impressed with this DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex). I have used it on safari's (ok, it was at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, but they call it a photo safari), travel (Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite), nightclubs, flowers, people, night, macro. Renaissance Fairs and so on. It has worked great on every one of those subjects. Although I must say that I have only used the kit lens maybe once or twice. It has done a wonderful job. If you are new to the world of DSLR I encourage starting out with this kit first. Then you can upgrade to other lenses such as a telephoto and/or mid-range.

Is this Camera easy to learn? Heck ya! But then again, I took the time to read the manual and I was already familiar with the manual settings on the camera. If you don't want to fuss with the manual settings, just set the camera to auto mode and snap away! If you are a novice and want to get the most out of this camera I would experiment with all the manual settings, read the manual for goodness sakes and invest in a Compact Flash memory card. 2 gigs should do. Incidentally, the camera does not come with a memory card so make sure you buy one. Don't be afraid to take a lot of pictures. You can always delete them right on the spot or learn from your mistakes. You'll find this is a lot cheaper than using film. I learned a lot from trial and error. Hmm, the picture is underexposed? Expose it for a half-stop longer! This camera is easy enough for anyone to use. Not a steep learning curve at all. Especially when you can delete pictures right on the spot!

The battery life was much longer than I expected. I had bought an extra battery at time of purchase because that is the way I am. Always have a back-up plan! It is hard for me to guesstimate how many pics it took on one charge simply because I would already be done with a shoot before the battery was completely used up. There have been times when I've taken 1000 shots in one sitting and the battery held up. Granted that was without using flash. At the nightclub, I would use an external flash. One note here, if you do use the flash on the camera and it is extremely dark, the camera will give a "lightning" type of flash before taking the picture. This can be quite annoying to people close-by. I'm not sure how to turn this function off except to only use an external flash. The on camera flash though will definitely do the job and there is no red-eye in the pics!

I photographed a parade where it was constant shooting and the camera held up just fine. No complaining, no lag time with pressing the shutter button. If you've read other reviews you might have read that the camera may under-expose a lot. I did notice this a little in most of the shots taken in the shade. One way to get around it is to increase exposure with a half to full stop. It's not a big deal the way some of the other reviewers say it is. Question is, is it an inherent problem inside the camera or simply how the user is exposing the subject? Again, play around with the settings and change exposures. You'll learn the ins and outs of the camera a lot quicker if you do.

The quality of the images is simply beautiful. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between a picture taken with this camera and say one taken with the Canon 5D. Again, I am an amateur but I think the normal person would have no problems with image quality here. It boasts 10.1mp for images. Now when it comes to quality of images the lens makes more of a difference than the actual camera. I usually have a Tamron 28-75mm lens on the camera at all times.

As far as gadgets go. I would buy 2 Compact Flash memory cards 1,2 or 4 gigs will do. An extra battery, just in case! A camera bag with some pouches to put your little gadgets in. A clear lens filter to protect your lens. And a Compact Flash reader to download your pictures into the computer. These are the items you will need to get started.

So in conclusion the question you are probably asking is, "Well is this for me?" I mean, do you really need another gadget? This is a resounding YES! You WILL get hooked on photography. It'll make you a better photographer. Go for it! I'm glad I bought it. No regrets here. You're probably on the fence weighing the pros and cons. Yes you're going to have to spend some money on this camera, but nothing of this quality comes cheap. The prices now are cheaper than when I first bought it. Will this camera be too advanced for you? It's just about right. My girlfriend has shot with this and she is strictly from a point and shoot camera background and she loves it! Especially the quality of the images. So do yourself a favor and buy it, you won't be sorry!