Canon Digital Rebel XT Lust
Posted by: dnorman in Uncategorized, tags: personal, photographyWe were wandering around a mall this afternoon, and while Janice was looking in some foo-foo shop, Evan and I ducked into Black’s Photography. The camera dude sees us enter the store, and asks if I have any questions. I ask about the XT, what bundles they have, specials, etc…
Then, he pulls out the little key, and pulls an XT down from the display. “Here, try it out…” he says, knowingly.
It feels sooooo….. niiiiiice….
“Go ahead. Take some shots.”
click click
It’s fast. The controls are great. Zooming by spinning the ring. Instant response. It just feels so… right.
“Flip it into Sport mode and see how you like burst firing mode.”
clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick
About 4 seconds and 20 shots later. Holy freaking Jebus. My Fujifilm takes 2-4 seconds per shot. And this is cranking out shots at around 4+ fps.
I’m subconsciously reaching for my wallet. There’s room on my plastic for this…
And then Janice pops into the store. I feel the whooshing sensation of rationality returning. I slowly put the camera back on the counter and turn to walk out of the store. The camera dude smiles. This scene gets played out fairly often, I’m guessing.
Now, to save my pennies. Lunch money for a year? The XT will be mine. For now, I’ll have to learn to make my little Fujifilm point-and-shoot dance a little better. It’s a pretty decent camera, especially now that I know it (and its limitations) pretty well. But it ain’t no XT 
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I justified my Nikon D70 purchase on the fact that I wouldn’t be going on vacation for a year (at least). I paid for it by having lived like a starving student while working in the months prior to the purchase. Since then, it’s been two extra lenses, a fancier camera bag, a fancy tripod… I gotta stop.
The DSLRs are a cut above the point-and-clicks, obviously, but you’re not just buying a camera, you’re buying its family too.
Great. Just what I need. A set of freeloading DSLR in-laws preying on anything that resembles disposable income. Wait - since The Boyâ„¢, there hasn’t been any of that anyway! Maybe I’m safe…
Looks like I’ll need a chain and padlock if I bring my Rebel XT to Canada in February
I have to admit your lust is well placed. I;ve had a personal once since summer and got one at work just to match, and am still finding new things to revel in. The speed alone is intoxicating. Manual control when desired, autohmatic when rushed. I was suspicious of the Canon battery, but the it lasts a long time on a charge, and I found a third party backup battery pretty cheap (like US$25).
I’ve yet to invest in lenses, and have been using my existing tripods. I’d say a necessary inverstments are:
* Skylight filter (lens protection
* padded case (it si not small though)
* extra battery
* 500 Mb - 1 Gb Compact Flash card; a spare is nice, but you can wait
I’d guess the prices may drop a bit as DSLRs get more competetive, but I expect to get a lot of use out of the Rebel. It is just FAST.
On the other hand, I am wanting a small, quailty one for travel and hiking…
Buy it, you know you want to :O)
They are cheaper online, blacks seems a bit expensive from what I saw (You can get reconditioned too some places with warranty)
A DSLR is an absolute must if you really want to do photography. I didn’t learn half as much from my film SLR or compact digitals.
And it is so much fun!
Alan, your camera is safe. For now…
Chris, wanting isn’t the problem
I did notice some seemingly amazing deals of XT bundles on eBay - same price as in-store, but with extra lenses, grips, batteries, cases, etc… Smelled a bit too good to be true, though, and I don’t think I could trust some schmoe on eBay for a major purchase.
Surprisingly, Black’s has had the best price of any bricko-and-mortar store I’ve seen in the area. I’d love to be shown wrong, though…
I was looking at one as well - but try the 20D (Best Buy or McBain if there is one in Calgary - or “The Camera Store”) and then see what you think. The XT is a sweet machine regardless - try it with the 17-85 lens and then see how hard it is not to go for the wallet…
a 20D would be OK, but it just looks so darned BIG compared to the compact XT body. I’m going to sell/rent a kidney for a camera, it’d be nice if it was small enough that I’d want to take it with me everywhere. That’s the one really nice thing about my Fuijifilm - it’s always with me - either in my backpack or on my belt. An XT isn’t quite that portable, but closer than a 20D…