19 Responses to “Got my Canon Digital Rebel XT”

1. Chris Garrett on June 5th, 2006 8:20 am

   Yay, congratulations and welcome to the club. I know you will love it. I'm looking forward to what you do with it!

   Just try to avoid going to camera stores now for a few months, difficult I know as Calgary has a great one, but otherwise the spending will never end.

   Of course I can quit any time I want to. Just one more lense. Or two. And another flash. Maybe a bag. Couple of filters. *then* I will quit … but then my birthday is coming up … ;O)

2. dnorman on June 5th, 2006 8:36 am

   heh. I hear you, Chris! I wanted to pick up a couple more filters (circular polarizing, especially) but forced restraint. This was a fair chunk of change to drop, so that should help keep the urges in check…

   I’m blown away by the sharpness and detail in the images. Absolutely amazing. And the FEEL of an SLR is soooooo nice. It’s like I’m actually holding a CAMERA, rather than a trinket. Love the weight of it, and the responsiveness is intoxicating. No 3-second-boot-up, with 5-second-recharge-between-flashes like on my Fujifilm…

   Of course, now the pressure is on, as I’ll likely be designated as Official Family Photographer for any time we all get together

3. Raj Boora on June 5th, 2006 9:52 am

   I was very close to getting an open box 30D this weekend… and it may still happen… congrats - I'm jealous. Did you get an upgraded lens?  When you get the chance get the 50 or 85mm 1.8 prime - a great little portrait lens from what I hear and fairly inexpensive (under $200) I think.

4. Roland Tanglao on June 5th, 2006 10:04 am

   +1 on the 50mm 1.8 prime, i have it and it rocks for $100

   great for low light shots of the kid and for portraits!

   i also have a 28-135mm USM IS zoom lens recommended by Kris Krug which is also great (I paid about $650 for it)

   of course the L series lenses are better but cost far more (e.g. the 1.4 50mm prime costs about $400!), i am jealous of Kris's L series lens, luckiily i can use them any time!

    

    

5. dnorman on June 5th, 2006 10:21 am

   I'm going to pace myself. No new camera gear for quite some time. Unless I hit the lottery, of course

   The kit lense will do for a while. Then, I'd love to pick up a nice IS telephoto. And a wide angle. In the meantime, I'll have to make do with little things like maybe a remote, or maybe a filter or two…

6. Raj Boora on June 5th, 2006 3:51 pm

   No new gear is a good idea - What I'm trying to convince my wife is that after getting a good body, it's only lenses after that.

   One thought on IS - as I'm thinking about making the jump.  Consider that the majority of your current images were taken without IS and on cameras with less capable sensors.  Unless the shutter shake really messes you up that much, IS may not be worth the price - and in terms of telephoto, you might be better served with a tri/monopod. 
7. dnorman on June 5th, 2006 8:00 pm

   Raj - good point about IS. All of the photos I’d taken before yesterday were taken with cheap(er) point-and-shoot cameras, so even a non-IS lense would be a huge improvement. That said - my hands have a bit of a shake to them, so I might need any edge I can get Either way, it’ll be a long time before I get a new lense…

8. Chris Garrett on June 6th, 2006 4:04 am

   I have one IS lens, the Canon 70-300mm IS USM. With telephoto I think that is where IS is useful, it is really effective.

   Having said that I think you will get loads of mileage out of the kit lens, there is really no need to splash out any more cash for a little while as there is lots to play with when you first step up to DSLR.

   If you want to treat yourself in a month or two get the "nifty 50", the sharpness and F/1.8 is something you will want to experience and the price is incredible for such a sweet piece of kit but beware it sets you on the path to lens addiction which should be put off for as long as possible for the sake of your marriage

9. Raj Boora on June 7th, 2006 9:02 am

   Chris - I am starting to see what you mean about the lens addiction and marriage - the wifey is already rolling her eyes (but I think I've got her convinced that they will give her better baby pictures of our nephews). PS I got me a 30D yesterday - it's still in the box for a spell though … no time to get it out and really play properly. 

10. Anonymous on June 20th, 2006 9:39 am

    i got  a 350D too… but i think the kit lens is crap… since i take most of the pictures indoors… i might get a 24-70 f2.8 from sigma… the L lens just cost too much

11. HvGGSD on November 26th, 2006 1:31 pm

    Hello,

    HELP!! Anyone using a Mac and the Rebel? I have a G4, OSX Panther, and bought a compact flash card reader that won’t work. I have the Canon software installed and an old iPhoto so use the Canon Camera Window. The ‘thunderbolt’ card reader was purchased on Friday at a professional camera store but they are closed weekends. My card is full but I can’t delete on the camera now.

    BTW– I opted for the 28-105 canon lens as standard and am quite happy as it’s not the kit, good feel, balances the camera well in my hands, but I do miss the true 28 mm that this lens was design for in 35mm.

    Thanks.. I’d really appreciate the help. Am snowed in today too, so not getting out to buy another reader and would love to do some ‘darkroom’ work today.

12. dnorman on November 26th, 2006 2:08 pm

    I use a mac, and either connect the camera directly using the provided USB cable, or use a PCMCIA CompactFlash reader. Both work perfectly, but I prefer the separate reader so I don’t have to leave the camera powered up.

    I’ve tried the provided Canon software, and it works OK. Image Capture (bundled with MacOSX) should work as well. I currently use iPhoto (latest version) and Aperture.

    You might want to try connecting the camera directly to your computer using the white USB cable, then turning on the camera. It should automatically trigger whatever app you have configured on your Mac. If it fails to launch the app, you can just manually launch whatever app you like. Both ImageCapture and Canon’s apps should work.

    IIRC, Camera Window is meant as a tether control - for taking photos by controlling the camera from your computer. Not really what you’re looking for. Either Canon EOS Utility or Apple’s Image Capture should do the trick for you.

13. HvGGSD on November 29th, 2006 4:36 pm

    Hi,

    Found out what the problem was– my Compact Flash card died– I think the CF error was not ‘card full’ but Compact Flash error. The card was quite full, and the failure occurred after I recharged the battery and installed it.

    I have a replacement card now and tried to upload the ‘Image Recovery’ software first, but did something wrong, OR they don’t have a MAC version. The Thunderbold card reader works just fine. One good thing about buying from a professional camera store vs big box– you get service– they could test my card on their readers, Mac etc.

    Lexar will provide the software to me, and offered to try to recover, but I opted for the new card now– as long as my computer files don’t go awry.

    Thanks from the Okanagan

14. Tracy on November 4th, 2007 8:34 pm

    I hope someone out there can help me! I too just got a Rebel xt, and I have a 4.0gb cf card. I used my camera about 15 times, and have downloaded the pics from the camera to my computer. One day I removed the cf card and put it back in and ever since got the cf error message. I bought another card, thinking maybe it was the card, and still got the same message. Any advice?

15. Tracy on November 4th, 2007 8:35 pm

    Oh ya…I had also recharged my battery….

16. Corrie on February 18th, 2008 8:35 pm

    Tracy,

    Look in the CF area and see if any of the pins are bent. That happened to mine and I had to send it in so they could repair the bent pins. If you see any pins that are bent over or missing or not in the two straight rows, that is probably why you are getting the error.

17. Amanda on February 19th, 2008 7:59 pm

    Corrie,
    Was it covered under warranty? I’m having the same problem.

18. Mitch on April 23rd, 2008 6:21 pm

    I have a Rebel XT, had great luck with it for a year. Purchased the battery grip from day one (along with an extra 2 gig mem. card. Recently, after sitting unused for a while, the camera went dead. Recharged the batteries in the grip (fully). Still no luck.
    Tried hooking up the AC adapter—still no ‘power up’—just a funky display, the flash pops up, and I can’t get the menu to light up. I tried unplugging and replugging the flash card(s), but no luck. I bought 2 new batteries from B&H, still no luck.
    I cleaned all the power contacts (the camera rarely leaves the house) with a q-tip—still no power to the camera. This is the second time this has happened. The last time I was able to connect the AC adapter, (no power up), but after uninstalling/reinstalling the ‘phony battery’ a bunch of times to ‘clean the connections, it worked. It worked fine for a few weeks, then sat dormant (batteries installed in the grip), and today it’s ‘kaput’ again. Same scenario as last time.
    I could diagnose the flash card if I could only get it to power up enough to access the menu to set it to “shoot without card”, but No luck! I treat my equipment with kid gloves.
    Anyone else had this problem?
    It seems that there’s a serious and almost immediate power drain somewhere.
    What’s up with the firmware update? Will that fix things? Any experience with that? When I last had it up and running, I checked for a firmware update and none was available. Where can I find the existing firmware?
    Could this be a dust problem? (doubtful—I’ve only changed lenses twice, and in near sterile conditions. Contacts on the lens/body? Arrrrgh!
    I’m ready to send it to Canon Repair, but it’s out of warranty, and I don’t want to hear, “your camera is kaput, and it’s gonna cost as much as a new XTi to repair it!”.
    I’m tempted to buy a new XTi, but since it’s relatively new, I’m leery.

    Any advice from anyone? I’d appreciate it!!!
    Mitch

19. dnorman on April 23rd, 2008 8:36 pm

    I think there’s an internal battery for the clock etc… - might want to take it into the shop to get that replaced.