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To start off the review, here's a picture of the camera (Canon XS):
This is my first SLR system, so I'll be reviewing it from that perspective. The camera isn't really Canon's most expensive model, but for me, it's a huge step from P&S.
Physical Appearance
The quality of the camera is excellent, feels extremely solid, and the grip fits my hands well. The "mode" wheel has 12 modes: 5 creative, 7 automatic. In this order:
Creative
1. A-DEP (automatic depth-of-field)
2. M (Full Manual)
3. Av (Aperture Value)
4. Tv (Time Value)
5. P (Program Auto)
Auto
1. Full Auto
2. Portrait
3.Landscape
4. Macro
5. Sport
6. Night Portrait
7. No-Flash
I haven't used any of the auto modes yet, so I can't comment on that. Again, the handling is really comfortable, and I don't have any problem with it. There's a nice focus adjuster next to the eyepiece, which adjusts the lens so it's personalized to your eyesight. The UI of this camera is smooth, and very easy to operate. You can create your own "filters" within the camera, and use them for shooting. These just let you change things like saturation, contrast, and B&W.
The AF system lets you choose which of the 7 points you want to use, or all of them. You can make the "SET" button in the middle do whatever you want it to. I have it set to live view at the moment (I'll get to that later). The metering controls are as follows: evaluated, partial (Canon exclusive), and center-weighted. All seem to work fine, although I rarely use anything but full manual. Continuous shooting is 3 frames per second for over 900 frames, which isn't great for SLR, but again, a huge step from P&S. I'm not a professional sports photographer either, so it's fine for me. The auto white balance isn't too great. It seems to add a warm tint to places in white light, which I actually prefer a lot of the time, but I thought I'd point it out because it's not perfectly accurate. Usually I'll just use daylight or cloudy, and auto if I don't have time to figure it out.
I have never exhausted the battery, but I know for a fact it is at least 500 pictures. The flash is bright, and I haven't had a need to get a brighter one yet (although I probably will soon). I got the 18-55mm IS lens with it, so that's the only one I've been able to use. The lens seems well built, the auto-focus is REALLY fast, and the image stabilization usually lets me take clear pictures at 1/10th of a second. I really like the optical IS because all it does is shift the lens, so I can keep it on 24/7.
Performance
At 10.1 MP, the camera takes really nice pictures. Low light performance has always been great from Canon, and this camera hasn't disappointed me. I prefer to keep the camera pretty low as far as ISO, but the pictures are pretty grain-free even at ISO 400.
The one reason I don't normally use the Av/Tv modes is because it tends to overexpose. In manual, I can put in the recommended setting, and if it looks too high, I can step it down a notch. In Av, it will just step down the shutter speed, so you'll have to bring down the exposure comp. just to make it look right. Another reason I choose manual is because once the setting are there, they stay there, no ex. lock needed. I'm not saying the camera takes bad pictures, you just need to check to make sure they look right before you take the shot. Tv often gives me really great results.
Live view: it works, but I rarely use it. The main reason being you cannot use AF. However, it does make manual focus much easier because you can blow up the screen to focus it to a pinpoint. So I'll use it, but only when I have to.
Samples
Like I said, I only have the one kit lens, and it definitely is not one of Canon's sharpest lenses. Also, I haven't been able to take many macro pictures (my favorite) because the last few weeks the ground has been covered with a foot of snow. So here they are, straight from the camera.
Thanks for reading.
This is my first SLR system, so I'll be reviewing it from that perspective. The camera isn't really Canon's most expensive model, but for me, it's a huge step from P&S.
Physical Appearance
The quality of the camera is excellent, feels extremely solid, and the grip fits my hands well. The "mode" wheel has 12 modes: 5 creative, 7 automatic. In this order:
Creative
1. A-DEP (automatic depth-of-field)
2. M (Full Manual)
3. Av (Aperture Value)
4. Tv (Time Value)
5. P (Program Auto)
Auto
1. Full Auto
2. Portrait
3.Landscape
4. Macro
5. Sport
6. Night Portrait
7. No-Flash
I haven't used any of the auto modes yet, so I can't comment on that. Again, the handling is really comfortable, and I don't have any problem with it. There's a nice focus adjuster next to the eyepiece, which adjusts the lens so it's personalized to your eyesight. The UI of this camera is smooth, and very easy to operate. You can create your own "filters" within the camera, and use them for shooting. These just let you change things like saturation, contrast, and B&W.
The AF system lets you choose which of the 7 points you want to use, or all of them. You can make the "SET" button in the middle do whatever you want it to. I have it set to live view at the moment (I'll get to that later). The metering controls are as follows: evaluated, partial (Canon exclusive), and center-weighted. All seem to work fine, although I rarely use anything but full manual. Continuous shooting is 3 frames per second for over 900 frames, which isn't great for SLR, but again, a huge step from P&S. I'm not a professional sports photographer either, so it's fine for me. The auto white balance isn't too great. It seems to add a warm tint to places in white light, which I actually prefer a lot of the time, but I thought I'd point it out because it's not perfectly accurate. Usually I'll just use daylight or cloudy, and auto if I don't have time to figure it out.
I have never exhausted the battery, but I know for a fact it is at least 500 pictures. The flash is bright, and I haven't had a need to get a brighter one yet (although I probably will soon). I got the 18-55mm IS lens with it, so that's the only one I've been able to use. The lens seems well built, the auto-focus is REALLY fast, and the image stabilization usually lets me take clear pictures at 1/10th of a second. I really like the optical IS because all it does is shift the lens, so I can keep it on 24/7.
Performance
At 10.1 MP, the camera takes really nice pictures. Low light performance has always been great from Canon, and this camera hasn't disappointed me. I prefer to keep the camera pretty low as far as ISO, but the pictures are pretty grain-free even at ISO 400.
The one reason I don't normally use the Av/Tv modes is because it tends to overexpose. In manual, I can put in the recommended setting, and if it looks too high, I can step it down a notch. In Av, it will just step down the shutter speed, so you'll have to bring down the exposure comp. just to make it look right. Another reason I choose manual is because once the setting are there, they stay there, no ex. lock needed. I'm not saying the camera takes bad pictures, you just need to check to make sure they look right before you take the shot. Tv often gives me really great results.
Live view: it works, but I rarely use it. The main reason being you cannot use AF. However, it does make manual focus much easier because you can blow up the screen to focus it to a pinpoint. So I'll use it, but only when I have to.
Samples
Like I said, I only have the one kit lens, and it definitely is not one of Canon's sharpest lenses. Also, I haven't been able to take many macro pictures (my favorite) because the last few weeks the ground has been covered with a foot of snow. So here they are, straight from the camera.
Thanks for reading.
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