Short Report: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

I took the EOS Digital Rebel XT to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park earlier this year and was able to fit the camera with three lenses (a Canon EF 70-300mm DO zoom, a Canon EF-S 60mm macro and a Tamron 11-18mm wide-angle zoom) into a small waistpack.

The EOS Digital Rebel XT is a significant upgrade from the original Digital Rebel. The XT offers a minimal 0.2-second startup time and more camera controls, including built-in flash compensation and a choice of AF modes, which the original didn’t have. The camera also features a high-speed, wide-area autofocus system that can have its seven points selected individually; a bright, easily viewed viewfinder; depth-of-field preview; settable shutter speeds from 1⁄4000 to 30 seconds; and much more. This may be Canon’s newest entry-level digital SLR in terms of price, but it’s no basic, minimally controlled camera. Canon demonstrates that it’s possible to have both “compact” and “full-featured” work together in the same unit.

To get this compact size, Canon uses a battery that’s considerably smaller than any other battery used for Canon digital SLRs. This makes carrying extras convenient, but you do worry about capacity at first. After a few days of shooting in the Smokies, however, I quit worrying about the battery. Canon says it matches the performance of the larger batteries used in the original Digital Rebel, and my experience confirms that.