Is the Canon Rebel XTi a good quality camera? And can someone teach me about the lens?

Question

I've had so many cameras, and I've never really been satisfied. I've only owned the point&shoot ones. I had a Canon Powershot, S50, HP R927, and now I have a Samsung NV20 (which I love by the way, someone had mistaken it for a DSLR camera b/c of the quality).

I love taking high quality pictures, so I'm interested in a DSLR. The one I am interested in is the Canon XTi. I'm not very familiar with how to use DSLR either. I just take pictures of everyday things (family, people, scenaries) and lots of times macro stuff. What kind of lens would I need? And also, is it in the body's ability to take widescreen pictures? Or is that the ability that belongs to the lens?

Here are some examples of what kind of pictures I take:

http://flickr.com/photos/nosie54/2526785697/in/set-72157605285436410/

http://flickr.com/photos/nosie54/2526785697/in/set-72157605285436410/

http://flickr.com/photos/nosie54/2420459804/in/set-72157604581257944/

Answer 1

Take the old Minolta lenses into a camera store that sells the Sony alpha DSLR and see if they will work with that camera.  That will save you the cost of buying lenses in any case.

If you are going to be buying a new DSLR on a budget, then the most bang for the bux right now is the Nikon D40 with the 18-55 mm AF-S, ED lens .. under $470.  The other would be the Canon XTi with 18-55 mm lens for under $700

Answer 2

The XTi is a very good quality camera.  The kit lens (the lens which comes with the camera) is a decent lens for a beginner, it's an 18-55mm zoom, without IS (image stability).  So you'll want to use a tripod for low light and macro shots.  You can get it with the Canon EF-S 17-55mm IS lens (costs a little more, but worth the cost).  

If you get a wide angle lens, you can get wider shots, the Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens or the Sigma 10-20 lens..  The kit lens is fair with macro shots, not great.  For great macro shots, you'll want a dedicated macro lens like the Canon 100mm 2.8 macro... or a less expensive option would be the Canon EF 50mm 1.8... a great lens for about $80.

As for the pixels and the difference you'll find between the XTi and your current camera, you'll not notice it at all, maybe only if you were going to print a poster size photo...  

The Minolta lens will not fit on the XTi without a special adaptor, and the AF (auto focus) will not work at all.... You can use the Minolta lens on the Sony DSLR cameras.

Answer 3

Why get XTI when XSI is out, in general DSLR gave you sharper image especially in low night, mainly due to their monster size image sensor and lens.  To take widescreen pic you need wide angles lens, with DSLR no such thing all in one lens, you had buy one that specialist in one area, anyway is pricey unless you really enjoy it and don't might spend that much on it.

Answer 4

Re: wide lens. They're quite expensive-and you get what you pay for.

For example, Canon 17-35 mm f 4 ($750)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pook...

and Canon 16 - 35 mm f 2.8 ($1,450)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pook...

These lenses will not be so "wide" if used on a cropped sensor (like XTi). Canon makes a very wide zoom lens for XTi (et al) but nevertheless it's almost $800 or so.

Don't think about an "adapter" that fits in front of a lens--it's c**p. You might as well use a coke bottle for that.

Answer 5

The XTi is a brilliant camera capable of professional quality images in the right hands. When choosing a DSLR, there's two things you need to know: Megapixels should be the least of your concern, and the lens is what makes the camera. As an example, if I had to choose between the 8mp XT with a high-quality lens, or a 12mp XSi with the bundled kit lens, I would easily choose the XT. My recommendation would be to choose the lens(es) that you want first, and then find a camera that would fit into your budget. If you're looking for an everyday lens, the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 is tack sharp, has great color, and decent contrast. If you're interested in macro, your best bet may be to get a dedicated macro lens along with your everyday lens. The best deal I've found is the legendary Micro-nikkor 55mm f/3.5 from ebay. It runs for about $35-$50, it's pretty old (30-40 years) and is completely manual focus, but it's a professional quality lens. The manual focus should not be an issue because autofocus is virtually never used for true DSLR macro photography. You'd need to buy a Nikon-to-EOS mount converter off ebay as well, but that will cost about $10. If you want to stay with all the newer features like autofocus, then the Canon 105mm f/2.8 Macro lens is a great choice.

The XTi will be able to take "Widescreen" photo in the sense that they can be cropped on the top and bottom to be the widescreen 16:9 ratio. While you will be able to go wider with a dedicated wide-angle lens, I'd find it hard to justify the price-difference for a professional wide-angle lens (Canon 10-22mm EF-S -- $800) unless you are absolutely sure that you want to get into ultra-wide photography. If you just want to take widescreen photos, there are plenty of megapixels for cropping and you can always make a panorama (stitch multiple photos together) by using a quality tripod if you need to go wider.

Finally, you will notice a huge difference between the Samsung and the XTi. The XTi will yield higher quality images with greater contrast and less noise under the same conditions -- the fact that it is of lower resolution will not be an issue at all.