Canon Rebel XTi

[Bob Hartig]

I'd like to thank once again those of you on this forum who shared your input with me on purchasing a new DSLR. This is my first, and the process has been a great learning experience.

After doing my homework, I finally settled on a Canon Rebel XTi body. Having heard bad reports about the kit lens, I opted to invest my shekels instead in a better quality lens, and ultimately decided on a Sigma 18-200mm AF with optical stabilization.

So far I'm extremely pleased with this setup. It's so new that I haven't had a chance to do much more than play with it a bit so far, but I have reason to believe it offers a lot in terms of both flexibility and performance. And I'm very happy with the prices I got. Can't wait to give this pooch a real workout with some decent storms!

Thanks, forum members, for your very helpful advice. The knowledge here on Stormtrack truly is invaluable.

 

[Cris Schroeder]

Congrats! I've shot about 3500 frames on mine in the 15 months I've had it and I'm learning something new every time I pull it out of the bag. If you're moving up from a point-and-shoot digital, you'll be amazed what you can do with the XTi. Hopefully you won't learn some of my "better" lessons, like:

Banging out 15 or 20 frames of my kids, then checking the LCD to see that I didn't have a memory card inserted.

Shooting a beautiful sunset, then realizing when I processed the RAW images that I had the autofocus set to manual and it was just far enough off to ruin the images.

Forgetting to check the exposure compensation and shooting a full card of images at +2.

My all-time favorite...leaving the mirror lockup feature enabled, with the two-second self timer. Great for landscapes, but not so good for action shots.

Good luck and good shooting!

 

[Mike Deep]

I'm always bumping the shooting mode button on my XT. Go to shoot something, press the shutter, nothing... Check the status LCD, it's in timer mode. Argh!

 

[D. Hayes]

I actually like the lens that comes with the XTi kit it's got a really wide view on it and seems to take great photos. I also bought a EF70-300IS lens which is awesome for those long range shots but it's not very wide. Not L glass but still pretty nice. One issue I have right now is learning to set infinite focus as both these lenses go over infinite. I suppose if I search Google for some owner tips I'd overcome many of my little issues haha!

 

[Mike Deep]

Yeah, most lenses focus past infinity to accommodate for thermal expansion. Since infinite focus varies with temperature, find a distant object and autofocus on that if you can.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Banging out 15 or 20 frames of my kids, then checking the LCD to see that I didn't have a memory card inserted.

Shooting a beautiful sunset, then realizing when I processed the RAW images that I had the autofocus set to manual and it was just far enough off to ruin the images.

Forgetting to check the exposure compensation and shooting a full card of images at +2.

My fave (and I just did it AGAIN the other day) is accidentally changing the ISO to 800 or worse! All my awesome shots came out noisy as heck!

Melanie

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Convert the high ISO images to B/W. The noise looks great in these shots IMHO. Noise can also be removed with programs such as neatimage.