Canon EOS Rebel XS / 1000D 10.1 MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ EF-S IS 18-55mm Lens)

I'm writing this review with a caveat that I recommend to everyone to experience: I upgraded from the kit lenses & so should you. Strong points of the camera:

* great image quality especially in low light & I love to shoot without the built in flash for natural results.

* the menu based system is very user friendly & while being a capable DSLR with most of the features of the more expensive 'prosumer' models like the 50D, this camera is easy to use & create manual shots. You can adjust the ISO, aperture, white balance, colour, scene mode all one-handed.

I take photography seriously & I'm all about image quality. I still like to have fun after years of digital compacts & snapping at friends on nights out or on the bike. This camera does everything I would expect of it & does it well & I have to say, the performance in low light is fantastic, especially if you upgrade the lens.

And this brings me to an important point; the lens is what you should be upgrading before you consider going for a higher resolution. Higher resolution means more noise & Canon's Digic processors are renown for noise control. I own a 1000D, 450D & now a 500D & have used both the kit lenses & upgrades with all. Canon DSLRS take EF lenses & the sub 500D models will take EF-S lenses giving a vast amount of choice. I recommend a Sigma 18-250 OS lens for this camera or Canon's excellent 28-135mm IS USM lens as your walk around lens. These produce pin sharp images & only wide open can you begin to see a sign of vignetting, easily corrected in photoshop or similar program.

Kit lenses will be enough for the average user who's used to a digital compact & shooting in RAW with a minute of post work in a photoshop program, even with free ones like Picknic on Flickr will produce some astounding results.

The camera's live view mode will be useful for people making the upgrade & is about 95% coverage which is great. The best part about this camera for me is that it's small & light. Throw an armoured cover on it & chuck it in a bag. It will last you for a long time at least until you're ready to upgrade to something like a 450 or 500D.

Weak points:

* Kit lenses supplied are usually the 18-55mm non IS & while this is okay, it can vignette badly & with no IS you have to be in full auto or perfect ISO to get really sharp results in low light. Resting the camera on something or using a tripod will help massively but your first upgrade should be the lens. The difference when you upgrade is immense. The detail offered at 10.1mp with a zoom lens can be stunning. Check out my shots with the kit lens & then a telephoto at www.flickr.com/rucken all the Australian shots, Sydney & Fraser Island & Taronga Zoo were with the 1000D. Then compare those images to more recent ones with better lenses. These are just jpegs, not even the vastly superior detailing you get with the camera's RAW shooting mode.

* The build quality is not as solid as the 40D upwards which have magnesium alloy bodies. Only really noticable if you're used to them though as even in plastic Canon have made a brilliant camera.

* The camera's LCD loved your fingerprints. Buy a screen protector if you don't like contantly polishing it.

Summary: this camera is a great introduction to DSLRS, it's small & so great for women & men with small hands or people that don't want to hulk a heavy camera around.

Also consider the Canon 450D & 500D.

Hope that helps someone with their decision.

amadeus hellequin

I bought the Canon Rebel XS and was immediately impressed with the number of features available on this camera. It has almost all the features of the Rebel XSi camera - and that being said - for a couple of hundred bucks less - the XS was the feather in my cap. I like the LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.5" - the XSi camera has a bigger LCD screen and I just did not like all the glass on the back of the camera. With the features of being able to keep the camera in auto mode - but yet being able to change some of the setting - helps lots - or you can be totally creative and go into the creative mode and change anything from exposure, speed, or aperture is some of the best features of the camera. The camera is light, yet very well built. To simply put my review - I LOVE this camera.

We were in the market for a new camera. The pocket-sized digital one we have that is a couple of years old would have this problem of freezing up almost every time we used it. We could snap 4 or 5 pics, but if they were taken quickly, the thing would lock up. If we just left it on and took one every minute or two, it wouldn't do it. So we did some research, and decided what we needed was a Digital SLR camera, and Canon is known for quality.

After playing around with it for a few days, I love it. You can take pictures as fast as you can press the shutter button. And it uses the small, SD memory cards. One reason I had held off on getting one is because my father has a Nikon D-SLR that takes a huge memory card. He needed a separate card reader to use it. Our laptop has the SD card reader built in to the front of it, so it is as easy as popping it out of the camera and popping it into our laptop.

Another plus is that is is relatively lightweight for a camera with a larger body. It is a big camera with the feel of a smaller one. It doesn't feel like you have a big weight hanging from your neck when using the strap.

There are tons of features that I am still reading the manual and learning about. The only features you find on a pocket digital camera are a few random settings you can change for certain settings. You have so many more options with a SLR since you can swap out lenses.

I was a little nervous about my first DSLR I thought maybe it would be too complex for me but since taking my photography classes with a high end point and shoot was starting to drive me nuts, I figured I better buy an SLR so I researched this for about 2 months before buying this one and I am thrilled!

I love the clarity and color and ease of use, it takes little getting used to as its different but its wonderful! I think for me this was the perfect camera, I have only had it for a few days but I have taken over 400 shots with it already and it does what it should and has taken my photography to a whole new level! I highly recommend this camera, its great for beginners but that doesnt mean it only takes beginner quality pix.

Its comfortable to hold easy to shoot,has many advanced settings but doesn't need them to get a good picture. It has live view which a lot don't now days and uses an SD memory card which for me was great! I would have gotten another Canon had I had the money for one BUT this was the least expensive and great for the price! I am a CANON GIRL! It also has a lot of accessories to better your photography when other cameras are harder to find parts, accessories and lenses for.

The only thing I see so far that I don't really like is the flash quality but I don't use it too much and do have a digital flash to use instead. And I seem to have a hard time getting well exposed shots in low light BUT am assuming its just another setting I have yet to figure out =) I love this camera!

I'm a beginner to DSLRs and was thinking about which camera to buy to suit my budget. But I only had to decide between Canon and Nikon. I was comparing Rebel XS, XTi, XSi and Nikon D40, D40x and D60. dpreview.com helped me a lot for the decision.
I thought Canon *entry level* cameras are somewhat better and elegant than Nikon. So it came down to selecting XSi vs XS. XSi had larger display, remote control shutter, live view finder, etc., but have to pay abt $180 over XS for that. So decided to buy XS and so far I'm really happy with the camera.
I guess the secret is to get a reasonably good camera body and save money to buy lenses. All in all I think XS is a very good investment for a entry level person.