5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Pro Photog buys Canon Rebel XT 350D for backup camera for the Canon 20D
Date of Review: Dec 25, 2005
The Bottom Line: It's ok.Nothing to write home to mama about.Cameras menus are too nested,hard to get to in a hurry and clumsy.Wheel on 10D and 20D is much better
My local camera stores were sold out of the Canon 20D and I needed a 3rd camera to bring on a major shoot.So,with alot of trepidation,I broke down and purchased a black 350D Rebel.
I'm a pro photographer by trade for many many years. I've been published over 26,000 times worldwide and travel extensively. It hurts my back to lug alot of gear,though sometimes it's a necessity.The Rebel has a much smaller footprint than the 20d and is lighter.It fits in the older camera bags that do not have alot of height to them.The 350D uses a smaller proprietary Lithium Ion battery than the 10d and 20D cameras so now I have to have 2 battery chargers side by side.
The battery chargers are nice.Quite small with the recharge plug being built in as opposed to the charging device and a long electrical cord.
I don't have large hands but this camera,on the right side has such an uncomfortable grip.Your fingers and nails end up digging into it and after a few hours of use your hand will start to cramp up.
It feels very off balance with larger lenses such as the 80-200 zoom and even awkward with a flash bracket.
I was very unhappy using this in available room light.The color balance for available room is the light worst I have ever had in any digicam.Changing to custom white balance does not nail better lighting color either with this camera.I think I've now owned 14 digicams starting off with the Apple Quicktake in the early 1990s.
A few strong points:
The black and white shooting mode is nice.In some instances shooting a scene in black and white as opposed to color comes out nicer than converting a color image to black and white in Photoshop.
Images at 200/400/800 are very good.I mainly use it with the Canon 580 flash which I really love.
Focusing: Well,I turned my light off and had my external 580 flash on the camera and in a pitch black room it focused and fired and the images were sharp.
I then tried putting my 85mm 1.8 lens and shooting at night with from my window to try and get a street scene with available light.The focus would not lock onto anything .I tried the same experiment with the 20D and it passed with flying colors locking into the street light as it changed from red to green.
Alot of people compare the 20D to the 350D and say they can't see the difference in the images.If that were the case,pro's would be ditching their heavy gear and stocking up on this camera.I can see the difference.Images are not as crisp and the colors are not the same even when switching lenses.
One good thing though,this camera attracts less sensor dust than my 20D.
But that's about all the praise I can give it at this time.
