With last week being the last week of 2023 I have reached the end of the ambitious 2023 challenge of shooting and reviewing 52 different Digital Cameras in one year.
It's a sad conclusion to a very long project and while my collection will change and evolve, I'm certainly not going to be buying or trading a different set of 52 cameras for 2024 to review.
I will instead be doing a smaller project that is shared on shorter social media outlets and re-purposing this blog for times I want to vent or share with the few people who will take time to read my posts.
For the last week of 2023 I decided to sneak in one more Canon Rebel DSLR. I will do a followup post on why I collect Canon Rebels and why they hold such a special place in my heart.
The short version of that followup post is that the Canon Rebel series of DSLRs are the ultimate Underdog workhorse camera that gets dumped on by many, many photographers for feeling "cheap" and not being "A $2000+ Entry-Pro Full Frame Camera".
However when it comes down to it the Rebels are so simple in form and function they are the perfect Advanced camera to learn Photography on. They don't have all the "Features" to distract you and make you feel that you are "missing" something because Brand X's Pro Full Frame camera has a feature that yours does not.
This week's review is of a camera I decided not to keep, simply because I have a friend that I can get one in better condition from for cheaper to add back to my collection. But it was the one Canon Rebel Sensor I was missing other then the last 24mp sensor that Canon put into the Rebel series (which still command a pretty high price for used).
The Canon Rebel XT (also known as the Canon Rebel 350D in Global Markets) was the second in Canon's entry level series of consumer/budget DSLRs released in 2005. It features an 8mp CMOS APS-C sensor (the same sensor that was used in both the professional APS-C 20D and 30D) which in terms of image quality was a noticeable increase from the first consumer generation APS-C 6 mp sensor even if the resolution bump was a fairly minor increase and a stopgap between the 6 and 10mp sensors that other camera manufacturers skipped.
The 350D/Rebel XT also was the first Rebel series body to have the smaller, more compact form factor (as the original Digital Rebel was significantly bigger in spite of still missing the top screen) that Canon would carry all the way to the Rebel T8i and T100 with only a few unique models such as the T6s, SL1-SL3 diverging on this classic form factor.
It was the last Canon Rebel to have the rear secondary LCD info panel as future models would drop this feature to put in a larger main TFT screen without increasing the physical size and form factor.
While the button layout would change slightly with the Canon Rebel XSi the core controls of this camera are still very simmilar to the more modern Canon Rebel/XXX/XXXXD camera bodies. It still has the classic 4 way navigation buttons which double as pre programmed function buttons to quickly adjust features such as ISO and White Balance when not moving the focus point or navigating menus.
In terms of how responsive the camera is it's about on par with the Classic Digital Rebel. Which means its okay but not great when it comes to a DSLR. It's a lot less frustrating to use then a Bridge camera from the same era (IE the Canon Powershot Pro 1) so instead of waiting upwards of 10-20 seconds between shots if you shoot in RAW the write delay is down to 1-2 seconds with a reasonably fast (for what this camera supports) CF card. This makes the camera just fine for like shooting street photography but doing single shot bursts/double tapping with this camera is a lot more frustrating then the Canon Rebel XTi and forward which had a big enough buffer to store a few shots in RAW before having to write to the card.
Shooting in JPEG of course, the buffer is large and fast enough to have a seamless shooting experience; but the delay was short enough that it was still tolerable for a day of casual street photography while shooting in RAW to not frustrate me so I shot the camera in RAW and post processed after for this review.
One improvement in shooting experience was the lack of a startup delay the Original Rebel had. Flick the switch on and the camera is ready to take photos instead of having a 5-10 second boot up sequence where the rear LCD flashed before it was ready to go. This alone made the Rebel XT feel more like a modern DSLR in spite of the lackluster buffer and very slow FPS drive.
Overall, I did have fun shooting this camera and it was a lot more enjoyable and less frustrating expereince overall then the last two cameras prior to this review. I wanted to end this review on something that didn't make me want to pull my hair out with.
This camera isn't the fastest, nor does it do the best at low light photography. It can't shoot Video. But at the end of the day this is a great example of a camera you can find for under $50 used that is so basic and simple to use that it really breaks down Digital Photography into the Basics, and becomes a camera that an experienced or learning photographer both can still use to capture some really nice images without relying on the camera (or phone) to do everything for them and "automagically" capture an image that may or may not be what they wanted.
Taking a step back and shooting an old DSLR before the age of Live View, Video or more "advanced" features is really a good excersize. Anyone struggling with their photography or just wanting to have a better understanding of how Digital Photography works beyond just "pressing a button" can learn a lot by picking up an old camera like this and shooting it for a week or even a month in lieu of their smartphone or modern High-End Full Frame Mirrorless camera that has all the bells and whistles.
And with that, I leave 2023 with the following photos taken with one of the most basic of all interchangeable lens cameras that can be picked up for less then the price of a single Steak Dinner; a Canon Rebel XT.
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