As most of you know, I am not a techie equipment reviewer, but I have been using my Canon EOS XTi for over a year and I thought that I would pass along my impressions. This is probably as much a review of my Canon 17-40 mm f/4 L lens as well, since it is used for about 90-95% of my photography, while my other lens is the Canon 70-200 mm f/4 L lens.
My Canon XTi background: The purchase of my XTi occured for two reasons; a family friends wedding for which they wanted digital images and my Canon G2 (4Mp) was not going to cut it. That and my recent issue with my Hasselblad A-12 back failure after a week photographing landscapes in Colorado (ruined film, no images, grrrrr). So I was ready for the immediate digital feedback (that I had an image capture) and the XTi had just come out in the flock of new 10 Mp cameras last year. The Canon EOS 20D was the other option, but still 8 Mp. And the XTi had the new larger 2.5 inch back screen and a more user friendly camera menu system.
I bought the camera body seperately and then purchased the Canon 17-40 mm f/4 L lens (35mm film equivalent is 26-60 mm). I lean towards the wide angle to moderate focal lengths for most of my photography. The reason for this lens was my intentions to eventually purchase a full frame sensor Canon (5D or at the time, the 1DsMkII) and I wanted high quality, professional glass that would be suitable for the full sensor camera body. I think that this is an ideal suited lens for the sub-compact sensor camera body like the XTi. I can confirm that my lens does have issues with sharpness at the edges. This became apparent when I made the 15 x 33″ enlargement of my image Tired Bones for the Orange County Museum of Art earlier this year. Otherwise, an excellent lens matched with the XTi when making prints at 16×20″ or smaller.
My intended use: A purchase of a camera system has to be driven about what you need to have photographed and why you are photographing. So part of my reason I bought the XTi was my intended use. Initially my camera was for landscape photography, intending to move up to the full frame Canon 1DsMk II system. I am now working on a variety of photographic series and projects, but they have a tendency to have a landscape orientation. If you were doing street photography, you might be inclinded towards a Lecia M8 system.
Overall impression: It met my needs, with some minimal hassels and there are some things I would like to see improved, but it did the image capture that I wanted. It was robust, I did not have any camera failures or issues.
The sensor cleaning seems to work great. One image that I made in the desert under okay conditions had some dust like apperances in my digital capture file. But later images after I had turned off the camera, which causes the sensor cleaning function to operate, were great. I keep hearing the horrors of sensor dust, but this was not my issue with this camera. In fact, if I want to upgrade to the newer full sensor Canon system, I will wait until the sensor cleaning function is included. Thus the new Canon EOS 1DsMkIII is good, but the 5D is not. This is a sweet option and I am glad Canon is now including it with their new models.
One of my delights was using the camera for night photography, where the camera figured out the right exposure and then came very close to what I needed in a digital capture. Sometimes only one small exposure adjustment and I had the image with a histogram that was what I wanted.
I was not a big auto focus fan before this camera, having used autofocus on the Canon G2, but then getting the wrong thing in focus. I still have some difficulty with the Auto Focus on the XTi to quickly find the right focus spot for what I want. It’s a new concept for me and it would probably become more intiuative if I used the manual toogling of the focus locations more, but overall the autofocus is good. Issues do arise at night with the camera on a tripod and with extremely low light to pick out something. Then I usually have to revert to manual focus. This may be due to this camera having only one of the cross hair focus locations dead center, which is not the case with the other higher end Canon camera bodies.
Biggest gripe: Mirror up function, available (one of the reasons I did chose this camera), but not the easiest or user-friendly process to use. So sometimes, when I should use this function, due to the hassel, I don’t. Shame on me, but then I see other manufacturers include this capability with a camera body direct function button. Come on already.
Price for value, I think it was a great purchase. Recommended.
Today, there are the new 12 Mp camera bodies becoming available from Nikon and the others, as well as a slight up-charge for the Canon 40D 10.1 Mp. Perhaps if on a budget, I would might still consider the Canon 40D body now but the XTi is still a really great option. And then there is the Canon G9 with the fixed lens and 12Mp sensor, which tells me we will be seeing a bunch more 12 Mp sensor cameras very soon.
Best regards, Doug
Update Note: the image with this post may be included with my series Transitional Seam. I had noticed this house from the freeway, fenced off, empty, deserted and an area that was probably going to be leveled and developed.
