I've had my Digital Rebel EOS for over a year now and I couldn't be happier with its performance. I've added a battery grip, which provides heft and vertical picture taking functions, and the camera feels like a pro. I've also added a Canon 100-400mm USM lense that provides great close ups.

I've used the camera on everything from weddings to wildlife to portraiture to product photos and am extremely happy with the results. Wonderfully clear pictures.

To get optimum color, brightness and contrast for prints, however, you will need to use photo-enhancing software to take the place of corrections normally done by development labs for film photos.

If I were to make a digital purchase today, however, I would probably opt for the Rebel Digital XT model which increases the resolution to 8MB and provides some updated light metering technology.

Highly recommended!

I've had this camera for about 2 months now, but from the day I got it, I was off and taking some stunning pictures! Even with all the features, I find this camera to be easier to use than most DC's I've played with and have owned (see below for list). The size and price might be a bit much for some, but I really don't mind either. I have HP R507 as my "pocket camera", but I always find excuses to take the canon with me every where I go!

Picture quality: EXCELLENT. I'm a novice photographer, but with the benefit of this being digital, it's helping me learn a lot about photography that I didn't have the patience to wait for developing the film. With the digital rebel, I don't have to wait to see how my "experimental" shots come out. I've taken some cool over exposure shots of traffic at night, and it was VERY easy to do! Other pictures I've taken come out as good as (if not better than) my Canon 35mm Rebel 2000. I don't foresee needing/wanting to enlarge my pictures more than 8x10, and with the canon 80-200mm zoom (which becomes 128-320mm on the digital rebel wich 1.6x factor), I should be able to accomplish pretty much any shots I'd ever want.

Features: EXCELLENT (still camera only). I don't believe in Video feature in DC's to be something useful, at least not until MPEG4 or other higher compression becomes more widely used. Right now, you can only cram 20 minutes of 320x240 video into 256MB card (less if you go 640x480), so to me, that's not useful. If you want to take videos, you really should get a video camera. I especially like that digital rebel goes to ISO 1600 which makes taking night shots much easier!

Battery life: EXCELLENT. As a test, I took enough pictures to fill a 512MB CF card, about 150 pictures, mostly with flash, some without. Battery was still barely 1/2 down. Included fast charger is a nice touch, it has an LED indicator to let you known that the battery is 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and fully charged. So in a pinch you could charge just till 1/2 charged (15-30 minutes charge time) and then keep shooting. But I don't think I'll be taking more than 150 pictures in a day, so I'm opting to not get the backup battery.

Cost: EXCELLENT (for me). "It's soooo choice! If you have the means, I'd highly recommend you get one of those" - Ferris Bueller. For some, the price maybe a bit of a shock. Personally, I don't believe in paying more than $200 for digital point and shoot cameras not when you can buy a nice 35mm SLR for $250. But for a digital SLR, $799 I paid after MIR was worth it!

Film cameras I've owned: Couple of 110's, late 70's Ricoh 35mm - which I've forgotten how to use, Canon 35mm Powershot Waterproof, Canon point and shoot 35mm, Kodak APS point and shoot, Canon Rebel 2000 35mm.

Digital cameras I own: HP 318, HP R507 - good backup for Digital Rebel!

Digital cameras I have experiences with: Kodak 3.1MP, HP 635

The Canon Digital Rebel SLR is no doubt, still the best digital SLR on the market for those who want both the combination of quality at an affordable cost. Since my purchase of the camera nearly a year ago I have found it to be quite a splendid camera, the 6.3 Mega pixel image sensor delivers great resolution with vivid, accurate colours. The lens which comes with most of the rebel packages (Canon EF 18-55mm lens) also delivers surprisingly good captures (don't be fooled just because of the cheap price of the lens sold separately) The Interface of the Rebel is very simple to use and has features for both the new photographers and semi-professionals. Highly recommended.

P.S. I believe that it is advantageous to purchase the Rebel along with the EF 18-55mm lens as well as the 75-300mm zoom lens, both made by Canon.

This really is a great camera and to really appreciate it you have to understand its target audience. It seems clear that Canon has aimed this camera primarily at novices. Its point and shoot are as simple as you will find on any consumer compact digicam. Its creative setting should offer enough control and flexibility to keep most intermediate and advance photographers happy. First though lets go over some of the complaints people are writing about the camera.

1). I can't set up my photo through the LCD-----No you surely can't. SLR's are designed specifically to direct the light and image from the lens to the view finder. To the best of my knowledge, there is not a true digital SLR which allows you to do this. And there shouldn't be. You can keep the camera a lot more steady and get a much better view of what your image will look like through the view finder then you ever could looking at an LCD six to eight inches from your body.
2). Complaint number two is just as silly. Canon does not include a CF card with the camera. I've yet to see a digital SLR manufacturer that includes any media with the camera. Also when you consider that about the only card they could include without affecting the price much is a 128mb card with is next to useless in a camera like this.

Now to some more reasonable complaints

1). This camera is slow to start up (compared to many current DSLR's by Canon and Nikon). There really was not much that Canon could have done about that. It uses the same first generation DIGIC processing chip and same 6.3mp CMOS as the Canon D10. The D10 has similar short comings. If you can't live with this (about 3 seconds from power up till you can take a photo) you might want to consider the new Rebel XT or D20. You'll also have to decide if the extra responsiveness is worth an extra 200-300.00 bucks.
2). For continuous shooting you only get 2.5PFS and 4 frame bursts. Much of this is also do to the DIGIC. The D10 isn't much faster (though it does have a larger buffer (the images are stored in the buffer before they can be written to your media) which does allow it to continue shooting while the dRebel is catching its breath. I was very much aware of this "Shortcoming" before I bought the camera and understand it as a cost cutting method (larger buffers cost more money) and decided to accept this short coming rather then pay an extra 200-300. bucks.
3). Canon has crippled the camera by removing many manual control features(through software-The camera is physically able to carry out many of these functions but Canon removed the ability by programing the DIGIC chip (the firmware) to disallow these features. Clearly a business decision and one that make some sense. You really would not want to release a low cost camera with all the same features as your higher end camera. On the other hand, I really wished they would have kept some of the features they removed (like the ability for the user to adust the flash settings).
4). I can't shoot RAW images in the automatic settings. I can understand this. Most of the people using the fully automatic settings are probably novices. RAW images cannot be printed from the camera directly to a printer. RAW images require quite a bit of post shooting work before they're usable. If some one that really does not know much about photography were to shoot a couple of hundred RAW images they would be pretty upset when they found out they could not print their images and didn't know how to change that.
5). The Nikon D70 supports higher ISO's then the Canon. The ISO adjusts the camera's sensitivity to light (on film cameras it's the film speed). My answer to that is that the D70 does not support an ISO of 100 and the dRebel does. Personally, I would much rather have an ISO range of 100-1600 like the dRebel then an ISO range of 200-3200. The higher the ISO setting the more digital noise you're likely to get and an ISO of 3200 would seem to affect you're quality considerably. On the other hand, Canon's 100 ISO is perfect for bright sunny days.

I'm sure I missed some other complaints though I'm not sure what they are. To sum it up, this is a very easy camera to use even for a novice. The controls to adjust your camera settings and image quality are very easy to use and very intuitive. If you do understand photo editing are really want to shoot RAW images but don't want to have to manually set all the camera settings (aperture, shutter speed etc.), the P-AE mode only requires that you set the ISO which is very simple (keep it as low as light conditions allow while retaining a high shutter speed). My main complaint is lack of documentation for include software (particularly the File viewer App which is required for converting RAW images). Granted downloading the PDF's from Canon's web site is not a problem but it should not be necessary.

Overall, an excellent camera for its intended consumer. The camera has all the image quality that the pros have come to expect from Canon's digital SLR's. The auto focus is very fast and accurate (especially compare to compact point and shoot cameras). The shutter lag is virtually non existent so when you press the shutter release it pretty much instantly shoots so you won't miss the shot (again unlike the vast majority of compact P&S which seem to take forever from the time you depress the shutter from the time it actually goes. One quick piece of advise whether you get this camera or the Rebel XT. Get the 18-55mm lens. For the money this is an excellent wide a angle lens, and it is only available with the camera.

This is my third digital camera I have owned (previous cameras: Canon Powershot S100 and Canon Powershot G1). I have used the Digital Rebel for over a year now and have had excellent results. In addition, with the introduction of the Canon D20 and now the Rebel XT, the original Digital Rebel has fallen in price and thus making this camera even a better deal. I would recommend you buy the body only and get a good quality Canon lens (i.e. 17-40L or the 28-135 IS) as a starter.

Some people have said the Nikon D70 is a better camera to go with. My friend has one and I have used it on some occasions - and I do agree it is a good camera, but the Canon is superior in that fact that Canon offers a better range and quality of lenses than Nikon.

For a sample of photos taken with the Digital Rebel take a look at my site:

http://www.picturetrail.com/bircher

Scroll down to the Oahu, Hawaii 2004 and the Wild West Road Trip 2004 albums. All photos were taken with the Digital Rebel and with the 18-55 and 28-135 IS lens (I have upgraded and now have the 17-40L).

Buy the Digital Rebel and you will not be disappointed!

I did quite some extensive research before commiting to the Digital Rebel. I wanted a digital SLR mostly for family photos but also for Astrophotography. I signed in a lot of forums were this camera was the most recommended in digital astrophotography (non-CCD) as well as the best cost-benefit as all purpose camera.

I have intentions to modify this camera to take best advantage in astrophography. This means that I will carefully remove the included IR-filter in order to get better astrophotos. This means I won't be able to take terrestrial (all purpose) pictures as the photos will result redish looking without the IR-filter. As a consequence, I will probably get the Digital Rebel XT for family pictures.

I am pleased with this camera. I understand that the Rebel XT is clearly better but for the difference in price I thought I could make due with the original rebel. I was right. The rebel takes great pictures, the color saturation is perfect, there is virtually no shutter lag at all, as compared to my other digital compacts. The continuous shooting modes work much better than any of the cameras I have used so far. The battery life is excellent, and the auto focus is usually right on. For those instances when I want to focus on a specific thing, other than what the camera does, the manual focus couldn't be eisier! I have a website page with the pictures I have taken with this camera and the others mentioned below.

http://www.pbase.com/markcas

Previous camera experience: Olympus C-765, Kodak DX7630, Fujifilm 550, Olympus D-580, and Casio Z4U

This is a quality starter camera for DSLR use. I bought mine approx. 8 months ago, and since then have moved up to almost 9,000 photos taken. The image quality still competes with newer models, but noise is definitely a weakness. Also unfortunate is the buffer size of 4 pics in either JPEG or RAW mode. Even without shooting in rapid-fire mode, it's pretty easy to fill it up, and leave you stuck waiting for pictures to write to the card. Other than that, it works just fine.

One of the first to purchase this camera - I've used it over 22 months and really LIKE my decision. Purchased as a 35mm replacement - I was wary of this - my first Digital Camera. The stock "kit lens" is a more than an adequate performer. Coupled with a Canon "L" series telephoto, a battery grip and a 420EX and 580EX Speedlight that couples nicely with the dRebel - I was in absolute photo heaven!

Rich color - astoundingly sharp pictures and manual controls to handle almost every situation - I've taken this camera around the world two times as a defense contractor. This camera exceeded my expectations in every department except the built in flash - which should be supplanted with the one of the previously mentioned Canon speedlights. These flash units couple seamlessly thru E-TTL on the Canon hotshoe or hotshoe extender cord for stunning flash pictures.

With the purchase of a speedlight bracket - and diffuser hood - I've taken over 3,000 portraits at charity events and have had nary an unsatisfied customer. The BG-1 battery grip allows a second battery to couple with the first - never - never had I had or have to worry about camera power.

Things I'd like to see improve:

1) Tighter sealing on the internals - middle east dust has had to be taken out of portions of the camera I did not know existed. A more expensive and tightly sealed metal framed camera would probably prevent this.
2) A much better pop-up flash unit.
3) A 2.0 USB port - instead of 1.1 for faster computer up and down loading from the camera.
4. Apparently - there is a shutter life limit (determined by picture count) that is NOT covered under warranty - shorter than the more expensive professional series Canon Cameras. May be cause for concern...

My experience with this early model dRebel has been overwhelmingly positive. Have upgraded camera software from the Canon website and avoided problem operations others have experienced. Many improvements have been made in the Rebel XT an 8.0 MP camera - which also deserves a close look. If you want to make the leap from high level 35 SLR to Digital - come and join the fun!

I am new to digital photograhy and received this camera as a gift. It is so easy to use with all the automatic features. The first picture I took was a close up shot and it came out phenomenal. It looks professional. I've taken many photos since and am really impressed with the quality and resolution of the automatic settings. I've taken photos of my friends children, matted and framed the photos and they made wonderful gifts. I look forward to learning how to use the advanced features.

There are already tons of reviews on the EOS 300d (Digital Rebel) but I do want to share my experience with the camera, so I will keep this short. I bought this camera about 5 months ago and I am in love with. I was not new to photography or to SLR's, but new to the world of digital SLR. I had previously used an ancient Minolta x-570, a "pro-sumer" 35mm film slr with a Vivitar 35-105 standard zoom lens. First and foremost this camera takes excellent pictures, very high quality and no distortion that I have seen. This camera is particularly good as a beginner's dSLR because there are so many options to use and learn. But until you are ready to take advantage of all the featues, you can use this just like a point and shoot. Battery life has been excellent so far: thought I would suggest getting an extra to have as a backup for long days of taking photos. I have also been quite happy with the kit lens, which I wasn't sure I would like since it is not as versatile as the lens I had been using on my Minolta. But the kit lens has proved to be a great learning tool: I have been able to take some great shots, while also learning what kinds of other, better lenses I would like to add to my setup.

**The only issue I have had was a problem with a Sandisk 2gb CF card. After about 300 shots, the camera froze and stopped responding to that card. I was able to salvage most of the photos after the fact, but don't risk it. If you're serious enough to spend this kind of money on a camera, spend a little extra money on the Sandisk Ultra II line of high-speed cards.

I have had 5 digital point and shoot cameras all a little bigger and better than the last. This is my first SLR and I am not in the least disappointed. This camera meets or exceeded everything I expected from it. Very easy to learn, read the manual and use the web site tuturial and when the battery is charged your ready to go take pictures. I highly recommend this camera.

This review will be really two parts: one for the amateur who has been using point and shoots, or has experience with film based SLRs; the other one for the prosumer or advanced amateur who is either going to digital from film Canon EOS bodies or is getting into pro-level digital shooting on the low end. For the former, the camera is pretty much all you need; for the latter, it is lacking key functionality, but IS workable.

I'm in the latter category. I've done freelance photo work in the past, but not since the digital age began to take off in the late '90s. I've been shooting EOS cameras since the early '90s, and added medium format in the late '90s for wedding and portrait work. I'll be honest: I didn't like the idea of digital at first. Sure, the workflow improvements over film sounded great, but I wasn't seeing the quality of digital vs. film. I still am very much a believer that, at least for prints, especially big prints, film delivers a better overall picture quality. But the quality of digital SLRs since the release of the Digital Rebel is so good, the workflow advantages trump film in all but rare situations. I'll still use my medium format equipment for landscape and outdoor pics I'll print large and frame, but other than a pocket 35mm, I can't see using film much at all in that category, after seeing what I can do with the DReb.

If you are primarily an amateur who is either used to using a Point and Shoot (film or digital) or who has used a consumer film SLR, you'll find this camera easy to operate and use to the extent you used your other cameras. I bought this without the lens, as I have other lenses and the packaged one didn't offer me anything, but for those without Canon glass, you get a surprisingly good lens with the kit. Remember, though, that the lens will only fit on the Digital Rebel, its successors, and possibly the 10/20D line of Canon EOS bodies.

Shooting is pretty simple. Charge the battery, which is easy -- the charger blinks depending upon its charge. You can look at the charger with the battery on there and see where you are, charge wise. It doesn't take very long to charge the battery fully. Once you have the battery in the camera, you'll need a Compact Flash card. I recommend SanDisk Ultra II cards. You won't experience any write time problems over an above this camera's natural limitations. Then, set the ISO value (100-1600), set either the pre-programed mode on one side of the dial, or the traditional Program/Shutter Priority/Apeture Priority settings on the other side, and you are ready to rock. Remember that unlike many digital cameras, the LED on the back of the camers DOES NOT function as a viewfinder. Aside from displaying various camera options, it shows what you shot after shooting.

If you want to use this as an advanced amateur/pro setup, you can, but know its limitations. I bought this in March and have been shooting all sports with it. I'm using a Canon L USM lens, and have gotten some terrific shots. But I've also missed some that have led me to decide to sell this camera and pick up a 20D. The problem I get into is focusing speed and zones. The 2.5 fps with only a 4 frame burst isn't as big a problem as it sounds. I can still get good action in the burst mode, but admittedly 5 fps with 22 or 25 (20D) bursts is much better. If you want to use this to shoot something like concerts or indoor events, you won't have the same focusing issues. You will have to deal with any flash limitations, but for that information, you will have to read another review. I'm not a camera flash guy under any definition.

The only real problem I've had with this camera is that my shots are consistently underexposed by about .5-.7 of a stop. I shoot exclusively RAW mode (never shot JPG on this one other than first dozen or so shots) and it has been correctable when I convert the images. This is more of a minor irritation, and may not be noticable in JPEG shots. I've seen others using this camera complain of it as well.

This camera is as good of a consumer camera as you will find. If a pro, or semi-pro, can make something function for his or her needs, you know the consumer can get everything they need out of this. I've been shooting since I was 8 or so, have owned umpteen cameras, and this one fills its market niche as good as any of them.

I have owned a Canon EOS Digital Rebel 6.3mp for several weeks now and love it. Fantastic pictures & features. I worked with SLR's for many years. Figured it was time to "move up" to the digital SLR and glad I did. This camera has plenty of features available, or you can just set it for "auto" and that works fine, too. Though an optional flash is not needed for most photography I wanted one for far shots and such. Canon makes several models dedicated to this camera, but I find them weak (220EX) or costly. Shop carefully in trying to find a compatible flash. It needs to be "dedicated" to the digital Rebels. One that will work with AF (auto focus) or the SLR (film) Rebel may not work right. I also received conflicting information from Ritz Camera, both on-line and in the stores. Bottom line, if you need a flash, shop carefully and ask all the right questions. Personally I have held off buying one hoping more models at a lower price come out. The camera does already have a small pop-up flash. BTW, the Tamron AF 70-300 Macro 1:2 zoom is a nice lens to buy with it, and priced nicely at Beach Camera.

I had an Olympus 5MP point-n-shoot Camedia camera I was pretty happy with for portraits. I was annoyed w/ the fixed lens that prevented me from taking good photos of wildlife. I have hummingbird feeders in my backyard and unless you've had the opportunity to work with hummingbird families for years, the sweet, tiny animals are skittish and don't often pose for you when you get too close. When my point-n-shoot stopped focusing, I took advantage of this situation by rationalizing this bigger purchase.

What a joy it has been to use this camera. The 6.3MP is a significant improvement over 5 and the ability to take photos in manual mode cannot be understated. With the fixed point-n-shoot, the camera refused to shoot if it didn't "feel" that it was in focus... so it was impossible to shoot sunsets, lightning or other natural beauties in the "infinity" range of the focal length.

The Rebel makes use of Compact Flash - the oldest, yet still the best technology for taking fast, high-quality photos in digital cameras.

My less than perfect rating is due to the small memory buffer. You can take up to 3fps very easily, but if you click-click-click the shutter, it doesn't matter if Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and Elvis start doing a little soft-shoe right in front of you, by the time the Rebel finishes writing the recent 3 quick shots to the CF card, the shot of the century has already slithered back into the swamp by the time the camera is ready to be used again.

If you're taking portraits, not a problem. A click here and there and you'll never notice the lack of memory buffer... but if you're shooting at a ball game or other quick moving objects, you're going to get frustrated very quickly.

The flash is decent, but you really need a good flash like the 580 in the hot-shoe if you want a better even spread and avoidance of red-eye. A lot of folks shrug about red-eye since most affordable or free programs like iPhoto or Photoshop Elements have built-in correction for red-eye - but red-eye correction by one click is only available for humans. If you're shooting wildlife, forget about any software that has a one-click (or a million clicks!) solution for blue-eye in dogs, yellow-eye in cats, flaming-demon eye in bunnies or the variety of odd reflections you will get bouncing off retinas of various species. The best way to circumvent this problem is to avoid bouncing flash directly into the retinas of your subjects from the get-go. No more glare or odd reflections when you use a better flash.

The ability to upgrade to better lenses is the crux of SLR ownership. The sky is the limit. Get a good wide-angle and a good, fast telephoto and you've got yourself set for some great shots. This camera isn't going to take advantage of CF cards faster than 40x, so you can save money by buying the slightly slower CF cards, but I invested in the 80x cards so I can use them when I upgrade cameras.

This Rebel has gotten me back into photography after a decade-long hiatus. The camera automatically detects vertical shots and turns them 90 degrees for you in the LCD window. It is quick and easy to adjust the ISO to "push" the film (so to speak) to take advantage of low-light situations, but you get the same grainy effects as you do when you push real film.

With an ISO of 100 and using a 512MB CF card, you have 157 photos at your disposal - if you push it all the way to 1600, 104 shots on the same card. At 400, your shots are already compromized regarding print quality... but if Sasquatch comes-a-knockin' in the wee hours, you'll still get decent proof if you shoot at 1600.

Having a background in film photography spanning 2 decades, I didn't even have to consult the manual for this camera to use it fresh out of the box. It handles in many ways like a professional film SLR, and unlike the point-n-shoots, there aren't cryptic settings that have no film parallel.

For sunny days and outdoor shots, this camera is a sheer joy to use.

An incredible piece of equipment at an almost give away price. I have no complaints and this camera surpasses what I expected.

I have had this camera since Jan '05 and have so far taken approximately 10,000 shots while on trips and at weddings.

Don't expect much from it and you will be happy. As an entry level DSLR it does what it's supposed to do in ideal conditions. I find it's strength is in taking people photographs in bright light, provided that they are not moving.


Cons:

In landscape photography this camera is lacking - both due to inadequate megapixels and it's inability to capture the natural blues and greens very well.

Battery dies FAST. The battery I got with it hardly lasts a whole day of shooting, especially when shooting in RAW mode. I have yet to fill up a 1Gig card when shooting in RAW mode(Approx 150 shots) before the battery dies. Surprisingly when shooting jpegs, I get more shots per charge(Over 300) but hardly enough to last a day. I cannot tell you the number of times the battery has died on me while I was out on a hike. So I always carry a backup film camera (my trusty Elan 7).

The viewfinder is very dim. When I look through my Elan 7 and then through the 300D, it is painfully obvious how dark the image is through the 300D's viewfinder. In indoor situations with low light this becomes a handicap, especially when having to resort to manual focus.

Autofocus in low light for the 300d is terrible. When shooting indoors, the autofocus hunts and ends up focusing on something behind your intended subject. I have lots of beautiful photos of walls and sconces in the background in sharp focus while the people standing in front in the middle of the frame are an out of focus blur. This is despite having a 420Ex Flash on my camera that uses an infrared beam to assist with the focus.

The 420EX flash is supposed to "talk" to the camera and adjust the power in order to ensure the subjects are not over or under exposed. However, with the 300d, this is a crap shoot at best and many of my indoor shots are over/under exposed.

After about five months, the shutter button started sticking. I would click it and then it would remain depressed. The shutter button would only pop back up after I jiggled it a little.

Another annoying thing about the camera is that the settings are displayed on the rear of the camera and not on the top beside the shutter button. And since there is only one thumbwheel, it is not easy to change aperature and shutter speed. For example, if you use the thumbwheel to change the aperature, then to change the shutter speed you would have to press another button while at the same time turning the thumbwheel. When you take thousands of shots over the life of the camera, this is a real annoyance.

So would I recommend this camera:
If you are a casual point and shoot person, it's an affordable entry into DSLRs that produces decent photos. But if you plan on shooting a lot indoors or want to take landscape photographs that can actually convey the colors accurately, look elsewhere.

I have had this camera a little over a year and I still can't put it down. It is wonderful. I have two little boys on the move and this camera takes their picture with hardly any delay. Just snap and go. I bought my dad the XP in March and he loves it too.

For its time and price (at the time), a fantastic camera. 6.3 MP is more than sufficient for most amateur and semi-pro (non-studio) work, and this camera works very well with what really matters: Canon's fantastic lenses. Battery life on this camera is very good. The "shutter lag" (between when you depress the button and when the camera actually takes a photo) is fairly well non-existent, and the only real lag I have is when I am shooting multiple photos in RAW format. As most photographers know, the lens is almost more important than the body, and outside of Leica lenses, I don't think anything really competes with Canon's line. The 18-55 lens that comes with this camera is sufficient for casual work...I used it at the beach, and on hikes with my dog, when I don't want to lug around my bigger, more expensive, higher-quality lenses. But for $75 or so, you can have a 50mm 1.8 EOS lens, which will supplement the 18-55 nicely, particularly for night photography.

My one complaint about this camera is its ability to meter light adequately in dark settings. When I shoot RAW this isn't such a big problem, because I can fix it in Photoshop, but most everything I shoot inside, unless I manually mess with the white balance every time, has an orange tint that is interesting for the first 200 shots, and then is annoying after. I think the more advanced EOS models that have come out since 2004 or so fix this color problem, and also help a bit with the lag between the RAW shots...but for the money, this camera is excellent, and far, far superior to, for example, Olympus' digital exquivalent (for a similar price). The difference, as far as I'm concerned, is in the absolute advantage Canon has in lens quality. You can use a high-end consumer body like this one, use a professional piece of Canon glass (lens) and take excellent photos. I wouldn't invest in a system that doesn't also boast excellent lens quality.

I purchased my 300D in May 2005, when the XT was released and this 6.3 MP model's price began falling. I'd have to really pick this camera apart to tell you the downsides of it; disregard reviews by those who think this camera is not up to par -- of course it's not comparable to the EOS 1-Series or a 5D, so don't expect the same features or capabilities. The right user, however, can get similar results.

That said, unless you are a professional photographer, I cannot imagine how the Digital Rebel could be inadequate for any amateur or semi-pro shooter. It's speed and megapixels have since been passed by, but it's still, especially now, a great buy.

The kit lens will perform for you just fine, although most of my shots with the kit lens are at 18mm, landscape or just wide-angle shots. The flash works very well in most situations, even in extremely dark rooms. One guy complained his AF hunted in low light situations, even with flash...of course, what do you expect in a dark room? Use manual focus and grow up.

Quality is great from ISO 100-400, although 800 can be somewhat ugly at times, and 1600 is basically unusable, especially if you're not shooting at f/2.8 or bigger.

My main complaints: slow start-up time compared to the newer models (XT, 20D, etc) ... camera seems to be out of breath after continuous shooting; take 8 shots quickly and you may notice the camera needs to process info before it can shoot again. 2.5 frames/second is not very fast if you're shooting any sports.

Overall, this camera has been incredibly reliable for me; it's gotten me front page shots on newspapers, magazine covers, calendars and websites. I used it so much that I blew out the shutter in 10 months; Canon fixed it at no charge and it works fine since. One minor problem: very rarely, it won't turn on unless I remove the battery and re-insert it.

I've found the battery life to be fantastic. I can use it all day, even with flash, and still have some life at the end of the day. A backup battery in your bag should give you more than enough insurance for a day.

I've printed at 11x17 with excellent results.

With some practice, it's very easy to navigate. Menus and options are simple; changing the ISO or aperture is very easy despite what some have complained about. It's very reliable in fully-auto mode as well, especially if you're shooting with flash. A memory card reader is a must when uploading images.

Overall: it's old news in the world of digital SLRs, but right now, a new or used model at such a good price is really is great value.

I purchased the EOS 300 Digital "Rebel" mostly because of my positive experience with a Canon A80 digital. I absolutely love the A80 and Canon quality and customer service is first rate and wanted to upgrade resolution, FPS, and shooting flexibility. I was disappointed that even though I experienced a slight improvement in picture resolution, i found the EOS 300 Rebel just underwhelming in terms of design, function and ease of use. It felt heavy and awkward, and didn't seem a significant improvement over the A80. I also had a problem with the lens(an upgrade from the lens kit). The auto focus servo malfunctioned, only worked in one direction and the camera could not focus at all in low light. I returned the EOS camera and lens and bought the Nikon D70 and 18-70 lens kit, the other option for serious prosumer gear. WOW, what a difference and what a beautiful camera! Amazing image/color quality, fast auto focus, with low-light beam assist. The metering is dead-on precise, i can even get an accurate exposure with 30 second shutter speeds! Changing film speed, white balance, apeture, shutter speed is one touch controlled with dials at thumb and forefinger. The menu works like windows with very easy to access and use. The lens is a wider focal range and better quality than the Rebel kit. The D70 feels great in the hand: solid, lighweight with natural ergonomics. It was intelligently designed by people who use cameras, know digital photography, and not just an adaptation from an older model film camera. Spend the extra few $'s for the D70, and especially now with the $200 rebate on the camera and lens kit.

Giving the number of stellar reviews this camera has received, I guess the Digital Rebel can do no wrong.

I switched from a Canon Powershot G2, a camera with which I took over 14,000 pictures. I loved my G2 but it had seen way too much action. Plus, I wanted the luxury of interchangable lenses. My wife had a normal film Rebel SLR, so for sake of compatibility, I figured I'd stick with Canon again.

One Digital Rebel and $2000 in lenses later, I'm happy to say that I'm very pleased. The quality over your average Point & Shoot cameras is significant. The Rebel opened a whole new door for me when it came to post-processing. I found myself encouranged to use Photoshop, putting some spin on otherwise poor photographs. Yes, the Rebel does have a significant learning curve, especially if you move away from the Point and Shoot settings. I had to learn nomenclature and settings, but figured it out eventually. The manual was fairly helpful in this regard.

If you are worried about moving from a PnS camera system to the Prosumer side, don't be. The Rebel does have those PnS settings. The only thing you'll be sacrificing is Movie Mode, as the mirror occludes the sensor. Well...you might be sacrificing some cash as you discover the multitude of EF and EF-S lenses that Canon has to offer.

If you do purchase the kit with the 18-55mm EF-S lens, be prepared to exchange it for something else. For the record, I purchased three lenses with this camera - a 17-40mm 4.0/L for outdoor photography, a 50mm 1.4f lens for indoor portrait work, and a 75-300mm USM IS for aircraft and wildlife photography. Just like the camera, each of those lenses has served me well.

Guys this is a great camera. My only suggestion is to buy the body only rather than the package with the lens. All Canon lens fit on it. So buy the one(s) you want rather than the less than top quality one they include in the package.

Great purchase that I use for work and play :-)
Amy

You have to get a $200 to $300 good quality digital camera, or buy this one!! We had 2 digital camera's (Sony, Canon), until I received this one as a gift. You don't understand the difference in quality until you compare the photos. The "idiot" mode is great. You do NOT have to be a photo hobbiest to use this camera. It came be used as point and click with great results. There are also manual mode if you want to start learning. The documentation is simple and makes using the other modes simple. I use the Auto "idiot" mode all the time.

The perfect Camera.

As most reviews say, this is a great digital SLR. The 420EX flash makes a huge difference in photo quality. With the 28-135 and the 420ex flash unit the camera is very heavy and I cannot see lugging it to Disney, you would want a smalller digital camera for that.
[...]

I bought my DigiReb in Feb. 2005 and have shot literally thousands of photos with it since then, with few problems. I added a Canon EF 28-105mm ultrasonic lens last year and have enjoyed the results, although I found early on that the new lens no longer allowed me the luxury of shooting on autofocus. Okay, so, necessity forced me to learn to love manual operation of the DigiReb.

Media cards - Generally, I've used and sworn by SanDisk 512MB CF cards. They've never failed me, and have allowed me to reuse them many times over. About a year ago I bought a Hitachi 4GB Microdrive media card and while I loved the storage space, I found that the processing time was far slower than a simple 1GB SanDisk CF card I also purchased. Not so infrequently, when shooting with the Microdrive, I found that the card didn't record an image, but instead I'd see the dreaded "Corrupted data" message on the LCD where I'd hope to see an image.

Let's also talk batteries. I've noticed on cold days that the proprietary Canon lithium batteries for the Digital Rebel drain down quickly in cold temps - today's temps in DC were in the high-20's to low-30's. And I do think that you are hardpressed to get through one day of serious shutterbugging (say, traveling through Tuscany, where you could easily snap off 300 shots) without going through one lithium battery and half of another. Let's face it - when you're shooting on manual and trying to adjust for the light with a bright sky but a less than bright street scene, you want to check the LCD to see whether you need to adjust and take another shot. And that means you're going to go thru batteries.

Earlier today I went out for a hike at Great Falls Park, taking the camera along, with those frosty temps ready to drain the lone battery I took along. I was able to capture a few early shots, and while the battery power quickly went from reading full to less than half full, the camera continued to work...except that it simply took blank images - all black...! Battery was present, microdrive was loaded, lens cap was off, shutter depressed, photo seemed to have been taken, but nothing showed up on the LCD. Not even a "Corrupt Data" message. Only a dark screen.

So, this afternoon I've purchased a SanDisk Extreme III 2GB CF card, have recharged my batteries and am indoors, with an ambient room temp in the low 70's. Fired up the DigiReb, shot a handful of images, and...I'm still getting the black screen of death. The DigiReb and it's flash are snapping away, but something's missing. (Downloaded the images to my laptop - no dice, nothing, but black screens.)

If anyone else has encountered this problem, please let me know what you found out about the issue.

It would really reflect poorly on Canon for this product to give up the ghost after just two years of service...That's why I'm giving this product only 3 stars.

I'm not an expert but it seems to be an outrageous camera.

It should come wiht a case....

I'm hoping for a Digic III chip before buying a new one, but for anyone looking for a camera they can learn and experiment at a cheaper price, the 300D is your best choice.

It offers the same basic usage as the newer canons; the 350 and 400D's without the "fancy; seldom used" features.

If you can find a slightly used one, this will be a good choice to start before buying the more expensive ones. :)

I'm a photography novice and this is my first SLR. It's been a great camera since I bought it 2 years ago; very easy to use and very powerful. I can't see wanting a better camera when you're starting out like I am. There are many better cameras but I can't justify the cost with how little I know about photography.

The software isn't great but it does the job. The only thing that's bad about the camera is that it makes you want to go out and start spending too much money on lenses and other equipment. I'd say photography is a pretty healthy hobby though.. who doesn't want to go out and take great sunset pictures?

I had this camera for a little over a year. Takes wonderful pictures, is very easy to carry around. I upgraded to the Rebel XTI, I wanted to upgrade to the 40D but after Nikon announced the D300 I knew the Canon 40D is not worth the asking price. I settled for the XTI until a more fully featured semi pro Canon would be released at a reasonable price. If you want a camera under $600 then the 300D Rebel XT is a good choice. For almost the same price you should go with the new 400D Rebel XTI. I would personally purchase the body only and buy a good lens, the lens that come with these models are not the best.

I am a hard core Technology Driven kind of guy. I am the type who people come to for technical answers, Computers, Laptops, Printers, and even Digital Cameras. My first exposure (no pun intended) with this camera happened when my estranged father came back in to my life, and to overcompensate for being out of my life for many many years, he gave me this digital camera. After saying no for too many times, and I felt that I began to offend him, I took the camera. Let me sum this camera up in three little letters..... WOW! I can not believe how easy this camera is to operate. This camera will do two things for you. #1 it will draw you into the hobby of photography, and #2 it will make you feel like you missed your calling, and that you should have been a professional photographer. You will most likely find yourself entering photo contests! I have been blown away at the photos I have taken. I think to myself... "Did I really take that photo?" If you get the camera, make sure to get two batteries and multiple memory cards you will need them as you will find yourself taking so many pictures with this camera. I have used so many digital cameras, bit the bullet and get this one!

I purchased this camera January 2005, my first digital SLR. This camera works great most of the time, does everything it is suppose to for the price I paid for. The few times it didn't work is in focusing. Even though I know the camera is in focus, but the Digital Rebel just wouldn't take the photo kept zooming in and out of focus. So I either 1) switch to manual mode or 2) turn the camera off and turn it back on again. Either way, then it would immediately work like the camera it is suppose to. The battery does drain quite a bit if you leave it on or on a cold day. I shot a lot in darker, high speed sports related events. And this camera has performed pretty well considering it is a beginner digital SLR.

This camera has served me well in professional as well as hobbyist capacity. The ability to shoot in RAW format, shoot at a burst rate with no lag is awesome. Lens is same as Canon releases today on the XTi. I've used telephoto lens from Canon and it works great on this camera. I have noticed that compared to my friend's XTi, the DR requires more work from the user to get the same quality, specifically in full auto mode there is a difference. The small view finder and small metering display, as well as the flash are all a let down when comparing to newer DSLRs. But, if you find one of these it will be much cheaper and still very useful. I've used this camera to place images into large 11X17 and larger movie posters and the images look superb. If you have 300 bucks dont hesitate, this camera is one of the best deals for the money. And the lens will still work for you when you upgrade to a pro model.

This really is a great camera and to really appreciate it you have to understand its target audience. It seems clear that Canon has aimed this camera primarily at novices. Its point and shoot are as simple as you will find on any consumer compact digicam. Its creative setting should offer enough control and flexibility to keep most intermediate and advance photographers happy. First though lets go over some of the complaints people are writing about the camera.

1). I can't set up my photo through the LCD-----No you surely can't. SLR's are designed specifically to direct the light and image from the lens to the view finder. To the best of my knowledge, there is not a true digital SLR which allows you to do this. And there shouldn't be. You can keep the camera a lot more steady and get a much better view of what your image will look like through the view finder then you ever could looking at an LCD six to eight inches from your body.
2). Complaint number two is just as silly. Canon does not include a CF card with the camera. I've yet to see a digital SLR manufacturer that includes any media with the camera. Also when you consider that about the only card they could include without affecting the price much is a 128mb card with is next to useless in a camera like this.

Now to some more reasonable complaints

1). This camera is slow to start up (compared to many current DSLR's by Canon and Nikon). There really was not much that Canon could have done about that. It uses the same first generation DIGIC processing chip and same 6.3mp CMOS as the Canon D10. The D10 has similar short comings. If you can't live with this (about 3 seconds from power up till you can take a photo) you might want to consider the new Rebel XT or D20. You'll also have to decide if the extra responsiveness is worth an extra 200-300.00 bucks.
2). For continuous shooting you only get 2.5PFS and 4 frame bursts. Much of this is also do to the DIGIC. The D10 isn't much faster (though it does have a larger buffer (the images are stored in the buffer before they can be written to your media) which does allow it to continue shooting while the dRebel is catching its breath. I was very much aware of this "Shortcoming" before I bought the camera and understand it as a cost cutting method (larger buffers cost more money) and decided to accept this short coming rather then pay an extra 200-300. bucks.
3). Canon has crippled the camera by removing many manual control features(through software-The camera is physically able to carry out many of these functions but Canon removed the ability by programing the DIGIC chip (the firmware) to disallow these features. Clearly a business decision and one that make some sense. You really would not want to release a low cost camera with all the same features as your higher end camera. On the other hand, I really wished they would have kept some of the features they removed (like the ability for the user to adust the flash settings).
4). I can't shoot RAW images in the automatic settings. I can understand this. Most of the people using the fully automatic settings are probably novices. RAW images cannot be printed from the camera directly to a printer. RAW images require quite a bit of post shooting work before they're usable. If some one that really does not know much about photography were to shoot a couple of hundred RAW images they would be pretty upset when they found out they could not print their images and didn't know how to change that.
5). The Nikon D70 supports higher ISO's then the Canon. The ISO adjusts the camera's sensitivity to light (on film cameras it's the film speed). My answer to that is that the D70 does not support an ISO of 100 and the dRebel does. Personally, I would much rather have an ISO range of 100-1600 like the dRebel then an ISO range of 200-3200. The higher the ISO setting the more digital noise you're likely to get and an ISO of 3200 would seem to affect you're quality considerably. On the other hand, Canon's 100 ISO is perfect for bright sunny days.

I'm sure I missed some other complaints though I'm not sure what they are. To sum it up, this is a very easy camera to use even for a novice. The controls to adjust your camera settings and image quality are very easy to use and very intuitive. If you do understand photo editing are really want to shoot RAW images but don't want to have to manually set all the camera settings (aperture, shutter speed etc.), the P-AE mode only requires that you set the ISO which is very simple (keep it as low as light conditions allow while retaining a high shutter speed). My main complaint is lack of documentation for include software (particularly the File viewer App which is required for converting RAW images). Granted downloading the PDF's from Canon's web site is not a problem but it should not be necessary.

Overall, an excellent camera for its intended consumer. The camera has all the image quality that the pros have come to expect from Canon's digital SLR's. The auto focus is very fast and accurate (especially compare to compact point and shoot cameras). The shutter lag is virtually non existent so when you press the shutter release it pretty much instantly shoots so you won't miss the shot (again unlike the vast majority of compact P&S which seem to take forever from the time you depress the shutter from the time it actually goes. One quick piece of advise whether you get this camera or the Rebel XT. Get the 18-55mm lens. For the money this is an excellent wide a angle lens, and it is only available with the camera.

The Canon Digital Rebel SLR is no doubt, still the best digital SLR on the market for those who want both the combination of quality at an affordable cost. Since my purchase of the camera nearly a year ago I have found it to be quite a splendid camera, the 6.3 Mega pixel image sensor delivers great resolution with vivid, accurate colours. The lens which comes with most of the rebel packages (Canon EF 18-55mm lens) also delivers surprisingly good captures (don't be fooled just because of the cheap price of the lens sold separately) The Interface of the Rebel is very simple to use and has features for both the new photographers and semi-professionals. Highly recommended.

P.S. I believe that it is advantageous to purchase the Rebel along with the EF 18-55mm lens as well as the 75-300mm zoom lens, both made by Canon.

I've had this camera for about 2 months now, but from the day I got it, I was off and taking some stunning pictures! Even with all the features, I find this camera to be easier to use than most DC's I've played with and have owned (see below for list). The size and price might be a bit much for some, but I really don't mind either. I have HP R507 as my "pocket camera", but I always find excuses to take the canon with me every where I go!

Picture quality: EXCELLENT. I'm a novice photographer, but with the benefit of this being digital, it's helping me learn a lot about photography that I didn't have the patience to wait for developing the film. With the digital rebel, I don't have to wait to see how my "experimental" shots come out. I've taken some cool over exposure shots of traffic at night, and it was VERY easy to do! Other pictures I've taken come out as good as (if not better than) my Canon 35mm Rebel 2000. I don't foresee needing/wanting to enlarge my pictures more than 8x10, and with the canon 80-200mm zoom (which becomes 128-320mm on the digital rebel wich 1.6x factor), I should be able to accomplish pretty much any shots I'd ever want.

Features: EXCELLENT (still camera only). I don't believe in Video feature in DC's to be something useful, at least not until MPEG4 or other higher compression becomes more widely used. Right now, you can only cram 20 minutes of 320x240 video into 256MB card (less if you go 640x480), so to me, that's not useful. If you want to take videos, you really should get a video camera. I especially like that digital rebel goes to ISO 1600 which makes taking night shots much easier!

Battery life: EXCELLENT. As a test, I took enough pictures to fill a 512MB CF card, about 150 pictures, mostly with flash, some without. Battery was still barely 1/2 down. Included fast charger is a nice touch, it has an LED indicator to let you known that the battery is 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and fully charged. So in a pinch you could charge just till 1/2 charged (15-30 minutes charge time) and then keep shooting. But I don't think I'll be taking more than 150 pictures in a day, so I'm opting to not get the backup battery.

Cost: EXCELLENT (for me). "It's soooo choice! If you have the means, I'd highly recommend you get one of those" - Ferris Bueller. For some, the price maybe a bit of a shock. Personally, I don't believe in paying more than $200 for digital point and shoot cameras not when you can buy a nice 35mm SLR for $250. But for a digital SLR, $799 I paid after MIR was worth it!

Film cameras I've owned: Couple of 110's, late 70's Ricoh 35mm - which I've forgotten how to use, Canon 35mm Powershot Waterproof, Canon point and shoot 35mm, Kodak APS point and shoot, Canon Rebel 2000 35mm.

Digital cameras I own: HP 318, HP R507 - good backup for Digital Rebel!

Digital cameras I have experiences with: Kodak 3.1MP, HP 635

I've had my Digital Rebel EOS for over a year now and