Canon Rebel XT

Jeff Toogood · March 24th, 2005, 11:54 AM

Nothing is breaking on them, just bad design. If you have a flash mounted on the camera and you turn the camera into portrait position while holding onto the grip, sometimes the camera will momentarily lose power! There is too much flex in the grip and it causes the connection pin to lose contact with the camera.
Canon supposably fixed the problem and all grips with serial numbers greater than #05xxxx aren't supposed to have the problem.
So I exchanged my original grip for one with a serial number starting with #06xxxx and it still has the same problems. Canon in Canada hasn't officially claimed anything. I talked to Camera Canada, where I bought it and they have returned ALOT of these grips because of the same complaints.
I called Canon and they didn't seem very surprised and said to send it in and they will perform a 'small adjustment' and send it back to me. Hopefully it works better.
I miss my 10D grip, that thing was SOLID, as you know.

Dylan Couper · March 24th, 2005, 12:18 PM

I've taken to juggling my 10d. I can get it 6-8 feet over my head and catch it by the grip on the way down. Sometimes, I just wait to catch it on the first bounce.

:)

Jos Svendsen · March 29th, 2005, 07:46 AM

I had the pleasue at being at Canon event, where some Japanese Canon big bosses also were present. We were all given a XT to play with and afterwards we had a Q&A with the japanese management.

We were all complaining about the size of the camera, but the complaints sort of silenced, when one of the really big bosses annonced that *he* had missed several good shots because he accidently has pressed exposure lock due to the small size of the camera. He was in fact quite angry. And his statement apparently had a major effect on the present Canon people. Far more than our remarks

I think that it is beginning to dawn on Canon that smaller is not better.

Rik Sanchez · March 31st, 2005, 09:09 PM

I just bought mine yesterday, got the battery grip with it as well, but, yeah, it is a lot smaller than most cameras. I guess I'll get used to it the more I use it, I thought my XL-1 was "too big" when I first bought it but I soon got used to it. Several camera stores that I went to had the black version sold out, luckily the store I went to had them in stock and for about $100 less.

The standard wide lens that comes with it has a very cheap feel to it so I bought the body only and got a different lens, money is tight so I had to settle for a Sigma 18-50mm f:2.8 which is at least 1 stop faster than the lens Canon had on the camera, except over here in Japan it's called the Kiss Digital N. The acutally have a cute campaign for the camera, on the subway trains they have a photo of 4 kids with makeup like the band KISS and with a slogan something like "We need a KISS".

This camera is good enough for me now, I am hoping in a year or so to upgrade to a much better camera. I was using a Olympus E-10, this new camera is very fast compared to that camera, would have bought a 20D if I had the money. I paid about $1,400 US for the set up, body, battery grip, extra battery, Sigma 18-50mm f:2.8.

Jeff Toogood · March 31st, 2005, 09:17 PM

The Sigma 18-50 F2.8 gets some pretty decent reviews
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/s...&cat=37&page=2

I think you will be much happier with it as compared to the Kit lens.

Rik Sanchez · March 31st, 2005, 09:29 PM

jeff,
thanks for the link to the lens reviews, yeah, the kit lens is a joke, I felt like I would break it the first time using it. The Sigma is very solid.

Jeremy Peterson · May 8th, 2005, 03:09 AM

I bought a XT after my 20d was stolen. My conclusion is that functionally it is nearly identical, although not quite as quick. It is much smaller, and the viewfinder is not as big, but for 400$ less I can live with that. It's still one of the best cameras I've used.

I've had it about a month and have taken around 1500 exposures, and have no major complaints, and the price was right. (Too bad the 20d was stolen) :(

Rik Sanchez · May 8th, 2005, 06:42 AM

Yeah, it's a nice camera, the only thing so far that has bothered me is that the light, aperature, and timer/one shot/multiple shot buttons are so close together. I was going to shoot a friend's dance routine and I went to adjust the aperature, I hit the timer button by mistake and it seemed to freeze up, it actually was on timer mode so it seemed like nothing was happening, it was a good 5 min. before I figured out what was wrong, then it was okay. Luckily it wasn't a real important shoot, just went to see my friend's dance and I decided to bring my camera.

March 24th, 2005, 11:54 AM	#16
Jeff Toogood Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: St.Thomas, Ontario, CANADA Posts: 428	Nothing is breaking on them, just bad design. If you have a flash mounted on the camera and you turn the camera into portrait position while holding onto the grip, sometimes the camera will momentarily lose power! There is too much flex in the grip and it causes the connection pin to lose contact with the camera. Canon supposably fixed the problem and all grips with serial numbers greater than #05xxxx aren't supposed to have the problem. So I exchanged my original grip for one with a serial number starting with #06xxxx and it still has the same problems. Canon in Canada hasn't officially claimed anything. I talked to Camera Canada, where I bought it and they have returned ALOT of these grips because of the same complaints. I called Canon and they didn't seem very surprised and said to send it in and they will perform a 'small adjustment' and send it back to me. Hopefully it works better. I miss my 10D grip, that thing was SOLID, as you know. __________________ Toogood Studios

March 24th, 2005, 12:18 PM	#17
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	I've taken to juggling my 10d. I can get it 6-8 feet over my head and catch it by the grip on the way down. Sometimes, I just wait to catch it on the first bounce. :) __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

March 29th, 2005, 07:46 AM	#18
Jos Svendsen Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 221	I had the pleasue at being at Canon event, where some Japanese Canon big bosses also were present. We were all given a XT to play with and afterwards we had a Q&A with the japanese management. We were all complaining about the size of the camera, but the complaints sort of silenced, when one of the really big bosses annonced that he had missed several good shots because he accidently has pressed exposure lock due to the small size of the camera. He was in fact quite angry. And his statement apparently had a major effect on the present Canon people. Far more than our remarks I think that it is beginning to dawn on Canon that smaller is not better. __________________ ---------------------------- 12c41 JOS. Svendsen

March 31st, 2005, 09:09 PM	#19
Rik Sanchez ChorizoSmells Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Osaka, Japan Posts: 424	I just bought mine yesterday, got the battery grip with it as well, but, yeah, it is a lot smaller than most cameras. I guess I'll get used to it the more I use it, I thought my XL-1 was "too big" when I first bought it but I soon got used to it. Several camera stores that I went to had the black version sold out, luckily the store I went to had them in stock and for about $100 less. The standard wide lens that comes with it has a very cheap feel to it so I bought the body only and got a different lens, money is tight so I had to settle for a Sigma 18-50mm f:2.8 which is at least 1 stop faster than the lens Canon had on the camera, except over here in Japan it's called the Kiss Digital N. The acutally have a cute campaign for the camera, on the subway trains they have a photo of 4 kids with makeup like the band KISS and with a slogan something like "We need a KISS". This camera is good enough for me now, I am hoping in a year or so to upgrade to a much better camera. I was using a Olympus E-10, this new camera is very fast compared to that camera, would have bought a 20D if I had the money. I paid about $1,400 US for the set up, body, battery grip, extra battery, Sigma 18-50mm f:2.8. __________________ ChorizoSmells Video Barrio Tamatsukuri, Osaka, JAPAN

March 31st, 2005, 09:17 PM	#20
Jeff Toogood Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: St.Thomas, Ontario, CANADA Posts: 428	The Sigma 18-50 F2.8 gets some pretty decent reviews http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/s...&cat=37&page=2 I think you will be much happier with it as compared to the Kit lens. __________________ Toogood Studios

March 31st, 2005, 09:29 PM	#21
Rik Sanchez ChorizoSmells Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Osaka, Japan Posts: 424	jeff, thanks for the link to the lens reviews, yeah, the kit lens is a joke, I felt like I would break it the first time using it. The Sigma is very solid. __________________ ChorizoSmells Video Barrio Tamatsukuri, Osaka, JAPAN

May 8th, 2005, 03:09 AM	#22
Jeremy Peterson Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 34	I bought a XT after my 20d was stolen. My conclusion is that functionally it is nearly identical, although not quite as quick. It is much smaller, and the viewfinder is not as big, but for 400$ less I can live with that. It's still one of the best cameras I've used. I've had it about a month and have taken around 1500 exposures, and have no major complaints, and the price was right. (Too bad the 20d was stolen) :( __________________ Jeremy 4volt.com

May 8th, 2005, 06:42 AM	#23
Rik Sanchez ChorizoSmells Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Osaka, Japan Posts: 424	Yeah, it's a nice camera, the only thing so far that has bothered me is that the light, aperature, and timer/one shot/multiple shot buttons are so close together. I was going to shoot a friend's dance routine and I went to adjust the aperature, I hit the timer button by mistake and it seemed to freeze up, it actually was on timer mode so it seemed like nothing was happening, it was a good 5 min. before I figured out what was wrong, then it was okay. Luckily it wasn't a real important shoot, just went to see my friend's dance and I decided to bring my camera. __________________ ChorizoSmells Video Barrio Tamatsukuri, Osaka, JAPAN