Canon XT or XTi ?

[terry_barnes]

I'm looking at both seriously and must get the 17-85 lens over the stock 18-55.

Is there that much difference in these two cameras to justify the extra $$ for

the XTi ? I've read till I'm blue in the face and just can't seem to

decide...opinions?...help!

 

Thanks, Terry

[ronaldo_r]

XTi is obviously a newer and better camera than the XT - with one exception - the XTi has lost the small status LCD (probably as part of a cost cutting excercise by Canon).

[ronaldo_r]

Another point made more than once on these forums - if you don't print larger than say, A3 (12x16"), you're not going to see any difference in print quality betwen the XT and XTi

[NK Guy]

If you see yourself changing lenses a lot I'd say the dust reduction feature could be a

deciding factor.

[graybrick]

Even at larger than that size you'll be hard-pressed to see a quality difference with proper post-processing work anyway... look at Bob Atkin's reviews on the main page, and he will describe the major differences, and you'll be the judge of which features you find meaningful and whether it's worth the extra cheese to have the newest best thing. Remember, people have been happily shooting with the xt for some time now, and it's a high quality camera for its price.

[terry_barnes]

I hear you all . I love or want the capability to print large..and I'm a detail freak. I just don't want to get the XT and a yr later wish I'd bought the XTi....I've been down this road a lot with guitars. I'm not really looking into getting more lenses ,basically a 17-50 or 17-85 will cover my shooting range fine. I just want quaility and the room to go big .

[graybrick]

Well, how big is big? I print 12x18 from my 20D (equivalent to the xt) with excellent results, and have printed up to 20x30 and been quite pleased. The practical difference between 8 and 10 MP is really pretty small, and you're going to have to look really hard to notice the difference at 20"x30"... however, if your standard print size is that large, maybe the extra 2MP will help you out, but if you're printing 12x18 then I wouldn't think about that. I think the biggest issue for you is features vs cost, as the image quality is going to be pretty close between the two. They're both nice cameras. You gotta ask yourself if you have to have the extra features of the XTi. Personally, I'd go for the 30D (better build and handling, faster frame rate, spot metering...), but that's just my opinion.

[graybrick]

Bear in mind that a shot that is twice as big in both dimensions is actually four times the size of the original. ie, a 2x2 matrix(4) is one quarter of a 4x4matrix(16). So, the square root of the difference factor in size will approximate the actual enlargement in each dimension you acheive. The XTi is 1.25x the number of pixels as the XT, so this will give you a picture that is roughly 1.12x larger in each dimension than the XT. In practical terms, if you're printing 'photo quality' 300 DPI (quite a subjective term and measurement) then your maximum size for the XT will be roughly 8x11". With the 10MP XTi, your maximum will be roughly 9x12". Given that your monitor's resolution is about 72DPI, though, I think it's safe to say that 'photo quality' is rather subjective and that you can make a large print at much lower resolution than 300PPI and still have something that looks good. I do it a lot, and have yet to be disappointed with 200PPI, sometimes lower depending on the subject. If you have to, you can always upres through interpolation with PS or the equivalent, and with good results. My point is that the difference sounds like a lot in sheer pixel numbers, but they're so spread out that you probably won't even notice. Judge the value of the features and don't beleive the megaschmixel hype, because it's kinda bogus.

[graybrick]

Another consideration here is that your lenses are likely to outlive any digital camera body by a long stretch. I have some film bodies from the 70s and 80s that still perform flawlessly, but much like your cell phone, tv, printer and fax machine, ther will be a bigger, badder, better digital body out sometime likely next week. And just like all your electronics, the service life is limited to a few good years, after which the majority of the electronics will be outdated and probably won't have parts available to replace worn out units. The lenses, however, will last for a long time to come, likely through five or six bodies with good use... so I'd look into quality glass and try to keep in mind that the camera body is mostly just the box that holds your lens in place. :o)

 

-e-

[howard_b1]

They're more similar than different. The new 2.5 inch LCD with twice the resolution is maybe the most visible improvement. Here's a link to a summary of their differences:

<a href="http://www.vsxl.com/cameras/Canon_EOS_350D___Digital_Rebel_XT_vs_Canon_EOS_400D___Digital_Rebel_XTi.html">Canon Rebel XT vs XTi</a>

 

Is the extra 20% resolution and bigger LCD (but missing top LCD) worth $150 to you?