Digital Features Utilizing the same Canon-developed 6.5-megapixel (6.3 effective megapixels) 22.7x15.1mm CMOS image sensor as the EOS 10D, the Digital Rebel provides both uncompressed and unprocessed RAW recording and a variety of compressed JPEG options. In RAW mode, a medium-quality JPEG image is also simultaneously recorded—handy for quick review and e-mailing. A 3072x2048-pixel RAW image takes up about 7MB on the CompactFlash card. When card space is at a premium, you can choose among six JPEG quality settings, from Large/Fine 3072x2048 pixels, 3.1MB per image—we used this mode a lot and found the image quality to be excellent) to Small/Normal (1536x1024 pixels, 0.9MB per image). Interestingly, images at any given quality setting result in somewhat larger file sizes with the Digital Rebel than with the EOS 10D. For example, a Large/Fine (highest-quality JPEG) image produces a file size of 3.1MB with the Rebel, and 2.4MB with the 10D, while a Small/Normal (lowest-quality PEG) image produces a file size of 0.9MB with the Rebel and 0.4MB with the 10D. Both cameras automatically record a JPEG image along with a RAW one in RAW mode, but the 10D lets you choose the quality level of the JPEG, while the Rebel just does a Medium/Fine one. Through the LCD monitor menus, you can set such things as white balance and white-balance bracketing, processing parameters (more vivid or more subdued colors, higher or lower saturation, higher or lower contrast, redder or yellower skin tones, sharper or less-sharp outlines), the popular Adobe RGB color space, file numbering (continuous or reset each time you replace the CF card), direct-printing-from-camera preferences and more. In playback mode, you can display images individually or nine at a time, magnify images 1.5X to 10X, jump forward or backward 10 images (9 in index mode), Play back all images automatically for 3 seconds each, and display images with information including shooting data and histogram with highlight alert (overexposed areas will blink). Canon's exclusive DIGIC imaging processor combines parallel processing with high-capacity buffering to provide quick operation with less battery drain, along with excellent color reproduction, improved resolution, and minimized image noise. (The manual says the camera can make up to 600 exposures per charge. We several times went well into the 400s, and never got a low-battery indication—another advantage over high-end consumer digicams.) Bottom Line By far the lowest-priced digital interchangeable-lens SLR, the 6.3-megapixel Digital Rebel costs less than some 5-megapixel all-in-one consumer digicams. It's easily the best value on the market today for photographers who want to get serious about digital imaging, suitable for users from point-and-shooter to pro. While it lacks the EOS 10D's magnesium-alloy body, the Digital Rebel is a sturdy beast with a stainless-steel chassis under the tough, stylish polycarbonate cover—it definitely does not feel "cheap" in the hands. You can set shooting modes, shutter speeds, apertures, ISO speeds and more without resorting to the LCD monitor menus, which is wonderful. The controls are well-located and easy to operate in the field. The built-in dioptric correction for the viewfinder eyepiece, and the depth-of-field preview button are nice touches for what is by far the lowest-priced digital SLR. We really enjoyed handling and using this camera. Performance was outstanding. It's very hard to fool that 35-segment evaluative meter, and we hardly ever had to override it. Likewise, the AF system handled just about everything we challenged it with—certainly, everything any AF SLR we've used could handle, including birds in flight. Our one "gripe" is that you can't choose single-shot or continuous AF in the "serious" modes—the camera utilizes AI Focus, where it chooses the AF mode. When composing an image with a hand-held long lens, the camera would interpret slight camera shake as subject movement and start refocusing, causing us to miss some "ideal" moments in bird shots. We finally figured out that we could switch to portrait mode if we needed single-shot AF, and sports mode if we needed continuous AF, so this was just a minor annoyance. While it essentially provides the EOS 10D's performance, the Digital Rebel does lack a few of the 10D's features. Besides the aforementioned differences, there are these: The Digital Rebel uses a pentamirror finder rather than the 10D's heavier and slightly brighter pentaprism, while the 10D provides ISOs up to 3200 instead of 1600, shutter speeds (and exposure compensation) settable in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments versus just 1/3 stops, and the ability to shoot up to 9 frames at 3 fps versus 4 frames at 2.5 fps (important to serious action shooters, but we can't remember the last time we asked a camera to shoot more than 4 consecutive frames, or at more than 2.5 fps). The 10D also includes 17 Custom Functions, absent on the Rebel. We always point out in User Reports on EOS cameras that all of them, film and digital, will accept all Canon EF lenses, of which there are currently more than 50, from 14mm ultra wide-angle (which crops like a 22.4mm on the Digital Rebel, due to the digicam's smaller-than-35mm-frame image sensor) to 1200mm super tele (crops like a 1920mm on the Digital Rebel), including a 15mm full-frame fisheye, zooms from 16–35mm to 100–400mm, true macro lenses, tilt-shift lenses, and a 135mm soft-focus portrait lens. But this statement is no longer quite true: There's a new EF lens that only the Digital Rebel can use—the EF-S 18–55mm zoom introduced with the camera (and offered with the body in a $999 package) cannot physically be mounted on any other EOS model. It's a great match for the Digital Rebel, though, providing focal lengths equivalent to the popular 28–90mm focal-length range on a 35mm camera, and focusing down to less than a foot at all focal lengths. Our favorite lens for the Digital Rebel was our EF 300mm f/4L IS USM telephoto, with built-in image stabilizer and an equivalent focal length of 480mm—a wonderful hand-holdable choice for birds and other wildlife, and sports action. Bottom line: The Digital Rebel is the best digital-SLR value on the market as of this writing, well worth investigating if you're seriously contemplating digital photography. Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel Category: AF digital SLR AF Performance ***** Metering Performance ***** Feature Set ***** Ease of Use ***** Ergonomics***** Value *****