If you're looking for an SLR digital camera, you already know you're going to have to spend a large chunk of money on the camera body, not to mention the add-on lenses and flashes. The good news is you'll usually receive a lot of great features for that high price, and Canon lives up to that standard with its Digital Rebel XTi, which we've awarded with a Best Buy designation.

The Rebel XTi offers a 10.1-megapixel resolution, which allows for near-film-quality prints up to 13x19 inches. It will provide plenty of resolution for beginner and intermediate photographers.

You can shoot your first photo less than one-half second after pressing the power button; you will find very few SLR digital cameras that can match that kind of start-up speed. The Rebel XTi's shutter lag is not noticeable. In continuous-shot mode, you can capture three photos per second for about 9 seconds, which is very impressive for a high-end digital camera. Shot-to-shot delays are a little slow and can approach 3 seconds when using a flash, but this unit's overall performance times are very good.

The Rebel XTi has an interesting feature to preserve battery life. Whenever you lift the digital camera to your eye to frame the shot with the viewfinder, this model senses the movement and automatically turns off the LCD. Not that you'll want to turn off this 2.5-inch LCD very often; it's extremely bright and sharp, and you can view it from almost any angle. You even can select from seven brightness levels with the Rebel XTi's display unit. It's one of the better LCDs we've seen in a digital camera at any price point. Another benefit: The Rebel XTi makes use of a standard optical viewfinder that can show about 95 percent of the actual photo, which is a good result. Many high-end cameras use EVFs (electronic viewfinders), which sometimes cause problems with framing photos.

If you have used high-end Canon cameras in the past and have extra lenses available, you'll appreciate that the Rebel XTi can make use of all Canon EF lenses. However, the Rebel XTi does not automatically ship with a lens. The Rebel XTi kit discussed here only includes the digital camera body (in black or silver) and battery. (Some Rebel XTi kits include an 18-55 mm lens for an additional cost.) For an SLR digital camera, the Rebel XTi is surprisingly small and lightweight, and it feels sturdy.

One great new feature on the Rebel XTi is Canon's decision to include an Integrated Cleaning System (ICS). Because of their design, SLR digital cameras often suffer from dust reaching the image sensor; Canon's ICS eliminates the dust problem.

The Rebel XTi is the third entry in Canon's family of EOS Digital Rebel cameras, which aim at providing digital SLR cameras for less than $1,000. The Rebel XTi's feature list greatly improves on the two previous models -- the Rebel and the Rebel XT. This model compares favorably to others in this category and carries a lower price than most in this category. Finally, if you already have Canon lenses available, it's an amazingly good value.


Pros: Good value for SLR digital, great response times, high-end resolution, LCD quality is outstanding
Cons: Shot-to-shot delays with flash could be better, model could be easier to use

Warranty
1 year, limited