Canon Rebel XTi DSLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (OLD MODEL)

After taking thousands of pics of my two year old and my new born with my HP point and shoot, I finally gave up. None of the pictures were of the 'moment' or 'expression' I was trying to capture. I was always taking pictures of their backs or their looking away or xxx. Anything but what I wanted. Then the quality of the pictures were never quite right unless I took the picture in full blown day light.Finally decided to splurge. After extensive research on the Canon XTi vs the Nikon, I ultimately opted for the Canon. I bought it along with the portrait EF 50mm that seems to be highly rated by many. I later purchased the EF 28-105mm. Upon receiving the camera, I went to town taking pics of my little ones. What I found:Pros:- Fast. Very fast. Wow. I've yet to miss a shot.- Outstanding pics. Pics with the EF28-105 good. Pics with the EF 50mm, outstanding. Many look like they were taken by a pro. Trust me. I am no pro. I'm a working mom looking for some good pics to put on their website and send to Grandma and Grandpa. On average, with my point and shoot, I'd get 1 out 20 that were worthy of that. Now, I average 5-6 out of 10 at a higher bar of course.- Versitile. I can play around with different settings and Canon lenses. Fun but expensive.- Battery charges fast. Battery life outstanding. I honestly don't think I've had to charge the batteries but 2-3 times since I bought it five months ago and have taken thousands of pics.- The 4GB SD card keeps more pics than I could ever want.Cons.If you are a working kind of mom like I am and just want an awesome camera to take awesome pics, you've found it. However, there is one big downside: it's bigger...way bigger than a point and shoot. It's not as easy to throw in your purse and go out for a splash day. I have found myself leaving it behind because I just didn't want to lug it along with the diaper bag, a toddler and an infant...car seat, snacks, toys, bottles, wipes...etc. The bag is heavy enough. But, those pics are priceless as far as I am concerned and will sacrifice more often than not and find myself glad for having done so.LENSES. This took me longer to figure out than which camera to buy. I searched for a month before I committed. Given the affordability of the 50mm and its reviews, I opted to do without the kit lens.Admittedly, I regretted it at first. What!? No zoom. As you can tell, I'm a serious amatuer and didn't know what I was getting into. But, despite the one time I wanted to take a group pic that required me to step clear to the other side of the house to get them in, 99% of the time, I'm trying to get a good close up of my kids...many pics by default at this age tend to be close ups. Then, there is a subtle difference between the pictures I have taken with this lens and the 28-105--crisper, cleaner and outright beautiful color.The 28-105 is actually not bad especially if you use it with the hood. The zoom is about what I figure I will need at ball games and ballerina recitals when I don't have to worry about lugging a diaper bag and keeping after a climbing/crawling baby. For the price, I figure it's doable.There you have it, Amazon shopping Moms. I hope this Review was helpful. I found many of the reviews targeting semi-pros so it took a while to sift through it all!

I bought the Rebel EOS Digital XTi 400D to upgrade my almost 3-year old Rebel EOS Digital 300D (which, by the way, is still a great camera). I won't go into the technical differences between the two cameras, but I will say this: the differences between the two cameras are worth the cost of the upgrade for me. Here's why.Although too much can be made of additional pixels, the upgrade from 6 mega-pixels to 10.1 mega-pixels simply means that more data is available to process pictures. I shoot in RAW mode, so I'll take all the additional information I can get.The larger LCD screen on the 400D is much, much, much better than that on the 300D. I really like a) the much larger view of each picture taken, and b) the clarity of the camera settings when displayed on the screen. I also really like the feature that automatically turns off the screen when the camera is raised to the eye for composition. I honestly didn't realize how tiny the 300D LCD is until comparing it to the 400D. Thank you, Canon, for the bigger screen!I also like that the 400D comes with new, selectable Picture Styles (Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral and Faithful) that automatically make small corrections to things like sharpness, contrast and color.The camera start-up time on the 400D is also significantly quicker than that of the 300D. I once missed what I now think is the shot of a lifetime because I couldn't get the 300D to start up fast enough. I believe the 400D would have gotten the shot.It's also much easier to select the type of Auto Focus mode on the 400D. When your camera is set to shoot in One Shot mode, but you find yourself in the middle of movement and action, the 400D makes it easy and fast to switch to AI Focus or AI Servo - essential for sports shots.For those who have come to appreciate and rely on the histogram to determine proper exposure, you now have the choice between Brightness and RGB.I also like the increased continuous shooting speed of almost 3 frames-per-second. A very nice feature when shooting the dog, kids playing or outdoor events.Finally, for those who are concerned about dust on the sensor, the new automatica sensor cleaning capabiltiy is a very nice to have.On the downside, the 400D camera grip is a bit too small for larger hands. It's manageable, but not as comfortable as the grip on the 300D. However, I mostly solved this problem by attaching an Opteka battery grip, which enlarged the grip surface.Also, the smaller battery size on the 400D means that you can't interchange batteries between the 300D and the 400D. It also means that the (optional) battery grip that worked on the 300D does not fit on the 400D.BOTTOM LINEAm I happy that I upgraded from the 300D to the 400D? You bet. I'd do it again in a heart beat.Would I recommend this camera to the serious amateur? Absolutely. It's worth every penny to someone getting his or her first Digital SLR or upgrading from the 300D.