My Camera

With the exceptions of the historical shots and a couple of photos I took with a 3mp Fuji digital camera, the images in this blog were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel XT.

The XT was the second digital Rebel model. When it was introduced in February 2005 it replaced the Digital Rebel. In the fall of 2006 it was itself replaced with the Digital Rebel XTI. The latest Rebel is the T3i, which has an 18MP CMOS (the XT has 6.5MP), extended ISO ranges, and a movie mode.

The Rebel is the cheapest of Canon's digital SLRs. Some models cost thousands of dollars and are far out of my price range.

I bought my Rebel used on eBay in Fall 2009. It came with the standard 13-55mm zoom lens, battery and charger, wireless remote, a 500mb SecureDigital memory card, and the owner's manual. I paid less than $250 for everything.

The postman delivered my camera minutes before I was about to leave for a visit to the New Jersey Botanical Gardens. Click here for photos I took less than an hour after opening the box:

Because I had spent so very little on the camera, I was able to accessorize it properly. From Amazon and eBay I bought a strap, two extra batteries, a 2 GB memory card, a longer zoom lens, hoods and UV filters for both lenses, and all sorts of filters and macro lenses, and wide angle and 2x adapter that worked with both lenses. I also bought a Canon electronic flash unit to supplement the Rebel's built-in flash. I put everything in a camera bag I picked up at eBags, and I was good to go.

In the past three years I've taken thousands and thousands of photos with my used Canon. It has performed flawlessly, and I've been amazed at the quality of the images.

Unlike my previous single lens reflex cameras, which used 35mm film, the Rebel provides me with immediate results and there are no film processing costs. I can take nearly a thousand photos before having to change the battery (fewer if I'm using flash), and the 8GB memory card I just bought holds thousands of photos taken at the highest image quality.

Although the latest Rebel has more features and a CMOS sensor three times the size of mine, the only thing I miss is the ability to capture motion. I have a mini-DV recorder for that, but it would be nice to have the capability to film short movies. So perhaps one of these days I'll upgrade. But for now, and for the foreseeable future, I'm having loads of fun taking thousands of free, high-quality photographs with my inexpensive Rebel XT.