Canon Rebel Digital Camera

The Canon EOS Digital Rebel is the first—and still the only—interchangeable-lens SLR to break the $1,000 price barrier. It shares much of its internal electronics with the excellent Canon EOS-10D SLR, including the 6-megapixel CMOS image sensor. As a result, the camera's image quality is nearly identical to that of the EOS-10D. But the Rebel's simplified auto-exposure and autofocus systems don't provide as much control as the Olympus E-1 or Pentax *ist D.

The Rebel is fast and easy to use (although somewhat noisy), and the bundled lens is surprisingly good considering its light weight and low cost. The included rechargeable battery lasts all day, even with prolonged use of the LCD

In our testing, image quality was generally excellent, but our flash shots were often underexposed. The Rebel lacks a flash exposure compensation control, so you're stuck with whatever exposure the camera deems correct. We fixed the problem by using an external flash, but this adds considerable cost and weight. Still, this is a lot of camera for $1,000, and it gives buyers access to Canon's huge array of interchangeable lenses—many of which cost more than the Rebel itself.

Summary: The overall rating would be higher, but the weak nonadjustable built-in flash is a major drawback.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in PC Magazine.