Western Railroad Discussion > Canon Digi Rebel vs. D20?

For anyone who purchased a Canon digital SLR can advise why you picked the Rebel over the D20 or vise versa besides price. For those who went with the rebel do you find it adequate for your needs?

I picked the Rebel 300D and the reason I picked it was due to the price. I have now had it for over a year and other than one cleaning I have not had any problems jamming or failures and I have been rough with this camera. It doesn't have the rapid speed of some of the other DSLR's but it has provided me with good service for over a year and at present count over 10,000 photos. Even with a plastic casing it is rugged going through the wash out area with Brett last January. It has it dents and dings, but it does provide good service. I think the only change I make initially prior to my next camera purchase is improving the glass, currently I have a set of sigma lenses and two small canon lenses. Next purchase will be higher quality stablized lenses brand to be determined.

I bought the 10D a year and a half ago because it has a metal body (Digital Rebel has plastic). Railfanning is hard on your camera gear, I felt that the metal body would better withstand the rough treatment my gear gets trackside.

The Rebel is a great buy but the 20D is a better deal. Given the way railfans get to use their cameras in all kinds of weather in an outdoor, dusty, hot, freezing and windy environment, the 20D will provide you with longer and more reliable service. If you cannot afford the additional $500 for the 20D the Rebel will give good service but if you can afford the camera upgrade, go for the 20D.

Cheap glass is a fantasy in the photo world. While there are some fine and even great lenses made by third party manufacturers you usually get what you pay for. In the film world the camera body is just a light tight box. It is the lens that takes the photo. It makes better sense to pay more for the glass and buy a cheaper body. The body can be easier to replace than a quality lens. Digital makes the body a light tight box with a digital sensor enclosed. The quality of the sensor and the onboard processing chips now make the body just as important as the selection of the film type. Still it is going to be the quality of the glass that makes the biggest difference in the quality of the image. The new higher resolution image chips can be very harsh on any lens abberations as the pros are finding out. The 10 mpix and 12 mpix chips will quickly magnify any lens flaws they find.

We have had a Digital Rebel since Christmas of 2003. We have taken about 15,000 pictures, something we would have never done with a film camera. For most shots we use the full auto mode, but when taking pictures out the side window of a moving vehicle we use the "sports/action mode." That eliminates bluring.

We sometimes use a Canon 300mm telephoto, non stabilzed. We should have gotten the stabilzed telephoto lense instead.

The camera is excellent. The manual modes are fun also. If I had one complaint it would be that the exposure of multiple shots varies substantially when using the flash, both the built in flash and an external Canon strobe.

Rick

I've had the Rebel for almost a year now and I think it is
adequate for rail photography. Mine has some kind of glitch
in the autofocus that causes it to hunt for focus sometimes,
so I use manual focus a lot. You might ask about this if you're
thinking of buying a used one.
Geoff

Geoff,

If the Rebel offers a choice with focus mode, move from follow focus mode to single shot mode and than will likely solve a big portion of your focus hunting problems. Generally, you can prefocus on a location for a train and then use the half release on the shutter to lock that point in which will stop the hunting in the focus priority mode. When the train gets there you can release the shutter confident the focus point is locked. You can still shoot a burst of photos but they will all have the same focus point unless you release the shutter between shots.

It is always good to occasionally practice manual focusing so you do not lose the skills especially with long lenses. The focus confirmation light in the viewfinder is a nice feature.

20D

Mine focuses fine even when shooting through the windshield of our motor home at moving trains. The focus works great right through the glass. Something must be set wrong for you to have this problem.

Both of these cameras are great cameras.

Rick

Hi!

> Rebel over the D20

The Digital Rebel XT is a seriously different camera from the Digital Rebel. The XT is very fast, almost instant (<.2 seconds). It's also a lot less klunky than the D20, easier to lug around. It got lots of coal cinders on the outside, no problems yet. Very nice photos in the dark/light areas where trains hide! :-)

TB

I like the "klunkiness" of the 20d. Very rugged and good for lugging around at work.


tburzio Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi!
>
> > Rebel over the D20
>
> The Digital Rebel XT is a seriously different
> camera from the Digital Rebel. The XT is very
> fast, almost instant (<.2 seconds). It's also
> a lot less klunky than the D20, easier to lug
> around. It got lots of coal cinders on the
> outside, no problems yet. Very nice photos in the
> dark/light areas where trains hide! :-)
>
> TB
>
>

mococomike Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For anyone who purchased a Canon digital SLR can
> advise why you picked the Rebel over the D20 or
> vise versa besides price. For those who went with
> the rebel do you find it adequate for your
> needs?
>


Hey Mike...

When I purchased my 300D, the 20D wasn't around yet. If I was to buy one today, I would go with the 20D, for sure. The Rebel has been a good camera, a very good camera. I have not had any problems with it whatsoever. For -al, Dorothy has been good to me.

My gripes would be the delay when powering up, about a count of four, or so. Then, the burst mode fills the buffer with just three or four images. I guess that's about it. I find that the AE tends to underexpose, about 1/3 of a stop.

I find the 300D more than adequate for my photography needs...

take care, stay in touch !!

~ jeff

Since I have a KM 7D, I'm not in the Canon market at this point. I think the technical features of the 20D certainly would make it a better choice, but the 350xt wouldn't be a bad choice. But getting away from functional differences, something you may want to consider is the feel and handling of the two cameras. They are different in weight, shape of the body and grip, etc. Some reviewers were rather unhappy with the XT size. Others weren't.

Having said that, I didn't find the Fuji S602 too small, nor the Minolta Maxxum 5 film body either and the 7D is clearly bigger and heavier, much more like the earlier cameras I owned, like the SRT-102 and similar sized cameras. But some folks just don't like the feel of any given camera so a test "drive" and handle of either/both is probably worth considering not just tech specs.

I echo KB6GZ's sentiment, about having a desire to go with IS lenses. While I differ in that I shoot RAW+ JEG w/my 20D, (therefore in the "creative" mode setting--only mode you can shoot RAW) and not the sport setting. IS lenses would improve sharpness since I prefer hand held in most cases. Pre focus works best for me too. I set a shutter speed, let the camera pick exposure, and bracket -1/3 to +1/3. Most of the time I like the standard exposure -1/3.

I chose the 20D over the Rebel. I like the metal body of the 20D. Just seems sturdier to me which can be a good thing out in the field. I like that you can take more photos in the burst mode before the buffer fills up. I just like the features of the 20D better than the Rebel. It is a great camera, and a trusty railfanning partner.