Awesome Canon EOS Rebel T1i Digital Camera

By Miranda Watson

Canon's consumer SLR line has a new flagship: the 15.1-megapixel Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Once again, we see a new SLR from Canon in less than' months from the last in a given line. It's actually only eight months since the XS was announced, and about-- since the XSi; either way you look at it, competition has shortened product cycles in the digital SLR space.

Now at the top of the Rebel line, the Canon T1i takes on the Nikon D90, with its video mode, while the XS and XSi are left to challenge the Nikon D40 and D60. With the Rebel T1i, Canon is answering the pincer move that Nikon's put on it in the past few years, now matching them model-to-model at the low end, because the XS and XSi will remain in the lineup.

Movie mode comes to the Rebel T1i with quite similar capabilities to the Canon 5D Mark II, though it's highest complete HD resolution is 720p at 30fps. It can capture 1080p videos, but only at 20fps, which isn't technically fully up to spec. Standard 640x480 movies are also available at 30fps. You can manually focus or autofocus via contrast detect by pressing the Canon T1i's rear AE/AF-Lock button.

The Canon Rebel T1i accepts EF and EF-S lenses, and uses SD/SDHC cards, including Eye-Fi wireless cards. The battery is the same as the XSi, and it uses the same battery grip.

Canon's new DIGIC 4 processor handles the larger 4,752 x 3,168 at a slightly reduced speed of 3.4 frames per second (at 1/500 second or greater -- down from the XSi's 3.5 fps), with a maximum JPEG burst of 170 frames or 9 RAW frames. You can also now capture RAW images in all of the Canon T1i's modes, whether Basic or Creative Zone. The Canon T1i's 3-inch LCD is a 640x480 design with 920,000 dots, making for a noticeably sharper onscreen image, great for focusing and confirming sharpness after capture. The Canon T1i is the first Rebel to have such a high-res screen. - 29888

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