Canon XSi Review

Overview

Canon Rebel XSi / 450D
Overview

by Shawn Barnett
Review Date: 07/23/08

Canon's new EOS Rebel XSi digital SLR includes quite a few features new to the EOS camera system, and once again exceeds some of the abilities of the company's intermediate digital SLR camera, the EOS 40D.

With an updated look and a slightly taller profile, the Canon XSi has a 12.2-megapixel CMOS sensor, a 3.0-inch LCD, an improved nine-point autofocus sensor, a DIGIC III processor, and is capable of 3.5 frames per second. Its new Live View mode is improved over the Canon EOS models introduced in 2007, offering both contrast-detect and the more traditional phase detect modes. Like its XTi predecessor, the Canon XSi offers the EOS Integrated Cleaning System for dust removal both pre- and post-capture. Picture Styles are also included as before, with a slightly updated interface. A few buttons have been moved around to make room for the larger LCD, and the body is slightly taller, yet with a lower overall weight. A new battery and the switch to SD/SDHC for storage may be part of the lighter weight. The Canon XSi is still compatible with all EF-S and EF lenses.

Body-only the Canon Rebel XSi lists for $799, and the IS lens kit sells for an MSRP of $899. Check above right and at the bottom of the review pages for links to better pricing.

Canon Rebel XSi
User Report

by Shawn Barnett

Canon's original Digital Rebel debuted in 2003, breaking new ground and bringing digital SLR technology within the grasp of consumers. Though the word "Digital" has been dropped, the Canon Rebel XSi continues the tradition of bringing advanced digital camera technology within the range of the casual photographer, with a price that leaves room in the budget for an extra lens or two.

While the step from the Rebel XT to the Rebel XTi brought more internal than external changes, the Rebel XSi is a more complete overhaul. Many of the external changes are welcome, including the slightly taller grip and bigger LCD, but the real story, as is usually the case with Canon SLRs, is the improved sensor. It's not just an improvement in number of pixels, but the improvement in their performance that makes the new 12.2-megapixel sensor extraordinary. Yes, Live View with contrast-detect autofocus, an image-stabilized lens, and several new automated features are welcome enhancements, but image quality is usually what gets our attention here, and the Canon XSi's is impressive.

Canon Rebel XSi Look and feel

My favorite part about my Rebel XTi is its small size. I shoot other Canon or other brands of SLRs when I need more advanced features, like a faster frame rate, but sometimes the only thing that will do is a small SLR, and the last three Rebels are among the smallest. The Canon Rebel XSi is only a little larger than its predecessor, but it looks bigger, and a little more professional like its big brother, the Canon 40D. The XSi is about two millimeters wider and four millimeters taller than the XTi, and weighs about 29 grams less, despite the larger LCD and heavier image-stabilized lens. So while it's a little bigger, the Canon Rebel XSi is less of a burden when walking around.

Canon has improved the grip again, adding a slightly taller grip area. My four fingers fit almost entirely, with only about three millimeters of overhang. It may be a little fatter too; but the greatest change is the more rubbery, leather-textured grip. The thumbpad on the back also offers a better grip, and greater surface area.

The diopter wheel is a little larger than the XTi's for easier access, and the Canon XSi's lens release button is a little larger too.

XTi Shutter release	XSi Shutter release
Niceties. The Rebel XSi's shutter release button (right) is canted more aggressively like Canon's semi-pro SLRs, with a nice wide pad for the finger to rest in.

Contours and accents. Muscular curves are the main design theme on the Canon XSi, with a look designed to evoke the Canon 1D Mark III and the Canon 5D. The pop-up flash that was a distinct element of the XTi is flush with the rest of the XSi's flow. While the XTi's metal parts, the hot shoe and strap loops, are painted black, those of the XSi are metal. I prefer the black, but paint wears off, and the XSi's silver won't show the wear quite as clearly as the painted parts. The new design also eliminates at least one unnecessary accent part under the Mode dial, and the rear panel is less intricate to mold, likely lowering the cost of the Canon Rebel XSi's outer parts.

Button displacement. The 3-inch LCD on the rear pushed the buttons off the left side, necessitating quite a shuffle of buttons and their assignments. The result actually looks a lot cleaner, though, and your eye has to search fewer places for the various controls. The downside is that the button for one of the most-changed functions, ISO, has moved to the Canon XSi's top deck, right behind the Command dial. When I first saw this move, I liked the idea; in use, though, it's a pain. ISO buttons only belong on the top deck when there's a separate Status LCD up there, like on the Canon 40D or Nikon D300. But because the Status display is on the back, the ISO button should be there too, since you're less likely to even think of looking at the top deck.

The four navigation buttons, which Canon calls Cross Keys, behave better than they once did in Record mode. Specifically the White Balance button, which was the down button on the XTi, used to require pressing the left and right arrow keys to make changes. That button has been reassigned to the Picture Styles menu, but now the icons are oriented in a vertical column, and pressing the same button repeatedly scrolls through the various styles. The AF button, for its part, activates with the right button, and repeatedly pressing the right button also scrolls through the horizontally oriented options. Naturally, using the left arrow scrolls in the other direction, but the menu wraps, so you can just stick to one button. White Balance has been given its own button, so you still have to go to the left and right arrows to make changes, but at least all the arrow keys work logically.

Canon Rebel XSi Viewfinder

One key complaint about past Rebels was the extremely tight viewfinder. Even for a small SLR, the viewfinder image was indeed too small, but the Rebel XSi does remedy that somewhat, with a 0.87x viewfinder magnification. Coverage accuracy according to our tests is between 95 and 96 percent, about what Canon claims. The viewfinder is also supposed to be brighter, thanks to a more efficient coating on the pentamirrors. I wouldn't call it dramatic, but it's noticeable if you have both cameras to compare.

The viewfinder's status display now shows the ISO setting all the time, which is a plus. Just press the ISO button on the top deck, and turn the Main dial to scroll through the options, pressing it again to lock it in. So it appears there is some advantage to having the ISO button on the top after all.

Canon Rebel XSi Live View

Though I still advocate using the optical viewfinder most of the time when shooting with an SLR, I've used the Live View mode often enough now that I know there are times when nothing else will do.

There are two modes to the XSi's Live View system, selectable via Custom Function 8. Live View is disabled by default, by the way, so you'll need to find this menu item in Settings Menu 2 to turn it on. The two options are called Quick and Live modes. Quick mode works as most Live View modes do, dropping the mirror when you press the AE-Lock button (marked with an asterisk) to use the conventional phase-detect autofocus system. This temporarily blacks out the Live View image, which makes it impossible to know that you're still framing the subject and holding your AF point in the proper place.

That's why they added the second mode, which they call Live, but is better described as contrast-detect autofocus. This works just like a digicam, reading the image from the imaging sensor while adjusting the lens for the setting that produces the most contrast in the image. A small square appears in the center of the image area, and you can move it around with the cross keys. Just like Quick mode, unfortunately, you have to press the AE-Lock button first until you hear the focus confirmation beep, then press the shutter button to fire. It's a little slower at times than phase-detect mode, but it gets the job done. Live mode is really better for tripod work, where you can place the AF area right where you want it and confirm focus onscreen.

Both modes offer the ability to zoom in on your live view, excellent for confirming focus before capture. Using the Magnify button just right of the AE-Lock button, you can zoom in 5x or 10x, then press the AE-Lock button to focus if you like; but of course you can't confirm framing in that mode.

Another "digicam" benefit that comes thanks to Live View mode is Exposure Simulation, where the image you see onscreen in non-flash shots will appear approximately how your final image will look. If you're about to underexpose the image, for example, the Live View image will appear dark; or too bright if your settings will overexpose. It's great for fine-tuning in Manual mode. Exposure Simulation isn't always desirable, but it's something many digicam owners are spoiled by without even knowing it's unique.

A grid can be displayed on the display in Live View, as well as a histogram, though like the Canon 40D, the histogram isn't translucent, instead blocking almost 1/4 of the screen.

Like all other Canon Live View cameras, you can connect the Canon XSi to your computer via a USB 2.0 cable and see a live image on the computer, as well as remote control the camera from the computer.

Imperfection. It's frustrating when they get so very close to excellence, yet leave out something important. Though I think it's great that the main Quick mode includes an image of the nine autofocus points overlaid on the image, the chosen AF points don't light up red after you've pressed the AE-L button (marked with an asterisk above the button) to focus, making them almost useless. What it does show you if you see all nine AF points is that you are in Auto Select mode; and if you have selected an AF point, only that point shows. So it's not a total loss, but it would be a lot better if the Live View display behaved like the optical viewfinder.

My other beef is left over from the Canon 40D's Live View mode: I love that it has a histogram display option, but I can't understand why you'd make something that takes up almost one-quarter of the screen completely opaque. Other companies have managed translucent histograms for years, Canon needs to get this coded up and loaded up, and quick.

Big LCD. The new 3-inch LCD is bigger and brighter than the XTi. I wouldn't have believed it was as big a difference if I didn't see it. More of an aesthetic issue is a slight improvement to the Canon XSi's rear Status display, with improved graphics and four color palates to choose from.

Canon Rebel XSi Lens

One of the greatest improvements to the Canon Rebel XSi kit is its new image-stabilized 18-55mm lens. Canon improved the lens characteristics dramatically. It offers better corner sharpness, better chromatic aberration control, and sharper images overall. Its 18-55mm zoom range is equivalent to a 29-88mm lens on a full-frame 35mm camera, a good mid-range zoom lens. Optical image stabilization technology sweetens the deal, offering sharper shots even in low light. Canon claims you can shoot at up to four stops slower than normal and still get a stable shot. That means that if you can normally get a stable shot at 1/60 second, you should be able to squeeze off a 1/4 second shot and have it come out sharp. If you're a fairly steady shooter, it seems to be true. Your results may vary, and remember that image stabilization compensates for camera movement, not for subject movement, so tell them to hold very still or shoot with a faster shutter speed at a higher ISO.

One unusual aspect to the new EF-S 18-55mm lens is its tendency to ring audibly while the image stabilization motor is running. My old EF 28-135mm IS lens makes some noise while it's operating, but not like this high-pitched whine. It's annoying, unfortunately. I'd still buy one of these lenses for myself, but if you're sensitive to high pitched sounds, the ringing might cut through your head after awhile.

Canon Rebel XSi Menus

The XSi has inherited the more versatile menu system from the Canon 40D. With the XTi, you always have to scroll to the top of the list and highlight the tab to move to the next tab, but it's easier with the XSi: just use the up and down arrows to move up and down in the menu, and use the left and right arrows to switch between tabs, regardless of your position in the list. Your previous menu selection is retained when you return to that tab, another benefit when changing the same setting often.

Though certain functions are buried in sub-menus, like the Flash Exposure Compensation (mentioned below), there's a new MyMenu tab which you can program with six of your most-used menu items for quick access.

Canon Rebel XSi Flash

There's not much new about the flash performance, but a few items have changed, including the release hook and retention rails in the pop-up flash, which are now plastic instead of metal. Adjusting the flash exposure compensation isn't as easy as before, however. Whereas you used to find it just below AE bracketing on the second Record menu, now it's buried on the second Settings menu, at the bottom of the list, under Flash Control. Then you have to scroll to the Built-in flash func. setting, and go into yet another menu where you can scroll down to Flash exp. comp. That's four steps where you used to make only two to adjust flash exposure compensation.

Otherwise, the built-in flash performs well, capable of good exposures out to 16 feet at wide angle. Coverage at this distance isn't very even, but it serves better at closer distances anyway.

For better flash photography indoors or out, I recommend an external flash like the Canon 430EX Speedlite, or the 430EX II (available in August 2008). Though I usually used a 580EX, the 430EX is smaller and lighter, better suited to the Rebel XSi. Canon's E-TTL II flash control system delivers excellent exposures with these units, whether bounced or direct.

Canon XSi storage and battery

Some Canon digital SLR fans might not like the Canon XSi's switch to SD/SDHC cards from the CompactFlash card standard still in use in professional digital SLR cameras. The advantage to SD is that the simpler connector interface is less likely to be damaged by incorrect card insertion, whereas the CompactFlash header's many pins are often damaged when beginners try to insert the cards sideways. SD cards cannot be put in sideways, have a sturdier, simpler contact design, and the cards are also now quite affordable and common, so the time was ripe for a switch. Pros who carry a Rebel as a backup might be a little annoyed to have to carry two types of card, but one 8GB SDHC card goes a long way.

There's also a new battery for the Canon XSi, the LP-E5. This new 1080 mAh lithium-ion battery offers 50% more capacity (~500 shots total with 50% flash usage) at about the same weight. Whereas the power pads on the NB-2LH battery used in the XTi could easily cause a fire if exposed to metal in a bag or pocket, the new LP-E5 battery's contacts are concealed inside a small protrusion out the side of the battery, making a pants fire less likely.

The battery door's hinge is no longer as robust as the fine metal hinge that locked into a metal bracket with a springloaded pin. The new design is quite similar to the Nikon D60's door hinge, a plastic arrangement that allows removal with a quick pull on the door at a 45 degree angle.

There are many other little changes that are worthy of note, including a new Continuous Self-timer mode that allows capture of many shots in succession; and a new 4% Spot metering mode joins Evaluative, Partial (9%), and Center-weighted modes.

Canon XSi Processor and Features

Canon uses the DIGIC III processor in the XSi, which allows 14-bit analog-to-digital image processing, as well as capture of 14-bit RAW files. This promises smoother, more flexible tone curves. We also confirmed that the DIGIC processors are the same chip across the product line, from PowerShot to Canon's Mark III professional cameras: when it says DIGIC III, it's the same processor, just used for different purposes depending on the camera; that's not necessarily true of other manufacturers' processors.

Enabled by DIGIC III, Auto Lighting Optimizer mode works to maintain highlight and shadow detail, likely working similarly to Sony's DRO and Nikon's Active D-Lighting. Canon's literature says that the Auto Lighting Optimizer mode uses Canon's Face Detection technology to make sure faces are exposed properly in backlit situations. Unlike Nikon's D-Lighting, however, it cannot be applied after capture. It's designed to enhance photographs for direct printing, camera to printer, via PictBridge. We didn't notice much of an effect in our tests, though.

Other changes in the Canon EOS XSi include 3.5 frames per second burst shooting for up to 53 JPEG or six RAW frames.

Updated PictBridge printing functionality with the ability to straighten horizons and add picture effects.

ISO. The Canon XSi's highest ISO setting remains low compared with other recent offerings from other companies, ranging from 100 to 1,600. Image quality across the range is truly excellent, however, with ISO 100 shots producing good 16x20-inch prints, and ISO 1,600 shots looking quite good at 11x14-inches, a new high water mark for a consumer digital SLR at any resolution.

Size comparisons: Canon Rebel XSi vs Canon Rebel XTi

Just a little bigger: The XSi grew just a little, and got smoother contours. Still, it's good and small, and the grip serves a bit better.

Canon Rebel XSi vs Canon 40D

A lot smaller: Though it's bigger than the XTi, the Rebel XSi is still a lot smaller than the next step up to the semi-pro Canon 40D. Note also that while the XSi has the convenience of an infrared remote sensor on the grip, the Canon 40D has no equivalent. Purchase a $25 Canon RC-1 remote control unit and you can get yourself in family portraits without all the extra running. Set the two-second delay and you'll even have time to hide the little remote from view. It costs a lot more to do that with the Canon 40D.

Canon Rebel XSi Shooting

Shooting with the Rebel XSi is a pleasant experience. The grip is great, making the camera feel a little less tiny, and the curves make handling the camera comfortable all around. Save for the new ISO button's position, controls are very good, improved when the larger LCD eliminated the left-side buttons. Checking exposure and focus is a lot easier with the larger LCD, and thanks to Live View, you can quickly check focus before you capture.

The new image-stabilized lens included with the Canon XSi is excellent, quite an improvement over the last model. Its zoom ring works more smoothly and the knurled grip is easier to hold. Image stabilization works very well, serving up more high quality shots in very low light. The lens isn't USM, which means it doesn't have an ultrasonic motor for fast, nearly silent focusing, but the motor isn't disagreeably loud at all, and it's fast enough.

Because it's an EOS camera, it's compatible with all my other EOS gear. The lens mount is about 1.2mm higher than the one on the XTi, which makes fatter lenses like the 28-135mm seem a little less gigantic when mounted on the XSi.

Frame rate. The Canon XSi's faster frame rate is a minor improvement, but certainly welcome, making it more likely that you'll get a just the right moment from a sequence. The shutter sound is different, but still includes a lot of whirring and stomping, instead of a nice, simple click-click. Some might prefer the winding sound, but to me it draws too much attention. I doubt most people think about it as much as I do, but for those of you who do, here's a small video.

The new lens release button makes it a little easier to change lenses, and while it's hard to get used to a Canon SLR with a small SD card door, it does fit the small body of the Rebel XSi. It has thrown me on occasion when my standard complement of CF cards was no help after I'd filled an SD card. Now I carry both.

Shooting in Live View mode is pretty easy once you get used to it; though focusing by pressing the AE-Lock button is a little cumbersome when shooting from odd angles. I suppose they separated the buttons to avoid the confusion of the mirror going up when you half-press the shutter button. Surely that would make many users think they'd taken a picture. And in "Live" AF mode, it's a lot slower than some digicams, especially in low light with camera movement, so I'm sure that's why they left AF activation on the AE-Lock button.

As well as it works, I recommend against using the Live View mode as a default shooting method. Use it for fine focusing while shooting from a tripod where you can afford the time to confirm or specify which focus point or area is in use, or when shooting from odd angles, but you get better camera stability when shooting with the camera held to your face than you do holding it out in front of you. Battery life also drops from 500 to 190 shots when shooting in Live View, so invest in a spare battery if Live View is your thing.

There's so much about the XSi that's similar to the XTi that there's not much new to say about the camera shooting experience. It works extremely well, is fun to shoot with, and captures some amazing images. Live View is just a bonus.

Canon Rebel XSi Performance

While the XTi was fast, the Canon Rebel XSi bests it in most measures. Shutter lag with full autofocus is 0.16 compared to the XTi's 0.20 second (fast in its own right). Prefocus shutter lag is 0.089 compared to 0.105. And Live View modes, we were unable to test shutter lag inclusive of the autofocus process, because our method depends on pressing one button--the shutter release--to activate the test. But once focus is achieved, both contrast-detect and phase-detect are fast: Full AF contrast detect is 0.250 and phase-detect is 0.232 second. It's a shame they're not as fast as the optical viewfinder mode, but the shutter does have to close before it opens for the exposure to work with a CMOS sensor, so that's likely the cause for the delay.

In Continuous mode, the Canon Rebel XSi literally and perfectly delivers exactly 3.50 frames per second. We almost never see such a precise match to the number claimed. With our hard-to-compress torture target, we managed 13 frames before the buffer filled, and it only took five seconds to clear. In RAW mode, we calculated 3.51 frames per second, capturing five frames total, taking six seconds to clear. In RAW+JPEG mode, it slowed to 3 frames per second, capturing only four frames, taking seven seconds to clear. That's all pretty good for a Rebel moving 12.2 million pixels around and storing it on an SD card.

If you're shooting portraits, a wedding, or a sporting event with RAW, you'll run into the ceiling more often than you'd like; but most users won't notice the frame rate or buffer limitations.

Speaking of high pixel counts, be sure to get a few big SD cards if you plan to shoot RAW a lot. 4 to 8GB should be fine. A 1GB card holds about 220 large/fine JPEG files, but only 58 RAW shots.

Canon XSi Image Quality

I think the most astonishing thing about the Canon Rebel XSi is its capabilities at ISO 1,600. Most users would be able to set the camera to ISO 1,600 and shoot in all settings, especially if the largest they intend to print is an 8x10-inch photo. As such, here is my usual ISO 1,600 comparison table. The twist is that it's comparing the $900 XSi to the $1,800 Nikon D300, the only other 12-megapixel digital SLR camera in our databank with a comparable sensor size.

Canon XSi vs Nikon D300

Canon Rebel XSi at ISO 1,600	Nikon D300 at ISO 1,600
Look at both images carefully and consider the relative costs before coming to a conclusion. While the XSi looks more grainy, with more chroma noise, that's due to Canon's strategy to maintain more detail in its noise suppression efforts, while Nikon has gotten very good at creating a very smooth image, but they're still losing some detail in the process. Note the crisp letters on the Mas Portel bottle in the XSi shot, compared to the softer letters from the Nikon D300. The mosaic image shows a more complex subject, with some tiles doing better with the Canon, others with the Nikon. Our best test of how much noise suppression is doing to mush out detail in an image is the red cloth with the leaf pattern on it. Though it's a little darker, the XSi's image is truer to the actual pattern than the artistic but incorrect rendering with the Nikon D300. Lighting and contrast are slightly different in each camera, so there's a lot to consider in these crops. But it's significant that an inexpensive camera like the Rebel XSi can stand up well against a high quality camera costing twice as much; and the D300 doesn't come with a lens, let alone an image-stabilized one.

Canon XSi vs XTi

Canon Rebel XSi at ISO 1,600	Canon Rebel XTi at ISO 1,600
I think it's also worth comparing the XSi to the 10-megapixel XTi to see what you might be getting in terms of extra detail. Both cameras by default have their sharpening turned down, so you can actually get a sharper image pixel-for-pixel onscreen, but these are both quite good performers. Again, the XSi has a bit more chroma noise, partially due to the changes in the background shadow, but overall detail is higher than the XTi, hence the larger size when shown here at 100%.

Canon XSi vs 5D, Nikon D700, D300, and Canon XTi

Canon XSi	Canon 5D	Nikon D700	Nikon D300	Canon XTi
One more comparison. This time the $900 XTi with its APS-C sensor goes up against two $3,000 full-frame digital SLRs, an $1,800 APS-C model -- all 12-megapixel sensors -- and its 10-megapixel predecessor. The lines inside these letters usually do not show up on cameras with resolutions lower than 12 megapixels, as you can see in the XTi shot top right. The top row shows ISO 100 shots, and the bottom row has ISO 1,600 shots from each camera, and all are remarkably similar. Interestingly, the Rebel XTi's ISO 100 shot shows more sharpening artifacts than the ISO 1,600 shot, yet there's more detail in the ISO 1,600 shot. The Canon 5D looks better than most, but also shows more evidence of sharpening at both settings. The two Nikons do well with the larger letters, but reveal very few lines in the smaller letters, like the L and G in Lager. Ultimately, again the Canon XSi really does well against these larger, more expensive cameras, so you can expect plenty of detail in your images.

Note: We have many more shots for you to peruse on this review's other tabs, including the Optics and Exposure tabs.

Good set. Add the new EF-S 55-250mm image-stabilized lens and something like the 580EX (pictured) or 430EX II, and you have a pretty comprehensive family photo kit..

Analysis. The Canon Rebel XSi is indeed a worthy successor to the Rebel throne. A camera with the Rebel name has never carried such sophistication, nor so rich a feature-set. It has all that makes the Rebel XTi great, but with more resolution, live view, a faster frame rate, a new look, and an image-stabilized lens. It's the image quality that makes the Rebel XSi stand out, with great performance across the ISO range.

It's easy to use as a snapshot camera, yet offers plenty to delve into for more creative uses. Its compatibility with all that the Canon EOS line has to offer strengthens its utility: external flashes, battery grips, and a wide range of lenses can be brought to bear on just about any photographic challenge. Existing EOS owners will have to invest in a few SD cards and perhaps a couple of new batteries to make the switch, as well as a new battery grip if they already have one, but lenses and flashes are compatible and ready to go.

Adding a flash is my first recommendation for better indoor shots, and the Canon 430EX II will ship in August to meet the need for a light, high-quality bounce flash (the 430EX is just fine too). Yes, you can get some great shots indoors with the XSi's kit lens and either the pop-up flash or high ISO, but when you add a telephoto lens, or your subject starts moving, you're going to need some extra light. If you want to keep your kit small, check out the EF-S 55-250mm IS zoom lens. Combined, you'll have a 13x zoom range with a pretty high quality sensor to back it up.

Of course, the Canon Rebel XSi will deliver great photos with just the contents of the kit. I've spent a long time with it, and find the XSi to serve as well as the Rebel XTi, only better. That's high praise all by itself.

As I said of the XTi, the Canon Rebel XSi is an excellent, take-anywhere, all-purpose digital SLR camera that's great as a second camera for pros, or as a primary camera for anyone else. It will more than serve, it will make its owner very happy.

Canon Rebel XSi Basic Features

• 12.4-megapixel, 22.2 x 14.8mm, 14-bit RGB CMOS sensor delivering 4,272 x 2,848-pixel images. Effective count of 12.2-megapixels and 3:2 aspect ratio
• Single-lens reflex digital camera with interchangeable lenses (supports all Canon EOS series lenses). Focal length multiplier of 1.6x as compared to a 35mm camera
• Variable ISO (100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,600 settings)
• TTL optical viewfinder with detailed information display, diopter adjustment, and depth-of-field preview
• 3.0-inch, low-temperature TFT LCD with 230,000 pixels and Live View display mode
• Automatic, Program AE (shiftable), Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Depth-of-Field AE, and Manual exposure modes, plus Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, and Flash Off programmed modes
• Variable white balance with Auto, six manual presets, and a Custom setting (reads from a neutral gray or white card), as well as a color correction tool and bracketing function
• External hot shoe supports E-TTL II metering, FEL, and FP (high speed sync) flash with Canon EX Series Speedlight
• Flash exposure lock function (FEL)
• 35-zone Evaluative metering linked to all focusing points, Center weighted average metering, Spot (4%) or Partial (9%) central-area spot metering; metering range of EV 1 to 20 (at normal temperatures, EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, ISO 100)
• Adjustable exposure compensation from -2 to +2 EV in 1/3 or 1/2 EV increments in all exposure modes
• Auto exposure bracketing (AEB) from -2 to +2 EV in 1/3 or 1/2 EV increments in all autoexposure modes
• Shutter speeds from 1/4,000 to 30 seconds, and a Bulb setting for longer exposures
• Electronic self-timer with a fixed duration of 10 or two seconds
• Image storage on SD or SDHC memory cards

Canon Rebel XSi Special Features

• Live View mode includes two focusing modes: Quick, phase-detect mode, and Live, contrast-detect mode
• Dust reduction and automatic sensor cleaning
• Picture Style menu offers six presets plus three user-defined settings for contrast, saturation, sharpness, and tone
• Continuous Shooting mode capturing as many as 53 images as fast as 3.5 frames per second (with shutter speeds of 1/250 second or faster)
• TTL autofocus with nine focusing points, manually or automatically selectable; One shot AF, Predictive AI Servo AF, AI Focus AF, and manual focus with AF assist beam, depending on exposure mode selected; working range of EV -0.5 to 18 at ISO 100
• Built-in E-TTL II retractable-type flash with red-eye reduction; guide number is 13/43 at ISO 100, m/ft, flash angle said to cover the field of a 17mm lens (27mm in 135 format); topside hot shoe for external flash connection of EX Speedlite flashes
• E3 remote control socket and IR remote control window
• 24-bit JPEG and 36-bit RAW data file formats. Available resolution settings are: 4,272 x 2,848; 3,088 x 2,056; and 2,256 x 1,504
• Red-eye Reduction via built-in illuminator
• Optional external hand grip/battery pack adds secondary shutter release and control wheel, as well as AE lock and focus point buttons for vertical-format shooting
• NTSC/PAL selectable video out connectivity
• DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) and DCF (Design Rule for Camera File System) compliant
• PictBridge; Direct Print capability to selected Canon photo printers
• USB 2.0 connectivity with TWAIN driver for PC and Adobe Photoshop plugin for Macintosh

In the Box

The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi Kit comes with the following items in the box:

• Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR camera body
• EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens
• Body cap
• Lens caps (front and back)
• Neck strap
• Eye cup
• LP-E5 battery pack and charger
• Video cable
• USB cable
• Software CD
• Instruction manuals and registration information

Recommended Accessories

• Additional battery pack
• AC adaptor
• Large capacity SDHC or SD memory card at least a 2GB card, preferably a 4GB one, to give you even more room
• Soft case

Canon Rebel XSi Conclusion

Canon has another hit. The Rebel XSi has just about everything you want from a semi-pro camera in a smaller package. It's small, lighter than its predecessor, and has all the good stuff the competitors have, plus that legendary Canon image quality. Canon made minor but important improvements to the grip and controls, and kept all that was great about its predecessor. Adding Live View and image stabilization addressed a few elements that other companies, namely Olympus and Pentax, have had in their favor at the low-price end of the market. If anyone knows how to address the image stabilization problem, it's Canon, with years of experience and a proven track record.

As we noted in the Rebel XTi review, the older kit lens needed another upgrade to do justice to that camera's 10-megapixel sensor; Canon clearly thought so too, because the new 18-55mm IS lens is significantly improved, as our SLRgear.com tests show. There is still some corner softness and chromatic aberration, but surprisingly little. The lens's build is better than past models, as well, and it delivers such a good focal length range with so little weight that I recommend most people buy the kit to get this fine little lens for those days they just want a light, high-quality camera along.

Though autofocus is said to have been improved in the Rebel XSi, I don't see much of a difference. It's still as excellent as its predecessor. We do see some improvement in the lab tests, however, with faster shutter lag numbers overall. Shutter lag lengthens in Live View mode thanks to the need to close the shutter before the actual exposure, but that's to be expected. It's still darn fast. The requirement to use the AE-Lock button to focus in Live View mode will cause many to think there's something wrong with the camera, and I haven't really gotten used to it despite my long use of the camera. Learn to shoot with the optical viewfinder by default, leaving Live View for special situations and tripod use, and you'll be happier with the experience. Most of the benefit of an SLR can be found in that optical viewfinder, with a truly real-time view of your subject. And now it's improved over its predecessor with a larger view.

All of the Canon Rebel XSi's new features help you get better images in more situations, but the real question was whether Canon could take this small sensor size to 12-megapixels without significantly affecting image quality. I think there's a little more aggressive noise suppression at low ISO settings, but detail remains very strong; and at ISO 1,600 quality is so strong that you can safely print images up to 11x14-inches, while the XTi's ISO 1,600 images would only withstand enlargement to 8x10.

Canon has done it again. The Rebel XSi is a strong upgrade to an already excellent and rightfully popular digital SLR. Image quality, performance, and utility have only improved, which makes the Canon Rebel XSi an easy Dave's Pick, and a great value for anyone looking to get better pictures.

Design

Operation

Canon Rebel XSi Operation

The Rebel XSi relies on its large, color LCD screen for all user interaction. This makes for a very clear, highly visible user interface, but probably does contribute to slightly shorter battery life, since the large LCD has to be fired up any time you want to change a setting. One feature we do like very much is the infrared proximity sensor that turns off the LCD screen when you hold the camera up to your eye.

Overall, the control layout places a few main controls (Power, Shutter button, Command dial, and Mode dial) on the right side of the camera's top panel, with most of the other controls on the back of the camera. Let's take a closer look at some of the user-interface elements:

Canon XSi Rear-Panel LCD Display
Let's take a closer look at the rear-panel display. The image below shows callouts for all the information shown in the default display. (Illustration courtesy Canon USA.)

There are four Screen color options on the Status display, adjustable in the first Settings menu, under Screen color.

One time when color is used on the rear-panel display is when you adjust the exposure compensation. As soon as you press the exposure compensation button on the camera's body, the exposure compensation area is highlighted on the LCD display, as seen above.

Pressing any of the arrow keys to the right of the LCD screen immediately brings up a screen for the exposure parameter associated with that button. Once the option screen is displayed, you can use the arrow keys to scroll the cursor highlight through the options presented. When you've made the choice you want, pressing Set confirms it and returns you to the main shooting display. The new icon arrangement allows you to just continue to press the same button and the highlight will scroll through all the options, wrapping around when it gets to the end of the list.

The AF-point selection screen is also very clear and straightforward. When you press the AF-point selection button in the upper right corner of the back panel, the display shown above appears. As you'd expect, you can use the arrow keys to select the point you want, and then exit by pressing either the Set or Shutter button.

Canon XSi Live View, Playback & Record Review Displays

The Canon Rebel XSi's rear-panel LCD screen can be used as a live viewfinder, which is enabled by pressing the Set button outside of a menu or settings screen. In Live View mode, the default display reports the current shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation setting, ISO setting and number of available images at the bottom of the screen. Pressing the DISP button enables a more detailed information display, and a third press displays a small histogram. Through a Setup menu option, you can also enable a gridline display. (Illustration courtesy Canon USA.)

Like the Rebel XTi, the Rebel XSi shows each image as it's captured, though you can turn off this function through the Camera menu. The display mode used in Record Review is the same as was last used in Playback mode, or you can hit the DISP button to cycle to a different mode. Likewise, in Playback mode, you can cycle between the available display options by pressing the DISP button repeatedly. You can also select between the normal luminance-based histogram and the RGB histogram option via a Playback-mode menu item. The screenshots below show the various displays and options available.

Canon XSi Image Display Options
This is the default display in playback mode. The file number is displayed upper right, the shutter speed and aperture in the upper left, and file sequence number and quality are shown below left.	Pressing the DISP button cycles through the three available displays. This is the second option, image with no overlay.
The XSi's third playback display option shows a histogram and more detailed exposure information. If there are any blown highlights, they'll blink in this mode.	A Custom Settings Menu option lets you choose between a conventional luminance-only histogram, or the separate red, green, and blue displays as seen above.
You can also zoom in on an image, up to 10x at the highest resolution. The small navigator window in the lower right-hand corner shows you what part of the larger image you're currently viewing. The arrow keys let you navigate around the full image, and the zoom in / zoom out keys increase or decrease the magnification level.
If you press the Zoom Out button while viewing a single image on the LCD screen, it'll take you to a 9-imge thumbnail display. The arrow keys let you navigate among the thumbnail images. The text displays the same basic exposure info for the currently-selected image as does the default single-image display.	Pressing the JUMP button takes you to a thumbnail display, but one that lets you skip through pages of nine thumbnails at a time.
Pressing the JUMP button when a single image is displayed gives you the option of skipping through the images on the card in steps of 1 or 100 at a time, or skipping based on shot dates.	Pressing the Delete button brings up this display, giving you the option to erase the current image, or all (unprotected) images on the card. The Delete display will show either the full image or a thumbnail plus histogram, depending on the playback mode you've selected.

Optics

Canon XSi Optics

Kit Lens

Among the bigger hardware improvements is the inclusion of the new EF-S 18-55mm IS lens in the Canon XSi kit. Though this light, compact image-stabilized lens sells for $200 on its own, the Canon XSi kit will sell for only $100 more than the body-only price. In our testing over at SLRgear.com, this lens has really impressed over past versions of the standard Digital Rebel kit lens, with improved sharpness and reduced chromatic aberration. It's Canon's answer to the competing SLRs from Olympus, Pentax, Samsung, and Sony that use body-based, sensor-shift image stabilization, while Nikon and Canon use optical image stabilization.

Lens Compatibility

Like other Canon DSLRs with sub-frame sensors (currently, the Canon Rebel XSi, XTi, the just-announced XS, and Canon EOS-30D, 40D), the Canon Rebel XSi will work with pretty much any EF-mount lens ever made, as well as with the special EF-S lenses designed for cameras with APS-C size sensors. Designed with a smaller image circle (the area covered by the image on the film/sensor plane), EF-S lenses tend to be smaller and lighter than full-frame models with the same focal length and maximum aperture. EF-S lenses can't be used on full-frame Canon cameras (nor on their models with 1.3x crop factors, like the current EOS-1D Mark III), but small-sensor cameras like the Rebel XSi can use any full-frame lenses in Canon's arsenal.

The sub-frame sensor on the Canon Rebel XSi means that it has a smaller angle of view (by a factor of 1/1.6) than a full-frame camera with any given lens. While most properly called a "crop factor," the 1.6x ratio is most commonly referred to as the "focal length multiplier" since that's how it works in practice: Any lens used on the Rebel XSi will have the same field of view as one with a 1.6x greater focal length would when attached to a 35mm camera. (For example, a 100mm lens on the XSi will show the same field of view as a 160mm lens on a camera with a 35mm frame size.) This means that the 18-55mm kit lens for the XSi has a coverage roughly equivalent to that of a 29-88mm lens on a 35mm camera.

The 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens that ships with the Canon XSi is of only modest quality in terms of build, like most kit lenses, but optically it's pretty impressive, producing good focus fields from wide open to f/16. Still, a better lens is one of the first accessories new SLR owners typically buy. (See our sister site SLRgear.com for in-depth lab tests and user reviews of SLR lenses.)

Image Stabilization

The "IS" in the new kit lens's name stands for "Image Stabilization." This is a handy and increasingly common feature of both lenses and some camera bodies. The idea is that a motion sensor, computer chip, and movable optical element are built into the lens barrel. The motion sensor detects motion that could lead to blurred images with long exposure times. This data is processed by the computer chip, which in turn moves the floating optical element in such a way as to counteract the motion of the lens, thereby keeping the image stationary on the camera's image sensor. The net result is that you can shoot at much slower shutter speeds than you'd otherwise be able to, without getting blurred images as a result.

Image stabilization technology generally works very well, and Canon has been making IS equipment longer than most competing manufacturers. The net result is that the new IS-enabled kit lens does a great job of delivering sharp photos under dim lighting: In the case of the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens, you should be able to shoot at shutter speeds up to 16x (4 stops) slower than you can normally hand-hold without IS.

As mentioned above, some manufacturers have begun building Image Stabilization capability into their camera bodies, rather than their lenses. The advantage of this is obvious: Every lens you put on a camera with body-based stabilization becomes an IS lens. A body-based IS system makes for a much less expensive lens collection, since you don't have to pay for IS technology in every lens you buy. There are two downsides to body-based IS, though. First, we've found that the best lens-based IS systems outperform the best body-based IS systems by a factor of two or more (one f-stop). Second, the body-based systems don't stabilize the image seen in the viewfinder, unless you're using a Live View camera that captures its viewfinder image from the camera's main sensor. In extreme cases, having a stabilized view through the viewfinder can be a great aid to accurate framing and improving your own stability for sharper pictures.

So neither IS technology (lens-based or body-based) wins over the other on all points. If you plan on assembling a large collection of lenses, body-based IS will save you money, but at some cost in performance, and without the benefit of a stabilized view through the viewfinder. Lens-based IS can work better (not all IS systems are created equal), but will cost you more if you end up buying a lot of lenses. For the casual user who doesn't plan on acquiring a large lens collection, either approach will work, now that IS-enabled kit lenses are appearing as part of consumer-level SLR bundles.

Canon XSi Autofocus

The Rebel XSi uses a new sensor with enhanced precision a the center point. The new design achieves more precise focus when used with lenses with apertures of f/2.8 or larger.

SLR autofocus accuracy is governed in part by how far apart you can space the sensor elements for a single AF point from each other. The wider this "baseline," the more accurately the AF point can determine focus. What limits the AF baseline spacing in a camera system is the lens aperture. You can build sensors with wider baselines, but that also restricts the range of lenses they can be used with. By and large, camera manufacturers have set f/5.6 as the minimum aperture their AF systems will work with. Lenses with wide-open apertures smaller than f/5.6 just won't focus. But once the baseline spacing is set, using a faster lens doesn't improve focus accuracy any. That is, unless you add a larger baseline sensor, as is built into the Rebel XSi.

On their higher-end DSLRs, Canon uses special AF sensors for some of the AF points. These dual-precision AF points have two sets of focus sensors, one spaced to permit use with f/5.6 lenses, the other set to operate with f/2.8 lenses. Since an f/2.8 lens permits almost a 2x increase in baseline spacing, AF precision increases proportionately when using them.

The AF points on the Rebel XSi cover about 60% of the frame width, and about 50% of the frame height. The illustration above shows the relative spacing between the various AF points, with the distances between them marked in millimeters, at the focal plane. (Illustration courtesy Canon USA.)

AF-Assist Illuminator

Like previous digital Rebels, the XSi uses the built-in flash head as its AF-assist illuminator, rather than a bright light built into the camera's body. This works well because the flash is quite bright, and probably has a greater range than an on-body illuminator bulb. Unlike other models in the Rebel line, you can disable the internal flash by going into the Flash Control menu, which still lets the AF-assist pulse to fire; but then you lose your flash capability until you turn it back on. If you attach a 550EX external flash unit to the Rebel XSi, its internal AF-assist illuminator canbe used instead of the flash head itself, providing a useful working range of about 50 feet with a less obtrusive light source. For non-flash photography, Canon's ST-E2 wireless sync transmitter can also be used for AF assist, a handy trick. The ST-E2's AF-assist light has a useful range of about 25 feet. (Note though, that we haven't tested the ST-E2 ourselves, so can't verify this performance independently.)

Canon XSi Anti-Dust Technology

The Rebel XSi digital SLR camera includes Canon's EOS Integrated Cleaning System, first introduced on the EOS Rebel XTi camera. The camera's Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit shakes dust particles off of the low-pass filter in front of the sensor. The dust is then trapped by an adhesive along the base, preventing it from causing further nuisance. Cleaning is engaged each time the camera is powered up or shut down, or manually through the "clean now" function.

The second part of the cleaning system involves post processing with a compatible personal computer and the supplied Digital Photo Professional software. Here (via a menu option) the camera maps any spots that may remain on the sensor, saving it as Dust Delete Data and subsequently subtracting dust spots from the final image during post processing. A third option includes a manual sensor cleaning function which raises the mirror and allows users to clean dust that may have stuck to the low-pass filter.

Despite the new dust cleaning features, we haven't seen an automatic system capable of removing all dust. So while this is a nice feature to have, don't be fooled into thinking that you won't have to either learn how to clean your sensor or send it in for cleaning.

Everyone understands that lenses sometimes get dust on them and need to be cleaned, and there are a lot of lens-cleaning cloths, solutions and other accessories on the market that work well. But what do you do when your sensor gets dusty? Dust specks on the sensor tend to show up when shooting at very small apertures, appearing as dark blobs on your images. They're distracting at best, a terrible nuisance at worst, if you end up having to retouch every image to be rid of them.

Most of us are naturally leery of the idea of poking around inside the delicate innards of our DSLRs to wrestle with recalcitrant dust specks. Gently blowing the sensor surface (actually, the surface of the anti-aliasing filter) with compressed air gets rid of some dust, but there's invariably a lot that just stays stuck, no matter what. So what do you do?

If you've got dust specks on your sensor (and sooner or later you will), you're going to need to clean it. There are a lot of products out there intended to address this need, but a distressing number of them work poorly (if at all), and many are grossly overpriced. Advertising hype is rampant, with bogus pseudo-scientific jargon and absurd product claims. And prices - Did we mention prices? How about $100 for a simple synthetic-bristle brush?

So how do you know which product to use?

We don't pretend to have used everything currently on the market, we but can tell you about one solution that worked very well for us. The "Copper Hill" cleaning method is straightforward and safe, and in our routine usage here at Imaging Resource, very effective. Better yet, the products sold by Copper Hill Imaging are very reasonably priced. Best of all, Nicholas R (proprietor of Copper Hill) has put together an amazingly detailed tutorial on sensor cleaning, free for all.

Sensor cleaning is one of the last things people think about when buying a DSLR, but it's vital to capturing the best possible images. Take our advice and order a cleaning kit from Copper Hill right along with your DSLR, so you'll have it close at hand when you need it: You'll be glad you did!

(While they've advertised on our sister site SLRgear.com from time to time, we receive no promotional consideration from Copper Hill for this note. We just think their sensor cleaning products are among the best on the market, and like their way of doing business. -- We think you will too. Check them out.)

Lens

Zoom
Pretty good performance with the 18-55mm IS (Image Stabilized) kit lens.

The Canon XSi comes with an 18-55mm IS kit lens, which is a fairly average optical zoom range of ~3x for a kit lens. Details are reasonably sharp, with a hint of softness across the frame at maximum wide-angle, with relatively low levels of coma distortion but some noticeable chromatic aberration and slight blurring in the extreme corners. Results at full telephoto are even better, with good sharpness across the frame and very low levels of chromatic aberration. All in all, while not up to the performance of top-level zooms, it does pretty well for a kit lens on a 12-megapixel sensor, and the added image stabilization will come in handy for low-light shooting.

Macro
A small area (for an SLR kit lens), with excellent detail. Flash throttles down well.

As with zoom performance, the Canon XSi's macro performance will depend entirely on the lens in use. However, with the 18-55mm IS kit lens set to 55mm, the XSi captured a small (for a non-macro SLR lens) minimum area measuring 2.46 x 1.64 inches (62 x 42 millimeters). Resolution and detail were high, though with some softening in the corners from the lens. (Most lenses have some softening in the corners at macro distances.) The Canon XSi's flash throttled down for the macro area pretty well, and there was no detectable shadow from the lens barrel, resulting in a good exposure with the flash.

Distortion
Moderate barrel distortion with the 18-55mm IS kit lens, though low pincushion.

Barrel distortion at 18mm is 0.8 percent

Pincushion at 55mm is less than 0.1 percent

The Canon XSi's 18-55mm IS kit lens produced about 0.8 percent barrel distortion at wide-angle, which is about average among the cameras we've tested, and noticeable in its images. At the telephoto end, the less than 0.1 percent pincushion distortion is quite low and not nearly as noticeable. This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide-angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto).

Chromatic aberration
Moderate and bright at wide-angle, but lower at telephoto with the 18-55mm IS kit lens.

Chromatic aberration in the corners with the Canon XSi's kit lens is pretty evident (we'd call it on the high side of "moderate," or "noticeable") at the 18mm setting. It's less distinguished by its width (6-8 pixels) and more by its brightness. Remember, though, that this is at 12 megapixels, so its width diminishes relative to this high resolution. At 55mm telephoto, this distortion is much lower and hardly noticeable. (This distortion is visible as a slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)

Corner Sharpness
Minimal blurring in the corners of the frame at both zoom settings with the kit lens.

The Canon XSi's 18-55mm IS kit lens produced slightly soft corners in a few shots. At wide angle, corners on our test targets had very little softness compared to the center. At telephoto, corners showed slightly more softness, but still much less than average for a kit lens. A very good performance here, especially considering these shots were taken at maximum aperture (corner softness usually improves when the lens is stopped-down a few f-stops). (We did see a bit more corner softness at wide angle in our Far-Field shot of the house, but that could also have been a matter of the background in the corners being a good bit more distant than the main focal point at the center of the frame.) Impressive results.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Canon EOS XSi (Rebel XSi, Canon 450D) Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Canon Rebel XSi Exposure

The Canon Digital Rebel XSi provides as little or as much exposure control as you could want. Standard exposure modes include the usual Program, Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, and full Manual modes, as well as some "Image Zone" (scene-based preset) modes, and an Automatic Depth-of-Field mode. The "Image Zone" exposure modes include Portrait, Landscape, Close-up (macro), Sports, Night Portrait, and Flash Off modes. These modes preset a variety of camera parameters to make it easier for non-expert photographers to achieve good exposures in a variety of standard shooting situations. The Flash Off mode simply disables the flash and external Speedlite (if attached), and puts the camera under automatic exposure control. The full Auto mode takes over all camera functions, turning the Canon Rebel XSi into a very easy to use point and shoot camera, albeit a very capable one.

The Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority modes work much the same as on any other camera, allowing you to adjust one exposure variable while the Rebel XSi selects the other for the best exposure. Program mode keeps both variables under automatic control, while Manual mode gives you full control over everything. The Automatic Depth-of-Field mode (A-DEP) uses all nine autofocus zones to determine the depth of field in the active subject area. Once the Rebel XSi has determined the range of focusing distances present across the nine zones, it automatically computes the combination of aperture and shutter speed needed to render the nearest and furthest points in sharp focus.

Canon Rebel XSi Metering & ISO Options

Exposure metering options include Evaluative, Partial, Spot and Center-Weighted options. The Canon Rebel XSi offers variable light sensitivity, with ISO equivalents of 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,600. For adjusting the exposure, the XSi's Exposure Compensation setting increases or decreases overall exposure from +/-2 EV in one-third or one-half EV increments. (You set the step size through the Custom menu.) An automatic exposure bracketing feature lets you set the total exposure variation (across three shots) at anywhere from +/- one-third or one-half EV all the way up to +/- 2 EV. The nice part is that the automatic variation is centered around whatever level of manual exposure compensation you have dialed in. Thus, you could manually set a positive exposure compensation of 0.7EV, and then have the camera give you a variation of +/- 2/3 EV around that point.

AE/AF Lock
Another feature deserving comment is the Rebel XSi's separation of the autoexposure and autofocus lock functions. In consumer-level digital cameras, half-pressing the Shutter button locks exposure and focus simultaneously. You can use this to deal with an off-center subject by pointing the camera at the subject, locking exposure and focus, and then reframing the picture before finally snapping the shutter. The only problem is that you sometimes need to perform a more radical recomposition of the subject in order to determine the proper exposure. For instance, you may want to zoom in on the subject, grab an exposure setting, and then zoom back out before taking the picture. Situations like that require locking the exposure independently of the focusing, and the Canon Rebel XSi provides for just such eventualities by way of a separate AE lock button on the back of the camera, right under your right thumb. Through the Rebel XSi's Custom menu, you can specify the operation of the AE Lock button, as well as the AF/AE locking function of the Shutter button. A very handy feature indeed.

White Balance Options
The Canon Rebel XSi offers a full range of White Balance settings, including six presets, an Auto setting, and a Custom setting. The six presets include Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Flash. The Custom setting bases color balance on a previous exposure, meaning you can snap an image of a white card and then base the color temperature on that image. A White Balance bracketing option snaps only one image, then writes three successive files from that single image. Bracketing steps are from -/+ 3 stops in whole-stop increments. (Each stop corresponds to five mireds of a color conversion filter, for a total range of +/- 15 mireds. This corresponds to about a +/- 500K shift at a normal daylight color temperature of 5,500K.)

The WB Bracketing is set on the same grid as the White Balance correction grid. Fairly sophisticated, the white balance correction tool lets you shift the color balance toward more or less green, amber, magenta, or blue, using a +/-9 step grid format. You move a highlighted square through the grid to adjust the color balance. It's a slightly more advanced interface than I'm used to seeing on digital cameras, but a useful one that greatly extends the camera's color corrective abilities.

The Rebel XSi also offers a Picture Style option, which lets you select from Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, or three User Defined settings. In each of the preset modes, the contrast, saturation, sharpness, and tone are set for specific conditions. The three User Defined options let you manually adjust each variable, then save it as a custom parameter. Finally, you can set the camera's color space to sRGB or Adobe RGB.

Continuous Shooting Mode and Self-Timer
The Canon Rebel XSi's Continuous Shooting mode is rated by Canon at 3.5 frames per second, for a maximum of 53 frames in large/fine JPEG mode. Do note, though, that the number of consecutive shots could be limited by SD card space, if your memory card is nearly full. Very complex images with a lot of sharp, fine detail may also compress less and result in lower buffer capacities.

The camera's Drive setting also accesses a Self-Timer mode, which opens the shutter 10 seconds after the Shutter button is pressed, giving you time to dash around in front of the camera. A Remote Control mode works with the dedicated and wireless remote units as well.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Canon EOS XSi (Rebel XSi, Canon 450D) Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Canon EOS XSi (Rebel XSi, Canon 450D) with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Canon XSi Performance

Imaging

Canon Rebel XSi Image Quality

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Accurate color with minor oversaturation of strong reds and blues.

In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center.

Saturation. The Canon XSi pushes reds and blues just a bit, and undersaturates some yellows and greens, but , blues and some greens by quite a bit, but overall saturation is quite good. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. Caucasian skin tones from the XSi lean toward the warm side. Some users would call this "a healthy glow"; we found it natural and pleasing. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Canon XSi showed a few small color shifts relative to the correct mathematical translation of colors in its subjects, but had excellent accuracy overall. Most noticeable was a shift in reds toward orange, and orange toward yellow, with some shifts in greens and cyans as well. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Saturation Adjustment
The Canon XSi has a total of nine saturation settings available, four above and two below the default saturation. This covers a very wide range of saturation levels, about as wide a range as you're likely to find photographically relevant, apart from special effects that are arguably better achieved in software. The fine steps between settings mean you can program the camera to just the level of saturation you prefer. Nice.

Saturation Adjustment Examples
-4	0	+4

The table above shows results with the default as well as the two extreme saturation settings. Click on any thumbnail above, then click again to see the full-sized image.

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Good color with the Manual white balance setting, though warm results with Auto and Incandescent. Slightly below average positive exposure compensation required.

Indoors, under normal incandescent lighting, color balance was very warm with the Auto white balance setting. The Incandescent setting was better, but also on the warm side. (The XSi's Incandescent setting appears to be color-balanced for professional studio lighting, rather than the warmer household incandescent lights most US consumers have in their homes.) The Manual setting produced the most accurate results. In the end, the Incandescent setting was a bit too warm for our tastes, but some users may actually prefer this, as being more representative of the original lighting. The Canon XSi required a slightly less than average amount of positive exposure compensation here, at +0.7 EV. Despite the (very) slight warm cast, overall color with the Manual white balance setting looks quite good, though the blue flowers appear very purple, and the greens are a bit dark. (Many digital cameras reproduce these flowers with a dark, purplish tint, so the Canon XSi actually performs a little better than average here.) Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

Outdoors, daylight
Bright colors overall, though a tendency toward a warm cast and slightly high contrast under harsh lighting. Better than average exposure accuracy.

Outdoors, the Canon XSi tended toward a warmer color balance, though overall color was generally pretty good. The XSi performed a bit better than average in terms of exposure, requiring slightly less than the typical amount of positive compensation we're accustomed to seeing among consumer digital cameras. (And the far-field shot of the house came out just about ideal at the XSi's default exposure setting.) The XSi's default contrast is a little high, producing washed-out highlights and dark shadows under the deliberately harsh lighting of our "Sunlit" portrait test shown above left. The camera's contrast and highlight tone priority settings do tame the highlights and shadows though (see below).

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
Very high resolution, 1,600 ~ 1,650 lines of strong detail from in-camera JPEG, 1,700 ~ 1,800 lines from processed RAW file.

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 1,650 lines per picture height horizontally, and about 1,600 lines in the vertical direction. Extinction didn't occur until about 2,300 lines horizontally, 2,500 lines vertically (results from 2X target are multiplied by 2). When processing the XSi's CR2 files using Adobe Camera Raw, we were able to extract more resolution, about 1,800 lines in the horizontal direction, and about 1,700 lines in the vertical. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Sharp images overall, though slight edge-enhancement artifacts on high-contrast subjects. Some minor noise suppression visible in the shadows.

Sharpness. The Canon XSi captures fairly sharp images overall, though some minor edge enhancement artifacts are visible on high-contrast subjects such as the crop above left. Note also that sharpness is set to slightly soft by default. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows some minor noise suppression artifacts in the darkest areas of Marti's hair, though quite a few individual strands are visible in the lighter shadows. The camera's overall response here is better than average. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above, the Canon XSi does a pretty good job at balancing between sharpness and visible sharpening artifacts in camera JPEGs. As is usually the case though, a little more detail can be obtained from carefully processing RAW files, without additional artifacts. Take a look below, to see what we mean:

Camera JPEG (Fine)	RAW via Canon DPP	RAW via ACR

In the table above, mousing over a link at the bottom will load the corresponding crop in the area above. Examples include in-camera Fine JPEG, RAW file processed through Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software, and RAW file processed through Adobe Camera Raw version 4.4.1, then sharpened in Photoshop. (For the Canon XSi's images, I found best results with 250% unsharp masking with an 0.3 pixel radius.)

Note: ACR renders colors somewhat differently than either the XSi or the Canon software, so the greens in the trees are rather different. There's no mistaking the increase in detail though, regardless of changes in color or tone.

ISO & Noise Performance
Very low image noise, with relatively low noise even at the highest sensitivity setting.

High ISO Noise Reduction Off	High ISO Noise Reduction On
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600

The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi produced very low image noise overall. At ISO 800, noise was a little high, though with relatively little blurring in the finer details. Even at ISO 1,600, noise is lower than average, and fine detail is still pretty good. As noted above, the Canon Rebel XSi does a much better job than average in suppressing image noise without losing fine/subtle subject detail and its High ISO Noise Reduction setting does a good job at reducing chroma noise further, without impacting detail. An excellent performance, especially for a camera with a 12-megapixel APS-C size sensor. As always, see the Print Quality section below, to find out what the recommended maximum size print is at each ISO setting.

Extremes: Sunlit and low light tests
Very high resolution with strong overall detail, but slightly high contrast with strong highlights. Excellent low-light performance, great exposure to the lowest limits of our test, and the autofocus worked that low, even without the AF-assist light.

Sunlight. The Canon XSi produced high contrast with slightly washed-out highlights and deep shadows under the harsh lighting of the test above. However, shadow detail is pretty good. Marti's face was a little dim at the default setting, so we preferred the image with +0.3 EV of exposure compensation, despite the clipped highlights in her shirt. Compensation of +0.7 EV resulted in too many clipped highlights for our tastes. (In real life, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it's better to shoot in the shade when possible.)

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

Contrast Adjustment
We really like it when a camera gives us the ability to adjust contrast and saturation to our liking. It's even better when those adjustments cover a useful range, in steps small enough to allow for precise tweaks. As was the case with its saturation adjustment, the Canon XSi's contrast setting meets both challenges very well.

Minimum Contrast
Contrast set to lowest, +0.3 EV	Contrast set to lowest, Auto Exposure

At its lowest contrast setting, the Canon XSi did an excellent job of preserving highlight detail, maintaining fairly natural-looking (if just slightly pink) skin tones, and holding nice detail in the shadows. The XSi captures good color outdoors, though again, just slightly on the warm side. Overall, very good results here, especially when the contrast setting is tweaked.

Contrast Adjustment Examples
-4	0	+4

The table above shows results with the default as well as the two extreme contrast settings. While you can see the extremes, it's hard to really evaluate contrast on small thumbnails like these, click on any thumbnail to go to the full-size image. The Canon XSi's contrast adjustment worked well, with little effect on color saturation. Contrast and saturation are actually fairly closely coupled adjustments, it's a good trick to be able to vary one with out the other changing as well. Canon did a good job here.

Highlight Tone Priority Examples
Off (default)	On
Highlight Retention
Shadow Detail

Canon's Highlight Tone Priority

The two shots above show the results with Highlight Tone Priority Off and On. The shots were shot in rapid succession, but you'll notice that minor movements by Marti mean that the shots aren't absolutely identical. As you can see from the crops, fewer highlights in the flowers are clipped, while shadow detail is simultaneously improved when Highlight Tone Priority is enabled.

Automatic Lighting Optimization

Unlike Highlight Tone Priority, we found relatively little effect from Canon's Automatic Lighting Optimization feature. At least on this test, there was almost no difference between shots with ALO on or off. We did see a slight improvement in detail and noise levels in the deep shadows, but had to really play with the image's tone curve to be able to see its effect. (It's possible that ALO might have more effect in the case of significant exposure errors, but we didn't test that situation directly.)

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16fc No NR
ISO 100	2.5 sec f2.8	4.8 sec f2.8	13.5 sec f2.8	29.3 sec f2.8	32 sec f2.8	32 sec f2.8
ISO 200	1.3 sec f2.8	2.5 sec f2.8	6.7 sec f2.8	14.7 sec f2.8	17.4 sec f2.8	20.2 sec f2.8
ISO 400	0.6 sec f2.8	1.2 sec f2.8	3.4 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	11.3 sec f2.8	10.1 sec f2.8
ISO 800	0.3 sec f2.8	0.6 sec f2.8	1.7 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8	5 sec f2.8	5 sec f2.8
ISO 1600	1/6 sec f2.8	0.3 sec f2.8	0.8 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8	2.5 sec f2.8	2.5 sec f2.8

Low light. The Canon XSi performed very well on the low-light test, capturing usable images at the lowest light level (1/16 foot-candle), even with the lowest sensitivity setting (ISO 100). Noise increases as ISO goes up and light levels go down, but remains fairly low, even at higher sensitivities. There are no sign of hot pixels, even when NR is set to Off, but some very slight banding can be detected in the shadows at higher ISOs. Color balance looked very good with the Auto white balance setting. The camera's autofocus system was able to focus on the subject at less than the 1/16 foot-candle light level unassisted, and in complete darkness with the AF assist enabled. Keep in mind that the longer shutter speeds here demand the use of a tripod to prevent any blurring from camera movement. (A useful trick is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don't have a tripod handy.)

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Digital SLRs like the Canon XSi do much better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn't expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects.

Output Quality

Print Quality
Great print quality, good color, sharp 13 x 19-inch prints.

The Canon XSi's printed output is really impressive, able to output usable 16 x 20-inch prints at ISO 100. They're slightly soft, thanks to a bit of noise suppression and a low default sharpening setting, but really quite good. Contrast and detail increases for a more satisfying print with a 0.3 Radius, 100% Unsharp Mask in Photoshop. 13x19-inch prints are a little better, requiring less sharpening. ISO 200 shots print the same as 100, producing a good 16x20 or great 13x19. ISO 400 images do just fine at 13x19, and of course are better 11x14, but not by much. ISO 800 shots are still quite good at 11x14, with only a little chroma noise in dark areas. ISO 1,600 shots really look good at 11x14. Yes, there's some chroma noise in darker areas, and it becomes noticable in the bottles of the Still Life shot, but still not bad. At 8x10, that chroma noise is only noticeable on close inspection; though the contrast is increased somewhat.

Detail throughout the ISO range remains surprisingly strong. Canon has managed to increase the resolution while improving high ISO noise performance. I'd like to see a little more detail at the lower ISO settings, but you can raise in-camera sharpening to achieve that, or sharpen after. An excellent performance that should make you confident to shoot at any ISO setting, in just about any kind of light, Tungsten included.

Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon Pro9000 studio printer, and on the Canon iP5200 here in the office. (See the Canon Pixma Pro9000 review for details on that model.)

Viewfinder

Canon XSi Viewfinder

The Canon XSi features a digital SLR design, so the optical viewfinder offers a true, through-the-lens (TTL) display. A dioptric adjustment dial accommodates eyeglass wearers, letting them adjust the viewfinder optics between -3.0 to +1 diopters. Coverage is rated the same as the previous XTi model at 95%, but magnification is higher, at 0.87x for a 50mm lens and -1 diopter, versus the XTi's 0.83x magnification. The viewfinder eyepiece has an eyepoint of approximately 19mm from the eyepiece lens center, a little lower than the XTi's 21mm eyepoint.

A pair of horizontal infrared sensors just below the viewfinder, which we've highlighted with a green rectangle, detect your eye as it approaches the viewfinder, and deactivates the LCD information display if you have the LCD Auto-off option enabled.

Like the Canon XTi, the XSi viewfinder uses a pentamirror design. The advantage of a pentamirror is that it is lighter and less expensive, however an all-glass pentaprism design delivers more light to the viewfinder eyepiece, thanks to its more efficient internal reflection. As a result, the Canon XSi's viewfinder image is not as bright as the EOS 40D, which uses a true pentaprism. However, Canon says they used a more efficient coating on the mirrors in the pentamirror which makes for a brighter image compared to the XTi. Viewfinder blackout has also been improved from 170ms on the XTi to 130ms on the Canon XSi.

The illustration below shows all the elements in the Canon XSi's viewfinder. The extensive information available appears beneath the image area in a small strip, and reports all of the major camera settings, such as shutter speed, aperture, flash mode, EV compensation, etc. Compared to the XTi, the XSI's viewfinder info adds ISO speed (sensitivity), a welcome addition that is even more useful now that there is a dedicated ISO button, and a Black & White mode indicator.

Viewfinder Test Results

Accuracy
Good accuracy from the optical viewfinder, excellent accuracy from the LCD in Live View mode.

The Canon XSi's optical viewfinder proved quite accurate, showing about 96% coverage at wide angle, and about 95% coverage at telephoto zoom settings. This is about average coverage for a consumer digital SLR. Live View mode using the LCD was more accurate, at about 101% coverage at wide angle, and 100% at telephoto.

Flash

Canon XSi Flash

The Rebel XSi's built-in flash has a guide number rating of 43 feet (13 meters) at ISO 100, translating to a range of about 15 feet at ISO 100 with an f/2.8 lens. (Reasonably powerful, but not dramatically so.) The Canon Rebel XSi gives you a great deal of control over flash exposure, allowing you to adjust flash and ambient exposure independently of each other, in one-half or one-third EV increments. This makes it very easy to balance flash and ambient lighting for more natural-looking pictures. The Rebel XSi also uses E-TTL II control for both the built-in and compatible external flashes (according to Canon this includes the older 550EX flash, as well as the newer 580EX and 580EX II), a standard that promises, and seems to deliver, better, more balanced exposures. A Custom Function used to disable E-TTL II, but that's missing from the Rebel XSi. Instead, you select between E-TTL II Evaluative and Average modes.

Another nice touch is the Flash Exposure Lock button, which fires the flash under manual control before the actual exposure, to determine the proper exposure setting. This struck me as very handy, akin to the more conventional autoexposure lock function for handling difficult ambient lighting conditions. A Flash Exposure Compensation feature controls the flash exposure +/- 2 stops in 1/2 or 1/3-stop increments.

Several of the more impressive features of the Canon flash system depend on the dedicated 430EX II, 580EX, and 580EX II Speedlites. Among these are true FP (focal plane, referred to as HS) flash sync, flash exposure bracketing with external flash units, flash modeling, and E-TTL II exposure control. FP sync requires a flash unit to provide uniform light output for a relatively long period of time, long enough for the focal plane shutter curtain to fully traverse the sensor plane. On the Canon Rebel XSi, this requires a flash duration of 1/200-second. Uniform, long-duration flash pulses like this permit use of shutter speeds as high as the 1/4,000-second maximum that the Canon Rebel XSi is capable of. This can be invaluable when you want to exclude ambient light from the exposure.

Flash

Coverage and Range
Good flash performance, with good intensity but rather uneven coverage at wide angle. About average positive exposure compensation required.

Coverage. Flash coverage was very uneven at wide angle, with falloff in the corners of the frame extending deep into the frame. Coverage at telephoto is more even. Indoors, under incandescent background lighting, the Canon XSi's flash performed quite well, requiring about average positive exposure compensation of +1.0 EV for a reasonably bright image. With the camera's slow-sync flash mode required a +1.3 EV boost, though the longer shutter time results in a warmer cast from the ambient background lighting.

Flash Range: Wide Angle
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100	1/64 sec f3.6 ISO 100

Flash Range: Telephoto
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100	1/64 sec f5.7 ISO 100

ISO 100 Range. The Canon XSi's flash was bright and powerful, with excellent intensity all the way to about 15 feet at ISO 100 at 18mm. The progression of intensity fall-off was slightly uneven, though, with 15 feet being brighter than 14 feet. At full telephoto, flash intensity started out a little dim, but didn't fall until about 9 feet at 55mm. In terms of range at the center, performance is good, but the results above show quite a bit of vignetting, so it's better to consider the Rebel XSi's flash for fill light; for greater flash coverage consider the 430EX or 430EX II external flash unit.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
Wide Angle	Telephoto
12.3 feet ISO 100	7.7 feet ISO 100

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Test. The Canon XSi's guide number is 13 meters in auto mode at ISO 100, which translates to about 12.3 feet at f/3.5 and 7.7 feet at f/5.6, the maximum apertures of the kit lens at full wide angle and telephoto respectively. In the shots above, the XSi seems to perform as well as Canon says it will, producing good exposures at the rated distances with its ISO set to 100.

Note: Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. With the above test, we're also looking at whether their stated specification rings true.

Imatest Results

Canon XSi Imatest Results

We routinely use Norman Koren's excellent "Imatest" analysis program for quantitative, thoroughly objective analysis of digicam test images. I highly recommend it to our technically-oriented readers, as it's far and away the best, most comprehensive analysis program I've found to date.

My comments below are just brief observations of what we see in the Imatest results. A full discussion of all the data Imatest produces is really beyond the scope of this review: Visit the Imatest web site for a full discussion of what the program measures, how it performs its computations, and how to interpret its output.

Here's some of the results produced by Imatest for the Canon XSi:

sRGB Accuracy Comparison
Canon XSi	Nikon D60	Olympus E-420	Sony A200

The Canon XSi showed excellent color accuracy, as well as fairly accurate saturation levels. Hue accuracy was very good, with only minor hue shifts occurring mainly in the cyans, oranges and reds. Average saturation was 105.2% (5.2% oversaturated) and average "delta-C" color error was only 3.93 after correction for saturation, which is very low. (Delta-C is the same as the more commonly referred to delta-E, but delta-C takes into account only color differences, ignoring luminance variation.) Overall, a very good color response for an SLR, especially a consumer oriented model. Mouse over the links below the illustration above to compare results with other recent models.

Adobe RGB Accuracy Comparison
Canon XSi	Nikon D60	Olympus E-420	Sony A200

As is true of most SLRs, when using the Adobe RGB color space (which provides a much wider gamut, or range of colors that can be expressed), the Canon XSi delivers more highly saturated color, with an average saturation of 111.2% and average saturation-corrected hue error of 5.14 "delta-C" units. Again, mouse over the links below the illustration above to compare results with other recent SLRs.

This image shows how the Canon Rebel XSi actually rendered the colors of the MacBeth chart, compared to a numerically ideal treatment. In each color swatch, the outer perimeter shows the color as actually captured by the camera, the inner square shows the numerically correct color after correcting for the luminance of the photographed chart (as determined by a second-order curve fit to the values of the gray swatches), and the small rectangle inside the inner square shows the numerically correct color, without the luminance correction. This image shows the excellent hue accuracy, as well as a gamma curve that results in an overexposure of highly saturated swatches. (This seems to be a fairly common tactic, to produce "bright" color that's appealing to consumers, without further overdoing the saturation.)

There's a lot in this particular graph, a lot more than we have room to go into here. (This set of plots has also changed a little in the more recent versions of Imatest. Some of the plots that were shown here previously are now shown in other Imatest output. Since we largely focus on the Noise Spectrum plot, we'll only show the graphic above, which includes that plot.)

In comparing these graphs with those from competing cameras, I've found that the Noise Spectrum graph at lower right is the most important. Cameras that manage to shift their noise spectrum to higher frequencies have much finer-grained noise structures, making their noise less visually objectionable. In the graph above, this would show up as a noise spectrum curve that remained higher on the right side, representing higher noise frequencies. The champion at this was the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, which produced remarkably fine-grained image noise, even at very high ISOs.

The Canon XSi does an excellent job of keeping plenty of the luminance noise energy (indicated by the black line) at high frequencies and is better than most cameras in this respect. What little low-ISO image noise that's there is more fine-grained as a result. Chroma noise is another matter though: The blue and especially red channels are quite a bit noisier than the others, but that's not at all unusual, and only slightly visible when inspecting shadow areas of low ISO shots very closely. Canon says their High ISO noise reduction (Off by default) is also effective at reducing shadow noise at low ISOs, but we didn't verify that claim.

Here's the same set of noise data at ISO 1,600. Here, the Noise Spectrum graph is shifted quite a bit toward the left-hand, lower-frequency side than it was at ISO 100, coarsening the "grain" of the image noise patterns quite a bit. The red and blue channels still exhibit more noise at the lower end of the frequency spectrum, which can be seen as slighter larger blotches of chroma noise. Enabling the Canon XSI's High ISO Noise Reduction (which is Off by default), eliminates much of the chroma noise, resulting in very pleasing results at high ISOs.

This chart compares the Canon XSi's noise performance over a range of ISOs against that of other cameras. While we continue to show noise plots of this sort because readers ask for them, we each time point out that the noise magnitude is only a small part of the story, the grain pattern being much more important. Here, we can see that the Canon XSi's luminance noise starts out very low compared to the competition, and increases at a fairly constant rate as ISO climes to 1,600, where it ends up close to the level of the Nikon D60. and slightly higher than some of its competition. However, the grain pattern is quite fine and tight, resulting in less visibly objectional noise as well as better detail retention. A very good result, especially considering the smaller pixels of the 12-megapixel XSi compared the the 10-megapixels models in most of its peer group. Do keep in mind these measurements are taken with each camera set at default settings, so the shape or position of the curve could be influenced by the settings you choose to use. The Pentax K200D's plot is a good example of this. Its noise magnitude is higher than the others, but that's partly because the K200D's default contrast and sharpness settings are a bit on the high side.

Canon XSi Dynamic Range Analysis

A key parameter in a digital camera is its Dynamic Range, the range of brightness that can be faithfully recorded. At the upper end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is dictated by the point at which the RGB data "saturates" at values of 255, 255, 255. At the lower end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is determined by the point at which there ceases to be any useful difference between adjacent tonal steps. Note the use of the qualifier "useful" in there: While it's tempting to evaluate dynamic range as the maximum number of tonal steps that can be discerned at all, that measure of dynamic range has very little relevance to real-world photography. What we care about as photographers is how much detail we can pull out of the shadows before image noise becomes too objectionable. This, of course, is a very subjective matter, and will vary with the application and even the subject matter in question. (Noise will be much more visible in subjects with large areas of flat tints and subtle shading than it would in subjects with strong, highly contrasting surface texture.)

What makes most sense then, is to specify useful dynamic range in terms of the point at which image noise reaches some agreed-upon threshold. To this end, Imatest computes a number of different dynamic range measurements, based on a variety of image noise thresholds. The noise thresholds are specified in terms of f-stops of equivalent luminance variation in the final image file, and dynamic range is computed for noise thresholds of 1.0 (low image quality), 0.5 (medium image quality), 0.25 (medium-high image quality) and 0.1 (high image quality). For most photographers and most applications, the noise thresholds of 0.5 and 0.25 f-stops are probably the most relevant to the production of acceptable-quality finished images, but many noise-sensitive shooters will insist on the 0.1 f-stop limit for their most critical work.

The image below shows the test results from Imatest for an in-camera JPEG file from the Canon XSi with a nominally-exposed density step target (Stouffer 4110), and the XSi's Contrast (0), Auto Light Optimization (On) and Highlight Tone Priority (Off) settings at their default positions.

These are really excellent numbers compared to current-model DSLRs, and in part, reflect the effectiveness of the XSi's new Auto Light Optimization feature, which is On by default. With ALO set to Off, dynamic range at the high quality level drops from 8.01 to 7.44 EV, while total dynamic range falls a full stop from 11.6 to 10.6 EV.

Processing the Canon XSi's RAW (.CR2) files through Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) version 4.4.1 actually reduced the dynamic range score by about 1/3 stop at the highest quality level, compared to the in-camera JPEG with Auto Light Optimization (ALO) set to On (the default). Compared to a JPEG with ALO Off, ACR was able to improve DR slightly, by about 1/4 f-stop from 7.44 to 7.68 EV at the highest quality level. These results were obtained by using ACR's automatic settings; slightly better results may be possible by adjusting the sliders manually. It's also worth noting here is that ACR's default noise reduction settings reduced the overall red- and blue- channel noise somewhat (see the plot in the lower left-hand corner) relative to the levels in the in-camera JPEG. ACR also shifted slightly more of the noise energy into high spatial frequencies, making its residual noise even less objectionable than that found in the camera JPEGs.

Dynamic Range, the bottom line:

The net result was that the XSi performed really well when compared against most current DSLR models, positioned near the top of the current crop of DSLRs for in-camera JPEG dynamic range results. Results from processed RAW files were also good, but not quite as impressive because of the lack of ALO for RAW files.

To get some perspective, here's a summary of the Canon XSi's dynamic range performance, and how it compares to other digital SLRs that we also have Imatest dynamic range data for. (Results are arranged in order of decreasing dynamic range at the "High" quality level.):

The results shown in the table are interesting. One of the first things that struck me when I initially looked at test data for a wide range of d-SLRs, was that here again, purely analytical measurements don't necessarily correlate all that well with actual photographic experience. There's no question that the Fuji S3 Pro deserves its place atop the list, as its unique "SR" technology does indeed deliver a very obvious improvement in tonal range in the highlight portion of the tonal scale. I was surprised to see the analytical results place the original Olympus E-300 as highly as they did, given that our sense of that camera's images was that they were in fact noisier than those of many other d-SLRs that we looked at. In the other direction, I was quite surprised to see the Nikon D2x place as low on the listings as it did, given that we found that camera's shadow detail to be little short of amazing.

One thing that's going on here though, is that we tested each camera at its base ISO setting, which should produce best-case noise levels. This is in fact what many photographers will be most interested in, but it does perhaps place some of the Nikons (like the D40) at a disadvantage, as their lowest ISO setting is 200, as compared to the ISO 100 settings available on most other models.

All the above said, it's clear that the Canon XSi delivers really excellent dynamic range, clearly among the best on the market at this time. (It's particularly interesting that cameras like the Canon XSi and Nikon D40x are now showing higher dynamic range figures for their camera JPEGs than did the legendary Fuji S3 Pro, which had a special dual-sensor CCD in it, designed specifically for high dynamic range.)

Canon XSi Resolution Chart Test Results

The chart above shows consolidated results from spatial frequency response measurements in both the horizontal and vertical axes. The "MTF 50" numbers tend to correlate best with visual perceptions of sharpness, so those are what we focus on here. The uncorrected resolution figures are 1,980 line widths per picture height in the horizontal direction (corresponding to the vertically-oriented edge), and 1,897 lines along the vertical axis (corresponding to the horizontally-oriented edge), for a combined average of 1,939 LW/PH. Correcting to a "standardized" sharpening with a one-pixel radius increased vertical resolution by quite a bit, but horizontal resolution increased only slightly, resulting in an average of 2,157 LW/PH. This is somewhat lower than you'd expect for a 12-megapixel camera.

To see what's going on, refer to the plots below, which show the actual edge profiles for both horizontal and vertical edges, in both their original and corrected forms. Here, you can see that a nearly ideal amount of in-camera sharpening is applied in the horizontal direction (undersharpened by only 2.38%, explaining why standardized sharpening wasn't able to improve on the MTF 50 numbers much), while in-camera sharpening is not as aggressive in the vertical direction (13.1% undersharpened). Despite the "undersharpening" reported by Imatest though, there is a noticeable "bump" visible in the horizontal edge profile. (A very slight one in the vertical edge profile, but probably negligible.) You should thus turn the camera's sharpening down a little for optimal results when sharpening post-exposure in Adobe Photoshop or other image editing software.

Shooting Modes

Canon Rebel XSi Modes and Menus

The mode dial on the right side of the Canon Rebel XSi's top panel lets you select various exposure modes, with the same range of options presented as on the preceding Rebel XT and XTi. Canon divides the dial into "Basic" and "Creative" zones, the Basic range encompassing the Full Auto setting and the six scene modes in what Canon refers to as the "Image" zone. The Creative zone includes settings for Programmed exposure, Shutter priority, Aperture priority, full Manual control, and the Automatic Depth of Field mode.

Here's a description of each of the shooting modes:

Flash Off Mode: The first mode in the Image Zone, Flash Off mode disables both the internal flash head and any external flash unit connected. Focus is set to AI Focus mode, drive mode is set to Single, and metering is set to Evaluative. The camera controls ISO and Auto white balance as well.

Night Portrait Mode: This mode is for taking pictures of people at sunset or at night, letting the flash illuminate the subject, while the longer exposure provides a brighter view of the surroundings. The autofocus mode is automatically set to One Shot. Drive mode is set to Single Shot, and metering mode is set to Evaluative. Since slower shutter speeds will be used, a tripod is recommended to prevent movement from the camera. The built-in flash is automatically enabled and synched with the slower shutter speed, so subjects will need to remain still for a few moments after the flash fires to avoid ghost-like after-images. ISO is automatically adjusted by the camera. (For night exposures without the flash, Canon recommends shooting in Landscape mode.)

Sports Mode: This mode uses a faster shutter speed to capture fast-moving subjects. The autofocus mode is automatically set to AI Servo. Drive mode is set to Continuous Shooting, ISO is set to Auto, and metering mode is set to Evaluative. The onboard flash isn't available in this mode because it can't cycle fast enough to keep up with the continuous exposure mode.

Close-up Mode (Macro Mode): Turning the Mode dial to the macro flower symbol sets the camera for capturing smaller subjects such as flowers, jewelry, and other small details. The autofocus mode is automatically adjusted to One Shot, the drive mode is set to Single Shot, and the metering mode is set to Evaluative. ISO is set to Auto. Close-up mode takes advantage of the current lens's minimum focal distance. However, an EOS dedicated macro lens and the Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX are recommended for better close-up photography. Also, note that unlike the macro mode on most consumer digicams, Macro mode on the XSi has no effect on lens focusing range, as that parameter is entirely determined by the lens being used.

Landscape Mode: Landscape mode combines slower shutter speeds with smaller aperture settings to increase the depth of field when shooting broad vistas and sweeping landscapes. This mode is also good for night scenes without people in them. The built-in flash is automatically disabled, even if it's already raised. Because this mode uses slower shutter speeds, a tripod may be needed in less-bright lighting conditions. Metering is again set to Evaluative and ISO to Auto.

Portrait Mode: This mode uses a large aperture setting to decrease the depth of field, which blurs the background to emphasize the subject. ISO is set to Auto, metering to Evaluative, and AF mode to One Shot. Drive mode is set to Continuous Shooting.

Full Automatic Mode: The final mode in the Basic Zone, Full Automatic is indicated on the Mode dial by a green rectangular outline. In this mode, the camera makes all exposure decisions with the exception of image quality. Autofocus mode is set to AI Focus. (AI Focus evaluates subject movement, sets either one-shot AF or AI Servo AF automatically.) Drive mode is set to Single Shot, ISO is set to Auto, and the metering mode is set to Evaluative.

Program AE: This is the first mode in the Creative Zone of the Mode Dial. Program AE works similarly to the Full Automatic exposure mode, but allows more control over the exposure variables. Aperture and shutter speed are automatically selected by the camera, but you can bias the exposure to larger or smaller apertures by turning the Main dial, which will change the combination of aperture and shutter speed so as to maintain the same exposure value, but with a different combination of aperture/shutter speed. (Personally, I find this sort of vari-program mode more useful than the usual shutter- or aperture-priority modes when I'm wanting to adjust the aperture or shutter speed to control depth of field or subject motion blur. The camera won't let you select a combination of exposure parameters that doesn't work, but you retain all the flexibility of shutter- or aperture-priority exposure modes.)

Shutter-Priority AE: This mode allows you to manually set the shutter speed anywhere from 1/4,000 to 30 seconds, while the camera chooses the best corresponding aperture setting. You have control over all other exposure variables, including exposure compensation.

Aperture-Priority AE: The opposite of Shutter-Priority mode, Aperture-Priority AE allows you to set the lens aperture (with available apertures depending on the lens in use), while the camera selects the most appropriate shutter speed. Again, you have control over all other exposure variables, including exposure compensation.

Manual Exposure: This mode provides the same range of exposure control as the other Creative Zone exposure modes (except for exposure compensation), but lets you control both shutter speed and lens aperture independently. The shutter speed range is extended to include a Bulb setting, allowing long exposures for as long as you hold the Shutter button down. (The rear display reports the elapsed time in minutes and seconds as the exposure progresses.) A display in the viewfinder reports whether the camera thinks your settings will result in under, over, or correctly exposed photos.

Automatic Depth of Field AE: This is the final mode in the Creative Zone, and is meant for taking pictures of large groups of people, landscapes with foreground detail, or any subject with elements of interest at varying distances from the camera. This mode puts the camera in control of both the shutter speed and aperture values, but you can adjust the other exposure variables. (This mode cannot be used if the lens focus mode is set to manual.) When shooting in Automatic Depth of Field AE, the camera sets both the lens aperture and focus distance to achieve a sharp focus over a wide depth of field. It uses the autofocus system to measure the distance to the subjects covered by each of the nine autofocus zones, and then attempts to set the focusing distance and lens aperture so as to render all subject areas in sharp focus.

Playback Mode: Activated by pressing the Play button on the back panel. Playback mode lets you erase images, protect them, or set them up for printing on DPOF and PictBridge-compatible devices. You can also view images in an index display, enlarge images to 10x, view a slide show of all captured images, or rotate an image. The DISP button activates an information display, which reports the exposure settings for the image; a second press graphs the exposure values on a small luminance histogram, and another press displays both the luminance and separate Red, Green, and Blue histograms.

Canon Rebel XSi Menu Layout

The Rebel XSi's menus are quite similar to those of the XTi, but there are a few changes. Since many readers may already be familiar with the XTi's menu system, we'll take a quick look at the primary differences.

Shooting Menu 1
Rebel XSi	Rebel XTi
Review time has been moved here from the Playback menu.

Shooting Menu 2
Rebel XSi	Rebel XTi
The position of Custom WB and White Balance Shift/Bracket have been swapped.

Playback Menu
Rebel XSi	Rebel XTi
Review time was moved to Shooting Menu 1, making room for the new Erase images function. Auto play was moved down.

Setup Menu 1
Rebel XSi	Rebel XTi
File numbering and format have changed positions, LCD brightness and Date/Time have moved to Setup Menu screen 2. The new Screen color setting has been added here.

Setup Menu 2
Rebel XSi	Rebel XTi
LCD brightness and Date/Time have moved here from Setup Menu screen 1. The XTi's two Sensor cleaning menus have been collapsed into one. Custom Functions (C.Fn), Clear settings and Firmware Version has moved to a third Setup Menu screen make room for Live View function settings and Flash control.

Setup Menu 3
Rebel XSi
This third Setup Menu page didn't exist on the XTi and contains function previously on Setup Menu screen 2.

Custom Function Menu
Rebel XSi	Rebel XTi
Five new custom settings have been added for a total of 13 on the XSi. The new settings are: High ISO speed noise reduction: You can now choose to have extra NR applied for JPEG images taken, particularly effective at higher ISOs. Highlight tone priority: The XSi now has Canon's Highlight tone priority for better highlight detail retention in JPEGs, first found on the EOS 1D Mark III and 40D. Auto Lighting Optimizer: This new feature automatically optimizes image brightness and contrast in JPEG images. AF during Live View shooting: This menu lets you select the Live View autofocus mode. Add original decision data is an option to append data to verify an original image. Two flash related options have been moved to Flash control, while Magnified view options have been eliminated.

My Menu
Rebel XSi
My Menu, where you can define and access your own, most commonly used settings didn't exist on the XTi.

Canon Rebel XSi Menu Details

Record Menu 1:

Record Menu 2:

Playback Menu:

Setup 1:

Setup 2:

Setup 3:

Custom Functions Sub-Menu:

My Menu:

Comparison

EOS 450D / Rebel XSi vs Other Canon SLRs

The chart below compares the XSi with other current Canon cameras. What we've done below is presented something of a hybrid comparison between these three models. A red cell means that a given camera performs below the other two, a green cell means that it performs better than the other two, and a yellow cell means it falls between the other two. In cases where two cameras share a superior capability, both cells will be colored green.