Best Digital SLR Cameras

The Canon Rebel XS, Is It The Best Digital SLR Camera?

It used to be that five hundred bucks would get you a halfway decent point-and-shoot compact digital camera. In this day and age, two hundred will cover you for a good compact digital camera, and five hundred will get you a top of the line SLR Camera.

Choose Carefully...

But let's be completely honest. Five hundred dollars is still a lot of money if you're not satisfied with your purchase. You can't just grab any SLR camera off the shelf and hope for the best, you should probably do a bit of research. But... where to start? There are about one million and one good, great, and crummy digital SLR cameras on the market, so what do you type into Google to find the best one?

Well fear not. We went ahead and did the tedious research for you. After checking in on all popular user review sites, the techie blogs, and of course, looking at the actual results the camera produces, it seems that if you don't want to spend a few thousand bucks, and if you want to make absolutely sure you're getting a great camera, maybe the hottest SLR on the market right now is the Canon Rebel XS. Armed with an 18-55mm zoom lens, the Rebel XS gives image quality that stands head and shoulders above the majority of the competition, and at a price between five and six hundred. See more of the best digital camera reviews.

Okay, but on to the stats...

TFT active matrix 2.5 inch display
Over ten million pixels
Raw JPEG images
Weighing in at 15.9 ounces
Optical stabilization to prevent blurriness
Maximum shutter speed of 1/4000
Minimum shutter speed of thirty seconds
Manual and automatic exposure
Optional remote control

The reviews generally report the camera to be easy to use, and it invariably produces nice, sharp images in an experienced user's hands. The only real downside that has been cited is the lack of any real in-camera data storage, so you'll have to rely on your SD memory card.

The bottom line on this camera is that it will produce professional quality results at a budget price. It allows for auto-focus and auto-exposure, but it also allows the user to adjust both manually. Basically, this is a stellar example of the middle ground between consumer and professional grade cameras, often referred to as "Prosumer". The camera produces excellent images, while remaining easy to use, and not incredibly expensive.

Something of a non-issue is the lack of video capture, but for such a stellar unit, that's not much to complain about. Honestly, the video recording feature on most digital cameras is little more than a gimmick, anyways, and there has yet to be a digital camera that is as capable at recording video as even a three hundred dollar mini-DV camcorder.

All in all, the Canon Rebel XS is not a purchase you'll soon regret. If you pick up a Canon Rebel XS, it's going to be several years before you feel the need to buy a new digital SLR camera. Are there fancier units out there? Sure. Are there BETTER units out there? Some might debate the point, but in terms of price and function, the Rebel is pretty well one of the best digital SLR cameras.