Excellent Camera, Easy Controls
The Canon EOS Rebel G is absolutely wonderful. The autofocus is the
fastest I've ever used. The metering system is difficult to fool,
although I've still managed to do it a couple times. It has a wide range
of automatic modes which all produce excellent results and save me a
lot of work. But when I want more control, several semi-automatic modes
and a fully manual mode allow me to do whatever I want with as little
or as much work as I want. This camera has served well in all sorts of
conditions in all kinds of situations. Even in the fully-automatic
"snapshot" mode, the Rebel G can capture some unbelievable shots. It's
easy to load, and the batteries last longer than I'm used to, so that's
another bonus. Lots of extras are available which I can't wait to try
out! You can't go wrong here. Buy it.
WOW!! Canon has one another consumer
I have had this camera for over 3 years, since it first debuted. After
all these years, the camera is still here. That has to tell you
something. This is also a very reliable camera. I have had NOTHING go
wrong with it. Also the camera has the ability to grow with the user. 3
years ago, I knew nothing about cameras. I was impressed with its auto
functions. It has the abilities to go fully auto, for the non
experienced users, to semi auto, for the semi experienced user, and
fully manual, for the pro. The picture quality can rival the more
expensive cameras. Much like all new cameras , 10 years from now, Canon
will still be using the same mount, allowing you to use all your old
lenses with newer cameras. Buck for Buck, there are no cameras out there
that have the abilities of this camera. That is the reason why this is
the number one selling SLR camera.
Full Featured - Easy to Use
I bought this camera prior to going on deployment in the Navy back in
1997 (I think). The camera was to replace my father's Minolta X-370
that I had used for years. I liked the available features and the
price.
The camera has performed admirably over the last several years. Whether used for astral photography or high speed/low light action it does everything that I need it to do and does it well. I've taken pictures that were nothing short of spectacular in many ways.
The Rebel G's fully automatic mode is adequate for good pictures and shooting multiple objects, especially if shooting in a hurry. The portrait and close-up mode both work wonderfully. I've used this camera and the 35-80 mm lens to take pictures of flowers from about 8 inches that came out splendid. I've also taken landscapes from the top of Mount Mitchell and been similarly impressed.
The automatic focus is quick and accurate, with a few exceptions that are easily compensated for by the user. The auto focus is simply not reliable when tracking moving objects and seems to have difficulty with light-colored objects in front of a solid white background. I have not found this to be a concern or challenge in taking good pictures.
In nearly all cases, the automatic exposure has been dead on, with the only exception being extremely low light conditions, which most users aren't likely to be worried about. I've used both print film and slide film (which requires much more accurate exposure) and the auto exposure has been right almost every time. Occasionally, the colors/shadows around a person when taking a slide exposure can fool the auto exposure. Most users won't worry about this because not many people shoot on slide film. Under low light conditions, regardless of film ISO being used, it's best to simply go with the manual settings and overexpose 1 to 2 stops. This is easy to do because of the exposure meter in the viewer bar.
Recently, my camera required some minor work. It was scratching the negatives as they passed through the body. I sent it out for repair, and the pressure plate (which serves to hold the negative flat and at the correct focusing point) was adjusted. Well, I ran two rolls of film through and had them developped to check the repair. Initially, I thought that the camera still had issues (leaving very faint lines on top of picture, but only under low-light with 800 speed film), but I discovered that the culprit was a bad shop (they were scratching my negatives and probably their printer was low on ink, creating the faint lines I saw. Total cost of repair was 65 dollars.
Please note that I've had this camera for several years, and it's been to Europe once, the Virgin Islands twice, dropped a few times, rained on more, left out in the cold overnight for celestial photography, and travelled with me up and down the eastern seaboard, all the while taking several thousand shots.
I strongly recommend this camera to anyone considering it, but would also recommend evaluating the newer Rebel T2 and K2 at the same time. If you can get this one on a deal well below retail and it appears to be in good shape, I would expect it to be a worthwhile investment