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The 2006 Engadget Awards: Vote for Digital Camera of the Year
Now's your chance to cast your ballot for the 2006 Digital Camera of the Year! Our Engadget Awards nominees are listed below, and you've got until 11.59PM EST on Monday, April 16th to file your vote. You can only vote once, so make it count, and may the best tech win! The nominees: Canon 400D / Rebel XTi, Canon SD800, Nikon D80, Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1, Sony Alpha 100, and Sony HDR-SR1. %Poll-324%
Canon's EOS 400D / Rebel XTi DSLR reviewed
With the Rebel XT's popularity, it's understandable that Canon has made their XTi update plenty familiar to its predecessor, but they've also mixed in some snazzy enhancements that should suite the budget DSLR crowd quite well. Camera Labs was quick on the draw with their review, and they definitely seemed to like what they saw. For starters, the new 10.1 megapixel CCD surpasses Canon's own higher-end EOS 30D for resolution, but if you've already go a Rebel XT you probably won't notice the bump in resolution, and Camera Labs recommends perhaps springing for a new lens instead. The XTi continues its impersonation of the 30D with an identical nine-point auto focus system and easily readable 2.5-inch LCD, and again surpasses the pro-DSLR with its fairly extensive anti-dust features. There are notable differences, however, since the XTi maintains the relatively "cheap" and small feel of the XT, along with lacking a few other pro features. The new Rebel also lacks anti-shake of its arch-rival, the Sony Alpha A100 -- you'll need to spring for an expensive Image Stabilized lens to gain the feature. Overall the XTi brings speedy shooting, nice pics, low noise and a good price to a highly competitive budget DSLR market, and just might come out the winner.[Via Digital Photography Blog]
Canon gets official with their 400D / Rebel XTi DSLR for Photokina
The actual show is still nearly a month away, but a few trigger-happy camera manufacturers are unveiling their wares a bit early. Canon's EOS 400D / Rebel XTi DSLR -- a followup to their uber-successful Rebel XT -- was already pretty well outed by their Chinese arm, so there aren't really a lot of surprises here, but it's looking good all the same. The highlights are just like before: a 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, 2.5-inch LCD (a sizable improvement to the 1.8-incher on the XT), and speedy 9-point autofocus -- the same as that of the EOS 30D. The 22.2 x 14.8mm CMOS sticks with the 1.6x conversion ratio common to EOS cams -- not sure how we were getting that full frame vibe before -- and ISO sensitivity ranges from 100-1600. Canon is introducing a new Self Cleaning Sensor Unit that shakes off dust through ultrasonic vibration, along with a Dust Delete Data feature that embeds dust location in metadata, helping the included Digital Photo Professional software delete dust spots automatically. Of course, it wouldn't be a "Rebel" if Canon wasn't doing their darndest to undercut the competition on price, and the new $899 pricetag, which includes Canon's EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lense, does a pretty good job of said undercutting. You can also nab just the camera body for $799, and Canon has dropped the similar configurations of the XT to $799 and $699 respectively. The XTi is due for release in September, and seems destined for at least a little bit of success in its own right.[Via LetsGoDigital]
