I am looking at buying my 1st Good Camara (non point and shoot). I will be using this camara for outdoor photo's of wildlife and general use. I have noticed that there is a Rebel G and a Rebel XS. Can someone tell me the difference between the two and which would work better for me. The 2000 is just out of my price range.

Thank you for any advise

Chris

-- Chris Koster (chris@kosterkonsulting.com), December 13, 2001

Answers

The Rebel 2000 is the current model. The Rebel G is is the previous model and the Rebel XS is the model before that. You can still get the Rebel G new until the stock has run out. I haven't seen a new Rebel XS for some time, but they are all available used.

The XS & G have a lot in common. Same size, autofocus, flash, features, battery, etc. The big difference is that the G has the option of using Canon's latest E-TTL flash metering with their EX series Speedlites. That's a nice improvement, but for many people that doesn't make much difference. There were also a few controls moved to different spots.

Any Rebel G you find is likely to be newer and probably will cost a bit more. In the end, that is probably the biggest difference. Both are about equally suited for your purposes.

The real difference will be in what lens you attach to it. Canon's cheap 35-80, 28-80 and 28-90 lenses aren't all that great, but they still beat the equivelent cheap Sigma, Tamron, etc. lenses that camera dealers are always trying to pawn off on the unsuspecting. Canon's 24-85, 28-105 and 28-135 are the better zoom lenses to buy for your new camera. Canon's 50mm f/1.8, while not a zoom, is sharper, faster, lighter & less expensive that any of the above though.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), December 14, 2001.

There are other differences between the "XS" and "G": The Rebel G has a manual mode metering scale in the viewfinder, the "XS" only has a +/- indicator. The Rebel G allows the user to choose which of 3 AF sensors (in some modes); the Rebel XS always chooses which focus point.

-- Dave (dherzstein@juno.com), December 14, 2001.

get the 2000 and be like andre aggassi

-- Jeff Nakayama (moonduck22@hotmail.com), December 15, 2001.

Sears in Canada has 1000's of Rebel XS brand new not used for sale as of Feb 2002. Carmen Camera also carries them brand new.

-- Ron DenHollander (rlden@rogers.com), February 16, 2002.