Hello -

I am looking for someone who can help me decide on a camera. I am wanting to stick with the Canon brand, but not sure what all the differences are between the styles. I have found a few on Ebay that seem like good deals....Canon Rebel XS and Canon AE1. I had been looking at the Canon Rebel 2000. I mainly want the camera to take pictures of my family, but also sight-seeing or sporting events. I would like to have a powerful zoom and something to reduce the red-eye.

Any suggestions?

-- Wes Dudley (dudley5@prodigy.net), December 27, 2001

Answers

More importantly, do you want an autofocus camera or manual focus? Of the 3 cameras you mentioned, the Rebels are AF and the AE1 is manual focus.

Canon never made an adapter to allow people to use manual FD series lenses (as used on the AE1) on a EF lens mount (as used on the Rebel) and focus automatically. There are adpaters around but most of the opinions I've read about them say it's not really worth the hassle unless you have heaps of FD lenses you want to keep.

Nik

-- NikB (ndb_letters@yahoo.com), December 27, 2001.

What do u mean by a powerful zoom? AF speed? zoom ratio? Resolution? i think to capture both scene and sport, u need lens(es) that has/have focal length between 24/28mm to 200/300mm. If u think convenience is the most important thing,then consider those high-zoom-ratio lenses like sigma 28-300mm,but image quality is usually worser towards the tele end On the other hand,if image quality is the top priority,then consider buying two lenses,e.g. 28-105 plus 100-300. Last but the least,a powerful flash is vital in low-light condition and for family photo.

-- legnum (legnum212@email.com), December 27, 2001.

I started photography with a rebel 2000. It is lightweight and is rather easy to use. It has good preset modes as well as customizable modes. The auto focus works great and it's compatible with all Canon autofocus lens as well as other brand autofocus lens. That way if you upgrade to a higher end model camera, then lens will work with the other ones. I would also suggest an off-camera flash. (ex.canon speedlite 220ex) it's in-expensive and it will eliminate red-eye as well as brighten the image. I would recommend a 28-80mm or so lens for semi-close distance and a 75-300mm for longer distance. If you can afford it, Canon makes a nice lens 75-300mm lens with Image Stabilzation (which helps with camera shake especially at the 300mm end of the lens. I hope this helps.

-- Carlos Marrero (los@door.net), December 28, 2001.