Canon Rebel T1i and Rebel XSi Comparison

With the recently announced Canon Digital Rebelbuying public is aware of and it sells. The T1i
T1i becoming available in April 2009, manyboasts with the relatively new DIGIC 4 processor
prospective Digital SLR buyers are finding itwhich is far quicker than it's predecessor the
difficult to decide between the Rebel T1i and theDIGIC III which is found in the XSi. This processor
Rebel XSi cameras. The T1i definitely packs moreunlocks what is probably the most exciting
punch, but it comes at a price, so the question is:feature of the T1i - Full HD video recording. This
"Is it worth it?".single feature improves the versatility of the T1i
Before we highlight the primary differences, let'sover the XSi by a wide margin and very soon we
have a quick look at the similarities. Both cameraswill see high quality videos of babies and kids
have exactly the same dimensions and both havebirthday parties all over the internet. Although not
a 3 inch LCD screen. Canon's 9 point Autofocusa replacement for a proper video camera yet,
system and 35 Zone Evaluative Metering systemthis feature at least reduces the number of
also remains unchanged.occasions when both a SLR and video camera
The very useful EOS Integrated Cleaning systemhas to be lugged around.
and Dust Delete Data Detection has also beenAnother advantage of the DIGIC 4 processor is
implemented in both cameras. Highlight Tonethe T1i's ability to shoot up to 170 large JPEGS
Priority Mode is available in both cameras, butcontinuously, compared to the 53 of the XSi.
implemented slightly differently on the T1i - it hasSports photographers or parents shooting their
in essence remained the same however. Bothchildren's football game will definitely appreciate
cameras are sold with the same kit lens, thethis feature.
Canon EF-S 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS and as usual,Although the LCD screens are the same size, the
both cameras are fully compatible with the Canon920 000 pixel resolution on the screen of the T1i
EF and EF-S range lenses.is significantly better than the 230 000 pixel
The most obvious difference between the XSiresolution of the XSi LCD screen. This improves
and the T1i is the APS-C CMOS Sensor that hasmenu legibility in less than ideal conditions and
been upgraded from 12.2 Megapixels in the XSi toimproves the image display and live view
15.1 Megapixels in the T1i. Personally I'm not aaccordingly. This is very useful for photographers
Megapixel chaser and it's not a deciding factor forwho are sometimes disappointed by slightly out of
me, but that is unfortunately what the camerafocus images in post processing.