Canon Rebel 2000

I should have gotten this camera a long time ago...

 

I finally bit the bullet and bought a new film SLR, thinking that I would eventually go to digital, but wanted to start buying lenses now that would work on a digital camera in a few years. That narrowed my choices to Nikon or Canon. Since I didn't want to spend a lot of money for a film body, that left me with the Nikon N65 and Canon EOS Rebel 2000. The Rebel won out for its' partial metering, the cheaper battery pack, and Canon's willingness to support gray-market cameras. Nikon doesn't seem to understand that whether I buy a gray-market camera or a USA camera, it's still a Nikon to me.

Of all of the inexpensive cameras out there, the Canon is not the most featureful option out there, but it seems like a good entry-level camera to grown into - metered manual mode, partial metering, depth of field preview and ASA override are all features the Rebel has that some of the other low-end cameras are missing. For someone looking for a glorified point-and-shoot, they're unnecessary features, but features you'll miss as you become more advanced. The Minolta Maxxum 5 has all this and more, including a faster top shutter speed, but I don't know about Minolta's digital plans - they seem to be concentrating on ZLR (Zoom lens-reflex) cameras without interchangeable lenses.

The Rebel 2000 is about the size of my AE-1 Program, but much lighter - the body is polycarbonate, as is the lens mount. This is a point of some concern for some people, but not for me. I baby my cameras, and I'm not expecting to get 20 years out of this body. It's a little small for larger hands, but there's a battery pack available for $30 that adds a little length to the body and adds a vertical shutter release. The battery pack takes 4 AA batteries, so it will pay for itself in a while (The CR-2 batteries the camera normally takes are expensive!)

Without the battery pack, and with a 50/1.8 lens (one of the sharpest, lightest, cheapest lenses available in the Canon EF mount) you barely know it's over your shoulder.

The Rebel 2000 has most of the features of its' more expensive siblings - 35 point matrix metering, 7 focusing points, creative modes, aperture/shutter priority, metered manual mode, built-in flash and red-eye reduction. You trade some performance for the low cost and weight - slower flash sync speed than the Elan 7, slower motor winder, and no speed dial on the back. Judging by some of the online reviews, you'd think the lack of a speed dial was a cardinal sin. For $150 less, I'd suggest trying the camera bodies out and seeing if it's an issue for you. I decided I'd rather have a featherlight body and $150 to spend on a better lens.

Speaking of lenses, don't bother with the kit 28-80 or 28-90 zoom lens (shown in the picture). They're alleged to be soft, show significant pincusion distortion at the long end and vignette at the wide end. Buy a new body and pick up an old Canon 28-80 model I, a Sigma 28-105 2.8/4 Aspherical IF lens or a Canon USM 28-105 3.5/4.5 lens. The only problem with either of those 28-105 lenses is that they're heavier than the camera body, but they're both very nice lenses. You definitely have to cradle the camera with your left hand when shooting, or else the camera will want to tip down.

I shoot with the 28-105 when I need the long-ish focal length for portraits, but do most of my creative shooting with the 50/1.8 - the lens is light, extremely sharp, and fast enough to allow for existing-light photography with 400 speed film. Then again, I'm a prime lens fan - you can't approach the sharpness and speed of a prime lens, unless you spend a LOT of $$$ on an Canon L-series lens. If Canon made an inexpensive 85 or 105 lens, I'd chuck the zoom completely.

The flash is basic, but it will do fill-flash in the program modes. I have yet to try it, but apparently it can evaluate whether your focus point (for example, a backlit face) is darker than the background and kick off some flash to brighten things up. With an external dedciated flash, you get no more red-eye, fill flash, high-speed sync, and rear-curtain sync.

The "creative" program modes are nice for beginners, but I find myself using aperture priority or full program mode the most - with a zoom lens, I want to keep the lens in the middle apertures, and so force the aperture to f/5.6 to 6.7 or so. With a fast lens and fast film, I can leave it at full program and shoot away. With this camera, you have the option of going totally manual, partially auto, or complete PHD ("Press here, dummy!") mode.

 

Autofocus

AF Control System: TTL-SIR (Secondary Image Registration) CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor.

Manual Focus Setting the lens' focus mode switch to MF enables manual focusing with the focusing ring.

Focus Operation: Autofocus is activated by pressing the shutter button halfway.

AF Working Range: EV 1-18 (at ISO 100)

AF-assist Beam: Automatically emitted when necessary and aimed at the area covered by the active focus point.

 

Exposure Control

Exposure Compensation

Multiple Exposure

Up to 9 exposures can be preset. Automatically clears upon completion. Cancelable midway.

 

Film Transport

Built-In Flash

Power Source

Dimensions