Canon Announces Digital Rebel
August 23, 2003
Mississauga, ON - Canon Canada Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A. Inc., today announced the Canon EOS Rebel, a single lens reflex camera in a high resolution 6.3 megapixel digital package.
The Digital Rebel's shutter speeds range from 1/ 4,000 of a second to 30 seconds plus Bulb, while a built-in motor drive captures 2.5 frames per second in continuous shooting mode for bursts of up to four shots. There are 12 shooting modes including ProgramAE, Shutter-priority AE, Aperture-priority AE, Auto Depth-of-Field AE and Manual as well as Full Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Action, Night Scene and Flash Off.
Canon's 35-zone Evaluative metering links to the active focusing point and is the default metering pattern in AE modes, while center-weighted average metering is automatically selected in Manual mode. Central-area partial metering (measuring 9.5% of the picture area) is available on demand in Program AE, Shutter-priority AE, Aperture-priority AE, Auto Depth-of-Field AE and Manual.
The Digital Rebel's main controls including the mode dial, input dial and shutter button are located on the right side of the body for convenient one-handed operation. Despite its abundance of advanced features, the Digital Rebel is the smallest and lightest member of the EOS Digital SLR series, measuring only 14.2 cm (W), 9.9 cm (H) and 7.4 cm (D) and weighing in at a mere 610 grams.
When reviewing images on the 1.8 inch color LCD monitor, users can also zoom from 1.5x to 10x magnification with 15 levels of adjustment and scroll left, right, up and down using the cross keys. The Digital Rebel swings back into shooting mode at the touch of the shutter button, ensuring that the next great shot is not missed while the last great shot is being reviewed or even direct printed.
The Digital Rebel's Basic mode sets the ISO speed automatically and offers portrait, landscape, close-up, sports, night portrait, flash off as well as full auto modes. The Creative mode lets users select ISO speeds from 100 -1600 as well as from five shooting modes: Program AE, Shutter-priority AE, Aperture-priority AE, Automatic Depth of Field AE and Manual. The Flash Off mode disables the built-in flash as well as any attached Speedlite.
Image quality can be controlled in any exposure mode by selecting from 6 JPEG settings with varying degrees of resolution and compression. Users shooting in Creative Zone modes can also record high-resolution RAW files with the added advantage of simultaneous mid-fine JPEG capture. The smaller file size of the mid-fine JPEG is ideal for e-mailing and computer viewing while the RAW format preserves maximum control over image processing parameters with the provided File Viewer Utility software.
The camera's Auto White Balance (AWB) incorporates eight preset white balance modes plus a custom white balance setting that allows fast, easy and accurate adjustments in virtually any lighting condition. The Digital Rebel also features white balance bracketing which captures three images (normal, reddish and bluish) with one click of the shutter.
When it comes to printing, the camera's default parameters enhance sharpness, saturation and contrast for high-quality direct printing with no additional image manipulation needed. An optional setting - available only in Creative Zone shooting modes - applies standard processing parameters for greater creative latitude during post-processing in the user's personal computer. Digital Rebel users can also create and store up to three sets of custom parameters (contrast, sharpness, colour saturation and colour tone) and can opt for standard RGB colour space or Adobe RGB colour space in Creative Zone modes.
For close-up work, Canon's new Extension Tubes EF 12 II and EF 25 II work with many EF lenses including the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6. The tubes' lens mount has been redesigned to accommodate EF lenses as well as the new EF-S lens that utilizes Short Back Focal Distance Optics. With the extension tube attached between camera body and EF lens, users can easily shoot magnified close-up photos.
The EOS Digital Rebel will be offered in two kit configurations: with or without the EF 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6 zoom lens. Initial shipments of each kit will begin in September. The manufacturer's suggested list price for the zoom lens kit which includes a battery pack and charger, plus software, manuals, interface cables, neckstrap and Canon warranty will be $2000 (CDN). The suggested list price for the body-only kit with the same accessories and warranty will be $1900 (CDN).
For more information, visit
www.canon.com
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