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That camera had an MSRP of $899 when it was new in 2006 [0]. Amazing that they now sell for only £50, and still take fantastic pictures even by today's standard

That camera had an MSRP of $899 when it was new in 2006 [0]. Amazing that they now sell for only £50, and still take fantastic pictures even by today's standards [1]. Technological progress is nothing short of remarkable. [0] https://kenrockwell.com/canon/rebel-xti.htm https://kenrockwell.com/canon/rebel-xti.htm [1] https://onfotolife.com/camera_sample_photos?camera_id=30&page=1&iso_min=0&iso_max=65535 https://onfotolife.com/camera_sample_photos?camera_id=30&pag...

TrainedMonkey 3y ago
Even more impressive when you account for 50% USD inflation since 2006: https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2006 https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2006
estebank 3y ago
It is a great moment for people that want to get into photography, because the market is moving to mirrorless but there's plenty of old high end DSLR gear that people are getting rid of but that can produce excellent pictures. The important part of the gear is the lenses, and those can be had used for a fraction of the cost of new ones. For the bodies, the sensor quality has consistently improved over the years, but the quality of 35mm at ISO 100 has been matched and surpassed a long time ago. As a first approximation, you can say that about 10 Megapixels are enough to match film[1]. Subjectively you could say that digital matches and exceeds film since around the mid-2000s.[2] Anything newer than the D2 will be more than enough for any hobbyist. The subsets of photography that benefit from the improvements of the past two decades are low light photography (birding), sports (if you can shoot 9fps and the pal next to you can shoot 11fps, they are the ones more likely to get paid for the picture) and videography (both due to quality of the recorded video as well as ease of use, like better auto-focus). [1]: https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/30745/what-is-the-equivalent-resolution-of-a-35mm-film https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/30745/what-is-the-... [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThpQWhOfKO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThpQWhOfKO4
- gmiller123456 3y ago
  Why do you think the market is moving to mirrorless? I remember there was a craze when they first came out, but died out in a couple years. There still are a lot of good and "good for the price" mirrorless cameras available, but they certainly don't seem to be taking over the market. As an active photographer, I still see most people using DSLRs or their phone. Actually, everyone I know who bought into mirrorless actually gave it up. Back when they were popular I did look into getting one. But there were too many competing lens mounts, and not enough good lenses. So you could buy in to one mount only to have a different mount take over the market, or have yours go away.
  - anotherhue 3y ago
    Nikon for example is clearly repositioning towards mirrorless first.
  - estebank 3y ago
    https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/07/nikon-will-reportedly-join-canon-in-ending-development-on-high-end-dslr-cameras/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/07/nikon-will-reportedl... https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/07/13/business/corporate-business/nikon-slr-production-stopped/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/07/13/business/corpor...
  - Auracle 3y ago
    I’m sitting in a hotel room before a wedding I’m going to photograph and I just laughed at this. Back when they were popular? (Practically?) Every new camera coming out is mirrorless. Every pro is moving to mirrorless. It won’t be all that long before you can’t even buy a new DSLR. Canon, Sony, and Nikon all have their own mount just as they always have. Canon and Nikon took the opportunity to make theirs larger/better/shorter distance, but you can use adapters to use old glass. As a matter of fact, I don’t even have any Z lenses for my mirrorless body. Mirrorless is better, full stop. The only real disadvantage is battery life. Some people prefer an OVF, but personally I have a much easier time seeing through an EVF. The jump in focus accuracy is an absolute game changer, and it’s worth switching for that reason alone. I have a Z8 on the way and then I’ll be fully mirrorless myself, and I can’t wait to ditch what’s largely considered the best DSLR ever made - the D850.
bentcorner 3y ago
For anyone who is interested in older cameras I use a Canon Rebel T3i as a webcam and it works fantastically. In 2020 because of you-know-what Canon released a webcam driver for a bunch of their cameras and the T3i is one of the oldest ones supported (the most recent version of their driver drops support for this camera but older drivers work just fine). Paired with an AC power adapter and a mount for my monitor it's a nice webcam. I bought a 24mm lens for it that was reasonably affordable and I get a nice "real" bokeh effect in my background (it's not as blurry as the computational one but it's a nice to have). (FWIW I also push it through OBS to crop it).
- dadsquad 3y ago
  how do you use this with an AC power adapter? I have one and I've used it but I run out of battery quickly. is there a way to power the camera with AC??
  - orev 3y ago
    Most cameras enable using an AC adapter with a dummy battery insert that provides a barrel power jack. A quick search for that for this camera shows that it seems to be the case for this one.
  - poyu 3y ago
    There’s a kind of power cord that has a dummy battery that plugs into the mains. The camera’s battery door also has a hole to run the cable through. Searching for “dummy battery $CAMERA_MODEL” would get you what you want
- estebank 3y ago
  For anyone that might also already have a Nikon D5100 or D7000 to repurpose as a webcam, you can use a custom firmware[1] to clean up the HDMI output, an HDMI capture card and OBS to fix the aspect ratio. That's the setup I use. 1: https://nikonhacker.com/wiki/Supported_Models https://nikonhacker.com/wiki/Supported_Models
- giobox 3y ago
  Mileage varies between cameras, but one small warning to anyone considering this if they spend even a couple of hours a day in meetings with the camera on from time to time - the sensors in some DSLRs/mirrorless models can overheat while live streaming and your video will cut out. Most of them were only specced to record up to 30 minute clips at a time in original guise and are passively cooled, so running for an hr or more can push the sensors beyond their original specifications etc. I've had this happen rarely with some m43 cameras I use as webcams via an HDMI capture card. There's a ton of youtube videos on this topic with all sorts of homemade cooling setups: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IMSWWccQwQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IMSWWccQwQ
_yb2s 3y ago
Can these really use all of those old 35mm Canon lenses?
- rrreese 3y ago
  I use several EF lenses on my Canon mirrorless. They tend to focus faster then on the old SLRs (and this is on the EOS-R which has the least sophisticated focusing). They’re cheaper but you have to carry an adapter.
- nayuki 3y ago
  Yes, the Canon EOS 400D body accepts all EF and EF-S lenses.
LiquidPolymer 3y ago
I'm a working pro photographer with over 30 years of experience. I frequently buy older camera tech for hazardous duty. The optics and sensors are quite good and the current software can upres and denoise the images without looking weird. I've been photographing wild mountain lions in the central Oregon high-desert using unmanned cameras and sensor arrays. I'll leave them deployed for months in the field. I recently suspended a camera just above the waterline for capturing unique images of wild beavers at night. This is hard on cameras, but they are almost disposable because of the form rapidly becoming obsolete. Yet a very high level of optical quality is available with this old tech. Editors never ask me "what camera did you use?". They evaluate images based upon impact. This moment in the camera market seems really interesting to me because we have phone cameras becoming more and more capable thus shrinking the DSLR/Mirrorless market exponentially. High end cameras are getting more expensive. Where is it all going?
- prawn 3y ago
  I'd be interested in seeing some of your work if you are able to share. Email in profile if you don't want to link in a comment here.
- leobg 3y ago
  I’d also be interested in seeing some of these photos. Lions, beavers. Sounds awesome. I’ve got an email in my bio as well.
raverbashing 3y ago
Yeah. And old camera might have some issues but not because of its release data (more because of usage and wear&tear) These are definitely a good choice for taking good pictures
naikrovek 3y ago
lenses maintain their value for a very long time. camera bodies, not as much. this is still a huge amount of money, to me.

TrainedMonkey 3y ago

Even more impressive when you account for 50% USD inflation since 2006: https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2006 https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2006

estebank 3y ago

It is a great moment for people that want to get into photography, because the market is moving to mirrorless but there's plenty of old high end DSLR gear that people are getting rid of but that can produce excellent pictures. The important part of the gear is the lenses, and those can be had used for a fraction of the cost of new ones. For the bodies, the sensor quality has consistently improved over the years, but the quality of 35mm at ISO 100 has been matched and surpassed a long time ago. As a first approximation, you can say that about 10 Megapixels are enough to match film[1]. Subjectively you could say that digital matches and exceeds film since around the mid-2000s.[2] Anything newer than the D2 will be more than enough for any hobbyist. The subsets of photography that benefit from the improvements of the past two decades are low light photography (birding), sports (if you can shoot 9fps and the pal next to you can shoot 11fps, they are the ones more likely to get paid for the picture) and videography (both due to quality of the recorded video as well as ease of use, like better auto-focus). [1]: https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/30745/what-is-the-equivalent-resolution-of-a-35mm-film https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/30745/what-is-the-... [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThpQWhOfKO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThpQWhOfKO4

gmiller123456 3y ago
Why do you think the market is moving to mirrorless? I remember there was a craze when they first came out, but died out in a couple years. There still are a lot of good and "good for the price" mirrorless cameras available, but they certainly don't seem to be taking over the market. As an active photographer, I still see most people using DSLRs or their phone. Actually, everyone I know who bought into mirrorless actually gave it up. Back when they were popular I did look into getting one. But there were too many competing lens mounts, and not enough good lenses. So you could buy in to one mount only to have a different mount take over the market, or have yours go away.
- anotherhue 3y ago
  Nikon for example is clearly repositioning towards mirrorless first.
- estebank 3y ago
  https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/07/nikon-will-reportedly-join-canon-in-ending-development-on-high-end-dslr-cameras/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/07/nikon-will-reportedl... https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/07/13/business/corporate-business/nikon-slr-production-stopped/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/07/13/business/corpor...
- Auracle 3y ago
  I’m sitting in a hotel room before a wedding I’m going to photograph and I just laughed at this. Back when they were popular? (Practically?) Every new camera coming out is mirrorless. Every pro is moving to mirrorless. It won’t be all that long before you can’t even buy a new DSLR. Canon, Sony, and Nikon all have their own mount just as they always have. Canon and Nikon took the opportunity to make theirs larger/better/shorter distance, but you can use adapters to use old glass. As a matter of fact, I don’t even have any Z lenses for my mirrorless body. Mirrorless is better, full stop. The only real disadvantage is battery life. Some people prefer an OVF, but personally I have a much easier time seeing through an EVF. The jump in focus accuracy is an absolute game changer, and it’s worth switching for that reason alone. I have a Z8 on the way and then I’ll be fully mirrorless myself, and I can’t wait to ditch what’s largely considered the best DSLR ever made - the D850.

bentcorner 3y ago

For anyone who is interested in older cameras I use a Canon Rebel T3i as a webcam and it works fantastically. In 2020 because of you-know-what Canon released a webcam driver for a bunch of their cameras and the T3i is one of the oldest ones supported (the most recent version of their driver drops support for this camera but older drivers work just fine). Paired with an AC power adapter and a mount for my monitor it's a nice webcam. I bought a 24mm lens for it that was reasonably affordable and I get a nice "real" bokeh effect in my background (it's not as blurry as the computational one but it's a nice to have). (FWIW I also push it through OBS to crop it).

dadsquad 3y ago
how do you use this with an AC power adapter? I have one and I've used it but I run out of battery quickly. is there a way to power the camera with AC??
- orev 3y ago
  Most cameras enable using an AC adapter with a dummy battery insert that provides a barrel power jack. A quick search for that for this camera shows that it seems to be the case for this one.
- poyu 3y ago
  There’s a kind of power cord that has a dummy battery that plugs into the mains. The camera’s battery door also has a hole to run the cable through. Searching for “dummy battery $CAMERA_MODEL” would get you what you want
estebank 3y ago
For anyone that might also already have a Nikon D5100 or D7000 to repurpose as a webcam, you can use a custom firmware[1] to clean up the HDMI output, an HDMI capture card and OBS to fix the aspect ratio. That's the setup I use. 1: https://nikonhacker.com/wiki/Supported_Models https://nikonhacker.com/wiki/Supported_Models
giobox 3y ago
Mileage varies between cameras, but one small warning to anyone considering this if they spend even a couple of hours a day in meetings with the camera on from time to time - the sensors in some DSLRs/mirrorless models can overheat while live streaming and your video will cut out. Most of them were only specced to record up to 30 minute clips at a time in original guise and are passively cooled, so running for an hr or more can push the sensors beyond their original specifications etc. I've had this happen rarely with some m43 cameras I use as webcams via an HDMI capture card. There's a ton of youtube videos on this topic with all sorts of homemade cooling setups: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IMSWWccQwQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IMSWWccQwQ

_yb2s 3y ago

Can these really use all of those old 35mm Canon lenses?

rrreese 3y ago
I use several EF lenses on my Canon mirrorless. They tend to focus faster then on the old SLRs (and this is on the EOS-R which has the least sophisticated focusing). They’re cheaper but you have to carry an adapter.
nayuki 3y ago
Yes, the Canon EOS 400D body accepts all EF and EF-S lenses.

LiquidPolymer 3y ago

I'm a working pro photographer with over 30 years of experience. I frequently buy older camera tech for hazardous duty. The optics and sensors are quite good and the current software can upres and denoise the images without looking weird. I've been photographing wild mountain lions in the central Oregon high-desert using unmanned cameras and sensor arrays. I'll leave them deployed for months in the field. I recently suspended a camera just above the waterline for capturing unique images of wild beavers at night. This is hard on cameras, but they are almost disposable because of the form rapidly becoming obsolete. Yet a very high level of optical quality is available with this old tech. Editors never ask me "what camera did you use?". They evaluate images based upon impact. This moment in the camera market seems really interesting to me because we have phone cameras becoming more and more capable thus shrinking the DSLR/Mirrorless market exponentially. High end cameras are getting more expensive. Where is it all going?

prawn 3y ago
I'd be interested in seeing some of your work if you are able to share. Email in profile if you don't want to link in a comment here.
leobg 3y ago
I’d also be interested in seeing some of these photos. Lions, beavers. Sounds awesome. I’ve got an email in my bio as well.

raverbashing 3y ago

Yeah. And old camera might have some issues but not because of its release data (more because of usage and wear&tear) These are definitely a good choice for taking good pictures

naikrovek 3y ago

lenses maintain their value for a very long time. camera bodies, not as much. this is still a huge amount of money, to me.