Canon has just announced the 15.1 megapixel EOS 500D, known as the Rebel T1i in the US market. The new DSLR is a response to Nikon’s D90 — it’s a high-end consumer model which shoots HD video. It’s also Canon’s second DSLR to best Nikon’s HD efforts.
The 500D shoots at up to full 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) but only does so at 20 frames per second. Drop to 720p (1280 x 720 pixels) and you get a better 30fps. This compares to the Nikon D90’s maximum 720p at 24fps (the same speed as film based movie cameras). The Nikon, though, records in the crappy motion JPEG format. The 500D pops out .mov files in the H.264 codec. Another nice touch is the ability to use the autofocus whilst shooting, although you only get to use the slower contrast-detection system available in the live-view mode.
Yes, the 500D has live-view, like almost every camera appearing these days. The stills mode (this is a DSLR, after all) also has some neat touches. The one we like most is called Creative Auto by Canon, and is essentially an easy way to tweak settings while letting the camera take care of the heavy lifting. The camera remains in auto mode, but the user can choose from English-language options, like “Darker/Brighter" or “Blur Background" to customize the image. For beginners not coming from a manual camera background, this is a great way to learn without actually messing things up.
Otherwise, there isn’t much that stands out, other than a good top “film speed". The 500D goes up to ISO 3200 in regular mode with two extra emergency settings of 6400 and 12800. The rest of the specs are unsurprising but good — a 3", 920,000 pixels LCD, 95% viewfinder coverage, HDMI-out, self-cleaning sensor, face-detection. The APS-C sized sensor measures 30mm diagonally, making it smaller than a full-frame sensor but still a huge improvement over tiny pocket cameras' sensors.
The 500D will cost just $800 for the body and for $900 in a kit with the EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. That, in case you were wondering, is quite the bargain. Available May.
Product page [Canon]
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