Canon Digital Rebel XTi Design & Features

The latest offering from Canon is the successor to the incredibly popular Digital Rebel XT entry-level dSLR. The Digital Rebel XTi is, in many ways, very similar to its predecessor, with a few alterations and improvements.

First, the XTi has packed in an additional 2 megapixels into its CMOS sensor, giving the camera a total resolution of 10-megapixels. The odd thing about this particular upgrade is that Canon opted not increase the size of the sensor, but simply cram in more pixels (with a pixel resolution of 3,904 x 2,598) within the same space. It is not clear yet what effect, if any, this will have on overall performance.

Another new feature involving the image sensor is dust cleaning system. The sensor is actually self-cleaning, using ultrasonic vibrations to shake off dust when the camera powers on.
In addition, there is an anti-static filter that keeps dust from settling and an adhesive around the sensor that designed to intercept dust and keep it from flying around the camera chassis. If dust somehow still manages to stick to the sensor, Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software can plot the location of the dust and remove the blemishes left behind on your photos.

The EOS Digital Rebel XTi also sports a new 2.5-inch LCD color display with approximately 230,000 pixels. Photo information and playback can now be viewed simultaneously on one screen. The display also has a 160 degree viewing angle, which is larger than several other SLR displays in its class.