Rebel Without a Cause
Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Thomas in Blog, Gear
I just don’t understand what the people at Canon are thinking any more. I really don’t. I’ve been a long time Canon user, and a long time fan, but I really do think they’ve lost the plot when it comes to product development. Today, I see in my RSS reader they’ve launched yet another Rebel. The Eos 550D (or Rebel T2i. ) is the latest in a long line of entry level DSLRs from Canon. My first ever DSLR was one of these. In fact it was the first Digital Rebel, or the EOS 300D as it was called over here in Europe. It was a great little camera and a breakthrough at the time. Lately Canon have been churning them out every year. To be honest it’s not really a segment of the market that interests me much any more. Having said that I am shocked by the 55OD
Why? Canon have chosen to put a 18 Megapixel Cropped APS-C sized sensor into this latest rebel. But wait, I hear you say, that’s brilliant. Already some over enthusiastic Canon fans are calling it a “Very Powerful Entry Level” camera. And, I suppose in some ways it would appear so, or at least it would if resolution was everything. But it isn’t. The 550D is an entry level camera. At the level of customer this is aimed at, 18 megapixels is completely and utterly pointless. No consumer level lens is ever going to be able to resolve the detail of that amount of pixels in such a small space. The only way to ever get sharp Images from this is to go out an buy L series lenses from Canon, the majority of which cost more than the price of this Camera. I’m sure people will tell me that the extra resolution will be great for cropping and zooming, but that’s bull, because you can’t crop in if the Image isn’t sharp to begin with. The other excuse you frequently hear is that the extra resolution will make up for lack of pixel level sharpness. But this is also bull. If your image is soft at 18 megapixels it’s still soft. It’s just soft in extra detail.
Instead of improving the quality of a lower resolution sensor, instead of creating cameras that suit its target market Canon, has chosen to compete on paper, on spec lists, and that’s a real shame. What’s even more of a shame is that it will probably work for them. People will think that they’re getting a bargain because they’re getting such a high resolution sensor for such a low price, but they’re going to have to spend far more to actually make use of it. In the end, people who are entering the world of Photography and want to learn are being done a great disservice by cameras like this. Already we’re starting to see bad habits and misinformation permeate the consciousness of the internet when it comes to Photography, perpetrated by fans of these high resolution cameras to make up for their gear’s shortcomings. Eager enthusiasts are being told that their pictures are supposed to be slightly soft, and that checking them at 100% for sharpness makes them a bad photographer. What’s next? Chromatic Aberration is a good thing? That unsightly purple fringing is “art”? Every time Canon crams more pixels into their sensors they lower the quality of the resulting image, and in the rush to embrace higher resolution, up and coming photographers are loosing out on the necessary skill to take technically critical images.
I know this sounds like a terrible rant, and it is. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that’s fair enough. Having said that DP Review already has sample images up and some look terrible. They look like the result you would expect from a digital compact. Shame on Canon for abandoning the principles of quality and perfection that many of us grew up respecting them for in order to find the cheapest way to make sales. This camera will probably be a huge success, but that success will be a great disservice to the name of Photography.
[Updated to fix a few Typos]
(I know this is a touchy subject, and I appreciate a spirited discussion, but please keep it civil. Any rude, personally insulting comments etc will be deleted)
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I’m also an original 300d owner. That was my reentry into photography and I think it was a breakthru camera as well. That said, I don’t think you’re at all considering that the video functions on the 550d make it a breakthru camera as well. Obviously this camera, more than any other Rebel will require an “L” lens. I recommend the 17-40 as being priced to go with this camera. I think it’s an outstanding product meant to take Canons’ crown back from Nikon. The only fault I see is there’s no articulating lcd.
I agree with you 100% and I blame the Camera manufacturers for placing so much emphasis on pixels. The manufacturers have drummed ‘more pixels’ as a status symbol and the majority of people do not have a clue about what a pixel is – how many people even go so far as to have their photos processed to more than 4 x 6 inches. We that know something about digital photography know that even a 2 MP camera can produce a reasonably good photo at 4 x 6 inches. I have run tests on cameras from 3 MP to 12 MP and had the results processed at 4 x 6 inches and I nor my colleagues could tell which photo came from which camera, and incidentially we used Canons for the test. I used to sell cameras for a National Photography chain and I was amazed at the number of people who wanted a camera, not for what it will do but to impress their neighbors – one of my relations bought a Nikon D200 and never knew how to use the camera but in the ’simple mode’. It is time the Camera manufacturers starte to eliminate the problems as you point out and concentrate on a quality photo rather than on pixel domination.
I agree that the recent increase in megapixels is mostly a disservice to consumers, who will rarely print anything bigger than 8×10″ (if they print at all). Furthermore, it seems that most people are only looking at their photos on monitors these days, where 3MP should suffice. However, reputable review sites do rate the 7D (18MP) image quality pretty highly – by most counts better than its APS-C predecessors. Yes, the 100% viewing suffers with zoom lenses (even L lenses) and at higher ISOs, but with a good prime lens at lower ISOs you can indeed make big, sharp prints (see the Imaging Resource analysis).
That’s fair enough – but the 7D is aimed at people who know that you need good lenses, and will go out and get primes or l-series to make the best of it. The 550 though is an entry level camera aimed at amateurs. It’s for people buying their first DSLRs. It comes with the 18-55 in it’s kit form which is a pretty basic lens for this kind of sensor. My point is not just about cramming in the megapixels, but it’s about the target market and completely ignoring the needs of that market for something that looks good on paper.
Agreed. The irony is that it is the enthusiasts and pros (7D market) who are more likely to appreciate the benefits of a modest resolution, whereas consumers (1st time DSLR buyers) are more likely to blindly focus on the spec.
This megapixel situation seems to be like a bad dinner party: Nobody’s happy with where they’re sitting.
We’ve got Canon people moaning that Canon is packing pixels too tightly. Meanwhile, Nikon has been holding firm to the view that bigger pixels, not more pixels, are better, and sticking with 12mp except in their top large-sensor camera. And what happens? The Nikon-centric forums are full of anguished cries that Nikon is falling behind the pace and has GOT to come out with an 18mp consumer camera pronto, or else. (Maybe all the complainers could just switch cameras with each other…?)
Personally, I’m forced to admit that even 12mp are usually more than I need (rant from last year: http://ranger9.net/?p=46) but I’m likely off the pace as well. Just the other day a casual-snapshooter mom mentioned to me that she takes her favorite snaps of her kids to Costco, where she can get 20×30-inch (!) enlargements for US$9 each. If mega-size enlargements are becoming the norm, then I can see why casual shooters might feel they need mega-mega-pixel counts as well.
THE XSI IS-WAS CANON’S BEST REBEL LOW NOISE IMAGE MAKER & BECAUSE OF THE 12.2 PIXELS WAS BEST MATCH FOR APS-C SIZE SENSOR. AN XSI-II W/HD VID INSTEAD OF THE T2I WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER REBEL IDEA. IT WOULD SELL LIKE HOT CAKES. CANON COULD RUN AWAY FROM ALL COMPETITION IF THEY WOULD STOP PUSHING PIXELS INTO THE APS-C SIZE SENSOR. I WANT A REBEL THAT HAS VERY LOW NOISE & SHOOTS 6-8 FRAMES PER SEC. THE XSI SELLS WELL BECAUSE OF THE GREAT LOW NOISE IMAGE AT A LOW COST. THE 7D (18.0 PIXEL )IMAGE NOISE AT ISO 1600 IS NOT NEAR AS GOOD AS THE XSI. CANON PLEASE WAKE UP.
I agree you wholeheartedly, except for a minor point.
You are saying, “The only way to ever get sharp images from this is to go out an buy L series lenses from Canon”.
I think you can also get sharp images by using primes stopped down. But that is not what consumers are likely to do; they like zooms. And from that point on, I agree with you – consumer zooms are no match for 18mp.
That’s a fair point. Funny, I always think of Canon’s good primes as being in the L-series – which I know they’re not. But you’re right. A good prime stopped down will be effective too.
I have been more than surprised when I read this information on Canon.com the other day. The 500D still feels so new and I really have no idea why the hell there should be another one coming now. And as many said before: 18MP is a scandal. The RAW data will be a mess and the data size will be enlarged to 15MB or so artificially. Thats not consumer friendly at all!
You are absolutely correct that 18MP is a travesty. It’s all about making the camera look good on paper, and sadly, it does that quite well. I’m a Nikon D50 owner and I’m itching to buy a D90, but I’m waiting because it’s a year and a half into its life cycle. I assume a new model is on the way. And then I see this Canon and I gasped when I saw the specs and the price. “18MP? $799 body only? That’s $100 cheaper than a 12MP D90! How can this be?”
It’s hard NOT to be fooled by the numbers. I just hope Nikon doesn’t follow along.
Can you all please take a step back, complete an electrical engineering degree (like I have) and then you might be in a better position to understand why Canon is doing what they are doing, it is not just marketing. It is not a simple matter of making a ‘better’ 12MP sensor by sprinkling some fairy dust on it to make the noise go away.
But I do agree 18MP does seem like a lot. If only someone would release a cheap full frame……
The reactions some people are having to this camera (and the 7D before it) seem to be based more on some of the old wives’ tales they learned on DP Review rather than from actual experience.
I own a 7D and find its sensor to be excellent. I have several non-L lenses that have more than enough resolution for the sensor. The 17-55 f/2.8, in particular, produces absolutely phenomenal lenses in combination with the 7D. When I want absolute image quality, I use this combo a lot more than I use my 5D.
My reaction to the 550D announcement was that I became very, very interested in it. If the sensor performs as well as the 7D’s, this would make an excellent back-up camera at events. In fact, its much-lighter weight could make this my primary camera for a lot of work.
Canon (and Nikon and Pentax and everybody else) has long sold cameras with lenses that couldn’t get the most out of their cameras. Think about all those crappy 35-70s that were sold over the years during the film era. Just because they come with a mediocre lens doesn’t mean the rest of the camera shouldn’t be a good performer. The interchangeable lens is the whole reason for this class of camera to exist, after all.
And even with a crappy kit lens, this will still outperform any compact camera.
There is no penalty for the higher resolution of the sensor. One of the old wives tales is that smaller photosites lead to lower dynamic range, yet DXO itself shows the 7D having 2/3 stop greater DN than the original 5D. That the D90 scores better than the Canons in this department says more about their relative sensor design philosophies than about their pixel pitch.
Your followup post shows the D90 outperforming the 550D in the DXOMark sensor scale 72.6 to 65.6. DXO states that 5 points is 1/3 stop, and this is a seven point difference, so it’s less than half a stop difference between the two in that particular measurement. I truly question whether any image quality differences will be noticeable in typical sized prints.
People get so worked up sometimes, often based on what they think they know, or when just pixel-peeping. These cameras are well beyond anything we could do in the film era (ever see prints from 3200 speed 35mm film? it isn’t pretty), so really, it’s much ado about nothing as far as I’m concerned.