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CANON’S NEW EOS
DIGITAL REBEL XTi SLR RAISES RESOLUTION,
INCREASES EASE, LOWERS COST AND LEAVES OTHER
DIGITAL SLRS IN THE DUST
MISSISSAUGA, Aug. 24, 2006 –
Canon’s EOS Digital Rebel XT model
– the camera that set all time sales
records for digital SLRs of any persuasion
(supplanting the original Digital Rebel’s
claim to that title) – now takes its
place alongside the newest member of the
irrepressible Rebel clan: the 10.1 megapixel
EOS Digital Rebel XTi SLR camera. For 16
years, the Rebel brand has stood for advanced,
sophisticated and easy-to-use. The new Canon
EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera continues that
legacy, taking discriminating photo hobbyists,
enthusiasts, advanced amateurs and SLR aficionados
to places digital dreams are made of…and
more economically than ever before.
“The EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera
continues to lead the way with impressive
innovations and an array of advancements
simply not found on other digital SLRs in
this price-range,” said Ian Macfarlane,
Vice President and General Manager of the
Consumer Imaging Group at Canon Canada Inc.,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A.
Inc. “Canon technology is born of inspiration,
imagination and our passion to help photographers
make the best pictures possible. Nowhere
is the combination of undeniable quality
and value more evident than on this new
EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera.”
In stores mid-September,
the EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera is offered
in both sleek brushed silver patina and
“pro” matte black finishes. It
is available in two kit configurations:
with and without Canon’s high quality
EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens. The EOS
Digital Rebel XTi camera will be available
for a manufacturer’s suggested list
price of CDN $1,350*
with the zoom lens kit, while
the body only kit
will carry a manufacturer’s suggested
list price of CDN $1,175*. In
order to maintain an appropriate pricing
structure, the Digital Rebel XT model will
carry an adjusted manufacturer’s suggested
list price of CDN $1,100* with the zoom
lens kit and CDN $925* for the body only
kit.
No mere intermediate upgrade, this new
EOS Digital Rebel XTi SLR continues Canon’s
combination of imaging excellence, intuitive
ease of use and affordability. Indeed the
EOS XTi Digital SLR camera now leads the
Digital Rebel revolution with such marquee
features as its higher 10.1 megapixel resolution;
refined and redesigned Canon CMOS sensor;
larger, easier to read 2.5 inch display
screen (along with simplified and streamlined
menu navigation), and the remarkable EOS
Integrated Cleaning System, a self-cleaning
image sensor unit/dust removal system that
is available on no other camera of any make,
at any price.
Despite the addition of these and other
imaging improvements – including Canon’s
fast, high-precision 9-point autofocus system
and a new maximum burst rate in large/fine
and raw quality modes that – at three
frames per second – is double the capability
of the Digital Rebel XT SLR.
CMOS Sensor-tivity
At the heart of the Rebel XTi SLR’s
high-resolution image capability is its
large, single plate, CMOS colour image sensor.
Designed and manufactured by Canon specifically
for the Rebel XTi SLR, this highly responsive
sensor’s 10.1 million pixels are fractionally
smaller than the pixels in the 8 megapixel
Rebel XT model, yet deliver markedly improved
resolution, enabling the sensor to capture
more image information. This results not
simply in the ability to generate larger
images, but also permits details from cropped
images to be rendered with higher image
quality than cropped images from lower resolution
sensors. At 22.2 x 14.8 mm in size, this
new CMOS sensor maintains the 1.6x conversion
ratio found on many other members of the
EOS Digital SLR line including the Rebel
XT and the EOS 30D models.
Inherently more efficient than CCD type
image sensors, Canon CMOS sensors significantly
reduce image noise levels by converting
light values to electrical signals on the
chip rather than having them converted elsewhere
in the camera. The Rebel XTi SLR’s
CMOS sensor goes further still, maintaining
an exceptional dynamic range while reducing
the noise level that one might typically
expect for a pixel size delivering such
high resolution. Canon engineers and designers
achieved this breakthrough in sensor design
by reducing the space between the chip’s
microlenses while at the same time increasing
the sensitivity of each photodiode. As a
result, the camera achieves 20 percent greater
resolution than an eight-megapixel sensor
with comparable noise reduction and dynamic
range.
The Digital Rebel XTi SLR also continues
the long-standing tradition of featuring
a wide range of ISO settings (100 –1600)
with the ability to “float” to
any intermediate step along that range in
fully automatic modes while allowing the
user to set the ISO manually at full step
intervals in the camera’s creative
modes.
The Dust Free Zone
Beautiful, high-res images marred by the
presence of ugly dust spots can be cause
for painstaking, time consuming photo retouching
(with varying degrees of success). Canon
takes the quest for imaging excellence and
easier camera maintenance a unified giant
step forward with its new, two-tiered dust
removal technology called the EOS Integrated
Cleaning System, available only on the EOS
Rebel XTi camera.
While real world shooting rarely achieves
“clean-room” standards, Canon
has gone out of its way to design the XTi
model to first create or attract no dust.
Canon begins by minimizing the dust and
particles created by the camera itself,
by reformulating the materials used in the
body cap and shutter to materials more resistant
to particle “fall out” due to
normal use and wear. Canon also treats the
camera’s low pass filter with an anti-static
charge to prevent static-charged dust from
adhering to it.
Still, recognizing that humidity and a
variety of real world conditions can cause
dust to enter and adhere to the sensor or
low pass filter despite the most scrupulous
of efforts, Canon created the Self Cleaning
Sensor Unit. The low pass filter on the
front of the CMOS sensor is attached to
an ultrasonic vibrating unit that literally
shakes the loose dust particles off of the
surface. The newly liberated dust is then
captured by an adhesive material that keeps
the particles from becoming airborne again
once the camera moves.
The self cleaning sensor unit’s ultrasonic
anti-dust shake activates automatically
for one second whenever the camera is powered
on or off, ensuring that the camera will
be as relatively dust free as possible and
can be activated at other times through
a simple menu selection.
Despite the ingenuity behind the Self Cleaning
Sensor Unit there are occasions when dust
particles of a stickier nature are not vibrated
free of the low pass filter. In these situations,
the Dust Delete Data function can be engaged.
Simply put, by aiming the camera at a white
wall or even a white piece of paper (or,
in a pinch, removing the lens from the camera)
the Dust Delete Data function will map the
size and position of the dust particles
remaining on the low pass filter. Once the
dust is “mapped”, that information
is attached as metadata to all subsequently
shot images regardless of recording format,
RAW or JPEG. When the images and appended
dust data map are transferred to a computer
using the Rebel XTi’s new Digital Photo
Professional software, the dust information
can be subtracted from the images simply
by selecting the “apply dust delete
data” option. Users can update the
Dust Delete Data at any time via controls
found in the Rebel XTi’s LCD menu.
Bigger and Brighter: XTi Model’s
Brilliant LCD Monitor
Among the decidedly user-friendly enhancements
built in to the new Digital Rebel XTi is
the 2.5 inch, 230,000 pixel color TFT LCD
monitor with its wide, 160 degree viewing
angle. The envy of the EOS digital SLR line,
this new screen features a viewing area
that is nearly twice as large as the Rebel
XT model’s 1.8 –inch monitor,
and offers six brightness settings for easy
viewing of images and menu options in a
wide range of lighting conditions. Indeed,
this brilliant monitor is approximately
40% brighter at its maximum setting than
screens found on the top-tier EOS-1D Mark
II N, EOS 5D and EOS 30D digital SLRs. The
monitor is also the new home for all camera
settings information. This was previously
housed on a separate LCD. This new configuration
allows for more information and larger font
& icons in one easy-to-view area.
The monitor is even intuitive enough to
automatically (and temporarily) turn the
display off when the camera is raised up
to the user’s eye. This feature not
only saves valuable battery life but also
avoids subjecting the user to distracting
screen brightness when looking through the
viewfinder. For maximum battery life, the
LCD display can be shut off manually as
well.
Picture Style Optimizes Images
In keeping with this new, bigger, brighter
monitor is the Rebel XTi SLR’s redesigned
menu, made bolder, easier to read and easier
to navigate. Notable among the expanded
info screen menu features offered for the
first time on a Digital Rebel camera are
the RGB histogram and the Picture Style
functions first introduced on the Canon
EOS-1D Mark II N, EOS 5D cameras and most
recently added to the EOS 30D’s imaging
arsenal. With Picture Style, users can more
easily select presets for sharpening, contrast,
saturation, and color tone that most closely
reflect their needs and intent for a particular
picture. Similar to selecting the film type
in order to achieve a desired result, the
Picture Style feature offers six setting
choices—Standard, Portrait, Landscape,
Neutral, Faithful and Monochrome—with
an additional three user defined settings
available.
Fast Focus
Also migrating to the Rebel XTi camera from
the upper reaches of the EOS Digital SLR
line is Canon’s flexible folder management
system with capability to store 9,999 images
in a folder as well as manual creation of
new folders and perhaps most importantly,
the same high precision 9-point Autofocus
sensor and AF unit found on the EOS 30D
SLR.
Like its Digital Rebel predecessors, the
EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera is equipped
with Canon’s standard EOS EF lens mount
making it compatible with Canon’s complete
line of EF lenses as well as the EF-S line
of lenses created specifically for the EOS
20D, and EOS 30D prosumer digital SLRs,
and the EOS Digital Rebel models.
While the Digital Rebel XTi offers the
same fast 3 frames per second as the Digital
Rebel XT model, the burst rate in Large/Fine
JPEG and Raw settings has nearly doubled,
from 14 eight- megapixel JPEG images and
five eight- megapixel RAW images on the
Rebel XT model to 27 10.1 megapixel JPEGS
and ten 10.1 megapixel RAW images on the
new Rebel XTi camera.
CANON Software $avings: Bundled and
In the Box
Purchasers of the EOS Digital Rebel XTi
camera or any of Canon’s digital SLRs
are never faced with extra-cost software
to make the camera perform to its full capabilities.
Rather, Canon continues its long-standing
tradition of including “in the box”,
a comprehensive software bundle that includes
both the camera’s utility programs
and Canon’s Digital Photo Professional
software (presently in version 2.2). Compatible
with both Mac OS X and Windows XP operating
systems** formats, the Digital Photo Pro
software assists users with everything from
image transfer and viewing, image enhancement
and editing, RGB image editing functions,
image noise reduction, viewing, processing
and editing of RAW images, Direct Print
functions and Canon’s groundbreaking
new Dust Delete Data functions.
The EOS Technological Legacy
The EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera maintains
the top-tier technologies that have helped
power the EOS line of digital SLRs to the
forefront of the industry and the marketplace.
These include Canon’s power efficient
DIGIC II Image Processor and E-TTL II, Canon’s
evaluative-through the lens exposure control
that ensures optimal exposure even in difficult
lighting conditions.
About Canon Canada, Inc.
Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, the
company employs 1,500 people at its offices
nation-wide, servicing the Canadian market
from coast to coast. Innovation and cutting-edge
technology have been essential ingredients
in Canon's success. Canon's leadership in
imaging, optical and document management
technology and solutions is based in large
part on the thousands of patents the company
has secured throughout its history. Canon
Inc. is among the top three US patent recipients
over the past 14 years.
The company’s comprehensive product
line includes networked multifunction devices;
digital copiers (colour and black and white);
printers, scanners, image filing systems
and facsimile machines; calculators, digital
camcorders, digital and analogue cameras
and lenses; semiconductor, broadcast and
other specialized industrial products.
Canon supports programs that help preserve
and protect the environment. The company
instituted the Clean Earth Campaign in 1990,
which assists various environmental and
recycling initiatives. The Campaign has
also supported leading environmental organizations,
such as The Nature Conservancy of Canada,
World Wildlife Fund - Canada and the Canon
Envirothon.
For more information, visit www.canon.ca
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