Canon EOS 500D / Rebel T1i Review

Canon’s EOS 500D – or Rebel T1i as it’s known in North America – is the company’s latest entry-to-mid-level DSLR and the successor to the hugely popular EOS 450D / Rebel XSi. Announced towards the end of March 2009, the 500D / T1i externally resembles its predecessor with exactly the same dimensions and similar weight, but inherits a number of features from the higher-end EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II models; it also becomes the company’s second DSLR to feature HD video recording.
The EOS 500D / Rebel T1i features a jump from the 12.2 Megapixels of its predecessor to the same 15.1 Megapixels as the semi-pro EOS 50D. Canon describes the sensor as being almost the same as the 50D's, and indeed it also shares the same 100-12800 ISO sensitivity range and 14-bit processing.

But there are a number of key differences, starting with half the data transfer rate, responsible for the 500D / T1’s slower continuous shooting rate and its 1080p video mode only operating at 20fps (see below). Additionally while the 50D’s sensor employed gapless micro-lenses, the 500D / T1i does not, and the 50D's fluorine anti-dust sensor coating is also not present here. But the 500D / T1i has one major feature missing from its higher-end counterpart.

Gordon Laing

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