I'm often asked, "What camera are you using? Probably the latest thing, huh?"

The answer is, nope.  There was a time from 2005-2008 where I got a new Canon Digital Rebel each year. Each year the pixel count went up. There was the 6MP, then 8, then 10, and I knew I could stop shopping when the 12MP Canon EOS Rebel Xsi (aka 450D) came out. With that resolution I could shoot the cover of a 9x12 inch magazine and not have to fudge the processing to get it up to size.  

Canon EOS Digital Rebel Xsi (450D)

Last week I passed the 10,000 image mark for this camera. At that point, it starts the count over at 1. I've never had a digital SLR make it that far before. Most of my previous Rebels were retired or passed onto a CE county office (for a small fee) when it reached somewhere around 5,000 images.

When the 15MP camera came out last year in the middle of our budget crisis, I wasn't really that interested. I had the resolution I needed for most of our work in ANR. I am limited if I need to do much cropping, a process where pixels are thrown away, but so far, it hasn't been a huge issue.

This camera is still doing well and I still recommend it, if you can find one.

Specs