Canon EOS Rebel T1i and T2i EF-S Digital SLR Camera

These Canon EOS Rebel T1i EF-S Digital SLR Camera feature HIGHLIGHTS are summarized from the canon.usa.com web site:

- Full HD video capture at 1920 x 1080 resolution
You can see samples of actual video capture.

Note: Your computer and monitor combination must "playback 1080p video at 30 frames per second. The capability of the graphics card in the computer could cause uneven or jerky playback of the video files."

- Creative Auto goes a step beyond auto allowing control over frequently-changed settings
Cool new feature - you get help in the form of hints with a setting called Creative Auto. This sounds like a learning tool for beginning photographers.

- High Resolution Still Capture

- Live View Function For Stills and Video

- 3.0-inch Clear View LCD (anti-reflective and anti smudge)
The screen on the back of the camera is a good size for viewing pictures and motion. Previous Rebels had much smaller screens you could not see in the sunlight, a real drawback when you're reviewing shots.

- Auto Lighting Optimizer for superior highlight-shadow control
The camera lights up shadows for you so you don't need to use a flash in situations where shadows would show up. This sounds like a "so what," but when you're taking pictures outside in the sunlight, it's a big help.

- Wide range ISO setting 100-3200 (ISO expansion: 6400, 12800)
Another lighting issue. Higher ISO settings help you get excellent pictures even in low light situations.

- Compatible with over 60 Canon EF/EF-S lenses and most EOS System accessories
Makes for a very flexible camera!

The best camera reviews originate from real customers. Samples of these reviews are available on Amazon.com for the Canon EOS Rebel T1i EF-S Digital SLR Camera.

74% of all reviews are 5-star reviews
As of this writing, there are 93 5-star reviews out of 126 customer reviews. One customer with a 5-star review apparently spent a lot of time thinking about the T1i functionality. Amazon tags this as The most helpful favorable review.

The other 26% of the customer reviews
The best reviews to look at are the 4 or less star reviews. Amazon tagged a 3-star review as The most helpful critical review.

I found some recurring themes in the reviews with 4 or less stars:

Soft Shots
Several reviews discussed "soft shots." These were defined as pictures with lower than anticipated sharpness. It seems that Canon's default setting for sharpness is set low. The person who discoved the low setting had no problems after the setting was changed.

High ISO Performance
There were conflicting opinions about ISO performance; some customers complained that it was not up to par with high aperatures. However, another raved about being able to take pictures in a dark club setting with no flash. After reading these reviews a few times, I figured out the person who praised ISO performance was using a different lens than the kit lens provided with the camera.

Video
Shooting video is best accomplished with a high quality sdhc card. The card named as the best sdhc was the Sandisk 8 gig Extreme II.

Several people mentioned that the camera will only save video in .mov format. A conversion program is required (not supplied by Canon) for other formats.

Summary
Quite frankly, I don't see anything in these less than 5-star reviews that would prevent me from getting the Canon EOS Rebel T1i EF-S Digital SLR Camera. My Canon Rebel XTi is a dinosaur in comparison!