Canon EOS Rebel SL1 18.0 MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ IS STM 18-55mm Lens)

At the onset of World War II 35mm rangefinder “mini-cams” were very popular with serious amateur photographers and many professional shooters.  The war ended with most of Europe and all of Japan in ruins, but from that rubble emerged a new type of camera – the SLR (single lens reflex).  Exacta and Practika SLRs from East Germany and Pentax, Minolta, and Olympus SLRs from Japan stole market share from German rangefinder manufacturers Leica and Zeiss and from Japanese rangefinder makers Canon and Nikon.  By the late 1960’s 35mm SLR cameras had become the basic workhorse for professional photographers and serious amateur shooters, largely replacing the rangefinder cameras used by earlier generations of serious shooters.  SLRs were more versatile than rangefinders and could mount a much wider selection of lenses - including super telephoto and ultra-wide angle lenses.  But, all was not joy and light in the ranks of SLR photographers – mechanical SLRs were heavy and bulky – much less compact than the rangefinder cameras they were replacing.  Olympus was on the cutting edge in 1972 when they released the new Olympus OM1 SLR.  The OM1 was the first compact SLR, much smaller and substantially lighter than the rugged and overbuilt mechanical SLRs of the sixties and seventies. 

Forty years later 35mm mechanical film cameras with manual focus lenses have been completely replaced by Digital SLRs with auto focus, auto-exposure, image stabilization, and LCD monitors, but many consumers still want smaller and lighter cameras.  Enter the ILC/CSC cameras which handle and function like compact P&S digicams, but allow shooters to mount interchangeable lenses. ILC/CSC imaging devices are typically much smaller than DSLRs because there is no mirror or pentaprism in the live-view light path. ILC/CSC cameras were the first major innovation in interchangeable lens camera design since the invention of the pentaprism viewfinder in 1948 and the introduction of the instant return mirror in 1954. Industry leaders Canon and Nikon both lost market share (again) and responded by cutting corners wherever they could to compete with this new type of rangefinder like interchangeable lens cameras. 

Nikon dealt with this competitive challenge by introducing Nikon ILC/CSC cameras and lenses.  Canon, decided to take a page out of Olympus’ 1972 playbook and introduce the first compact DSLR – the new SL1.  The SL1 is basically a shrunken T4i – sharing essentially all components except for the T4i’s larger body.  Canon is the most modular of the major digital camera manufacturers and they have an extensive catalog of consumer-tested and field proven components to draw from when creating new models. Re-utilizing proven components from older or more expensive models to create new models allows Canon to skip parts the very expensive R&D phase of product development and quickly introduce new camera models at prices designed to entice consumers.  The SL1 is a perfect example of this corporate marketing philosophy – the SL1 is at its core a seriously slimmed down T4i (4.6” x 3.57” x 2.74” or 116.8mm x 90.7mm x 69.4mm), and it tips the scales at only 14.36 ounces - 407grams with the battery and SD memory card installed – currently the world's smallest and lightest digital SLR camera. 

NUTS & BOLTS

Viewfinder

The SL1’s pentamirror TTL (through-the-lens) optical viewfinder imagess are sharp, fairly bright, and color (hue) accurate. Magnification is 0.80X and coverage is approximately 95 per cent of the image frame. When the SL1 is raised to eye-level a built-in IR proximity sensor detects the user’s eye/face and turns off the LCD. Inside the viewfinder are 9 AF focusing points (the active focus points are illuminated so shooters know exactly where the camera is focusing). The viewfinder's status readout is very comprehensive, viewfinder blackout has been slightly shortened, and there’s a diopter correction adjustment for eyeglasses wearers. 

LCD Monitor.

The SL1 features a 3.0 inch (1,040,000 million pixels) wide-viewing-angle fixed TFT LCD monitor. The monitor is very sharp, color accurate, and fluid. The SL1 like the T5i, features touchscreen controls. The screen is capacitative rather than resistive, which means the SL1’s touchscreen functions like a smartphone touchscreen - it's sensitive to contact rather than pressure - resulting in a user experience that smartphone users will find very familiar.

Auto Focus (AF)

The SL1 features the same hybrid (Contrast detection/Phase detection) 9 AF point wide-area AF with cross-type center point Auto Focus system that graces its big brother the T51. Users can manually select the specific AF point they want to base focus on (handy for composing images with off-center subjects) or allow the camera to automatically select the AF point (closest subject priority). The SL1’s AF system seems just a bit faster than the T5i’s AF system. Users can select any one of the nine AF points as the primary focus point, but because the center point is a cross point sensor - using it as the primary AF point insures that focus acquisition will be quicker and more accurate for both vertical and horizontal subjects - users can recompose after achieving focus lock. The SL1’s AF system evaluates subject movement and automatically selects locking or tracking AF mode, which vastly simplifies shooting sports and action. AF is consistently quick and accurate even in moderately dim lighting.

Manual Focus (MF)

Manual focus is dead easy – simply turn the MF ring on the lens to adjust focus, just like they used to do back in the olden days.

Flash

The  SL1’s built-in multi-mode pop-up flash has (according to Canon) a maximum range of about 19 feet, but 8.5 or 9.0 feet is actually more accurate – flash coverage is adequate for the 18mm end of the kit zooms range, but it may produce images with dark corners when using wider optics. In manual exposure mode the flash is enabled by pressing the flash button, but in all AUTO exposure modes the flash automatically pops up when the camera's light metering system determines it is needed. In Flash-Off mode both the pop-up flash and the hot shoe are disabled. Top flash synch speed is 1/200th of a second and flash recycle time is between 3 and 4 seconds.

Hot Shoe

The SL1 features a dedicated hot shoe (in addition to the built-in flash) and can mount all Canon EX Speedlights, but some features are available only with Canon’s newer and more expensive external flash units.

Image Storage/Image File Formats

The SL1 saves images to SD/SDHC/SDXC memory media. Images may be saved in JPEG and RAW formats and there is a RAW+JPEG mode that saves a RAW file with an embedded JPEG file.

Power/Battery Life

The SL1 draws its power from a proprietary Canon Lithium-Ion LP-E12 rechargeable battery pack. Canon claims the SL1 is good for about 380 exposures with a fully charged LP-E12. Will the battery really power the SL1 through almost 400 exposures? Probably not since that number is based on using the optical viewfinder essentially all the time, but few users will totally eschew the LCD monitor and the greater power demands of the live view LCD will lower that figure dramatically. The included charger needs about 2 hours to charge the battery back to full capacity.

Lens Mount/Kit Lens 
 
The SL1 features a metal alloy lens mount and can mount any EF or EF-S series Canon lens. The SL1 is compatible with more than fifty zoom and prime lenses currently available from Canon and dozens of EF/EF-S mount lenses from third party makers Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina.

SL1 purchasers can opt to buy either the camera body only or they can buy the "kit" which includes the latest version of Canon's compact EF-S 18mm-55mm/f3.5-f5.6 IS II STM zoom which is optimized for Canon's new Hybrid CMOS AF II system. The EF-S 18mm-55mm/f3.5-f5.6 IS II’s maximum aperture - f3.5 at 18mm is fairly slow and the f5.6 maximum aperture at 55 mm is even slower (too slow for virtually anything except outdoor shooting), but overall this zoom offers fairly decent performance.  Canon’s new (kit) zoom incorporates Canon's Optical Image Stabilizer technology while retaining the compactness and light weight of previous models. The SL1’s IS system allows sharp hand-held shots at shutter speeds up to four stops slower than would otherwise have been possible. The zoom’s construction is 11 elements in 9 groups with one aspherical lens element. This zoom (unlike most of it’s competition) comes with a circular aperture for better Bokeh. 

The EF-S 18mm-55mm/f3.5-f5.6 IS II (like most consumer level zoom lenses) is sharper in the center than it is in the corners, but since most purchasers of this zoom will be shooting outdoor family/event, travel /vacation, informal portraits, and record pictures with the subject generally in the center of the frame that probably shouldn’t be a problem for the SL1’s target audience. Resolution improves noticeably as the aperture gets smaller (with f8.0 as the optimum aperture). There is minor barrel distortion at the wide-angle end of the zoom range, but no visible pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the range. Chromatic aberration is a big problem with many compact zooms, but the dreaded purple fringing (while present in high contrast color transition areas, especially at maximum aperture) is well controlled in this optic.

EF-S 18mm-55mm/f3.5-f5.6 IS users can get as close as 9.8 inches (at the long end of the zoom), which is acceptable for e-bay auction shots and general close-ups, but not tight enough for frame filling bugs and flowers shots. The pop-up flash provides decent macro coverage, although it leaves the lower third of the frame slightly darker than the upper two thirds. Minimum aperture is f/22 and filter thread diameter is 58mm.

EXPOSURE

The Digital Rebel SL1 (like its predecessors) provides serious amateur shooters with a comprehensive range of exposure options including: Auto (P&S mode), Program AE (P&S mode with user input), Shutter Priority mode (users select the shutter speed and the camera selects the appropriate aperture), Aperture Priority mode (users select the aperture and the camera selects the appropriate shutter speed), and Manual mode (users select all exposure parameters). The SL1 also provides a small but useful selection of Scene modes. In all Scene Modes the camera's DIGIC 5 processor automatically optimizes all exposure parameters (aperture, shutter speed, white balance, sensitivity, etc.) for the specific scene genre selected.
 
Light Metering

The SL1’s light metering options include the default Evaluative (Multi) mode, plus center weighted averaging, Spot, and partial modes. The Evaluative metering mode (linked to Face Detection AF/AE) assesses numerous individual points across the frame while Center-weighted metering biases exposure on the central portion of frame (great for landscape and travel images where the subject is likely to be centered). The Spot and Partial modes allow users to bias exposure to the most important single element shown in the frame. The SL1’s default Evaluative metering mode is consistently accurate and I suspect most users will leave the camera in the default metering mode full time.

Design, Controls, & Ergonomics

The SL1 is fairly conventional, even though it is noticeably smaller than other DSLRs.  Construction/build quality are more than adequate (polycarbonate outer shell over a metal alloy frame) and fit/finish are impressive. Many SL1 users will rely on the touchscreen, but there are lots of buttons and nobs as well for veteran photographers. All controls are logically placed and easily accessed and the menu system is straightforward and easily navigated. Canon’s product development folks really scored on this camera – it is substantially smaller than the T5i, but performance is almost identical with the SL1 actually being a bit faster than it’s larger sibling.

In the Field/Handling & Operation

I get asked a lot for camera recommendations and I am usually happy to lend a hand when it comes time to help folks choose a new camera.  I’ve helped a Pastor friend of mine select three cameras over the last six or seven years, so I wasn’t surprised when he called and told me he needed a new camera.  Seems he is going to be working in Israel for several months starting this summer and he wants a new camera to document his time in the Holy Land.  I’ve known Jim for a while so I cut to the chase and asked him what he really wanted in his new camera.  He told me he would get back to me, and a couple of days later he turned up with a list.  Here’s Jim’s list - Not too expensive (his budget allowed for up to $1000.00), not too complex or difficult to use, not too heavy and small enough to pack in a “carry-on” bag.  Excellent picture quality was a must have feature – plus he also wanted HD movies and WiFi. 

I have really been wanting to check out Canon’s new SL1, so I told Jim to meet me at our most popular local camera store.  When I arrived Jim was already in the grips of a camera salesman, so he was much happier to see me than the guy who was trying to sell him a Nikon D7000 was.  I asked the salesman to show us the SL1 and the T4i and once he’d brought both cameras over for us to play with I explained to Jim that the two cameras were essentially identical under the hood.  Jim never even picked up the T4i – he went straight for the smaller camera and in less than ten minutes he was the proud owner of a brand new SL1.  Jim Insisted on buying us lunch at Mark’s Feed Store and he only put the SL1 down so that he could eat his Burgoo and Pulled Pork Barbeque sandwich.  After we finished eating he handed me the camera and said I know you’ll want to review it so you can keep it for a few days.  I asked if he like to go down to the extreme park and shoot some skateboarders and BMX bikers with me and he agreed enthusiastically. 
 
I regularly test cameras at our local extreme sports park because that is the go to place for local photographers looking to capture action shots. Skateboarders, BMX bikers, and Rollerbladers are drawn to the park 24-7 and I’ve met several really talented athletes down there over the years.  When Jim and I arrived there were only half a dozen people using the park so we watched for a while and then shot some pictures of one young skateboarder who was pretty good.  I would shoot the skateboarder first and then show Jim what I’d gotten and then he would try to duplicate my picture.  After about an hour of the no shade extreme park on a very sunny day we did a loop through the nearby Butchertown neighborhood which is known for it’s colorful little houses and flower filled yards.  I took the camera to a farmer’s market and down to the riverfront and Jim and I took it to Old Louisville Festival – and although the weather was rainy and overcast – we still got some good pictures  The bottom line here is that Jim loves his new camera and now wants me to help him find a really good (and super compact) tripod for less than $50,00.
 
PERFORMANCE

Image Quality

The SL1’s image quality (with the Canon EF-S 18mm-55mm/f3.5-f5.6 IS II STM kit zoom) ranges from very good to near pro quality - especially at the 100 ISO sensitivity setting - with decent detail capture in both shadow and highlight areas. Edge transitions are crisp, corners are reasonably sharp, and noise is very well managed. ISO 400 images display fairly low noise levels and actually look pretty decent, but they are a bit soft and fine detail (like hair and grass) looks a little mushy. I didn’t shoot at anything higher than ISO 400 so I can’t offer any specifics, but ISO 800 and ISO 1600 (and higher) images shot with earlier versions of the Rebel were fairly typical (soft with flat colors and high noise levels). Overall, the SL1’s images show a nice dynamic range; colors are bright, hue accurate, and slightly over saturated, but they are a bit on the warm side of neutral with a little slightly less contrast than average for cameras in this class.

Video Quality

HD video clips shot with the SL1 (and 18mm-55mm zoom) were consistently well exposed with accurate (although slightly oversaturated) colors and fluid movement. Audio is crisp and (mostly) clear and the wind noise filter seems to be fairly effective without being intrusive.

Timing/Performance

The SL1 seems a tiny bit faster than the T5i, but that conclusion is based on subjective rather than objective data. The boot up cycle is about 2 seconds. Shot-to-shot speed is excellent, noticeably faster than average (for entry-level dSLRs). Shutter fire is essentially real time with pre-focus and almost instantaneous from scratch – equal to or faster than any camera in its class.

 Conclusion

I’ve used most of Canon;s Rebel series DSLRs, at one time or another, and in my opinion the SL1 is the best Rebel yet. It retains most of what made the Rebels special and it is smaller and lighter than its predecessors.  The price is identical for an SL1 or a T5i - $800.00 with the new kit lens.  Components are, in most cases - interchangeable and specs and features are almost identical – so making up your mind between these two quite different but very similar cameras comes down to small things like the T5i’s tilt-swivel Vari-angle LCD monitor or GPS receiver (neither of which is present on the SL1) and the SL1’s smaller size and lighter weight.    

Recommend this product? Yes