Canon EOS 500D / Rebel T1i review: sample images gallery

Canon EOS 500D / Rebel T1i gallery

The following images were taken with a final production Canon EOS 500D / Rebel T1i, running firmware 1.0.9 and equipped with the EF-S 18-55mm IS kit lens.

The EOS 500D / T1i was set to Large Fine JPEG quality, Auto White Balance, Evaluative metering and the Standard Picture Style; High ISO Noise Reduction and the Auto Lighting Optimiser were set to their default Standard settings; Highlight Tone Priority was disabled. Image Stabilisation was enabled for all these handheld shots.

The individual exposure mode, file sizes, shutter speeds, aperture, ISO and lens focal length are listed for each image.

The crops are taken from the original files, reproduced at 100% and saved in Adobe Photoshop CS4 as JPEGs with the Very High quality preset, while the resized images were made in Photoshop CS4 and saved with the default High quality preset. The three crops are typically taken from far left, central and far right portions of each image.

Note: you may wish to open a number of galleries for direct comparison of detail and noise: Canon EOS 450D / XSi sample images, Canon EOS 50D sample images, Nikon D5000 sample images, Olympus E-620 sample images and Panasonic Lumix G1 sample images.

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Landscape: 5.29MB, Program, 1/200, f9, 100 ISO, 18-55mm IS at 18mm (equivalent to 29mm)

This first shot was taken with the 500D / T1i and the EF-S 18-55mm zoomed-out to its widest position.

Like the 50D before it, the Standard Picture Style has delivered a natural-looking result with a decent amount of detail and Canon’s typical smooth style. Some may find it a little soft at times, but you can always boost the sharpness if desired. The weak point in the standard kit is unsurprisingly the EF-S 18-55mm IS lens, which is lacking the ultimate bite and suffers from some fringing towards the edges.

Landscape: 8.65MB, Program, 1/200, f9, 100 ISO, 18-55mm IS at 18mm (equivalent to 29mm)

						Here’s another shot taken at 100 ISO under bright light, with the kit lens zoomed-out. We framed this at a very low angle using Live View, and while the 500D / T1i’s screen is very good, it was easier to shoot this image with the flip-out monitors on the D5000 or E-620. As before, the results are smooth and fairly detailed, but there’s a lack of crispness partly due to image processing and partly to the lens in use. We also found our 500D / T1i test kit suffered from more focus-misses than average.

Landscape: 5.89MB, Program, 1/200, f8, 200 ISO, 18-55mm IS at 55mm (equivalent to 88mm)

				We normally shoot the steamship approaching, but poor weather forced a shot of it in dock - although as usual this sample was shot at 200 ISO and the lens zoomed-in. The increase to 200 ISO hasn’t had a detrimental effect on the crops, but again there’s a softness when viewed at 100%, and again we had to dispense with several alternative images due to focusing errors. We believe the focusing fault lay with the kit lens supplied.

Portrait: 4.36MB, Aperture Priority, 1/1250, f5.6, ISO 200, 18-55mm IS at 55mm (equivalent to 88mm)

For this portrait shot we kept the sensitivity at 200 ISO and the lens fully zoomed-in, although switched to Aperture Priority to select f5.6. The result here shows the minimum depth of field you can expect on portrait shots taken with the kit lens.

We initially tried shooting this with face detection in Live View, but while the frame locked-onto the subject straight-away, the contrast-based focusing was too slow to be practical – so we reverted to the viewfinder and phase-change system.

Macro: 5.89MB, Program, 1/20, f5.6, 400 ISO, 18-55mm IS at 55mm (equivalent to 88mm)

						For this macro shot we increased the sensitivity to 400 ISO and positioned the camera as close at it would focus with the EF-S 18-55mm lens fully zoomed-in. The increase to 400 ISO hasn't had a detrimental effect on the image, with the crops still appearing smooth, detailed and free of noise. That said, like many of the gallery samples here, there's an overall softness to the image, even taking our issues over the supplied kit lens into account.

Indoor: 6.80MB, Program, 1/50, f4, 400 ISO, 18-55mm IS at 18mm (equivalent to 29mm)

Our first indoor shot was taken with the EOS 500D / T1i at 400 ISO.

We used Live View and Face Detection for this shot, and once again while the frame quickly finds the subject, the contrast-based AF is slow to lock on, by which time the subject could have shifted - so it's easiest to use the viewfinder for portraits.

Noise textures start to creep-in at 400 ISO when viewed at 100%, but like the 50D, it’s nothing to be worried about yet.

Indoor: 6.32MB, Program, 1/6, f3.5, 800 ISO, 18-55mm IS at 18mm (equivalent to 29mm)

Our second indoor shot was taken with the sensitivity increased to 800 ISO. Dim conditions resulted in a shutter speed of just 1/6, although the lens Image Stabilisation has eliminated any wobbles.

The crops reveal an increase in noise levels, although there’s still a decent amount of detail present here. It is interesting to compare these results against the 50D though, which appears to have a very slight advantage, most probably due to the gapless micro-lenses on its sensor.

Indoor: 5.64MB, Program, 1/30, f3.5, 1600 ISO, 18-55mm IS at 18mm (equivalent to 29mm)

Our final indoor shot was taken at 1600 ISO. Now noise levels are much more apparent, and there's also a reduction in detail and saturation. Again the 50D with its gapless micro-lenses has a slight edge here, although Nikon’s D5000 and D90 take the lead at this point.

The 500D / T1i goes onto offer up to 12800 ISO, although with greatly reduced quality. You can see versions of this scene at all sensitivities in our High ISO Noise results, and also how the Auto Lighting Optimiser handles it in our Features section.

All words, images, videos and layout, copyright 2005-2009 Gordon Laing. May not be used without permission.

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