The Canon EOS 500D is a 15-

megapixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

entry-level

digital single-lens reflex camera A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a solid-state image sensor and digitally records the images from the sensor. The reflex des ...

, announced by

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

on 25 March 2009. It was released in April 2009. It is known as the EOS Kiss X3 in Japan, and as the EOS Rebel T1i in North America. It continues the Rebel line of mid-range DSLR cameras, is placed by Canon as the next model up from the EOS 450D, and has been superseded by the EOS 550D (T2i). It is the third

to feature a movie mode and the second to feature full 1080p video recording, albeit at the rate of 20 frames/sec. The camera shares a few features with the high-end Canon EOS 5D Mark II, including movie mode,

Live preview Live preview is a feature that allows a digital camera's display screen to be used as a viewfinder. This provides a means of previewing framing and other exposure before taking the photograph. In most such cameras, the preview is generated by ...

, and

DiGIC 4 Digital Imaging Integrated Circuit (often styled as "DiG!C") is Canon Inc.'s name for a family of signal processing and control units for digital cameras and camcorders. DIGIC units are used as image processors by Canon in its own digital imagi ...

. Like the EOS 450D and EOS 1000D, it uses

SDHC Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including digi ...

media storage, and is the third EOS model to use that medium instead of

CompactFlash CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...

. Like the EOS 5D Mark II, video clips are recorded as MOV (

QuickTime QuickTime (or QuickTime Player) is an extensible multimedia architecture created by Apple, which supports playing, streaming, encoding, and transcoding a variety of digital media formats. The term ''QuickTime'' also refers to the QuickTime Pla ...

) files with H.264/MPEG-4 compressed video and linear

PCM Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to Digital signal (signal processing), digitally represent analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio application ...

audio.

Features

* 15.1-

CMOS sensor An active-pixel sensor (APS) is an image sensor, which was invented by Peter J.W. Noble in 1968, where each pixel sensor unit cell has a photodetector (typically a pinned photodiode) and one or more active transistors. In a metal–oxide–semic ...

Type APS-C, 22.3 mm × 14.9 mm CMOS * Type – TTL-CT-SIR with a CMOS sensor *

DIGIC 4 Digital Imaging Integrated Circuit (often styled as "DiG!C") is Canon Inc.'s name for a family of signal processing and control units for digital cameras and camcorders. DIGIC units are used as image processors by Canon in its own digital imagi ...

image processor * 14-bit analog to digital signal conversion * 3.0-inch (76 mm)

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liquid crystals do not em ...

monitor (non-touchscreen) * Live view mode and built-in flash * Wide, selectable, nine-point AF with centre cross-type sensors * Four metering modes, using 35-zones: spot, partial, center-weighted average, and evaluative metering. * Auto lighting optimizer * Highlight tone priority * EOS integrated cleaning system *

sRGB sRGB (standard RGB) is a colorspace, for use on monitors, printers, and the World Wide Web. It was initially proposed by HP and Microsoft in 1996 and became an official standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as IEC 6 ...

and AdobeRGB

colour space A color space is a specific organization of colors. In combination with color profiling supported by various physical devices, it supports reproducible representations of colorwhether such representation entails an analog or a digital represe ...

s *

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

100–12,800 *

Sensitivity (8) – AUTO (100–1600), 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200; expandable to 6400 + H (approx. 12800) in 1-stop increments * Continuous drive up to 3.4 frame/s (170 images (

JPEG JPEG ( , short for Joint Photographic Experts Group and sometimes retroactively referred to as JPEG 1) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degr ...

), 9 images ( raw)) * Canon EF and EF-S lenses * Support for

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

and

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

video output * SD and

memory card file storage * Raw and large JPEG simultaneous recording * USB 2.0 and

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary digital interface used to transmit high-quality video and audio signals between devices. It is commonly used to connect devices such as televisions, computer monitors, projectors, gam ...

interfaces. * LP-E5 battery * Approximate weight 0.475 kg (1.05 lbs) * Metering Range – EV 1–20 (at 23 °C with 50 mm f/1.4 lens ISO100) * Low-Pass Filter – Built-in (fixed) with self-cleaning sensor unit * AWB, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White, Fluorescent light, Flash, Custom. White balance compensation: Blue–Amber ±9, Magenta–Green ±9 * WB Bracketing – ±3 levels in single level increments, 3 bracketed images per shutter release. Selectable Blue/Amber bias or Magenta/ Green bias * Viewfinder Information – AF information: AF points, focus confirmation light. * Exposure information: Shutter speed, aperture value, ISO speed (always displayed), AE lock, exposure level/compensation, spot metering circle, exposure warning, AEB. * Flash information: Flash ready, high-speed sync, FE lock, flash exposure compensation, red-eye reduction light. Image information: White balance correction, SD card information, monochrome shooting, maximum burst (1 digit display), Highlight tone priority (D+)

Alternative firmware

Though not endorsed by Canon, the firmware of the camera allows for the installation of

third-party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

custom

firmware In computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...

, altering the features of the camera. One example of such firmware is

Magic Lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that uses pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...

Reception

The Canon EOS 500D received favorable reviews on its release. IT Reviews gave the camera a Recommended Award, and concluded: "Canon's DSLR range continues to go from strength to strength with this considerably enhanced upgrade of the EOS 450D, which manages to keep almost all of the previous physical features while improving the processor and the ISO range and adding a new Full HD video facility". '' Digital Photography Review'' said: "For anybody buying their first DSLR the 500D is an easy recommendation but you might want to have a look at the Nikon D5000 as well. It comes with a similar feature set to the 500D ('only' 720P video though) and performs slightly better in low light".

Alternatives and comparisons

Alternative cameras to the Canon EOS 500D: * Sony Alpha 380 Digital SLR Camera * Sony Alpha 35 Digital SLT Camera * Olympus E-420 Digital SLR Camera * Nikon D90 12.3 MP Digital SLR Camera * Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 Micro Four-Thirds Camera * Pentax K-x Digital SLR Camera Next level upgrade cameras from the Canon EOS 500D: * Canon EOS Rebel T2i (550D) Digital SLR Camera * Panasonic DMC-GH1 Digital SLR Camera Economical alternatives to the Canon EOS 500D: * Canon Rebel XSi (450D) Digital SLR Camera *

Nikon D5000 The D5000 is a 12.3-megapixel DX-format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera, announced by Nikon on 14 April 2009. The D5000 has many features in common with the Nikon D90, D90. It features a 2.7-inch 230,000-dot resolution Articulating screen, tilt-and-swiv ...

Digital SLR Camera

References

Sources

Canon EOS Rebel T1i (500D) Digital SLR Kit w/EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens & Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Autofocus Lens Reviews

External links

Product Page

EOS 500D in the UK
{{Authority control 500D Live-preview digital cameras Cameras introduced in 2009