My Camera and BFF

Hello there,

I think it's important that I introduce to you my BFF, Rebella (yes, I gave her a name!).
She's a Canon Rebel T3i (AKA EOS 600D) and I received the body plus kit lense.

If you follow me on my beauty blog, then you probably might have seen these images. Yes, they are mine but I still have the watermark of my other blog on them. 

If that is something that interests you, you can click HERE and read more about the specs and feature on Canon's website. It currently retails for $600-$700, depending on where you purchase it from.

Since this is my first DSLR, I'm pretty much a noobie but I have used it for about 5 months now so I will give you my two scents, from a noobie's point of view of course.

Generally, any noobie will be pleased with the picture quality taken with this camera and the kit lense. You will definitely notice a difference in quality from this camera and your pocket digital cam.
It does a pretty good job at capturing colors that are very close to what it is in real life.

For a beginner, you might feel a little overwhelmed but I think overall, this camera is fairly simple to use. Of course, there's probably a zillion other settings I have not tried but what I'm trying to say is it won't take you long to figure the basics. At least I don't think so...unless this is the first digital camera you have ever used. 

The first flaw I quickly noticed is that the kit lens is a little slow. The one that came with my camera is the 18-55mm IS II f/3.5-5.6. It does take a few seconds for it to focus so it's definitely not going to do the job if you plan on using it for taking pictures of sports, kids, and pets. Your subject will get out of your way before your camera has the chance to focus.

The second flaw I noticed is that the lens does a poor job at taking pictures in low light condition. It's widest aperture is 3.5, which makes is slow and background blur isn't the greatest. It's also not the greatest for macro photography and the sharpness leaves something to be desired.

After doing my research, I've figured that the lens play a big part in the outcome of your pictures. In another word, I'm not very pleased with the kit lens that came with my camera. Don't get me wrong, it does take beautiful pictures, especially when you get the right lighting and I'm sure any casual shooters will not mind that BUT you should take into consideration what types of photography you will be using it for.

If you are serious about photography, then I would advise you to buy the camera body and then choose a lens that fit the type of photography you are going for. Lenses are expensive and are probably your best investment so you don't want to end up wasting money on a lens that doesn't work for you. That's the first lesson I learned.

Here are pictures of what is included in the box...