It’s time to get excited! Many of us started out in photography with the Canon Rebel and right now, it’s trending on the web. Odd, right? Canon is currently focusing on the higher end with the R5 II and other cameras. But there are lots of folks who want something much more affordable. They’re turning to the past and buying older cameras — as they should. Those cameras deliver a vibe and a feeling that Canon and many of the manufacturers refuse to deliver today. Canon also has ended all support for DSLRs as it is. But here’s what you need to know about the Canon Rebel series if you’re intrigued.
Why the Rebel is Making a Comeback
We can really only point to social media hype about the Canon Rebel. But Google Search data has shown that in the past week, searches for the camera have majorly increased. The camera series recently turned 35 — and in the mirrorless world, Canon has yet to introduce a Canon Rebel R of any sort. The closest thing that we have is the Canon R10, but that’s it.
So the obvious thing to do then is to turn to the internet and look up cheaper used cameras to give them a second or third life. The truth is that for many years in the digital world, photographers have used the Canon Rebel as a stepping stone of some sort. They’d buy the cheaper camera, then get the more expensive L glass, then finally by a higher end Canon full-frame camera. But things have changed — full-frame became affordable and the second hand market makes full-frame cameras even more available now.
With that in mind, why buy a brand new camera?
Indeed, I’ve used iterations of the Canon Rebel on paid journalistic and editorial shoots in my 20s.
Search data shows that the Canon Rebel T3i is trending at the top. The camera was reviewed by us in 2011, and even today, I can look back on the images that I made with it and stare with fondness. This is partially the whole aesthetic that we’ve got these days with the look of retro digital cameras and how we all look at film photographs.
Which Ones Were Good?
The Phoblographer has been around for over 15 years, and we’ve reviewed much of the Canon Rebel cameras. At a certain point though, we stopped because they just weren’t doing anything to push the innovation space. Here are some of our favorites.
The Canon Rebel T5i
So which Canon Rebel cameras were good? Well, quite honestly, I can remember very vividly the looks of confusion that other journalists and I gave each other whenever Canon Rebel cameras were introduced. In 2013, we reviewed the Canon Rebel T5i — but we called it the T4i Mk II. This is around the time that Canon barely did any sort of updates to their cameras. I was one of the more vocally frustrated ones who complained about this; and it took the rest of the press years to agree.
With that said, the Canon Rebel T5i is one that I used to do actual real editorial journalism with. I’m a former contributor to Gear Patrol, and all the photos for their European Vacation article were shot on that camera.
The camera boasted an 18MP APS-C sensor. That’s pretty low for today’s standards and your phone probably has higher resolution. But the larger sensor combined with the lower resolution gives you both a softer and less processed look.
Canon Rebel SL1
The Canon Rebel SL1 was such a fascinating camera. It was much smaller than all the others and it was designed to fill in various functions. Mirrorless cameras were really starting to become a thing in 2013 when the SL1 launched. So to target that market on the cheap, Canon made the Rebel series even smaller. They also targeted it heavily towards women.
Our review stated that the camera was very capable of making wonderful images. In fact, I look back at many of those photos I did using an off-camera flash and commend the work that I did with it. It proved that back then, it wasn’t all about the camera. The truth is that photography technology has gotten so much better, but photography in and of itself hasn’t. With that said, the SL1 is a gadget obsession, but in 2025, it’s one that’s pretty valid. Modern cameras and phones are way too processed in the same way that you’d like the Big Mac against a burger made by a butcher shop. “The novice and amateur users that this camera is targeted towards will be ecstatic with their purchase, but we need to clearly state the only the advanced users will be able to take the absolute fullest potential of the camera’s strengths,” our review said. “In the end though, we need to recommend this camera only to those that are dying for a DSLR. You’ll get some exceptional results with practice and you won’t have the overkill that the higher level DSLRs will offer you.”
This camera was pretty sweet when you combined it with the Canon 40mm f2.8 Pancake lens. The brand still has yet to make anything like that for the mirrorless world. It’s fascinating too because that was arguably one of their most popular and purchased lenses due to how small it is.
Frankly, if you were to get any Canon Rebel, I’d say that all you need is the SL1. It’s only a few hundred bucks these days.
Canon Rebel T7i
The Canon Rebel T7i was the last Rebel they made that was worth talking about — and even that statement is questionable. One of the Cons of our review was that Canon’ sensors were starting to fall behind the others. But today, that could be looked at with fondness. However, the 24.2MP sensor at the heart of the camera rivals even those in some modern cameras in terms of resolution.
I mean, isn’t the whole point of getting retro digital cameras to get the lower resolution options out there?
I don’t remember this camera very much — perhaps because I was so frustrated with Canon doing so little. I surely do recall that it shot phenomenal JPEG photos though. It came out in 2017 though, and if you want the Retro digital look, then I don’t think you should go for this one. It’s only on this list because it was the last one we cared to review.