Bought this camera for my wife as a gift after reading many reviews on third party websites. For the money, this is the best camera out there. She was thrilled. This camera takes amazing pictures and has a full array of manual settings. There is definitely a learning curve to using this camera if you want to take full advantage of its potential. However, its "automatic" setting allows you to use it as you would any point and shoot camera straight out of the box. The startup speed is excellent, and the shutter lag is almost negligible. Amazing.
The camera looks great (I got the black at her request), has a solid feel to it. The camera has great battery life and comes with a wall charger for the battery. This camera also takes either regular SD cards or the new generation of SDHC cards. We got my wife a 16gb SDHC card, so she can take as many 12megapixel pictures as she wants without ever having to worry about running out of space...
Overall an excellent camera for the money. I look forward to seeing the pictures she will take with this. Hope this review helps.Get more detail about Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black).