Originally posted by: DeafeningSilence
So personally, I don't consider it a downgrade. Anything but!
Right. Like I stated, it's a personal opinion. I admit that I'm in the minority, without question.
Even though the viewfinder is a constant, I personally consider it a downgrade because a larger viewfinder should be expected, a no-brainer addition, a required addition, and yet they didn't put it in...
I find the quality of the viewfinder absolutely paramount to a camera. I mean, it's the thing that you look through... if it's too small or dim it's hard to judge focus, and it's not fun to look though. I often want to ditch my XT and go full frame for this reason alone. I'll even go so far as to say that having a full frame viewfinder will bring more joy to my shooting, which is really what photography is about for me.
As for the small status LCD, not having it would be a pain for me because I use it a lot, especially in situations like concerts or plays where the main LCD lighting up would be a distraction to others. I mean, all DSLRs have this small status LCD. To not have it is making the Rebel more P&S-like, IMO.
Is the XTi an upgrade? Heck yes for most people. Does it have a lot of nifty features? Definitely. Is it worth the upgrade price? That's individual opinion. Is it a better upgrade than Canon's 20D to 30D? IMO definitely.
The anti-dust and larger RAW buffer would be the greatest selling points for me. I often run out of buffer when shooting RAW, which is annoying, and having the anti-dust sensor would save me space in my camera bag because I wouldn't have to carry around a blower.
10MP - awesome!
anti-dust - great!
larger buffer - sweet!
larger LCD - cool!
no more status LCD - doh!
same stupid viewfinder - NOOOOOOOO!!!!
Basically, for me, I'd rather spend the money I would spend towards the XTi upgrade towards a camera with a larger viewfinder, like the 5D or a 1D series camera.