In these digital days, when a camera company decides to add a new 35mm camera to its fleet, you might expect a low-priced, bottom-of-the-feature-barrel camera. Other SLR makers are doing just that.

Making sense of Canon’s entry-level DSLR line (known as Rebels in the U.S.) is not exactly easy. While the nomenclature is generally simple enough to understand — the higher the number, the newer the ...