Should I upgrade my Rebel XS?

[cupofcoffee]

Hello Canon world,

I would love to hear your views on whether I should upgrade my Rebel XS body.

I have a Rebel XS that is about five years old and working fine.  I have a 50mm EF lens and a 55-250mm EF-S, both in working order.  However, my kit 18-55mm lens that came with the camera has stopped working.  I need a new "walkaround" lens, so I'm trying to decide whether to keep my Rebel XS and buy a new lens (a replacement 18-55mm or something in the neighborhood) or just to upgrade to a new body plus kit lens. 

I'm an average user.  I like taking street photos, portraits, pictures of family, nature.  I am familiar enough that I know how to play with ISO, white balance, and depth of field, but the reality is that most of the time I just point and shoot to capture the moment.  The quality of the photo is very important to me.  I've taken some nice pictures with my XS, but am willing to bump up if it gets me better photos and better functionality.

Budget-wise, I'm probably not willing to go beyond the Canon Rebel models. 

I've seen some good deals on Rebel T5 and Rebel SL1 which come with the kit lens (18-55mm), but I don't have a good sense of whether that will give me much better picture quality and/or much better functionality than the Rebel XS.  [Let's assume that I don't need the video and I don't need the touchscreen]. 

With all of that said, would you suggest keeping the XS and putting the money towards a lens or do you think upgrading the body to a higher-order Rebel is the better deal?

Thanks!

[ScottyP]

No camera with a kit lens will give you images that anyone could tell apart from ones made with your camera and a kit lens in normal shooting conditions. If you were shooting fast action sports, a body with more advanced autofocus and faster frame rate would give more keepers, but the things you are shooting are well within the abilities of your camera.

Think about getting a new lens to replace your dead one, and make it a better lens with the money.

[ScottyP]

A reasonable choice would be a better normal zoom. Look at the Canon EF-s 17-55 f/2.8. Great IQ and the wide fixed aperture gives you between 2x and 4x more light into the camera, and as you mention, more shallow DOF when you want it. You can have that lens, which will make a real, noticeable difference in your images, for about the same price as a new body + mediocre kit lens.