Canon EOS Rebel T3i Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (discontinued by manufacturer)

I really like this camera - mostly because its my first DSLR and I really like what it can do. I did take a basic photography course to teach me how to use it which was highly useful. If youve had a Canon before, the basic menu and layout are similar to your previous cameras. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to stick with Canon since I was already familiar with it. In general it works great and the pictures are good. Of course a camera is only as good as the photographer and since I am an amateur I cant really comment on all the details like Im sure others can. I knocked it down one star b/c Ive owned it less than a year and Ive had to send it back for a repair that I hope is covered by warranty. The flash isnt working at all in auto mode. It pops up and fire but the pictures all come out underexposed. If I manually lower the flash after it pops up, the pictures come out fine. Theres something wrong...just dont know what exactly so theyre looking into it for me. I will come back and update on their customer service once I find out what theyre able to do to fix it. ETA: Got my camera back from Canon in perfect working order. Since I was still within the one year warranty, I mailed it to them (on my dime but it was only around $12) to be repaired. The repair was covered under warranty and I now have my camera back! Yay! Im so excited.

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The headline really sells and tells anyone questioning whether they should buy this camera as their first entry level DSLR. Or even their second or third DSLR if they want fabulous photos and videos with the ease of a top of the line point and shoot camera. Yes, you can be creative and mess with settings once you know how to use them, but this camera will give you great pics everytime, indoor and outdoors, on automatic pilot. Since the majority of close to 1600 reviewers (at this writing) have already disected this model for you and sung its praises, let me tell you a few things the others may have missed and what may save you some time and money zeroing in on the best bang for your buck. Ive owned the now discontinued model before this, the Canon T3, for 3 years now and could not be more happy with it. I paid $399 for it at the time and today they sell for around $349 if you can find one new. Because I love cameras and 3 years can be a lifetime when it comes to electronics, I thought I would upgrade so I did a side by side comparison of the newer Canon T3i and the very highly rated Nikon D3300, now priced similar at around $550 on Amazon. The Nikon D3300 was a bit lighter and smaller, but I felt the build quality was significantly less than Canons. Also that new retractable Nikon zoom lens was a nuisance to me as you had to remember to extend it or leave it extended to be ready for the next shot. In the extended mode, the lens seemed too long or top heavy to me compared to the Canon T3i and the zoom was not as smooth as the Canons. I took numerous identical shots with both cameras as well as videos,and I personally liked the consistently brighter, color saturation of the Canon T3i over the Nikon D3300. Every Nikon shot was much darker using out of the box settings which is not my personal preference. Im sure this could easily be tweaked and adjusted by a pro or reading the manual, but the people buying this level camera are usually not interested in fine tuning a complicated piece of equipment such as this. When it came to videos, picture and sound quality were fairly equal for both cameras, but only the Canon T3i has an articulating screen for grabbing those up high and down low and weird position shots for pics and video, a nice feature to have for sure. Incidentally, the Canon is 18 mp and the Nikon 24 mp but this really doesnt mean much to auto snapshooters if youre only going to view and exchange pics mostly on the computer or never enlarge a pic bigger than 16" x 20". I have often enlarged my the pics from my Canon T3 without a problem, and its only 12 megapixels. So which camera did I choose to keep? Neither for now. If my Canon T3 was having problems, which it is not and never has, I would have definitely gone with the Canon T3i and enjoyed the articulating screen and a few more megapixels. However, its heavier and bulkier than my T3 and more importantly, since I shoot a lot of video clips of the grandkids, the sound pick-up and quality of the T3i was noticeably not as loud or clear as my current T3. Dont know if this was a flaw of the one I got, but I assumed they all pick-up like that. Thats the main reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. They need to fix that sound issue. So I could not justify putting out $550 for the upgrade when I like my still-going-strong T3 better. The new $500 Canon T5 is the new bottom of the consumer confusing Canon EOS Rebel line, but if you have your eyes set on that model, in my opinion, buy the T3i for $50 more and pick up the articulating screen for you videos. I really wanted to love that new Nikon D3300 which is the proclaimed entry level DSLR winner by many magazine reviews, but it just didnt impress me compared to the Canon.

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I enjoy this camera. I got this after having 2 different Nikons, mainly because I had heard for so long that Canons are the grown up version of DSLRs, and Nikons are more beginner model. Maybe I wasnt ready for the transition, or maybe I heard wrong, but I think Canons are a lot more confusing. It took me a long time to understand all the controls, but even having all of those understood, I feel like the controls are not as responsive. (maybe too responsive?) When I mess with the White balance, even small adjustments seem to just throw it completely off, and yet when I adjust back, its fine... as if it needed a refreshing like a web browser or something. It makes me think its user error, which is part of the reason I cant fault Canon too much for that, but I do think that if they are trying to make this DSLR a wider audience friendly camera, the user friendliness should be taken seriously. To me, I feel like Im dealing with a pro level camera at times, and that isnt what I do. Considering this camera costs under 900, thats no where near pro level costs, and shouldnt come with the mind muddling pros deal with. If youre just stepping up from a point-and-shoot camera, I would be really hesitant about choosing this as your next step unless you have a friend with one, or a class you can take. This camera is not something you can power up and start taking the kinds of magical pictures you see on pinterest with. It takes time to learn, and hone your skill with. If you give this as a gift, make sure the recipient is wanting THIS camera, and knows what theyre getting in to, to ensure it doesnt end up on a shelf unused. There are other Canon cameras a step below, as well as other brands that are not quite as complicated but take great pictures for hobbyists. I would really suggest this for people going in to photo/media studies, or photo business.

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Since I have switched from Nikon to Canon, a lot of my review is based on comparison to Nikon. Pros: Canon service is apparently better than nikon. Will edit this if this does not turn out to be true. My switch was mostly due to pathetic nikon warranty service. The IS works really well and I think better than nikons which I had tried for a week with a borrowed D5000. Digital 3x zoom in video mode. The 430EX II external flash can be supported by the camera wirelessly. On nikons this is only true for the more expensive SB800s flashes. Cons: Auto focus in "live view" mode (seeing through the lcd instead of the viewfinder) is extremely slow. Makes me not ever wanting to use it. Most canon lenses have loud autofocus motors. The lenses with the nicer USM AF motors are too expensive. No mode in canon to set Av mode and set min shutter speed while letting the camera pick the ISO. Standard in Nikons. Canon seems to pick the shutter speed based on the zoom (focal length selected). White balance in Full auto mode sometimes messes up. Some pictures came out blue-ish. No good priced "normal" 50mm/35mm lens available. There is only one 50mm el-cheapo which apparently looks extremely cheap but I will buy it anyway. I upgraded from nikon D50 to this. So of course the pictures are much much better. In hindsight, The nikon D5100 has a better (larger DX sensor vs canon APS sized sensor) sensor. So less noise on the Nikon. Also, I think that video modes in SLR cameras are fairly useless unless you are good with manual focussing and use the tripod. BTW, the lens IS does work in video mode. I will edit this review as I play with this camera more. The 18-135 lens is nice but a bit large. Maybe its large thats why the image quality is very good.

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When I was doing research on SLR Digitals, I read a lot of good things about this particular camera. It was easy to use, it had fully auto settings, and also has an array of auto settings which allow creative shooting, along with a fully manual mode to use as you please. I ordered the camera in December of 2012 and used it through the year, relatively sporadically. It takes great photos and it is a very good quality camera. I would recommend the T3i (as this one is) over the T3, as the T3 is only 12 MP, and the T3i is 18 MP, which is much better in terms of digital performance. So all good up till now... HOWEVER... I took the camera with me to my Florida home for Christmas this year, and noticed that the lens would not auto focus. It then would not shoot. I took it off, cleaned it, tried to get it to work, and no luck. I then took it to a camera store and the clerk told me the lens (which comes with the camera) was shot. It was under a year old, and I take very good care of my equipment. So it mystified me as to why this would have happened. Then, I reread the warranty and saw that the whole thing is warranted for one year. By the time I had done this, I was already a few days over and I had no choice but to order another lens for $200 so I could shoot pictures at Christmas. My daughter has the same camera and has had no trouble, but I have to say this was a black mark for me on this Canon camera. Other than the lens issue, the camera takes great photos, and is a great camera for those uninitiated in photography, as it has fully auto functions which allow good pictures anytime. I am just sorry that this lens issue popped up for me, because I was thoroughly impressed with the camera until this happened.

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