Canon EOS Rebel T4i DSLR (Body Only) (OLD MODEL)

A very nice camera. It takes great pictures. I bought it when it was on sale for Christmas 2012. The biggest difference between this and the T3i is the touchscreen. I wasnt going to pay extra for what I viewed as a gimmick, but due the sale the T4i and T3i were the same price, so I got the newer model. I must say, I use the touchscreen extensively and find it more intuitive and faster than the standard buttons for changing advanced settings. It also makes checking shots faster and easier with pinch to zoom and drag to pan. I can verify good lighting, sharp focus, proper depth of field, and check for blinks and smiles very quickly. Most of the buttons are in the same location as earlier Canon digital rebels. The mode knob works mostly the same way I remember, dating back to even film cameras (Although, I rarely use anything over than Aperture (Av) and Manual (M)). The power switch is crisp and easy switch on an off without looking. The power switch also has a video setting which implies that you can use the any of the modes with video shooting. Although this is technically true, it doesnt work like you would expect: Manual works fine, but shooting video in Av mode, does not let you set a fixed aperture and then auto-meter the shutter speed. Video Av mode works more or less like video (P) mode. It is good in low light; much better than my previous DSLR: the Rebel XT, which only goes up to ISO1600 (the T4i goes up to ISO 12800, and technically has a 25600, but that is very grainy). The T4i can deliver similar picture quality to my XT in 8x lower light. However, even with an 8x improvement it does still have trouble in doors without a flash, especially in a dimly light room. I normally use an external flash bounced off the ceiling when shooting indoors. The picture quality of still photos and video are both great. This camera has a good high quality APS-C sensor. It doesnt take as good of pictures of a professional grade full frame camera, but it does take really good pictures, especially in good light. The biggest draw back to this camera is the horrible sensor based (contrast detection) autofocus in live view and video modes. It literally takes 5 seconds to focus on something, even when the focus is close to start with. In the video mode, you can be shooting from a tripod on a fixed object and the autofocus will randomly decide that the sharp focus it has isnt good enough and start hunting. It will hunt until the object is a complete blur and then return back to where it started. The autofocus is unusable for videos. I shoot all my videos in manual focus. I sometimes have to throw shots out because I screwed but the manual focus, but that is better than throwing out all shots because the autofocus decides to hunt. The manual focus also solves the problem of the microphone picking up the sound of the focus motor: manual focus is always quiet. Note that the same lenses that have horrible performance with live view and video focusing work amazingly well with the phase detection autofocus build into the view finder. The phase detection in the view finder always goes straight to ultra sharp focus in less than a second and stays there. Therefore, I always do my still shooting through the viewfinder whenever I can. Sometimes I hold the camera up and use live view to shoot a shot from above, in which case I just hold the shutter button down for 5 to 10 seconds until the live view finally focuses and takes the picture. If I take a second picture, the live view autofocus takes another 5 to 10 seconds EVEN THOUGH IT STARTED IN FOCUS. And again, I always use manual focus for video. I have never tried an STM lens, maybe they are better, but I am not going buy a whole new set of lenses simply because Canon botched the live view autofocus. I havent spent much time with the T5i, but as far I can tell, the biggest upgrade was changing the 4 to a 5. I am very happy that I bought this camera and since I dont shot a ton of video and normally use the viewfinder, I can live with its quirks. I have logged many happy hours of shooting, and plan on many more. If it was somehow damaged, I would buy another to replace it. Otherwise, I will probably not upgrade until Canon fixes the liveview/video autofocus in a Rebel. I am hoping the dual pixel autofocus in the 70D turns out to fix this issue and comes out in a rebel in 2-3 years. Fingers crossed.

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I purchased this to replace my T1i Canon camera that didnt survive a fall and dunking in a creek. If I hadnt fallen, I would not have updated. The T4i sensor is at best a minor upgrade from the sensor used in all the Txi line (including my T1i). It has slightly more MPs than my T1i (18 vs 15+) so the increase in resolution doesnt justify an upgrade. Dynamic range and noise control as rated by DX0 are also basically the same for the entire Txi line. (Note that I do see improved noise handing with the T4i compared to the T1i ISO 1600 is useful especially with Lightroom 4) This means that the upgrade from the T1i to the T4i does not provide improved image quality for still photographs. So if you own an early Canon Rebel Txi you will get more image quality improvement by investing in a new lens than by investing in a new camera. That being said the T4i does provide improvements in handling and for movies. The articulated LCD is a joy to use. Its something that you have to use to appreciate and wonder how you got along without it. Auto focus is quicker and seems to be more accurate in many situations. With my T1i the auto focus would often hunt for focus--I dont see this with the T4i. For those interested in video the big advance is continuous auto focus when in video mode. This usually works quite well. However, there are times when the auto focus tries to make small adjustments and the focus changes slightly. Also the auto focus sometimes is slow to react when in video mode. The big draw back to continuous focus is that the mike picks up the noise of the focus motor. For my use this is no big deal because I replace the in camera sound track. Canons new lenses for this camera a supposed to be overcome this issue. If youre thinking that this camera provides a single camera solution to your desire for video and stills you need to carefully consider your needs. Its a very good serious still camera. And if used properly its also a very good serious video camera. But if youre looking for a video camera to take video of your kids soccer games and general family video, you might be better off with a video camcorder. The T4i is heavier than a camcorder--especially with a moderate to long zoom lens. You dont have power zoom, so you wont be able to zoom in on your kid when he scores the wining goal with the same ease that you can with power zoom. But if you want shallow depth of field effects and other pro video effects, then the T4i will produce for you. In summary, this is a very good DSLR at a good price. The image quality is excellent and can produce at least 16x20" prints (Biggest that my printer can provide.) I love the way the camera handles its better than by older T1i. I like the video and find that I use it more often than I thought. But I still use my camcorder most of the time for video. If youve invested in Canon and have a small to large collection of high quality Canon lenses, then you should look at this to see if the improved video and handling justify the investment in a new body. If youre looking at investing in your first DSLR you should consider the T4i, but you should also look an the Nikon and Sony offerings. Nikon and Sony offer cameras with higher resolution and better dynamic range and noise handling. The video capabilities of the T4i are superior to the video capabilities of similar Nikon and Sony cameras. So consider you needs carefully and then review all the cameras offered. Luckily for us all the cameras are good enough so you should be happy with what you select.

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