Chris Winter
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Build Quality: So let’s start this review off by taking a look at the build quality of the Canon T7i. Now if you’ve never used a DSLR before the T7i might seem like quite a large camera, but in fact compared to most DSLR’s, it’s actually quite small. Just for comparisons sake I’ve a Canon 70D right here and it really makes the T7i feel very light. And to me thats a great thing. Because the T7i is a little smaller, I think that this means you’ll be more likely to take it out with you and to take more photos. For beginners and intermediates thats a great thing. Now I used the Canon T6i a lot last year and not too much has changed on the body of the T7i.Buttons are exactly where you’d want them to be and easy enough to find. Like i said in my review of the Canon 77D however, I do wish the buttons were a little more pronounced because they are a little flat and hard to find when you’ve got your eye up to the viewfinder. At the top of the camera here you’ll notice that this is a little to the bigger brother the 77D. On the right the camera, we have your main mode dial. Essentailyl this where you can change the different setting that you want to shoot in whether that be automatic or the manual modes. One thing you’ll notice is that in the T7i you’re missing the mode dial lock that we saw on the 77d. This isn’t a huge deal to me but it’s one thing to be careful with so you don’t accidentally change your settings. At the top here we have a dedicated record button which is nice to see as well. So overall the build quality is nice on the T7i. It’s definitely a smaller build than most DSLR’s which could be a big bonus if you like to travel or walk around with a lighter camera. LCD Screen: Let’s turn this camera around now and take a quick look at the rear LCD screen. As with last years model, the T7i has a brilliant rear LCD screen. I think Canon actually make the best LCD screens out of any camera company at the moment. The screen is fully articulating which means you can flip up and down and to the side . This is great for setting your composition because it means you can take photos from up high or down low without having to look through the viewfinder. And if you’re a youtube or a blogger, having the ability to flip the screen completely around is great, because it means you can see yourself while you’re filming, which is what I’m doing right now. A little tip is that if you get one of those cheap $5 remotes off of amazon, you start and stop your recording without ever having to touch the camera. Touch Screen: One thing that I didn’t mention before was that the Rear LCD Screen is also a touch screen. Now this might seem like a big deal but it really does make using the camera a breeze. Rather than having to use the dial on the side here to change your settings, you can simply use your finger to quick change what you want. It’s very similar to using your phone and it’s also very responsive. Sure it might seem like a beginners feature, but I’ve found myself using it a lot to move quickly though the menus. Not only, now that the Canon T7i has it’s new dual pixel autofocus system, you can simply touch on the screen where you want it to focus and it will quickly and cinematically come into to focus. It’s great. Dual Pixel AF: Speaking about Autofocus, lets now talk about that new dual pixel autofocus. This has been a feature in the higher end 70d, 80d and 7D Mark 2 cameras and is one of my favourite features. A few years ago, getting good autofocus in video with a DSLR was un heard of, but now with this new system it works great. So I was reall happy when the t7i included it. So how well does it work? Fantastically. It’s almost flawless. Face tracking works great and if you use the spot focus setting, whatever is in the centre frame will smoothly go into focus. You can even do focus pulls by simply pressing on the screen. I’m actually surprised canon put this in a lower end model and I’ve gotta give them props for that, this is a brilliant inclusion in the t7i. Competitors: So if you’re looking to buy the Canon T7i, theres a good chance you would have look at some other cameras in the same price range. So what are the competitors to the T7i. Well the obvious camera that a lot of people might be looking to buy is the Canon 77D. This was released at the same time as the T7i and it’s a fantastic camera. It’s got the same dual pixel autofocus but also has a few minor differences. Firstly we’ve got this lcd screen on the top. This gives you a little bit more information without having to look through the viewfinder. We’ve also got this scroll wheel on the back. To be honest, these aren’t huge differences between the two and the t7i is a smaller camera, so if you can live without those two features, the t7i will be good for you. You might also be looking at the older T6i. I reviewed this camera a lot last year and it was a great beginners dslr. It doesnt that dual pixel autofocus, instead it has a hybrid autofocus. Personally id recommend getting the t7i instead. On the upper end you could look at the Canon 70D or 80D. I actually use a Canon 70d and love it, and the 80d is a step up again. For beginners to intermediates, the t7i will be more than capable, but if you really want a great camera, go for the 80d. On the nikon side you might looking at the Nikon D3400 or the Nikon D5600. Both of these cameras were released last year and they’re both very nice. The D5600 is the most similar and also has a fully articulating screen. If you’ve never used a nikon dslr before it might take you a little while to get used, but again both of these cameras are quite good although I would still give the advantage to the T7i. Video: Lets talk about video now with the T7i. Normally if people ask me which camera I’d recommend for beginner cinematographers, I’d say something like a Canon T3i or T4i, but these days, I’m going to recommend this camera here. And thats its actually packed with a lot of good video featues. We’ve now got 1080p recording at 60 frames per second, which to be fair was a long time in the making. That means you can get some pretty nice slow motion in post. Sure theres not 4k video recording, but i wouldnt trade for the great dual pixel autofocus in video. Like i said before, it works fantastically. Especialyl for beginerrs who arent used to manually focusing, essentially now they can just point the camera where they want it and it’ll be in focus. On the side here we have a dedicated microphone input which means you can add a shotgun mic on top, which is something id recommend as well. Again Im disappointed that that canon havent included a headphone jack in these cameras, but hopefully its something theyll add next year. Weve also got HDR video recording now in the T7i which last year was just in the high end t6s model and I’m really happy to see that we have timelapse mode included now. If youre up an up and coming blogger thats going to be a great feature for you. So overall this is a great little camera for up and coming cinematographers. Burst Mode & AF: So lets quickly talk about the burst mode of the Canon T7i and Im happy to say it’s had a nice upgrade to 6 frames per second. Thats pretty quick for a camera under $750 and just for reference sake it sounds a bit like this. Pretty impressive. That should be fast enough for most sports and even some wildlife shooting.Autofocus is also much improved and should get you through most situations, although I did find it struggled a little bit in very low lighting conditions. So overall as with the Canon 77d i think the T7i is a real winner. Whereas last year they left out a few options, this i think this camera is the real and a big competitor to the 70d and 80d from canon.