Canon T4i Hands on Review

[unadog]

When using an external monitor via HDMI, when you hit record, does the external screen still flash/delay? Or does it transition to/from "record function" seamlessly now??

It is pretty seamless. I just tested it a few times. there is perhaps a 1/20th of a second "freeze" of the frame when you hit record. Then the image continues at the same size, same resolution - with exactly the same look on the screenn prior to hitting record.

The actual image on screen is very high quality and looks amazing! The text around the images for the shutter speed, aperature, ISO, etc is a little rougher on a big screen. But the pictyre quality is definitely there!

Also is there a way to dial-in white balance manually by selecting kelvin in 100K increments?

Not exactly. There are relative white balance adjustments (shifts), and there is white balance bracketing.

For white balance, there are the regular, preset white balance settings - AWB, Tungsten, Flash, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, and Custom (to use an image to set white balance from a grey card, etc.)

There is no place to dial in specific Kelvin degrees, as I remember on other cameras (my 40D maybe) as one of the white balance presets.

But there is a combined control for "White Balance Bracketing", where you can bracket by up to +- 3 "units" on the Magenta/Green (G-M) vertical axis, or by +- 3 units on the Blue/Red (B-A) horizontal axis.

You can also do a "White Balance Shift" by up to 9 units in any direction along that (X, Y) grid.

I'm not familiar with this control - I don't recall seeing it on other Canon cameras in the same format. I do recall seeing white balance bracketing before, I am not sure about shift.

It is a bit odd, because dialing in specific degrees Kelvin seems much simplier and more intuitive on an entery level camera. I don't know if those two controls combined with the known values of the presets (they are listed with their K value - Daylight 5200 K, Shade 7000 K, etc.) will let you accomplish what you want to do?

I use custom white balance with a grey card in the field and in the studio whenever I can. That has not changed.

Best,
Michael

 

[unadog]

Can you please give us some impressions of low(er) light performance? This is what I was mostly looking for to improve due to a new(?) sensor and a new chip. I´m not expecting miracles but one more usable stop extra, would be nice. Thanks!

I did a series of still tests today. Looking closely at the Large JPEGs from the camera processing, I really don't see a differnce.

I shot in "Faithful", AdobeRGB. With my Canon 24-70 2.8 L Version I, at 70mm. It is a very good lens.

Honestly I don't see much difference between the images. I iwl also process the .CR2 files in DPP and compare those images. DPP is the only software specifically updated for the T4i.

Now, the 12,800 ISO files from both cameras looked the same. The "HI" ISO file from the T4i - the 25,600 ISO - looked smoother than the 12,800 file from either camera. But there was not a lot of detail. The aggressive luminance and chroma noise reduction really smoothed out the surface of the items.

I can also process the .CR2 with both types of noise reduction in DPP and see what I get.

Finally, I'll post later on the ISO for video images.

Michael

 

[unadog]

I took a look at his post and all he is doing is expressing WHY he is only interested in the digital zoom feature of the T4i.

I don't want to wade too far into this, or to take this thread further OT. I am not criticizing any individual here - that is not my reason for posting.

I will tell you that following "nothing"'s post, I stopped posting in this thread at dvxuser, although I continued to post on other forums that seemed more receptive. Basically what I heard was - "we're not interested." So I didn't bother to follow up. Not worth the hassle, I have enough other hassles in my life.

It's not a big drama, but the tone of a forum determines the community that it attracts and maintains. There are many communities that aren't worth the bother for people who consider themselves professional - such as DPReview, etc. - too much noise to content.

OK, enough said. I just thought I would give you an example of the choices moderators have to make, and why they make them.

Michael

 

[Taky]

The 3X crop zoom is a huge thing for video for me. If this feature is gone in T4i, I will keep my T3i

 

[unadog]

The 3X crop zoom is a huge thing for video for me. If this feature is gone in T4i, I will keep my T3i

I just posted a longer piece on my blog link, trying to think through why Canon removed this feature. I'd like to hear any speculation you might have on this. (Note that I don't have advertising and am not trying to drive tracking. Just that these wandering posts area bit long for the forum.)

Maybe Canon will bring this back on the Canon 7DII, or which-ever higher end camera they release next for the video market? It is clear that they didn't create the 18-135 STM and 40mm STM just for the T4i. That is the good news here!

If you need that function, I would defintely recommend keeping that camera! The alternative is selling the body for $500 or less used, then buying a $10,000+ Canon telephoto.

Oh Canon, why oh why .... I wish they would at least explain why these features come and go like this?

Best,
Michael

 

[M. Gilden]

Just so we are clear- one of the many jobs of a moderator is to prevent the forum from becoming a hostile enough environment that it scares users away.

As unadog stated above, that appears to be exactly what happened here.

Again, freedom of expression and opinion is encouraged, but please do it respectfully. It doesn't matter who what experience you have, who you are, where you're from, what you do, as long as you l... wait, um... As long as you keep the forum friendly and informative!

There will be no more discussion about this in the thread. Anyone who wants to discuss the details of freedom of expression on this forum is welcome to do so in the appropriate section or via PM with me.

Thanks!

 

[maranfilms]

Yeah I concur with the majority. I have a t3i, stepped up from the t2i. And haven't looked back. I like the crop feature a lot as well.

You know, I hope this doesn't become a repeat of the last few years. Canon released the t1i, t2i,7d,60d t3i. And they all shot the same damn image, but you need to own each one to get a complete feature set. one is weather proof, the other has 3-10x crop. one does only 720, the other down res on hdmi out. It got to be pretty sickning to be honest. We all know their plenty capable of producing a weather proofed, apsc sensor, with clean hdmi and a 3-10 crop, especially with the digic 5. All we have to do is vote with our wallets. As long as we continue to upgrade every six monthes to get a new feature, and features that have been around for years might I add, then they will continue to give a feature, take one back. For chrissakes, their yet to release 60p at 1080. It's laughable!! I have had enough of Canon and their rediculous ways. I can tell you right now, i'm not upgrading, and never will, at least until they can produce half the image the gh2 can.

I use my t3i for 80% stills 20% video. So whats the point.

oh yeah, one more thing. They still decided to not add a damn headphone jack.