T2i Photo quality

Bill Clar · Feb 16, 2012

My apologies if this is discussed elsewhere. A quick search for "T2i Photo" revealed nada.

The T2i's video quality, with ML, is frequently praised in these forums. What I'd like to know is: how do the photos fare?

I currently shoot on a Nikon D40 with a kit lens and mostly auto settings (I'll shoot manual if I have time). My photos are not professional and purely for personal use (ie: friends and family, events, etc).

I am interested in shooting video with the T2i and ML, but I also want to be able to take photos. I was hoping someone could shed some light on the quality of photos on the T2i.

henryqiu · Feb 16, 2012

Since both camera are of the same type in terms of photography, switching between them can't make a big difference in photography. Given either of the cameras, how good your photos look will be limited primarily to your only shooting skills. If you take nice photos with D40, you'll be able to do the same with T2i.

Video is a different story, as T2i is way too different from D40 (I think D40 can't shoot video, and even if it does, there's nothing really good about it). For shooting video, if you make a switch, you'll see a big difference not necessarily related to your shooting skills.

kylevant · Feb 16, 2012

I'm also no professional photographer but I've taken some really great photos on-set. I don't think you'll be disappointed with it's photo-taking ability.

Edit: Looking around my study, I realized that I actually printed a full-sized poster for my last film featuring a photo taken with my t2i. It holds up fantastically, even though it was slightly blown-up.

Bill Clar · Feb 16, 2012

Thanks Kyle! That's good to know.

pigbat · Feb 16, 2012

I had the original Digital Rebel XT (not the XTi... It was a 8 megapixel camera and I printed some really nice 20x30 prints shot with that camera. The only thing holding back the t2i is the person holding the camera. You should be able to do some impressive work with it.

Kin Lau · Feb 16, 2012

For the type of photography most people do - you can't tell the difference with most DSLRs of the last few years. The lens in use will make more of an impact than the camera. I've had all sorts of models from the original 300D/DReb to the 7D, 1Ds, 1Dm2 etc. The jump to full-frame along with fast primes will make a big difference, but among the crop cameras for web use or prints 8x10 or smaller in most situations, it's pretty well all the same as far as image quality.

brunerww · Feb 16, 2012

Bill,

I went from a 6.1MP Nikon D50 (very similar to your D40), to an 18MP T2i and the increased resolution made a big difference in image quality (I'll post some examples when I get home). The Nikon was a good camera in its day, but I really liked my T2i for stills. If it was as good at video as it was for stills, I'd still have it ;-)

Cheers,

Bill

brunerww · Feb 17, 2012

Bill,

Here are a few stills from each camera. Looking at my D50 stills for the first time in a few years, it strikes me that they were pretty good -- but they don't crop or blow up very well. Hope this is helpful.

Bill

D50: