Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D review

The Canon EOS Rebel T4i, or EOS 650D as it's known outside North America, is the company's latest upper entry level DSLR. Announced in June 2012, it replaces the massively popular Rebel T3i / 600D which has held the upper entry-level position in the EOS line-up since its introduction in Feb 2011. Following Canon's usual practice, the T3i / 600D won't be discontinued, but will drop down the range to occupy a position just below the Rebel T4i / 650D.

To look at the headline specifications, you'd be forgiven for assuming not much has changed. The resolution remains at 18 Megapixels, the video is still 1080p, the AF system is the familiar Canon 9-point arrangement and the articulated 3 inch screen with a resolution of 1040k dots looks much the same.

Look a little closer though and you'll discover an abundance of new features and improvements that make this a very different camera in terms of handling and performance from its predecessor. The screen is now touch-enabled and supports phone-style gestures like swiping and pinching as well as touch focusing and shooting. The AF system has been radically overhauled with cross-type sensors in all nine locations and a new hybrid AF system which embeds Phase Detect capabilities into the main imaging sensor, allowing it to perform better continuous autofocusing in Live View and movies. The processor has been updated to the latest Digic 5 which supports 25600 ISO and in-camera correction for colour fringing.

Other improvements include continuous shooting - boosted from 3.7fps to 5fps and two new multiple exposure shooting modes: Handheld NightScene mode is now joined by Multi shot noise reduction which allows you to choose the ISO sensitivity and HDR Backlight combines three shots to extend tonal range. Finally, Canon has announced two new lenses with Stepper Motor Technology for faster and quieter autofocus during video recording - an 18-135mm kit zoom and a new 40mm f2.8 pancake prime.

The natural rival to the T4i / 650D will be the successor to Nikon's best-selling D5100, but until it's announced I'm going to compare the quality against the D3200 as both cameras will almost certainly share the same - or a similar - 24 Megapixel sensor. So read on to find out how the quality compares and how well the new technologies work in practice!

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D design and controls

In terms of its external design, the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D looks very similar to its predecessor. It measures 133.1x99.8x78.8mm and weighs 575g including the battery and a card. Give or take less than a millimetre here or there, that's the same size as the Rebel T3i / EOS 600D and a negligible 5 grams heavier.

Physically, you'd be hard pressed to tell these two cameras apart if you saw them in the street, though there are a few tell-tale signs. Apart from the name plate on the front of the body, the most obvious difference is a redesigned on-off switch which now has a third position for movie shooting which no longer appears on the mode dial. Built-in stereo mics are located in front of the hot shoe and the display button has disappeared. Beyond that, the only differences are cosmetic changes to the shape of the buttons on the rear panel.

Nikon's D3200 with card and battery weighs 505g and measures 125 x 96 x 76.5mm. So it's slightly smaller and significantly lighter - a difference that's exaggerated if you opt for the EF-S 18-135mm STM lens on the Canon and the DX 18-55mm VR on the Nikon. Of course for a smaller, lighter and cheaper package, you could alternatively buy the T4i / 650D with the EF-S 18-55mm kit lens, but as a non-STM model it lacks the quick and quiet movie AF of the EF-S 18-135mm STM and 40mm STM models. To put the new AF technology to the test, I tried the EOS T4i / 650D with the EF-S 18-135mm STM lens.

Apart from the relocation of the movie mode the mode dial is the same as on the T3i / 600D with the PASM modes followed by Scene intelligent Auto, Flash off, Creative Auto and a handful of scene modes ending with Handheld NightScene and the new HDR Backlight control. As before, the separate card compartment is located on the right side of the body and takes SD, SDHC, SDXC and UHS-1 cards. On the opposite side of the body behind a soft plastic flap you'll find a mini HDMI port and a USB 2.0 port which doubles as an A/V output for analogue connection to a standard definition TV with the optional AVC-DC400ST cable. There's a second flap which provides access to port for a cabled remote, and in addition to built-in stereo mics those who take their movie making seriously will be pleased to find an input socket for an external microphone.

On the bottom plate the tripod bush is mounted directly under the lens mount axis and the battery compartment door to the right of it. A quick release plate just barely obstructs the door so that you can't open it, which is a shame, though you can get round the problem by fitting the plate sideways.

The rear panel landscape is very similar to that of the Rebel T3i / EOS 600D. In fact the button layout is exactly the same, though the shape of some of the buttons and the labelling has been altered. The AE / AF lock and AF point selection buttons remain in the top right corner and, as before, double-up as zoom controls during playback - along with manual focus assist controls in Live view and Digital zoom controls in the Movie mode.

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The rear of the camera remains dominated by the 3in screen - now touch sensitive, about which more in a moment. Introduced on the Rebel T2i / EOS 550D, then abandoned in favour of a DSP button on the T3i / 600D, the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D sees a return to the proximity sensor to automatically switch the screen off when the viewfinder is in use. This time the sensor is mounted above the viewfinder to the rear of the hotshoe, a position in which it functions perfectly well. The dedicated Live View button remains to the right of the viewfinder.

The controls to the right of the screen remain identical to the 550D / T2i, but the panel has been subtly reshaped allowing them a little more space with the labelling on the cross-keys moved onto the body rather than the buttons themselves - I never heard of anyone having problems with them rubbing off, but who knows? Starting at the top you'll find the AV exposure compensation button, followed by the Q button to enter the Quick Access menu which now responds to touch-control.

Below these are the traditional four cross-keys which share the same functions as the earlier 600D / T3i. Push up for White Balance, right for AF mode, down for Picture Style and left for the drive modes. Below these are buttons for play and delete. Canon has kept the depth-of-field preview button which can be found just below the 650D / T4i's lens release button; this works when composing with either the optical viewfinder or in Live view.

The Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D is powered by the same LP-E8 Lithium Ion battery pack used in its two predecessors. This has an 1120mAh rating and Canon quotes exactly the same battery life as the T3i / 600D - 440 under CIPA conditions with 50% flash usage. The number of shots understandably falls considerably when composing with the screen. Switch to movie mode and you should be able to film approximately 100 minutes worth of footage per charge. Either way if you regularly compose in Live view or shoot movies, you'll find your battery depleting sooner rather than later, so I'd definitely recommend carrying a spare.

There's still only four levels on the battery life indicator, compared to the accurate percentage remaining shown by Sony's Info Lithium models. If you require longer lifespan not to mention something more to hold onto, the optional BG-E8 battery grip can take two LP-E8 packs or six AA batteries, while providing portrait controls and grip. Alternatively if you prefer mains power, there's an optional ACK-E8 adapter.

The Rebel T4i / EOS 650D is equipped with the same internal flash as its predecessor, which has a guide number of 13. The pop-up unit can be used in auto and manual modes, has a red-eye reduction mode, Flash exposure compensation and the choice of 1st or 2nd curtain sync. As before, there's a hotshoe for mounting external Speedlite flashguns and the fastest sync speed remains 1/200. As you'd expect for a consumer model, there's no PC Sync port, but the T4i / 650D inherits its predecessor's support for wireless control and the latest video light equipped Speedlites.

The built-in flash can be used as a master to wirelessly trigger compatible Speedlites and you can choose from NormalFiring, EasyWireless and CustWireless. EasyWireless greys-out all the advanced options, simply leaving the control channel and exposure compensation settings. This means all you need to do is match the channel of the slave unit and you're ready to go, which allows beginners to enjoy the benefits of wireless flash control without the complications. You can trigger multiple units sharing the same channel, although without separate control over their output.

More advanced photographers will be pleased to find greater control under the CustWireless option, which unlocks the options to set the Wireless Function and the ratio between built-in and external units. Slave units can also be divided into two groups and the ratio between them set. Like its predecessors, there's also control for compatible Speedlites mounted directly to the hotshoe, allowing you to adjust the compensation, bracketing, sync, zoom and wireless options without touching the flash.

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D Viewfinder and Screen

The Rebel T4i / EOS 650D retains the penta-mirror optical viewfinder of its predecessor with 95 percent coverage and 0.85x magnification. That's about the same as most DSLRs in this class, though differences in sensor sizes and the methods used to produce magnification specifications make comparison difficult. The Nikon D3200's pentamirror viewfinder has 95 percent coverage and 0.8x magnification, so on paper it's similar, but when I look through the one, then the other, the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D's viewfinder appears bigger. Having said that, if the view through the viewfinder is important to you, then a body with a pentaprism, though heavier, will provide a far bigger brighter view - for that you're looking at shifting up a notch to the EOS 60D or D7000.

The 3 inch articulated screen is the same size and resolution as its predecessor, but is now touch-sensitive - a first for a Canon DSLR. This is a capacitive type screen rather than a pressure-sensitive one which means it's very responsive and supports multi-touch gestures that most people will be familiar with from mobile phone and tablet use.

Touch screens on consumer cameras have enjoyed a fairly positive reception, but reaction from enthusiast photographers has been mixed. The good news is that Canon has integrated the touch-screen into the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D incredibly well. Touch operation augments the existing physical controls rather than replacing them, to the point that it's perfectly possible to turn the touch-screen off and operate the camera without it, though in my view that would be a mistake. I'll talk in more detail about the touch screen functions in the handling section at the end of the review.

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D lens and stabilisation

The Rebel T4i / EOS 650D employs the Canon EF lens mount and is compatible with all EF and EF-S lenses. The APS-C sensor reduces the effective field of view by a factor of 1.6. Two new lenses have been announced with this model; the new EF-S 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS STM kit lens and the EF 40mm f2.8 STM pancake prime. The STM indicates that these lenses are fitted with stepper motors for AF; commonly used on mirrorless compact system cameras, these provide silent AF operation making them ideal for movie shooting with continuous AF. In combination with the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D's new Movie Servo AF mode these lenses promise a practicable continuous movie AF for the first time on a Canon DSLR. I'll talk more about how the system works in practice in the video section.

The effective range of the 18-135 STM kit lens is 29-216mm making it an excellent all-purpose kit lens. The EF 40mm f2.8 STM works out at a rather unusual 64mm on the T4i / 650D and other APS-C Canon bodies - a little long for a standard lens and on the short side for a portrait lens. Although it's available as a kit option with the T4i / 650D, it actually makes more sense on a full frame body where it provides a slightly wider field of view than a 'standard' 50mm and I can see it being a popular lens with 5D owners. Of course without Movie servo AF on existing Canon bodies the STM features are partly redundant, but I'd be surprised if this technology doesn't eventually find its way into higher end and full frame Canon bodies.

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D with EF-S 18-135mm IS STM coverage wide		Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D with EF-S 18-135mm IS STM coverage tele
18-135mm at 18mm (29mm equivalent)		18-135mm at 135mm (216mm equivalent)

I tested the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D with the EF-S 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS STM kit lens. The lens has three buttons on the right side of the barrel. One locks the zoom ring to prevent accidental operation or 'creep' when the lens is pointed up or down. A second switch activates the stabilisation and a third switches between AF and manual Focus. Manual focus is 'fly by wire' rather than a direct physical coupling and you can focus manually even when the switch is in the AF position.

To test the stabilisation I zoomed the lens to its maximum 216mm equivalent focal length and took a series of shots in Shutter priority mode at different shutter speeds with the stabiliser in the on and off positions. As you can see from the crops below, the lens lives up to Canon's claims of four stops of image stabilisation producing sharp results at speeds down to 1/8th.

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D with EF-S 18-135mm IS STM image Stabilisation off/on
100% crop, 18-135mm at 135mm 100 ISO 1/8th IS off.		100% crop, 18-135mm at 135mm 100 ISO 1/8th IS on.

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D shooting modes

The Rebel T4i / EOS 650D uses the same 63-zone iFCL metering system as its predecessor and other APS-C models from the 1100D up to the 7D. There are four modes - Evaluative (the default), Partial, Spot and Centre-weighted. Evaluative proves pretty accurate for most subjects but it's good to have the other option for backlit subjects, and other situations where the subject or lighting demand it.

Alternatively you could simply switch to Scene Intelligent Auto which uses Scene detection popular in Canon's compact range to determine the best exposure. In addition to the PASM modes, other positions on the mode dial include Creative Auto for accessible control over depth of field, white balance, exposure compensation and other settings, followed by seven scene modes. The last two of these are composite modes; Handheld NightScene which takes four shots at a preset ISO sensitivity and combines them for a low-noise result is retained from the Rebel T3i / EOS 600D, HDR Backlight Control is new and takes three consecutive shots which in combination produce a result with extended dynamic range. This mostly works to retain highlight detail as shown in the example below. HDR Backlight Control sets the ISO sensitivity automatically. For the example below the metering selected 640 ISO, the shot shown alongside was taken in Aperture priority mode at 400 ISO. As you can see, the HDR version retains quite a bit more detail in the highlights around the stained glass window which are more clearly visible in the cropped areas below the full frame.

 

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D with EF-S 18-135mm IS Aperture Prority		Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D with EF-S 18-135mm IS HDR Backlight Control

Exposure compensation is available in 1/3 of a stop increments up to a generous plus or minus five stops and auto exposure bracketing can be set for three shots up to 2EV apart again in 1/3EV increments. If you like your HDR, this may strike you as a little basic, but it's better than no AEB at all, which is what the Nikon D3200 has to offer. On the other hand it's a little disappointing to see the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D tread water here, rather than provide a 5 or even 7-frame AEB option as found on Sony Alpha SLT models as well as many Mirrorless compact system cameras.

The T4i / 650D retains the Picture styles of its predecessor which apply sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour styles as collective presets with the choice of Auto, Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful and three User Defined options. A Monochrome option offers four filter and four toning effects. Also unchanged from the T3i / 600D are Auto Lighting Optimizer, which which adjusts the brightness and contrast of images with dark areas and Highlight Tone Priority, which expands the dynamic range to retain detail in image highlights.

The Rebel T4i / EOS 650D also inherits Peripheral illumination correction, which is optionally applied to JPEG images to reduce the effect of vignetting where the image darkens towards the corners. Peripheral illumination correction is enabled by default providing the attached lens is in the camera's database (the EF-S 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS STM is included) and in keeping with the Cameralabs policy of using default settings for testing was enabled for both the outdoor and high ISO noise tests.

Colour fringing correction is a welcome new addition, a feature inherited this time not from the Rebel T3i / EOS 600D, but the mid-range EOS 60D. This isn't enabled by default, so it was disabled for our test results, however, the 100 percent crops below show how effective it is.

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D Chromatic aberration correction disabled		Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D Chromatic aberration correction enabled
EF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM f3.5 100 ISO		EF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM f3.5 100 ISO

Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D movie modes

The Rebel T4i / 650D retains the movie modes of it's predecessor. Set to PAL they are 1080p25, 1080p24 720p50 and 640p25. Switch to NTSC and the 25 and 50fps modes are substituted for 30 and 60fps modes.

As before, video is encoded using H.264 with uncompressed PCM audio and stored in a QuickTime MOV wrapper and you'll need a Class 6 (or higher) SD card to support the maximum recording times. The maximum single clip recording time remains 29 minutes and 59 seconds. There's also a single file size limit of 4GB. You're looking at about 330MB per minute in any of the HD movie modes, with the 720 option consuming the same as the 1080 due to its higher frame rates. So that 4GB file limit will actually be reached after approximately 12 minutes, regardless of the HD quality setting. When this happens, a new file is automatically created without interruption to the recording. A fully charged battery should last for about one hour and 40 minutes worth of recording.

The mono microphone of the Rebel T3i / EOS 600D has been upgraded and the T4i / 650D now sports stereo mics as well as retaining the 3.5mm jack for an external microphone. Audio recording levels are set to automatic by default, but can be set manually via the Sound recording menu page where there are also wind filter and attenuator options. The T4i / 650D also retains the Video snapshot feature introduced on the T3i / 600D which captures a series of short clips at predefined lengths of 2, 4 or 8 seconds and adds them all to an album.

One other option introduced on the T3i / 600D that hasn't been retained, however, is the digital zoom, which offered a cropped frame zoom factor of between 3x and 10x. That's a bit of a shame, particularly as, in the absence of the Movie crop function on the earlier 550D, there's now no option to extend the movie zoom range beyond the optical range of the lens.

To enter Movie mode you now push the on/off switch into a third position indicated by a movie camera icon. In Program Auto mode aperture, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity are all set automatically, but turn the mode dial to the M position and you have full control over all three.

Probably the biggest change to movie recording on the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D is provided by the touch-screen in combination with the Hybrid AF. It not only allows you to touch-focus, but does it quietly (providing you have one of the STM lenses fitted), quickly and accurately. It really does mark a step-change in movie autofocus capability on Canon DSLRs.

The T4i / 650D goes one step further than touch-screen mirrorless cameras by providing touch-buttons on the screen, one of which allows you to toggle the Servo AF mode. This allows you to use the touch screen to cue up your focus change before (gently) tapping the Servo AF button to action it. In Manual exposure mode there are also touch buttons for adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and ISO during recording and, as with all the camera functions, you can also make these changes using the physical buttons.

It all adds up to a very satisfying experience providing a very high degree of control, but it isn't flawless. The phase detect sensors are located in the central portion of the screen which means that if your subject strays towards the edge of the frame the AF either picks something more centrally located to lock onto or switches to a slower contrast-based system. And when the camera is very unfocssed, for example when switching from a close up to a long shot, it frequently takes an age, by which I mean several seconds, to respond. As this is something phase detect AF is supposed to be good at, I can only hope that it's a question of optimising firmware and Canon will be able to improve drastically on the Rebel T4i / EOS 650D's performance in this area.