fbpx
Cameras

Field Review: Canon T3i (Day 1)

Chris Gampat
No Comments
03/09/2011
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer T3i T3 dslr (1 of 4)

We’ve had a number of requests for a Canon T3i review, and so it is here! We’ve compared the Canon T2i, 7D and 60D before, and now this little Rebel is looking to shake things up a bit. Before we start, we’re going to ask that you make sure that you purchase the right lens for you, no matter what your budget is. We will further try to discern whether or not this camera is right for you as well.

Tech Specs

The new Rebel T3i has an 18MP APS-C CMOS sensor, a DIGIC 4 image processor, 3.7 fps, full HD video (30p-24p-25p), HD (60p-50p) and SD video (30p-25p) with full manual exposure control, ISO range of 100-6400, 3″ LCD with 1.04-million dots.

It includes a 9-point AF system with an F/2.8 cross-type center point with a 63-zone Dual-layer metering system. In English, that means that when you’re using a lens that is F/2.8 or faster, it will be able to help the camera track your subject easier in the AI Servo mode (continuous AF tracking.) I’ve seen it work very well on my 7D, especially if you’re shooting stuff like this or when you’re in terribly low light like this.

Ergonomics

As a guy that uses the 5D Mk II and 7D most of the time, I can’t begin to explain to you how much the T3i feels like a toy to me. As with the previous Rebel cameras, my pinky finger feels like it will fall off the hand grip at any moment when holding the camera up to my eye. I also feel that some of the buttons have been placed in weird spots now (or I at least don’t remember the older Rebel as fondly). For example:

– The display button towards the shutter dial is in a weird spot.

– The playback button is now all the way on the bottom right.

– The Menu button and the info buttons are now on the top left side. This baffles me to no end on a body this small.

However, it does have some nice advantages:

– The focusing point selection button is in a great spot on the top right hand corner.

– The Live View/Video record button is in a great position right next to the viewfinder.

– The flip out LCD is very useful.

Autofocus

So far in my experience the autofocus on the T3i has been on par with previous Rebels. In summary:

– In good light, it’s great. In fact, it’s fast and speedy.

– In mediocore light, it’s still pretty damned good.

– In low light, put a flash on to help it out.

For most people, the T3i’s autofocus will be absolutely fine when paired with their cheap zooms. To take full advantage of the T3i’s focusing though, you’re encouraged to use an F/2.8 lens. Admittedly, I’m using the 24-105mm F/4 L IS at the time of writing this.

Don’t worry, it will be tested with fast glass.

Outstanding Features

The T3i has wireless flash control. More specifically, it has EasyWireless and CustomWireless. EasyWireless is essentially a set it and forget it type of feature. CustomWireless is what I’m more used to: tinkering with all of the settings available to me.

The new Live Guide? I disabled it immediately. It was quite annoying actually because it kept blocking out sections of the LCD screen to teach me about each setting.

When I popped my Eye-Fi card into the camera, a little notifier came up on the back LCD screen that told me when the images were being uploaded. I could also enable or disable uploading via the menu. This was something that I found to be really, really cool.

In all honesty, this could be the best camera that I’ve tested the Eye-Fi card with.

More to come in the review, but please let us know what you want to specifically read about.

Please Support The Phoblographer

We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we can’t keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.

Also, please follow us on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

60d 7d autofocus canon t3i dslr ergonomics features review t2i wireless flash
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
You might also like
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon RF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM review product images Canon EOS R
Features

Did Canon Miss the Memo That Says Mirrorless Lenses Are Meant to Be Smaller?

3 Mins read
12/26/2018

When Canon introduced their new Mirrorless cameras earlier on this year (The EOS R) one of the stand out features was that the lens mount was so huge. While other manufacturers like Sony have made all things Mirrorless smaller, the late comer to the Mirrorless party seems to have decided that bigger is better. In a recently released interview, Canon engineers seem to be having a sly dig at Sony by saying that lenses with smaller mounts are far less capable than those with larger mounts. Read on after the break to find out more about what the Canon engineers are wafting on about.

X-T3_Black_LeftObl+VPB-XT3+XF18-55mm
Features

Opinion: The Fujifilm XT3’s Sensor Still Doesn’t Output Images That Look Totally Like Film (But They’re Nice)

3 Mins read
09/20/2018

The Fujifilm XT3 (or as they call it, the Fujifilm X-T3) is the company’s latest evolution to their SLR style camera body designed to be a workhorse for many photographers. Despite a whole lot of great and absolutely fantastic things built into the camera, I personally am wondering what Fujifilm’s goal is here with the idea of the X Trans sensor and Film Simulations. One of the reasons why I was so smitten with the X Pro 1 was the fact that it delivered images that really looked like well shot and developed film. To some extent, the Fujifilm XT2 did too but only really with Acros. With the latest iteration, the Fujifilm X-T3, the company is delivering a new 26.2MP X Trans Sensor that delivers the most beautiful colors of any APS-C sensor that we’ve seen. But at the same time, the film simulations just don’t feel right.