Canon EOS 600D ( aka Rebel T3i in America)
Viewfinder
It has an Eye-level Penta-Mirror Viewfinder with a focusing
screen along with Depth-of-field preview. Ha ha ha…again a mouthful. It simply
means that internally it has a 5 mirror system to reflect the light into the
viewfinder and that autofocus can be previewed here along with Depth-of-Field.
Autofocus
Well, for sure, it has a very advanced Autofocus; only thing
is, while it works great in the Viewfinder, it is a little slow in the Live View
Mode.
Exposure Control, ISO
Speed, Shutter Speed
These three controls are the very basics of taking good
photographs. They are the backbone of the functioning of any good Camera. If
you get this right, there’s nothing that can stop you from becoming a good
Photographer. An over-simplification would be to say that all three of them
combine forces to decide how bright or dark the image is gonna be. Along with
this comes the shady business of Metering and White Balance. It would take me
pages to explain what all this stuff means and how they come together to
make-or-break your photos. My suggestion would be to study up on the
Fundamentals of Photography before attempting to fool around with these
suckers.
I can only say that this camera has got the goods when it
comes to these features. It’s a bit technical, but for those interested in
knowing:
1)
It’s got all sorts of Metering Modes, ranging from Evaluative metering (linked to all AF
points), Partial metering (approx. 9% of viewfinder at center), Spot metering
(approx. 4% of viewfinder at center) and Center-weighted average metering.
2)
Exposure Control
is based on the Mode of shooting I choose, Program AE (Scene Intelligent Auto,
Flash Off, Creative Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night
Portrait, Program), Shutter-Priority, Aperture-Priority, manual exposure and automatic depth-of-field. F-Stops range from 3.5 – 5.6.
3)
ISO Speed
ranges from 100 – 6400 expandable to 12800.
Flash
There’s a Built-in flash mounted on top of the Camera’s
body. It is retractable and there’s a button to the side, to pop it up when
needed. Also, in Auto mode the Camera’s Scene Intelligent Program decides when to pop-up the flash
or not, depending upon the lighting conditions surrounding the subject.
It also has a Wireless master unit function provided, which
allows me to fire an external Flash Wirelessly.
There’s also a standard Hot Shoe to attach an external Flash
directly onto the body.
Drive System
Drive mode in the Camera allows me to take Single shots or Continuous
shots alongside a self-timer feature.
If I shoot with JPEG it gives me a Max. Burst of about 34
shots, with RAW approx. 6 shots and with RAW+JPEG approx. 3 shots
Live View Shootings
This means that the Camera allows me to shoot a scene thru
the display on the LCD Screen. Although it works just fine, has Face Detection,
Contrast Detection and supports Auto Focus as well as Manual Focus, I’m not a big
fan of this feature. Reason being it’s known to be slow and not very accurate, be it stills or video.
Movie Shooting
As I mentioned earlier, this is the first defining reason
why I bought this Camera. Full HD Video recording. It is capable of recording:
1) 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) video at 30fps / 25fps / 24fps
2) 1280 x 720 (HD) video at
60 fps / 50 fps and
3) 640 x 480 (SD) video at 30 fps / 25 fps.
Recorded Video gets compressed into MPEG-4
AVC / H.264 Variable (average) bit rate and saved as a QuickTime MOV. Audio
can be recorded thru the built-in monaural Mic as well as using an external
Stereo Mic.
LCD Monitor
This is the second defining reason why I bought this Camera.
It has your standard TFT color liquid-crystal monitor, 3.0-in. (3:2) wide with
approx. 1.04 million dots. It also displays all the in-camera Feature guides
and Menus. But the major feature is its angle adjustment.
Playback
The Camera allows me to display images in a coupla formats
viz., Single image, Single image + Info (Basic info, shooting info, histogram).
Images can also be displayed in 4-image index, 9-image index.
I can also rotate it in-camera.
Along with images, movies can also be played back. Audio out
is thru the built-in speaker. It can also be connected to an HDTV via the HDMI
Terminal for better viewing experience.
Post-Processing of Images
It has a tonna built-in Creative filters viz., Grainy B/W,
Soft focus, Toy Camera, Fish-eye and Miniature Effect. Also resizing
your images is possible.
Direct Printing
It also allows me to directly print my images, both JPEG
and RAW with a buncha PictBridge-compatible
printers, including Canon's own range.
Interface
Well, the Camera’s gotta interact with the rest of the
world, like, Computers, HDTVs, Printers, Mics and such. There are a buncha
jacks that allow it do just that:
1) Audio / video OUT / Digital terminal allows it to share Analog
video (Compatible with NTSC / PAL) / stereo audio output to Analog TVs. It also
works as a Hi-Speed USB equivalent for Personal Computer communication and
direct printing.
2) HDMI mini OUT terminal allow it to interact with HDTVs
3) External microphone IN and Remote Control terminal.
Power
It comes with a rechargeable ‘Battery Pack LP-E8’ that goes into the base of the
Camera. Life of the battery depends on whether I'm shooting thru the
Viewfinder or the Live View mode on the LCD. It may range from 200-400 shots
and approx 1 and a half hour of video shooting before I’ve to charge it
again. My advice would be to start using the battery only once it’s fully
charged and only recharge it once it’s fully drained.
Dimensions and Weight
One of the best things about this camera is that it feels so
comfortable to hold and is pretty lightweight. Even the design of the body
gives the user a very comfortable grip, which automatically reflects on the
quality of image taken. Specification below:
Dimensions (W x H x D) - Approx. 133.1 x 99.5 x 79.7mm / 5.2
x 3.9 x 3.1in.
Weight - Approx. 570g / 20.1oz.
Operating Environment
Finally just like any other electronic device, you gotta
keep the Camera cool. They say that a working temperature range of 0°C -
40°C / 32°F - 104°F would be great to keep it in good shape. Buy frankly I’ve
never really kept an eye on that, although I do take care not to place it in
direct sunlight or near the stove…ha ha ha...all jokes aside, for a long life. it’s good to keep it in optimum temperatures and it’s absolutely necessary to
save it from sudden, extreme changes in Humidity, like stepping out of an Air
conditioned room. Easy remedy is to keep Desiccant
packets in the camera bag. These are often found in new product shipments to
absorb moisture.
Well, that’s just about everything I know about my Canon EOS 600D. By
no means is this an exhaustive review of the Camera. Please don’t consider this
sufficient information to take a decision about buying one. If you really wanna
go in-depth into the nitty-gritty’s of the features and functions, then do
visit this multi-page Camera Review by the awesome guys over at
DPReview or you could watch this
youtube video.