Canon Rebel t2i / 550D
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A review after one year.
Amazing camera great HD pictures and video. Have owned it a
year now
and used it for a lot of video. I do a lot of
experimental and
macro shots so
much of the time I am using strange angles or
weird filters. I
like the light weight and small size.
It makes it easier to try
different things.
The video quality is excellent on
all but the fastest motion depending
on the direction of motion realative to the screen (at 29.97).
For the price it delivers an excellent picture.
I will include some sample shots soon.
Not everything is perfect. Here are some things that I would like changed.
The things no or few reviews mentioned about it.
Canon Rebel T2i bad side
Terrible sound recording - it would be nice to have a usable audio track to
go with the great video. As it is I use the
audio track to sync up the
video with externally recorded audio.
I've heard better sound over a phoneline.
If fact I should start using phones to mic sound.
Can't pass thru clean live feed in 1080 mode - A focus square remains
even after everything else is switched off ruining a live feed.
Some
have found a work around of
moving the box into a corner and then trimming the live feed from the camera to 720.
Over heats too quickly - Would make using it as a live camera
difficult.
Using an eternal power supply (wall plug battery adapter)
helps.
Switching memory cards seems to help cool it down faster too.
It only records 11 minutes at a time then shuts of recording for no reason
except Canon made it that way.
Black bars on screen - No way to turn them off.
Screen to small - The screen is great very detailed but too small for
me.
This is probably true of most cameras and a solution would be to
usb
into an external monitor. I use a lap top to do this but how
much cheaper and less heated would the camera be without the screen at all?
Not all so bad
Some of this can be fixed in updates or by using Magic Lantern so.
Also the T3i may correct some of this as well.
Sounds like I am complaining too much but much of this is
just Canon(all camera company) weirdness I don't get at all. If I
were to redisign it for me heres the list
Form factor - Doesn't need to look like the pro line. I want to
put two together for stereo stuff so small enought to get two camera
together.
Heat - out board the lcd (t3i does) and batteries (you can with external
power supply already). After those and the stereo form factor maybe
external memory as well as the cards get quite hot.
Sound - fix the sound or don't inculde it.
Pass thru - pass a clean (no boxes) signal thru the camera.
I want more experimental things such as 1000 fps but
that would elevate costs to a new bracket. This is
more doable stuff without cost increases.
I wouldn't care except the picture is so good from the camera
why not improve the other parts to match.
So is it worth it for video very much so unless your doing
live shooting and can not stop or switch cameras but that is
perhaps a different price range anyway.