Two t3i's for the price of one t4i

Jiffer · Jul 26, 2012

Hello everyone,

I'm a professional photographer here to help out some of the members asking questions about the new canon t4i. I mainly shoot canon 5dm3 as well as a 7d for a sports camera, but I've recently have been taking lots more video and like to cover lots of angles in a few takes. To do this I need to purchase a few new DSLR bodies. First thing everyone here needs to know and understand is the video quality in Canon camera series t3i, t4i, 60d, 7d, 5dm2, and 5dm3 are all the same video quality when shooting 1080p. (Keep in mind the only thing you need to know is if you use several different cameras and mix the footage together, you must shoot the same ISO, flatness, and frame rate such as 24f on all the DSLR's.) The one mistake many make is having different settings on each DSLR so the quality of video is hard to mix in post.

With that information we can get into the topic that is the canon t4i.

First there is no huge change in the canon t4i from the t3i other then the autofocus and articulating screen has a few more pixels built into it. But autofocus in a DSLR by today's standards is very poor and way behind, even more behind then those 200 flip cams or consumer grade camcorders you cam pick up at BestBuy or Target.

With that being said I've personally tried out the new t4i for about 2 weeks now and the autofocus is not as great as Canon advertisement portrays it to be. IM A HUGE CANON GUY TOO. So this camera was kinda a disappointment but a blessing!!! " more on this later"

The auto focus in the t4i does work don't get me wrong, but it only works with very still video of someone maybe standing still and moving very slow and still if they change there depth of field the camera takes forever to retain a strong focus on your subject. also it's loud, very loud. This auto focus feature only works on 2 canon lens as of now too and the lenses are not that sharp even. My second test was with me following 3 feet behind a moving subject. I got them into focus then we started walking, about after 4 foot steps we got out of sync with each others pase and the camera became blurry and could not refocus on the moving subject any longer. So what does this mean, it means the autofocus is not great. You can retain better focus manually with a bit of practice.

Back to the blessing of this camera, this camera is about $1000 retail. This is sweet cause a few weeks ago the canon t3i was about $1000 retail, now you can pick one of these t3i (body only) for about $500 new. So you too can get 2 DSLR's for the price of one that shoots the same quality.

TheKenTurner · Jul 27, 2012

I don't understand this post.

-Ken Turner

rexbobcat · Jul 28, 2012

Jiffer said:
Hello everyone,

I'm a professional photographer here to help out some of the members asking questions about the new canon t4i. I mainly shoot canon 5dm3 as well as a 7d for a sports camera, but I've recently have been taking lots more video and like to cover lots of angles in a few takes. To do this I need to purchase a few new DSLR bodies. First thing everyone here needs to know and understand is the video quality in Canon camera series t3i, t4i, 60d, 7d, 5dm2, and 5dm3 are all the same video quality when shooting 1080p. (Keep in mind the only thing you need to know is if you use several different cameras and mix the footage together, you must shoot the same ISO, flatness, and frame rate such as 24f on all the DSLR's.) The one mistake many make is having different settings on each DSLR so the quality of video is hard to mix in post.

With that information we can get into the topic that is the canon t4i.

First there is no huge change in the canon t4i from the t3i other then the autofocus and articulating screen has a few more pixels built into it. But autofocus in a DSLR by today's standards is very poor and way behind, even more behind then those 200 flip cams or consumer grade camcorders you cam pick up at BestBuy or Target.

With that being said I've personally tried out the new t4i for about 2 weeks now and the autofocus is not as great as Canon advertisement portrays it to be. IM A HUGE CANON GUY TOO. So this camera was kinda a disappointment but a blessing!!! " more on this later"

The auto focus in the t4i does work don't get me wrong, but it only works with very still video of someone maybe standing still and moving very slow and still if they change there depth of field the camera takes forever to retain a strong focus on your subject. also it's loud, very loud. This auto focus feature only works on 2 canon lens as of now too and the lenses are not that sharp even. My second test was with me following 3 feet behind a moving subject. I got them into focus then we started walking, about after 4 foot steps we got out of sync with each others pase and the camera became blurry and could not refocus on the moving subject any longer. So what does this mean, it means the autofocus is not great. You can retain better focus manually with a bit of practice.

Back to the blessing of this camera, this camera is about $1000 retail. This is sweet cause a few weeks ago the canon t3i was about $1000 retail, now you can pick one of these t3i (body only) for about $500 new. So you too can get 2 DSLR's for the price of one that shoots the same quality.

Well that's not right.

brian_f2.8 · Jul 28, 2012

I'm lost as well. For video just use the 5dm3. Also next time get to the point quicker, not many want to read a LNG dialogue.

TheKenTurner · Jul 29, 2012

And the prices are wrong. Where I live, a T4i kit is $949 and T3i kit is $749...

-Ken Turner

dnavarrojr · Sep 17, 2012

I bought a brand new T4i Kit for $800. It's all in where you look.

Also, the technique Canon uses to shoot video on all of their cameras is the same. They use a small portion of the sensor in the middle. Which means, for the most part your footage will match across all of the Canon DSLRs. However, the full-frame sensor on the 5D's and 1D's works MUCH better in low-light, so there is very much an advantage to owning a 5D or 1D for video if you do a lot of low-light shooting. Additionally, you get a shallower depth-of-field with fast/prime lenses on the full-frame sensor, so your Bokeh and framing won't match up to the APS-C sensors.

That said, for my commercial work I use all APS-C cameras (T4i, 60D and 7D).