Canon Rebel T4i (650D) Product Review

Today, we're going to tell you why picking up the Canon T4i will give you the most bang for your buck!

You can get the Canon T4i body and a starter lens for about $900. It costs a little more than its predecessors, the T2i and T3i, but it has some really significant improvements over those cameras, as well, including a new sensor and image processor. Not bad considering how much prosumer video cameras cost. This is well above entry level and will give you crisp, colorful images and video right out of the box.

The T4i upholds Canon's reputation for quality. With an 18 megapixel sensor, as well as the new DIGIC 5 Image Processor, it can shoot full 1080p HD video that is vastly superior to most traditional camcorders – even ones costing thousands of dollars more.

The difference lies in the sensor – since the T4i was designed to function primarily as a stills camera, the sensor is much larger than most cameras intended just for capturing video. This increased sensor size not only results in increased resolution (5184 x 3456 for you pixel peepers out there), but also allows for much better low light capabilities and the ability to capture images with the shallow depth of field that smaller sensors will not allow. This will be great for shooting really artsy B-roll close-ups of flowers, or for getting your first quirky indie romantic-comedy in the can and off to Sundance.

With the T4i, you get all the control you need with the manual setting. Go into the menu, switch off everything you see that says "Auto" and you'll be stylin'. Then set the dial to Manual and open that aperture as wide as possible to crush your depth of field.

When shooting images with tricky or mixed exposure – like a backlit portrait or an interior with bright windows, the T4i really comes in aces by allowing you to shoot multiple consecutive shots that expose for all parts of the scene and then combines them to output one properly exposed image – pretty sweet! The T4i doesn't stop there--not only does it have a killer articulating screen, which makes it easy for you to shoot from a variety of angles, it also breaks new ground by being the first HDSLR with a touch screen. This makes it super easy to flip through and review your shots and even allows you adjust focus points on the fly!

Even though it's a DSLR, the T4i is no longer optimized just for shooting stills. It has a ton video-friendly features, including full time auto focus for video and adjustable gain control for the internal audio. This is huge! Instead of having to record audio externally and sync it up in post, you can now run a mic directly into the camera and mix audio right there. It records at 16bit/48k, so the audio quality will be as crisp as the image. This alone is enough to put the T4i on the top of your list.

Finally, since you're just getting started, this camera will even help you out with the whole "rule of thirds" thing we keep making a big deal about. Head into the options and turn on the grids. That's it. Then you've got a nice guide to help you make pretty pictures without having to go through $90,000 worth of film school.

Overall, the T4i will be a great choice when you're trying to take your videos to the next level.

To view the original article, visit the VScreen blog.