This is a Rebel T4i with a better 18-55 kit lens. It's intended as a drop-in replacement for the T4i, which means it's the same fast, compact stills camera with a touchscreen that simplifies configuration, image review, and the EOS learning curve. There are better movie cameras. Motion tracking for video, while a vast improvement over DSLRs before the T4i, falls short of many mirrorless bodies.
I'm reviewing it from the perspective of a working professional, which means I'm at least as concerned about what it's missing as what it has. If you're new to DSLRs, you're likely to find this camera an immense upgrade in many ways.
Buy it over mirrorless systems and the T2i/T3i if you want faster shooting and tracking with stills and the immediacy of an optical viewfinder. Choose the SL1 for the most petite size, the 60D for a quicker interface and a deeper buffer for raw files, or the 7D for even better motion-tracking. The T4i alone or with the 18-135 STM is equally compelling if it costs less. Image quality is the same between all the crop bodies. Low-light performance improves with the full-frame 6D and above.
MODEL EVOLUTION:
==== T1i:
15 MP
9-point AF w/ 1 cross-point
3.4 fps
11 raw burst
1080p/20, 720p/30
1/4000 max shutter
==== T2i:
+ 18 MP
+ 3.7 fps
+ 1080p/30, 720p/60
+ Movie crop zoom, 7X VGA
+ LCD sharper
+ Metering improved
+ Auto-ISO improved
-6 raw burst
==== T3i:
+ LCD articulates
+ Movie crop zoom, 3X 1080p
+ JPEG adjustments & scene modes
==== T4i:
+ 9-point AF w/ 9 cross-points
+ Hybrid AF for video
+ 5 fps
+ Touchscreen
+ Stereo mic
+ Multi-shot noise reduction
+ Automated 3-shot HDR
-No movie crop zoom
==== T5i:
+ 360-degree mode dial
+ JPEG effects in Live View
+ 18-55 kit zoom w/ STM focus
==== 60D:
+ 5.3 fps
+ 16 raw burst
+ Thumb-dial
+ AF-on button
+ Top-panel LCD
+ Mode dial lock
+ Viewfinder bigger, brighter
+ 1/8000 max shutter
+ Battery life doubled
-No touchscreen
-No hybrid AF for video
-No multi-shot noise reduction
-No automated HDR
-Mono mic
-Non-STM 18-135 kit lens
HANDLING:
All Rebels have three handling characteristics: small grips (for a DSLR), an emphasis on buttons over dials, and many functions intended to be used with the camera away from your face.
Those with petite hands may appreciate the small size. I prefer the larger grips of the 60D and above. There's not much practical difference in portability; the T5i, like the 60D, is too large for a pocket or most purses. It is lighter by a quarter, but if you're really sweating the ounces, a mirrorless system or the SL1 is a better choice.
Certain adjustments are less accessible than with the 60D and 7D. For lack of a thumb wheel, this Rebel requires more buttons held in combination to activate basic functions like exposure compensation. There's no top LCD, so a quick check of your settings or changing the white balance requires booting the rear screen. Likewise, there's no joystick or 8-way pad for direct AF point selection. The higher-tier cameras make it easier to rapidly correct settings without taking your eye from the viewfinder and missing the subject or the moment.
The counterpoint is that showing everything on the rear screen with touch control significantly lowers the EOS learning curve. The touchscreen is capacitive and almost as responsive as a modern smartphone. Adjusting functions (e.g., exposure, white balance, focus points; everything) is as simple as tapping what you want. The camera won't be at the ready when you're manipulating the LCD, but thanks in part to an integrated 'feature guide' that explains most options, you probably won't need to pull out the manual on first acquaintance.
Phone gestures (e.g., pinch zoom, swiping) are now part of the picture review system, which makes checking focus vastly quicker and more flexible than on any other non-touch EOS body. Focus itself is touch-enabled in Live View mode, so you can tap to focus on static subjects anywhere in the frame without ever having to manipulate the 9-point AF system.
There's no weather-sealing in the body or the kit lenses. Don't use either in the rain without a cover. You do get a popup flash, though for lack of direct diffusion or bounce, using it as a main light will lead to harsh, high-contrast results. The rear LCD swivels to the side almost parallel to the body and rotates a full 360 degrees, so you can easily frame self-portraits, or turn it in to face the body for protection in storage.
STILLS QUALITY:
This sensor is functionally identical to those in the T2i/T3i/T4i/60D/7D/SL1. Noise and dynamic range are the same in raw, though noise in JPEG is a tick cleaner with the T4i and T5i. Expect acceptable results up to ISO 3200. Nikon's D5100 is slightly better, Sony's A65 slightly worse. It's about two solid stops better than a typical point-and-shoot.
Unless you're in a JPEG-only shooting mode (e.g., multi-shot NR, HDR), raw gets the most out of this camera. Post-production creates the bulk of the appeal of many photographs (e.g., Instagram) and JPEG often lacks the requisite flexibility. Raw shooting also lets you defer decisions (e.g., white balance, sharpening, noise reduction, color, distortion, tone curves, and even exposure) that distract from catching whatever moment you're after.
HDR combines 3 shots taken in rapid succession. The automated result preserves highlights in a subtle, natural way, but not with greatly more range than a raw file with Highlight Tone Priority enabled. If you want to do your own processing with a program like SNS-HDR, you'll be adjusting exposures manually because Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) is limited to 3 shots from -2EV to +2EV.
Multi-Shot NR combines 4 shots to create one with less noise. You can set your own starting ISO, but the effects aren't apparent until ISO 800. At high ISO, it's good for about 1.5 stops. If the camera's already on a tripod or you can lean on an IS lens, you might as well lower the ISO and shoot for longer. A limited auto-alignment feature applies to handheld sequences for this feature and the similar 'Handheld Night Scene' shooting mode.
STILLS ACTION:
This camera has the same phase-detect AF unit (9 points, all cross-type) and nearly the same framerate (5 fps vs. 5.3 fps) as the 60D. That bodes well for capturing motion. What doesn't is the raw buffer. If you hold the shutter down in continuous mode, it'll take 6 raw, 4 raw + JPEG, or up to 30 JPEGs before slowing down. That's barely a second of continuous raw shooting, much less than with the 60D's 16 raw frames. The difference matters if you're trying to time a particular moment. That aside, this T5i has a reasonably high hit-rate (50%+) with recent USM lenses in moderate to bright conditions. The next performance tier is the 7D, and after that, the 5D III.
I want to point out: DSLRs suffer when shooting stills from the rear screen. Standard SLR design has a mirror and a prism (or additional mirrors) reflect incoming light into both the viewfinder and the fast phase-detect AF array. If you want a live feed to the rear screen, that mirror has to flip up to expose the sensor, so you can't use that array to focus anymore. You're left with a 'contrast detect' system (or in this particular body, a slightly faster amalgam of contrast and phase-detect) that's much, much slower. Expect to use the viewfinder unless your subject is very still.
AS A POINT-AND-SHOOT:
If you set 'green box' mode and pretend this T5i is an oversized point-and-shoot, what implications?
* It makes more noise than a point-and-shoot. The mirror and shutter are definitely audible. Shutter lag can be much lower. Zoom is manual and effectively instant.
* The ergonomics don't work as well for rear-screen shooting. The camera is heavier and more awkward held in front of you, so blur from hand-shake will be more evident.
* Auto-exposure favors narrower apertures, slower shutter speeds, and lower ISOs than might be optimal. Particularly with lenses faster than f/2.8, it's less likely to choose the widest available aperture. Shooting indoors with a 35/2, for example, you're likely to see f/2.8, ISO 1600, and 1/50 instead of f/2 and 1/100.
* It won't use ISOs above 6400. Not that you'd want to, but some scenes may demand a faster shutter.
* Focus consistency and speed will depend on whether you've got an AF point on contrast. There's no great intelligence to AF-point selection, so it'll probably choose the wrong focus point about half the time. With slow lenses like the kit zooms, the error won't matter for the vast majority of shots.
* High-contrast lighting will produce variable results. The camera can't expose the whole scene correctly, so it'll guess what you want. Sometimes it'll guess wrong.
There are other full-auto modes on dial to deal with specific situations. They're useful in a pinch, but less predictable than what you can achieve with the semi-auto modes and the various metering controls.
VIDEO:
T5i video is smoother, cleaner, and less contrasty than that of point-and-shoot cameras. As with stills, the right lenses can give you creamy backgrounds and professional-looking subject isolation. The corollary, though, is that focus actually matters. Your first impression reviewing footage is likely to be, "Why is everything always so blurry?"
Fortunately, autofocus in video mode was a major upgrade in the T4i and T5i. Canon DSLRs before the T4i had horribly slow contrast-detect AF that couldn't handle any subject motion at all. Canon's never bothered with manual focusing aids, so custom firmware or trial-and-error with the rear LCD were the only alternatives. Thanks to 'Hybrid AF,' this camera is not totally inept with movement. It doesn't work quickly or precisely with non-STM lenses, it tends to hunt (bringing the scene in and out of focus) with all lenses, it doesn't work well outside of the frame center (where it's assisted by phase-detect sensors) or in low light, and it's incapable of tracking anything faster than a caffeinated sloth. But it's not manual focus.
Realistically, if you want to film your kid playing soccer or running across the kitchen with DSLR quality, you've three options: prefocus, stop the lens down to get more depth-of-field, and try to stay perpendicular to the action; manually focus and accept that things won't be pin-sharp; or choose a mirrorless camera that can keep up.
Canon video is MOV format with H.264 compression. The implementation is inefficient and processing-intensive. You'll want a serious computer (quad-core), lots of space (350 MB/min at 1080p/30), and a decent video editor (e.g., Apple iMovie, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere Elements). Results improve with correct white balance and a custom tone curve with low contrast, color, and sharpening.
Beware camera shake. Anything over 50mm that isn't stabilized will challenge your ability to record smooth footage. You can fix that later by transcoding to an editable format and using the anti-shake facilities of Premiere, Vegas, or Virtual Dub with Deshaker, but that's a pain and they all crop the frame. This won't be issue until you start moving to primes; the two kit lenses are both stabilized. They're also STM, which means they focus by stepper motors that are (often) quieter and capable of smaller incremental movements than USM.
Certain full-frame stabilized lenses are audible on the audio track, as are the focusing mechanisms of non-STM lenses. You'll also have to contend with dial clicks, finger movement, and wind noise, which obscure what would be fairly mediocre sound quality in the best case. The T5i records CD-quality 48 KHz 16-bit stereo tracks; the fault is with the lack of isolation and baffling with the integrated stereo mic. The simplest, most portable alternative is to attach an external battery-powered mic in a shock mount to the flash hotshoe. The two most popular are around $250 from Rode. Zoom's H1 stereo recorder costs less and can also be camera-mounted.
LENSES:
Both kit lenses excel. The 18-135/3.5-5.6 STM in particular is the best consumer-class kit lens Canon has ever produced. If you upgrade, it'll be for more speed, a different range, or perhaps more contrast, not because it isn't sharp enough.
Some thoughts on future additions:
* Primes are lighter, smaller, cheaper, often available in wider apertures, often optically better, and have less manufacturing variation. They're less convenient, less versatile, updated with new technologies (e.g., stabilization, better lens coatings, weight reductions, faster or more accurate AF) less often, and can cause you to miss shots in fast-paced shooting environments.
* There are different requirements for movie lenses and still lenses. Some lenses are more optimal than others (e.g., less focus breathing, more parfocal, less distortion, smoother operation, distance scale). Primes often fare better.
* An f/2 lens on this body is just fast enough for most indoor use without flash. You'll want a flash for anything slower. A flash can provide more even, pleasing pictures, at the expense of a bulkier, attention-attracting rig.
* Kits with more than three primary lenses can become unwieldy in use. Two is preferable. My walkaround crop kit is a 10-22/3.5-4.5, a 50/1.4, and an 18-135-3.5-5.6 STM.
* Third-party lenses tend to have less upfront cost, better warranties, and more aggressive designs. AF and optical performance is often (but not always) inferior to OEM lenses, quality control is less consistent, and resale values are lower. Value varies by lens model. Some are better than the OEM equivalents (e.g., Tamron 70-300 VC). Some fill holes in the OEM lineup (e.g., Sigma 50-150/2.8 OS, Sigma 30/1.4). And some are lesser substitutes, but still competitive (e.g., Sigma 10-20/4-5.6). Third-party lenses that duplicate the OEM with similar performance may not always be preferable to used copies of the OEM model.
The most economical leap in image quality and subject isolation is the 50/1.8. But beware: this lens will lighten your pockets when you start seeking other lenses with the same effect.
ACCESSORIES:
For video, buy SD cards 32 GB or larger. My pair of 16 GB cards have been inadequate for even a one-day event. For stills, two or three 8 GB cards is plenty.
Interface responsiveness isn't much affected by card speed. Faster cards have three advantages: they can shoot longer bursts at 5 FPS, clear the picture buffer more quickly, and record video at the highest quality without risking a speed warning. Buffer depth is 30 JPEG files with a UHS-1 ('Ultra High Speed') SD and 22 with a conventional card, or 6 raw with any card. Buffer cycling times are much lower with UHS-1. In one-shot mode, this difference is invisible; very fast cards would only make sense if you were time-limited on card-to-computer transfers with a USB 3.0, SATA, or Firewire card reader.
If you buy protection filters for your lenses, try Hoya's "DMC PRO1 Clear Protector Digital" line. They have very high light transmission and cause no visible flare. Digital sensors filter UV natively, there's no reason to pay more for that feature. I've written reviews on the relevant Hoya product pages with more details and why you might (or might not) want a filter.
COMPARED:
VS. T3i:
You gain continuous shooting speed, better AF for stills, and a touchscreen. The AF system will be faster and more accurate with wide-aperture lenses, particularly with off-center subjects. The hybrid-AF system is actually usable in slow video scenes, more than could be said for contrast-detect functionality in the T2i and T3i.
VS. T4i:
It's the same camera save for previewing image effects in Live View. The 18-55 kit lens is now STM. The 18-135 is the same; if the T4i with the 18-135 costs less, I'd choose that.
VS. 60D:
Of the 60D's many improvements, the hardest to work around is the raw buffer. You get one second at 5fps with the T5i. You get over three with the 60D. The T5i simply isn't a sports camera in raw unless you're judicious with your bursts. Shoot JPEG and it'll keep the pace all day. And shoot movies where anything moves at all and it'll leave the 60D behind in focusing performance.
Interface speed significantly favors the 60D if you're willing to learn the button assignments. Because it requires less button-pressing and the camera rarely needs to come off your face, it's faster than the T5i except for detailed picture review and choosing focus areas in Live View. The 60D actually costs less new, but don't choose the 18-135 kit. That's a non-STM lens much less sharp than the version the T5i includes.
IN SUM:
I'm of two minds about this T5i. On the one hand, it's another fine evolution of small DSLRs (or rather, non-evolution; that sentence works if we pretend it's still called T4i). On the other, the question is whether you want a DSLR at all. Many people would fare better with mirrorless (e.g., Sony NEX, Panasonic G/GH) than a Rebel-class DSLR. They're smaller, lighter, and less clunky than the strange amalgam of 'Live View' and traditional mirror shooting that defines most current DSLRs. Focus is unerringly accurate with static subjects and vastly quicker in the movie modes. To their credit, DSLRs like this one have a broader array of narrow-purpose lenses (e.g., macro, tilt-shift, supertelephoto, superfast), far better motion tracking for stills, more subject isolation, faster and better physical controls, and if you spring for full-frame, superior noise performance.
If your priorities favor DSLRs, this isn't a bad one to choose. There's almost no photographic endeavor it can't handle. Higher-spec bodies get you better noise, speed, AF tracking, durability, and so on, but technology has advanced so quickly that if you're even vaguely methodical in shooting style, you're not likely to feel limited by this T5i. Look hard at the T4i and 60D before springing for it, though.
Please leave a comment if you intend to downvote so I can correct the inaccuracy.
I purchased the T5i with the 18-135mm lens kit. I LOVE the camera, but wasn't completely satisfied with the lens for my purposes. If you are on a budget the kit lens is capable of giving you great close up and wide angle/zoomed out shots, and for most people I can see this being a good starter lens (especially if you already know that the range is appropriate for your uses such as full landscape shots, brightly lit settings, groups of people indoors etc.) For my personal choice in subject matter (including wildlife and some low light photography) I can't recommend buying kit lenses due to the zoom range limitations and higher f stop than some other affordable lenses. I ended up returning my kit and bought the body only and two separate low cost lenses to meet my needs (a fixed focal length lens with low light capabilities such as the 28 or 50mm f/1.8, and a good zoom like the "EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II") until I was able to invest in a longer zoom range L series lens. (I upgraded my zoom to the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS for bird and animal photography once I could justify the $1,500 expense, but for most people the $299 Canon 55-250mm is a great starting point especially for zoom situations such as outdoor people shots, animals in a park or a trip to the zoo.)
First about the camera itself: The touch screen is high quality and responsive, I ended up using it more often than I thought. It makes picture review a breeze after pressing the play arrow button. If you've ever used an I Phone/similar touch screen where you can make a pinching motion to to zoom in and out of photos, slide your finger left and right to flip through photos, it's the same familiar technology. Very solid camera construction, heavy weight (with the lens attached it's very heavy to carry around in your hand, especially for anyone used to a smaller point and shoot you WILL want to use the neck strap that comes with this.) I found it to be user friendly with many dial modes that allow you to get started quickly. The only thing I did not immediately figure out how to do is take video, as I expected it to be a mode on the dial and not in the main on/off switch area unlike previous versions of this camera and my other point and shoots. Anything you can't figure out, the extensive user guide book that comes with it should provide answers. It displays a description of each mode on the screen as you rotate the dial. You will want to buy a screen protector and a "lenspen", this will get small smudges and lint on it really fast. The flash disperses light extremely well compared to any camera I've used before. I was able to take pictures of my cats from a few feet away, didn't get the laser eye effect and could see every single piece of hair and little details of their noses as if they were in outdoor light. There is only one mode that doesn't use flash when the camera detects that it is dark, so if you're taking pictures of animals outside be aware that even in sunlight its possible that your flash with pop up with a loud snap sound scaring your animal away unless you have it on the NO FLASH setting.
Battery life and memory cards: I got a 64gb SDXC card which in retrospect was overkill, each photo at the highest quality 18 mega pixels is about 7 to 9mb each, and after taking a thousand pictures in .jpg mode I was still about 2% full on my memory card space. This would likely be a good size for a week long vacation, but I transfer my images to my computer daily. ***Most importantly*** I recommend a high speed memory card (such as the "Sandisk Extreme Pro" 32 or 64gb cardsSanDisk Extreme Pro 32 GB SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Flash Memory Card 95MB/s SDSDXPA-032G-AFFP) with the 95mb/sec transfer speed. This is very important because it affects your shot to shot speed, especially in burst mode shooting where you are taking continuous photos of moving objects. I noticed a huge difference in how many shots I could take in a row before the camera paused to write the files to the memory card before continuing shooting from the initial card I purchased (30mb/sec standard sdxc card would take several seconds to pause after 6 to 10 pictures or releasing the shutter, vs the 95mb/sec card I got afterwards that keeps shooting so fast that I typically stop taking photos before it even slows down.) If you're going to be photographing birds, children or sports I think it is the most important thing to invest in with this camera. If you're going to be shooting in RAW format for professional use the files are much larger (about 25mb each) so you'll need a larger memory card, and it will also slow down your continuous shooting speed, but for most casual photographers this file format is not necessary. Battery life is AMAZING when you do NOT use the live view touch screen or take video. I took pictures constantly, many in continuous shooting mode of birds outside, not too many with flash, for over 3 hours and still had a mostly full charge.
What I didn't like from my initial experience: This might seem like a no brainer for the experienced, but I was not expecting the camera to NOT allow me to take bad pictures. I thought I had a lemon when I repeatedly attempted to push down the shutter button to find it unresponsive. What really happened was, when you have the lens set to auto focus, you have to be the minimum focus distance away from your subject. Get too close and your camera will just act like you didn't press anything. Really I think that it should give you some sort of message on the screen to let you know that it's still alive and it just needs you to back up. It took me a while to find the little camera screen icon button that activates the "live view" (so you can see images on the screen as you take them.) I was disappointed to find that it makes the camera audibly work much harder with focusing. The booklet also warns that the camera can overheat and shut down if you use this mode too long, and I don't doubt that it adds quite a bit of wear and tear on your camera. It also drains your battery much faster, so I would suggest that you use the viewfinder only.
Image quality: I have quickly learned that this camera is capable of AMAZING shots, but it can look bad depending on the lens and lighting. I can't stress that enough, this camera can give you great detail, but LIGHT is your best friend for non-tripod shots, and all lenses are not created equal. With most lower cost zoom lenses you will see noise in your low light photos when you view them full size. You might think that the more expensive the lens, the better, but due to the cost of making a quality zoom (a range of millimeters such as the ones in the kits) vs the lower cost of manufacturing a fixed mm lens, you can actually find a really great lens for about $100! That would be the "EF 50mm f/1.8 II Fixed Focal Lens" which is commonly referred to by photographer's as the "nifty fifty". Check it out here on Amazon to see quite a few breathtaking photos taken with that lens. Its also very compact, lightweight, and basically makes your DSLR as close to a point and shoot for every day photography as you can get.
Two starter lenses gave me great results, the "EFS 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II" (great for outdoors, anything from landscape and ducks/squirrels/birds in nearby trees, to close up flower pictures from standing 4ft focus distance away) and the "EF 50mm f/1.8 II Fixed Focal Lens" (which is great for outdoor people pictures, portraits, landscapes, flowers, is lightweight, low cost and provides beautiful bokeh and image quality, but has no zoom for wildlife.) If you're NOT shooting animals from 20+ feet away, don't often find yourself using the zoom because you can't reach a subject, and are interested in the low light capabilities of a lower f stop, the 50mm fixed lens is likely all you need to get started. If you feel the need to be more "zoomed out" AND require the lower f stop for stars/night photos/low light situations, there is also a 28mm f/1.8 lens but it runs about $450. If you're not sure what your photography style is yet, or know that you will need the wide angle ability for full landscape shots, then the kit lens may be the right starting point for you. I wasn't sure when I bought my kit if 135mm was enough reach for me, and since it wasn't, I was happy that I bought it from a no-hassle-returns store after I had a chance to try it out.
The type of camera user that I am: I take a lot of outdoor pictures including close up flowers to far away birds, animals and partial landscape pictures. I'm asking a lot from a single lens as far as range goes. Within days I found myself wishing for more zoom capabilities, coming from a point and shoot with 10x optical zoom I was actually a little surprised at the limited zoom distance on the 135mm. I bought the "EFS 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II" lens and found that, for my purposes, it completely replaces my 18-135mm kit lens. As long as you can stand at least 4 feet away from your subject you can take the same quality close up shots with the 250mm lens, I got some really beautiful flower macros with this lens (clearly showing pollen on tiny half inch flowers.) The only bad thing I could say about the 55-250mm is that the upgrade from the 18-135mm wasn't as significant as I'd hoped as far as view distance. The few feet of visual distance you gain is worth it however, since it makes all the difference for not startling that chipmunk or bird. I found that I was able to take somewhat decent photos within 100 feet (with some noise when using automatic ISO settings and less sharpness than you might get with certain L series lenses,) GREAT photos when I was able to be within 20-30 feet, and PERFECT pictures when I was within 10 to 20 feet of my subject.
*For any beginners out there, a note about lens mm and f stops: the higher the mm number the more "zoomed in" you are to a subject. So if you have a lens at starts off at 55m you are already more zoomed in on the subject than if you had a lens that starts off at 18mm. I can see that this could be an issue if you are taking full body pictures of people in a room that you can't back up very far. For outdoor photography I found it unnecessary to have the lower range, as you can simply back up a couple feet to get a shot. In fact, I found the image quality of the 18-135mm lens very comparable to the 55-250mm for close up shots (such as flowers) I only had to change where I stood to get the picture. This was about 4 feet away with the 55-250 lens, and when holding the camera to my eye pointing downward I found that the top half of my shoe filled the entire picture. When looking into other lenses to purchase be sure to get one with IS (Image Stabilization) which I highly recommend making a priority UNLESS you are using a tripod. The "F" number in the title of lenses tells you how much light a lens can take in. The lower the number, the easier it is for a lens to do well in lower light settings. The low numbers (such as f/2.8 and lower) are usually referred to as "fast" lenses. It enables the camera to focus faster, have shallow depth of field (often resulting in beautiful bokehbackground blur patterns) and have higher shutter speeds. Many people will find the kit lenses acceptable for their uses even at f/5.6, so unless you know you will need a lower f number frequently, if the kit lens zoom range is good for you it may be a good place to start.
*************EDIT 05/04/2013*************
After a few weeks of using the camera, I've come to enjoy it even more. The burst mode has been very good with capturing birds in flight, with only a few occasions of freezing for a second (upon releasing the shutter after a series of shots) to write files before resuming shutter response. The battery life continues to amaze me after spending many hours continuously shooting (very frequently using the burst sports mode taking rapid fire shots) without running low on power.
I also tested out the "Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens" to extend my 250mm's range when I saw it on sale for about $470, but found that the image quality of its 75-250mm range was not as nice as my 55-250mm lens. For some reason when using automatic settings on my camera the amount of soft images I had using this 70-300mm lens were significantly more frequent than my 55-250mm lens. In addition to that negative it was not well suited for flower photography or much of anything close up, which I only mention because the versatility of that 55-250 lens is great. Perhaps I had a not so great copy, as my methods as a photographer didn't change between swapping out my 55-250 with the 70-300 lens, but my image quality certainly decreased. As far as bird watching goes, the 300mm range did increase my view distance and is better than being limited to the 250mm, however for the price I decided to return it to save up for the L series 100-400mm.
***YAY AWESOME LENS*** My "100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS" lens is giving me the shots I've always wanted to take, beautiful birds in flight and wildlife from 100 to 200 feet away in wonderful detail. Hummingbirds frozen in time, wood ducks with individual feathers visible at 200 feet. The push/pull zoom takes getting used to and it is very heavy weight. It's not super low-light friendly, but in most daylight situations the photographs turn out great. Those are the only "negatives" to this lens, but at the same time the weight is due to it being sturdy/quality built. This is an older model from Canon designed around 1998, but still sells well today simply because it's still one of the best out there in this price and zoom range.
The "Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II" with the 2x extender lens may have also been an option to get to the 400mm mark, however that combo was twice the price and I didn't want to take any image quality losses using a zoom extender. It is however widely regarded as one of the best lenses that Canon makes, so if 70-200mm works for your subject matter I highly recommend checking out the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II if the $2,199 price tag is within your budget. It's definitely on my wish list.
If you have had a good experience with a certain lens, I would love to hear from you about it. Thank you :)
Buy Canon EOS Rebel T5i 18.0 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm EF-S IS STM Lens Now
I upgraded to this model from the Rebel XTi I bought 6 or 7 years ago. The two cameras are night and day so I won't compare them. I will only say that camera technology has come a long way in 7 years. This camera can do pretty much everything the top grade professional cameras can do. I would probably be mad if I was a professional and invested a couple thousand dollars in a camera and now the entry level SLRs can pretty much do the same thing.
I've invested quite a bit in Canon lenses so I wanted to stay with the Canon brand even though Nikon has some pretty nice equipment. The only issue I have with the camera is the size. I have pretty big hands and the camera is really hard for me to hold because it is small. This will probably not be a problem for most people but it drove me crazy with my XTi and it is the same with the T5i. I knew this would be a problem so I also purchased the battery grip. The canon battery grip adds more weight to the camera but it also makes it feel more secure in my hand. The battery grips allows you to use 2 batteries which is also cool. The additional power also helps when you're using larger lenses. The battery grip cost me another $130 because I bought the Canon brand. There are some less expensive generic brand grips that are available. I would recommend the grip to anyone regardless of the size of their hands. It's a nice addition to the camera.
All in all, the camera is another quality product from Canon. There are video reviews on Youtube that go into a lot more detail than I can every give. I don't think you can go wrong with this camera.
Read Best Reviews of Canon EOS Rebel T5i 18.0 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm EF-S IS STM Lens Here
I will leave all the Techie issues to more knowledgeable persons. That said, this camera with the 18-135 mm lens, is all that it should be for a simple but very good picture-taking machine. Fast shutter speed, low light capability, decent built-in flash, movie mode. It's all that. With a 32gb and a 64gb card, one for photos and one for videos, it's all I will probably ever need or want. 'course I started with an EOS 650 back in the day, and this is just the icing. After a couple of smaller hand-held cameras, this is as good as it gets. Used it last month, in Puerto Vallarta and shot almost 500 photos and about an hour of videos, every shot was fine. Pics can be blown up dramatically without too much pixellation. I'm sure there are better cameras out there, but this is the last camera I will ever buy. Hey I'm almost 67 years old.
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I was formally a professional photographer that shot nikon. I had all nikon glass and nikon accessories so I was unable to change brands. After a horrible illness, i was forced to sell all of my camera equipment. I recently got the "bug" again and started searching for a camera. I review specs on all major brands, primarily Nikon and canon. I had a friend that told me to try this camera because he had 12 canon lens's that were excellent quality that he would loan me indefinitely. i look at the upper level nikons and canons and compared specs. i saw no reason to spend an extra thousand bucks on a few more focal points or an alloy camera body. So it was a no brainer for me to try this camera out.
When the camera came, i was not used to the small size but I ordered an after market battery grip for 49 bucks (nikons was 200) and it made the camera feel better in my hand.
I also ordered a 50mm f/ 1.8 prime for 89 bucks.
First impression:
Wow! I can shoot indoors wide open with very useable high iso image quality! The pictures are very clear and the white balance is always spot on. The new focusing system is really a dream as well for me. I have no need for all of the creative functions and modes on the camera but its nice to have if my wife ever wants to play around with it. In manual mode the camera shoots every bit as good as my 2500 dollar Old nikon.
Conclusion:
Aside from the camera being on the low end of the canon line up its a solid camera for about anything if you have good glass and know how to manually use a camera. I am stoked about the price and the quality of the pictures. I have not yet really gotton into video but the quality is every bit as good as any full HD camera I have seen to date. LOVE IT!
Ash
I was looking for a tabletop tripod for my DSLR but everything out there was just too flimsy. I needed something small, lightweight, and sturdy so I could carry it in my camera bag. So far I'm pleased with what this weird looking thing can do.
