It’s again that time of the year – not Christmas though! – when I agonize about the latest Canon offering. The question of the day (and week) is: is it worth it to upgrade from my trusty old Canon T2i to the brand new Canon T4i (also known as Canon 650D)?
Last year – when the T3i came around the answer in the end was “no upgrade”. This time around it’s not so clear. So what are the features that separate Canon T2i and Canon T4i – and which ones are the deciding factors?
Probably the one feature that completely changes the “game” is the LCD screen. From the fixed screen on the T2i to the fully articulated, touch screen, iPhone-like, touch-to-focus screen on the Canon T4i there’s a pretty big difference. For someone that feels comfortable with composing and shooting with the LCD this reason alone would warrant the switch.
The second large difference is in the way focus (AF more precisely) works in video. At least in theory (there are not a lot of many tests online) the new rebel should provide smooth, continuous tracking focus in in video mode. As I have not shot a lot of videos with my Rebel I am not able to really judge this improvement, but the feeling is that there is a world of difference.
And the third large improvement, while not immediately obvious, I think is the image quality (IQ). The incremental changes in DIGIC processing power, the improvements in noise reduction algorithms, the improvements to AF speed and accuracy all do add up.
So, is it time to change?
There is a few more things you forgot: 5fps in burst mode, vignetting and chroma aberation correction in camera based on lens profile, AF updates for lens-down photography. While the last chroma & vignetting are not so important since you have RAW, the others are a bit more interesting. 5fps is really sweet.
5 fps does almost nothing for me – at least at this moment in my photography ‘quest’. Vignetting and CA correction are indeed nice – but I think I am already taking them for granted.
As for AF – any improvement and feature is very welcome.