Cameras: Rebel T2i?

[Dudley]

Hi folks,
I need feedback on the good/bad/ugly opinions on a Canon Rebel t2i.
Primarly, I want to use the camera for model, landscape and nature (ducks, geese, any thing that quickly moves) images. Mostly this camera will be used outdoors. Any feedback or opinions will be greatly appreciated!

[mistermonday]

Dudley, here is a very lengthy and most comprehensive review. If you don't want to wade thru all of the 90 screens worth of info, you can pull down the little menu at the top and jump to the 29th window called Conclusion.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos550d/
Regards, Murray

[andrewrodney]

Its a very good entry level DSLR. The only minor downside is the size of the sensor being less than that of a 24x36mm standard frame, so your lens will not be the focal length specified. I think the ratio is roughly 1.6X so for example, a 35mm lens has the equivalent focal length of 56mm more or less. The only other advise is don’t buy lens specifically made for the smaller sensor that cannot be used on a full frame body should you upgrade to say a Canon 5D or 5DMII. Those lens will not work (EF-S lens).

[Pictus]

I do not like Canon...
-Not good dynamic range in the highlights
-Erratic behavior of the AF, looks like the new models have corrected this
-Not much good red channel can have banding and not optimal for skin tones.

I prefer the Nikon D90 or the Sony A550...

[andrewrodney]

Originally Posted by Pictus

I do not like Canon...
-Not good dynamic range in the highlights.

Ah, you shooting JPEG? If raw, you capturing the data correctly (Expose to the Right)? Half of all the data is in the first stop of highlights. I don’t know why you feel there is not good dynamic range in Canon highlights, I’ve never seen this to be the case (and I’ve shot with many Canon digital bodies).

Exposure for raw is not the same as exposure for a JPEG:
http://www.digitalphotopro.com/techn...g-for-raw.html

[Pictus]

RAW only, I should have spoken, Canon has less dynamic range.
Take any cropped body from Canon, a Sony A550 or Nikon D90, a full frame from Sony, Nikon and Canon, go outside and do some high contrast street shoots in daylight and check who will have less dynamic range...
To make the test more interesting use a FL-D filter or cc30m to re-balance the RGB channels and use a raw converter like RPP or RawTherapee.
BTW, the Sony A850/900 and Nikon D3x are top in my list.
Sadly there is no full frame Fuji "S6"

[andrewrodney]

Originally Posted by Pictus

RAW only, I should have spoken, Canon has less dynamic range.
Take any cropped body from Canon, a Sony A550 or Nikon D90, a full frame from Sony, Nikon and Canon, go outside and do some high contrast street shoots in daylight and check who will have less dynamic range..(

Check how? First we’d have to dial in the actual ISO of each sensor at native ISO which is likely different for each sensor. Then we’d have to see how far we can ETTR and each body would have differing rendering settings in the raw converter.

What you say may be true but I’d have to be convinced with real science used to evaluate this. Simply taking a meter reading, shooting with each identically, using the same raw settings etc, would not produce a correct test, the data gathered would be faulty.

[andrewrodney]

Not knowing if the various bodies I picked are comparable (I don’t know squat about Sony and very little about Nikon), and assuming we believe the DxO methodology is sound, it doesn’t appear that there is a significant difference in dynamic range here, at native ISO.

http://digitaldog.net/files/Drange.jpg

[Pictus]

Not balanced comparative, the DX2 is old, the Sony is cropped and the Canon 5DMII is new and full frame.
More balanced would be this, but I also do not agree much with DXO, but that is just me.