Last year’s Canon EOS 600D was a medium
upgrade; 650D seems too, but it offers some important improvements.
Canon
EOS 650D with 18-55mm lens
Canon removed the 3-year-old DIGIC 4
processor to make room for DIGIC 5 used in recent PowerShot models. It
accelerates shooting speed from 3.7fps to 5fps, and also introduces Chromatic
aberration correction (CA). It eliminates silver linings around hi-contrast
details, provided by SLR series for years. However, these benefits are not
available at once. With CA activated, 5fps-claimed capture speed only lasted
for 3fps before going down to 2.1fps. With the function inactivated, it could
maintain 29fps before falling down to 3.6fps.
Auto HDR mode is available, occupying a
place on the dial for quick access. Strangely, the camera cropped the image slightly
and zoomed at 18MP resolution. More seriously, AF problems appeared quite
common in this mode. There’s also the new Handheld Night Scene, including 3
exposure levels for noise reduction. It made things faded at ISO 3200 yet
appeared valuable at ISO 12800.
Direct help
For us, 600D’s weakest point is low AF in
live view mode. Live view on SLR ignored the main phase detection and the
alternative contrast detection was terrible, taking up to 4 seconds to lock an
object. For 650D, Canon integrated additional AF phase-detection points into
the sensor. It seems improving AF speed in live view mode, though to some
extent it still took from 1 to 2 seconds to focus. That may be too slow for
people. It is also considerably slower than Pentax K-30.
We tested the model by using AF
phase-detection then re-shot photos with contrast-detection of live view. Most
were alike but in 1/3 of these shots, live view provided better results. Imperfect
shots were good enough to be kept but choosing quick AF or accurate AF caused
us disappointed.
This is the first SLR that has incorporated
a touchscreen, and it worked extremely well. It displayed a lot of details, plus
turned into a control panel when Q button was pressed.
The touchscreen worked best in Live View
and Video modes where it set up AF point. It was handy to move it while
recording videos as full-time AF is available in video mode, thanks to AF
points in the sensor. It is such an improvement, comparable to 600D, yet not
smart enough due to the fact that frequent AF hunting and focusing long-period
were incomprehensive. However, while AF in video on 600D was hopeless, it
appeared steady in 650D during common use.
The
touchscreen worked best in Live View and Video modes where it set up AF point
The AF engine destroyed background music while
using 18-55mm or 18-35mm, but sounded quieter with STM 40mm lens, which is
designed to work silently. Manual EV correction during recording was quiet,
with available shooting speed, aperture and ISO settings on the screen.
Key points in video clips
Video clip is limited by 4GB storage
anymore. 600D’s videos stopped without warning after about 15min but 650D can
but the 650D can span videos across multiple files to a maximum of 30 minutes.
You will need a video editor to merge these files together, but there were no
glitches for image or sound when we did so.
Our video quality tests brought the similar
result to 600D. Details looked sharp, but not as vibrant as from Panasonic GH1.
However, the difference was very small.
We faced similar problems with moiré interference
that we saw from video mode of many DSLRs, where dense repeating textures
exhibited swirling interference. However, we won’t focus on the negatives. Video
colors were so splendid, noise at fast ISO speed was impressively low and
shallow DOF effects brought nice cinematic scenes. We tried to find something
to complain about 650D. CA elimination not only removed halos but also tightened
up focus towards edges of frame. Meanwhile, the improved noise reduction maintained
details somewhat more vivid ISO 1600 and 3200 and showed less color
interference at 6400 and above. Though, noise in unprocessed RAW seemed more
serious than from 600D. Regardless, 650D is probably the best performer at this
segment with a reference to image quality. Auto exposures are highly
appreciated and JPEGs present gorgeous colors.
Color chart
EOS’s color output makes our spines tingle more
than competitive cameras. Controls are understandable and elegant, plus enhanced
speed, additional modes, CA correction and AF in live view mode mean that there
are 4 reasons not to look elsewhere. AF is quite infrequent with 18-55mm lens
and 40mm lens, somehow worrying us but it’s hard to see and what we can get
along with until we save more budgets for a newer and better lens.
Panasonic GH2 is available with 14-42mm
lens and a comparable price while Nikon D7000 is wonderful but pricier. GH2
seems superior in video and D7000 wins with shooting control, though Canon EOS
650D shines in both fields, surpassing Nikon for image quality.
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Info
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RRP: $900
·
Sensor size: 18MP (5184x3456)
·
Zoom: 3x optical (29-88mm)
·
LCD: 3in (1040,000p)
·
Storage: SDXC card
·
Battery: Li-ion
·
Size/weight: 102x133x149mm/575g
·
Warranty: 1-year RTB
·
Runtime: 440 shots
Verdict
·
Canon’s mid-segment SLR has everything
·
Ratings: 4/5
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