Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So I had a Canon T3i that started to have a few hot pixels, well, actually just one, but it was right in the center of the frame and kind of got on my nerves. I could easily edit it out in photoshop, but still, that camera served me really well, and it was time for an upgrade. The T#i line is what they call a "pro-sumer" line, which is basically between a consumer line camera like a very basic DSLR and a professional DSLR camera, thus the term "pro-sumer." Typically what this meant is an DSLR with an APS-C sized sensor, decent resolution, and some hand-me-down professional features of pro-grade cameras from a few years ago. For this reason, sometimes it's not worth upgrading from one of these cameras to the next until at least a few generations have past (meaning if you have a T5i, it's not really a giant leap forward to upgrade to a T6i). However, the T7i is somewhat different. When I was doing research on what features it has and what it is missing compared to the pro-grade DSLRs that are considered "current" right now, I was surprised to find very little. The main differences really is that the pro-grade cameras have the LCD display on the top that would display all of your relevant camera settings, and then a few of them would also sport a full-frame sensor. Other than that, the differences are very minor. Something like maybe 1 or 2 frames less in burst mode or something like that. Nothing that would really jump out at you and make you regret not stepping up to the professional grade equivalent (Think it would be the 77D?). It actually has pretty much all of the big features of even their current pro-grade DSLRs, making the T7i probably one of the best prosumer DSLRs to buy. Now one big question I know is on everyone's minds. APS-C or Full-Frame? Now the obvious answer is that if you're making money with the camera, go full-frame, if not, APS-C. But actually it's not that simple. First, there's no reason someone doing photography as a hobby shouldn't get a full-frame camera, other than the fact that they cost a whole lot more. But if you can afford it and you want the advantages of a full-frame camera (better resolutions, better low-light photography, etc.) and you don't mind the extra bulk, then why not? And on the flip-side, if you're a pro and want a smaller, less bulky camera to take with you on a shoot, then there's also no reason to say an APS-C camera will not be worth buying... But since you're looking at the T7i, let me go over a few actual advantages to an APS-C camera regardless of your status as an amateur or professional. First is the 1.6x multiplier you get to have for free with telephoto lenses. Because the APS-C sensor is smaller, you're basically "cropping" the image that comes in a lens made for a full-frame camera. Thus the term "crop sensor" used to describe something like an APS-C sized sensor. But rather than cropping the image post-process, all of the camera's light sensing pixels work within this cropped area. So if you buy a lens that is meant to work on a full-frame camera (the way you can tell is by the prefix. An "EF" lens is a full frame lens while an EF-S lens is made for the APS-C sensor. You can use an EF lens on any camera, full frame or APS-C, but if you use an EF-S lens on a full-frame camera the edges of the image will be cut off by the edge of the lens), whatever the specifications are, multiply that by 1.6. So for example, I bought the EF 70-300mm IS II USM lens to use with this. So being that this is an APS-C camera, that lens for me is effectively a 112-480mm lens. Of course the downside of this is if you want a more wide angle, a 10mm EF lens would actually be 18mm, meaning no longer wide-angle. But for those you just make sure to buy an EF-S lens, then the specifications will be correct. For me I have the EF-S 18-135mm IS USM lens for it, and at 18mm it's perfect for general use wide-angle photography. If I wanted even wider there is an EF-S 10-18mm lens out there as well. The other advantage of having an APS-C camera is your lens selection. Obviously you get to choose between both EF and EF-S lenses, but that's not what I mean by it. Canon has a very wide selection of EF lenses and you will read a lot about what lenses are great and what lenses are not so great. Well, the faults with the "not so great" lenses typically happen toward the outer edges. That's typically where the complaints would be while the center of the image will generally be good across almost all of Canon's quality EF lens selection. Well, since the APS-C sensor "crops" the image out of the center, you effectively crop out the "bad" parts of even the so-called "bad" lenses. So actually a lot of these lenses that get bad reviews, if you use them on an APS-C camera such as the T7i, you will never notice the faults people complain about with those lenses. I mean, this isn't ALWAYS the case, but if you read the consensus is that the outer parts of the image have distortion or is too dark while the center is fine, you likely would not notice those problems, or will notice them a lot less, while using the T7i combined with that lens. The next advantage is something I already touched on earlier. The size and bulk. These prosumer line cameras are typically much smaller and lighter than their pro-grade cousins. However, I am now completely spoiled by USM lenses (specifically their new nano-USM system), and they are unfortunately bulkier than the "kit lenses" that typically come with these cameras. But overall even with the bulkier lenses, it'll still be much easier to move around with the T7i than with a 5D or a 1D... Now back to the T7i, it has Canon's latest DIGIC processor inside of it, think it is up to 7 now. The auto focus system is a dual pixel AF with phase detection which is great. My old T3i didn't have phase detection, and the way that helps is that when something is out of focused, the camera can now tell which direction it needs to go. Before the camera basically had to guess and if it got less focused, it'll then go the other way. So sometimes it'll go the right direction the first time, other times it'll have to go both ways before it finds the right direction. This sometimes meant getting the subject focused took quite some time. With this new dual pixel with phase detection, it not only knows which way to go, but it also locks into focus much quicker than before. Phase detection has been around for a few years, but the dual pixel CMOS AF is actually new, even to the pro-grade cameras, and it made its way to this prosumer grade camera which is really nice. The ISO is also quite high for a prosumer grade camera, at 25,600. Obviously even with the best cameras using very high ISO's will result in more noise in your photos, but when it's capable of such high maximum ISO's, that means you can push the ISO numbers higher with less noise. For an example, with my T3i, once I hit ISO800, the image is already getting quite noisy. On the other hand, with the T7i, I've shot photos at ISO6400 (8x that for you not so handy at math, lol) before I start to notice some noise. So low-light photography is actually quite nice with the T7i, as are low-light movies. Another feature that's new to me coming from a T3i that I love is the grid that you can have showing in the view-finder. Before you had to buy a replacement viewfinder eye-piece to get a grid and they didn't offer one for the T3i. Now it's done digitally and it's awesome. My only gripe is that you can't actually customize what grid pattern you want. But it's definitely a step in the right direction. The phone also has a whole lot of connectivity features. It can connect to your phone via bluetooth and wifi, and even supports NFC for easy pairing. This is great, not just for the social-media-crazed millennial but also for backing up photos in case you find yourself running out of space on your SD card (and you didn't bring spare SD cards. SHAME!! lol). But yes, this also means you can easily share photos you just took with the T7i on social media. :-) Shooting movies is also great now with the servo AF feature. My T3i required that I manually focused while shooting movies. With the servo AF, the camera will actually follow the moving subject adjusting the focus on the fly. I mean, your cell phone can do it and so could my point-and-shoot Canon camera, but their old DSLRs actually didn't have that feature, but now (well, since like the T5i I think) they do and it's very useful. Speaking of movie mode, I very much like that they added another step in the power switch for movie mode instead of requiring you to turn the knob all the way to the very end to get to movie mode. Now you simply flip the switch to it. The swivel LCD is another great feature, although not new, my T3i had it, but still worth a mention. One difference, think starting with the T6i, is the LCD is now also a touchscreen. Although I turned mine off because I don't want to accidentally change anything since a lot of things can touch the screen, from my hands to my nose... I'd rather use the buttons which have a lot less chance of accidental activation. But I know everyone has been conditioned to love touchscreens, so it's there, hooray. :-) There are like a million features in this phone, so I think I'm going to stop listing them one-by-one here and instead point out one more that I think can make the difference between for someone who is unsure of the camera. I think one major reason someone would be unsure enough to be reading this long review before buying this, is actually someone who is thinking about getting this as a first DSLR. Meaning you've either only used point-and-shoot cameras, or even worse, you've only used your cell phone... lol. :-P So you might be a little intimidated by the idea of a DSLR with the different lenses and the switches and the buttons and you were probably hearing me and others rant about the ISO, APS-C, aperture, etc. and wondered what the heck that is and why they are good or bad... Well, completely understandable. And while I recommend reading some good books on the topic (Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson is an excellent one BTW), this phone has a new feature that is sure to make the transition a lot easier and less intimidating. Now the default LCD information view shows like a feature guide. Basically when you select a mode on the knob, the LCD will actually display an easy to understand summary of what that mode is called and basically what it means for your photo. Sometimes with some basic graphics to represent the differences. I turned this off and is using the old-style view, not because I'm a snob, but because I have used DSLRs before and have a little technical experience with it to know what they mean. The guided view is just too bright and I like the dark theme of the standard information view. But this new way of showing the different modes is actually quite awesome if you're just starting out with DSLR photography. I hope I've been somewhat informative with this review, but to end it, I would like to mention a few things I don't really like or things I would like to see improved or changed about this camera. First, I already kind of mentioned, but the grid view inside the viewfinder, they should give you options and the "thirds" grid should definitely be an option as the "rule of thirds" is a very good guide to follow in the absence of a clearer way to frame a photo. I hope in their future cameras they will have this. Or if somehow a firmware upgrade could add this, I'm not sure how hard-wired this grid is in the viewfinder if moving the lines would even be possible through software... Another thing I don't like is how they decided to "encode" their batteries. I'm sure there's some advantage to it, most likely safety to ensure you're using a genuine Canon battery they can quality control, but how it's affected me is that now buying an aftermarket battery means that you won't get a read-out of how much power you have left while using them. Not a huge deal, but it is kind of annoying. I like to have spare batteries, but at almost $60 a pop, no way I can afford to have a genuine Canon one. So I'll have to live with one made by a 3rd party and not knowing how much power is left in it if I have to use it... It also means the Canon charger will refuse to charge these batteries, so the 3rd party charger will be required to charge up these 3rd party batteries... The last downside, and perhaps the biggest one for some people, is the lack of 4K video recording. It's kind of a disappointment that phones can do it now but this DSLR still cannot. There are some comparably priced DSLRs from Nikon and others like Sony that have this feature. But honestly, even without this I will still prefer to stay with Canon simply because your camera is only as good as your lens, and Canon has probably the best lenses out there, but definitely without question has the widest selection of lenses to choose from. Besides those few things though, I'm very satisfied with this camera so far. HIGHLY recommend.