Why the T4i,T5i, and T6i are a waste of money for video

[CJwhoopers]

I feel the need to inform you guys on why upgrading to the newest canon rebels is not really worth it if video is your main focus. The specs that have changed over the years have been pretty cool im not going to argue that. Touch screen, wifi compatable, a few more pixels added and maybe for photos its a bit quicker and more accurate.  But in terms of someone that wants to do videos with this camera nothing has really changed. All the models from the T2i and above have had the same video settings.

Here is a prime example of why knowing how to use your camera to the fullest of its ability will out do buying the newer model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BwUo8ci9Q&t=0s

Its not what the camera can do, it's what you can do with the camera.

[kvbarkley]

Thanks for sharing.

Good thing I did not buy my T6S for video, then!

Actually, other than some improvement in liveview focus, they have been taking away features, mainly some resolution/framerate options.

[CJwhoopers]

Ya I have been noticing the same thing! A little frustrating, but maybe they are pushing the seires into a photography oriented camera and want buyers to look at their other cameras for video.

[Waddizzle]

How much has video changed since the release of the T3i?

[TCampbell]

There actually is one fairly significant difference.... back in the days of the T2i and T3i a somewhat common complaint was that the camera didn't provide continuous auto-focus while shooting video.  Consumers were expecting the camera to work like a camcorder.   

To auto-focus you had to either (a) manually focus or (b) press the AF button to force it to do an auto-focus but it would use contrast-detect AF which performed a "focus hunt" and you'd watch the camera focus in & out until it finally refined correct focus on the subject.

Canon added "Hybrid CMOS AF" directly on the sensor for the T4i.  This allowed continuous AF on the sensor so now the camera can work a bit more like a camcorder.  

But on the higher end cameras they didn't use Hybrid CMOS AF, they used Dual Pixel CMOS AF (a better system).  The 70D, 80D, 5D IV, 7D II, and 1D X Mark II all have this system but it was never available in a Rebel body... until Canon recently added it in the T7i.

With the CMOS based AF systems, the camera can perform focus analysis much like true phase-detect AF system.  When a subject is out of focus, the phase mis-match tells the camera both how much of a focus change is needed as well as which direction it needs to go.  This causes the camera to pretty much just nail every focus change with no "focus hunt" when you use the touch-screen to shift focus from one subject to another.  And also it allows the camera to accurately track auto-focus on a subject if the distance is changing.

When manually pulling focus, if you wanted a higher production quality video, you'd probably pre-set your focus points and manually perform the focus changes ... shifting from one subject to another by hand.  Some videographers will wrap a piece of tape (painters tape or gaffer tape) around the focus ring... then they'd focus to subject 'a', and put a mark on the tape... then focus to subject 'b' and put a mark on the tape... etc.  Then when shooting the clip, they'd perform the focus transition from point 'a' to point 'b' and you'd get this nice smoother and perfect focus transition.

But consumers who aren't trying to make something with high production value aren't going to go through that hassle.

So the noteable Rebel cameras for video were the T4i (which intorduced Hybrid CMOS AF) followed by the T7i (which introduced Dual-Pixel CMOS AF) and pair that with Canon's "STM" lenses.

[Waddizzle]

Camera video features may have changed over the years, but the popular video formats have not.

[kvbarkley]

I stand corrected, I thought for sure that I had an older camera with more video modes*, but the T3i is the same as the T6S and my XTi did not take movies.

(*I thought I had one better suited for slow motion, but I guess not.)

[TCampbell]

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@kvbarkley wrote:

I stand corrected, I thought for sure that I had an older camera with more video modes*, but the T3i is the same as the T6S and my XTi did not take movies.

(*I thought I had one better suited for slow motion, but I guess not.)

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Frame rates establish this.  Some cameras can record at up to 60 fps (some special cameras can record even faster).

Of the Rebel line, the T2i and only the T2i had a 640x480 "crop mode" at 60 fps.  The other models have a 640x480 mode but that's really just letting you decrease the resolution on the full sensor.  Crop mode actually uses only the pixels in the middle of the sensor and it allows the camera to grab just those pixels... and at a much faster frame rate.  (The same feature is also found uniquely on the 60D & 60Da - but those aren't in the "Rebel" series so I didn't include them.)  

For planetary imaging, that 640x480 "crop" mode at 60fps is the preferred way to do planetary imaging with a Canon EOS camera.   But it's not a mode I'd imagine gets a whole lot of use by most others.

[tebrashear]

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TCampbell wrote:

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For planetary imaging, that 640x480 "crop" mode at 60fps is the preferred way to do planetary imaging with a Canon EOS camera.   But it's not a mode I'd imagine gets a whole lot of use by most others.

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I recently upgraded from an XT to a t6s, so, with regard to video, the relative merits between t2 family and t6 family are not that important to me.  However, I am curious. I want to experiment using the t6s video with stacking, for planetary imaging as well as deep space. Are you saying that video resolution hasn't improved beyond 640x640?

Also, what has been your experience with adapting the canon camera using a mechanical mount (image taken through both telescope eyepiece and camera lens)?  I was told that you cannot use the Canon EOS to take video when using a "t", without the camera lens attached.

[ebiggs1]

If I wanted to do video, I would buy a video camera.  Not a still camera that doubles as a video camera.