Camera Labs

Hi everyone, I've just finished a new 20 minute video comparing the Canon 600D / T3i against the Nikon D5100!

See my Canon T3i / 600D vs Nikon D5100 comparison!

Hope you find it useful! I'll also post this in the Nikon section, so please keep any comments here about the Canon, cheers!

PS - Jinay, I believe the optics on the new kit lens are the same as the old one - at least in terms of quality.

I did like the 1st part of the comparison. (Maybe a little overdone on the scenery changes, you're probably plying for a contract with NZ tourism, right? )

But the placeholder pic for the 2nd part says
"Sorry. The creator of this video has not given you permission to embed it on this domain. This is a Vimeo Plus feature."
Well I ain't gonna sign for a vimeo account, am I. So no 2nd part for me. What's the idea there though, or is it some kinda blunder?

Hendrik

Here the 2nd part work normally...

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Hendrik, it should work fine. Have you tried refreshing the page or viewing with a different browser? I haven't had any other complaints so far and it's been viewed several thousand times already via cameralabs...

If all else fails, you can watch it on vimeo itself.

PS - it costs nothing to sign up with a normal vimeo account, but you still shouldn't need it to play the video.

I filmed lots of footage of the Space Shuttle using the T3i / 600D's movie crop mode which you might enjoy on this page:

http://www.cameralabs.com/features/STS- ... otography/

Hum, look great, I wish I could afford

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We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.

Does the 60D share a case with any other models?

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Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: EFS 18-55mm IS, EF 50mm F/1.8 II

i had da choice to choose which camera to go for ..

EOS 550D or 600D or Nikon D5100

finally i choosed EOS 550D

its da Best for me ..

and i feel da articulated sceen will break in da near future accidentally !

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Canon EOS 550D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS Lens

I'm really not too nice with my cameras but my Canon Powershot SX 10's articulated screen still lives perfectly. It's scratched like hell but it isn't even close to losing it. And I guess the screens on the DSLRs are even a bit better / stronger.
Maybe the 600D's features aren't that impressive compared to the difference between 500D and 550D but still I'd love the screen and the better video mode.
But OK - I have to admit: I really use the video mode.

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

Considering this camera and or the D5100. Watched the review video and read about a million reviews at this time.

Good points on both sides for these models, but two things I cant resolve in my head at this point.

1) My past exp w/canon has been limited to digital point and shoot types. Not happy at all with them. Seem to be very, very slow, and getting slower over time (although I beat them up quite a bit)

2) T3i kit lens wasnt rated well, while the D5100 was, although I heard some bad things about lens mount issues on the Nikon (plastic lens mounts breaking etc.)

Saw in the video that while the T3i and D5100 are close in continuous mode, the Nikon buffer allowed for more shots in a given time. This has me worried that my exp with canon point and shoot issues could be more of a OEM wide issue. Is this the case?

Casual shooter (my kids sporting, family vacations, occasional artsy stuff) with penchant for getting creative. Budget will dictate I use the kit lens for a while until I invest into better glass.

Am I wrong to extrapolate quality from my exp w/ point and shoot models?

Yes.

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Hi CV63,

May I offer you a warm welcome to the CameraLabs forum.

I can't speak to either the T3i or the D5100 directly, having handled neither, but I suggest you forget your P&S experiences. If there were any trend that an OEM produced slower or less robust kit at any particular price point that would be flagged in posts all over the Net in an unmistakable way. You will always find complaints about this or that feature with any camera if you look hard enough so the trick is to ignore the noise!

If a difference in performance, as indicated by Gordon's reviews, is a deal breaker for your own personal needs then the decision makes itself. Otherwise your best bet is to get down to a store and fondle the goods! Politely ignore the sales person's patter and spend as much time with each camera as you need. How a camera feels "in hand" can be a surprisingly important factor in your decision and, in light of your question, you can also get to see what the lens mounts actually look like.

As for lenses, you can probably find out quite a lot from our Lens Gallery. Check out the index thread and follow the hyperlinks of interest.

So, as Ruben says, "Yes" - but I hope the above is a little more friendly to a new forum member.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Thanks. Seems like a good forum from what I have read so far. Lots of quality info.

I did manage to go to BB and check out both cameras after my post last night. Had to ignore the sales person as she stated there are no real differences between the models (why they dont use the web to inform themselves is beyond me).

I did find that the T3i in continuous mode seemed to not exhibit any real lag, but the Nikon did feel a little more responsive. Not enough to sway me one way or another though. One item I found interesting is the menu system on the Canon was suggested to be easier to navigate, but I personally found the D5100 more intuitive. Go figure. Personally I would rather have the fundamental elements in the form of a physical button/switch like my old Minolta X700, and thats from an IT guy.

I'll keep digging and reading. Thanks again for the response.

Has anyone had the chance to play around with movies on this camera, and if so, can you let me know how difficult (or not) it is to keep things in focus?

Been playing with both the D5100 and t3i in the store, but its not too easy to get a good feel on the focus issue. Didnt like how the D5100 goes in and out while trying to work out the focus, but is it still better than a human can do in a manual effort? I assume too that a greater DOF would help eliminate most of the need, so maybe a lens with a good DOF would be a good idea for video regardless of camera.

And how is it a dedicated video camera can accomplish this task but DSLRs struggle?

You partially answered your own question:



Most consumer camcorders have relatively deep DoF. Although, the other part is that they are dedicated video cameras. i.e. to flip that around, one might ask: why can't dedicated video cameras capture RAW stills/photos when DSLRs have no trouble doing this? Different tools designed for different tasks.

And while shooting with deep DoF will reduce focus issues, what will you do when the conditions you're shooting under do not allow you to do this? e.g. you want to video your kid's soccer game, which is played outdoors at night.

Which leads to the answer to your overall question:



It depends. How far are you from your subject? How much ambient light is there? How much movement is there? How fast is the movement? And "difficult" relative to what?

Mark