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KatManDEW

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How's the focus on the 550's? Is there a big controversy about it, like there was with the 450's?
 
Thanks for the focusing feedback.

Does anyone happen to know if the 550D works with the wireless remotes, like I use with my 450D? I've been reading the specs and I can't tell if it does or not...
 
It works with wireless remotes that are designed for it but rather expensive. Currently I am using my TI-84 calculator and cord for triggering the shutter remotely one shot at a time or I also wrote a custom time lapse program to that I can put the T2i on a tripod and specify the # seconds delay between shots and how many shots to take then leave it there and let it do its thing till its done.

Now in final testing mode and is working surprisingly well so far.
 
I picked up a 550 today. So far I'm not impressed with the sharpness of the images compared to my 450, but I haven't had time to do much comparison yet. The color saturation and auto white balance might be a little better, but again, I haven't had enough time to come to a good conclusion.

I know good glass is even more important than ever with the 550, but if I can't get images as sharp as I get with the 450, using my existing lenses, I'm not going to be happy.

I'll be checking it out closely the next couple days. Any feedback and/or suggestions would be very welcome.
 
Update: I have now attained some shots with the 550 that seem to be as sharp as the same shot with my 450. I still need to do lots more testing and comparison, but I feel relieved...

One thing is for sure - the 550 is much more sensitive to light, which is a "good thing". I've had to stop the lens down, or drop the ISO speed, or use slower shutter speeds, or a combination thererof, or my shots are too bright and washed out, Again, this is a welcome change... Although my 450 isn't really bad in that respect, I have struggled with "the big three" to get bright enough shots with the 450. The original 300D was really bad in that respect. That pupply gave me fits.

Now if I could magically stumble on a bunch of good glass, I would probably tickled pink with the 550 ;-)
 
That makes sense. I have that lens, and it is sharper for sure, with every camera I have used it with. I haven't had time to fully evaluate my 550 with that lens.
gblansten said:
My T2i has been a bit more accurate using my 50mm 1.8 lens than my XTi.
Click to expand...
 
I was also originally dismayed as the T2i originally didn't even appear to take shots as well as the T1i. Even worse is that the camera took better low light pics in auto than I was getting from manual mode. I found that I have had to change my exposure habits to expose to the right now to obtain as much detail as possible without clipping colors. Otherwise the sensors are so sensitive they will compound the noise. Once I started doing this it was a jaw dropping experience as I started getting nice pics even at ISO 1600 and 3200.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Can you tell me what you had to change about your exposure habits, in general?

From what I have seen so sar, the T2i is so much more sensitive that I am substantially overexposing my shots. As I said in another message, I think this will be a "good thing", once I get used to it.
Rick Halle said:
I was also originally dismayed as the T2i originally didn't even appear to take shots as well as the T1i. Even worse is that the camera took better low light pics in auto than I was getting from manual mode. I found that I have had to change my exposure habits to expose to the right now to obtain as much detail as possible without clipping colors. Otherwise the sensors are so sensitive they will compound the noise. Once I started doing this it was a jaw dropping experience as I started getting nice pics even at ISO 1600 and 3200.
Click to expand...
 
The way i understand the "expose to the right" concept is that you try to shift the histogram as far to the right without highlight clipping. However, how does this technique work in practice? Do you first take the snap, check the histogram and then retake it by over-exposing it by say 1/3 ev (if there is scope to shift to the right) and again check the histogram? And then repeat the process if required.

Or is there some way to get accurate, shifted-to-the-right exposure in manual mode? To the best of my knowledge, you don't get histogram while taking the snap unless you are in live view mode (which unfortunately makes it difficult to hold the camera steady).

Also, i guess this technique throws the other principle of underexposing your shots to capture all details (exposure to be later corrected in pp) out of the window, right?
Rick Halle said:
I was also originally dismayed as the T2i originally didn't even appear to take shots as well as the T1i. Even worse is that the camera took better low light pics in auto than I was getting from manual mode. I found that I have had to change my exposure habits to expose to the right now to obtain as much detail as possible without clipping colors. Otherwise the sensors are so sensitive they will compound the noise. Once I started doing this it was a jaw dropping experience as I started getting nice pics even at ISO 1600 and 3200.
Click to expand...
 
dibs2010 said:
The way i understand the "expose to the right" concept is that you try to shift the histogram as far to the right without highlight clipping. However, how does this technique work in practice? Do you first take the snap, check the histogram and then retake it by over-exposing it by say 1/3 ev (if there is scope to shift to the right) and again check the histogram? And then repeat the process if required.
Click to expand...
Actually I usually don't need to adjust up as the T2i seems to be calibrated to lean that way already. I do however keep an eye on the histogram after each picture to see if I need to adjust and shoot it again. I've only taken a few shots with live view and that was only because I wanted the camera in a position where it was inconvenient to use the VF.
dibs2010 said:
Or is there some way to get accurate, shifted-to-the-right exposure in manual mode? To the best of my knowledge, you don't get histogram while taking the snap unless you are in live view mode (which unfortunately makes it difficult to hold the camera steady).
Click to expand...
In manual mode you can watch the exposure meter. After a while you will get accustomed to where the histogram will land based on what the exposure meter shows. Whenever I am uncertain I will bracket with about 2/3 stop to each side so I have 3 options to choose from.
dibs2010 said:
Also, i guess this technique throws the other principle of underexposing your shots to capture all details (exposure to be later corrected in pp) out of the window, right?
Click to expand...
That it does. After 25 years it's a hard habit to break. Not too hard though as the difference is huge. I have found though that even the areas that appear to be blown out sometimes still maintain some details. I.E. If I have a couple of small areas with highlights flashing I don't worry too much about them unless it is an area that has to have fine details. I think this is because the sensors are so sensitive that they capture details in the highlights that were not possible 6 or 7 years ago. To add to this I've readjusted the way I treat ISO settings too. With my 300D I always tried to stay at 200 ISO if possible and occasionally would use 400 in a pinch. I avoided 800 though. Now I have my T2i set to Auto with ISO 1600 as the max and I don't hesitate to switch to ISO 3200 if the light demands it. I'll even go to ISO 6400 in a pinch.

This pic here is at ISO 6400 as an example:

 
Thanks Rick for clarifying. This definitely helps a lot.

When in manual mode (which i am 95% of the time as i am still learning how to get a better handle on all the aspects of exposure), I just look at the light meter in the viewfinder and if it's in the middle, i assume that histogram will come out nicely. I will probably try to look at histogram more regularly now to better identify and judge the sweet spot for "shifted-just-right" exposure.

And yes 550d does help a lot with higher ISOs. I am also the proud owner of one :)
Rick Halle said:
dibs2010 said:
The way i understand the "expose to the right" concept is that you try to shift the histogram as far to the right without highlight clipping. However, how does this technique work in practice? Do you first take the snap, check the histogram and then retake it by over-exposing it by say 1/3 ev (if there is scope to shift to the right) and again check the histogram? And then repeat the process if required.
Click to expand...
Actually I usually don't need to adjust up as the T2i seems to be calibrated to lean that way already. I do however keep an eye on the histogram after each picture to see if I need to adjust and shoot it again. I've only taken a few shots with live view and that was only because I wanted the camera in a position where it was inconvenient to use the VF.
Rick Halle said:
Or is there some way to get accurate, shifted-to-the-right exposure in manual mode? To the best of my knowledge, you don't get histogram while taking the snap unless you are in live view mode (which unfortunately makes it difficult to hold the camera steady).
Click to expand...
In manual mode you can watch the exposure meter. After a while you will get accustomed to where the histogram will land based on what the exposure meter shows. Whenever I am uncertain I will bracket with about 2/3 stop to each side so I have 3 options to choose from.
Rick Halle said:
Also, i guess this technique throws the other principle of underexposing your shots to capture all details (exposure to be later corrected in pp) out of the window, right?
Click to expand...
That it does. After 25 years it's a hard habit to break. Not too hard though as the difference is huge. I have found though that even the areas that appear to be blown out sometimes still maintain some details. I.E. If I have a couple of small areas with highlights flashing I don't worry too much about them unless it is an area that has to have fine details. I think this is because the sensors are so sensitive that they capture details in the highlights that were not possible 6 or 7 years ago. To add to this I've readjusted the way I treat ISO settings too. With my 300D I always tried to stay at 200 ISO if possible and occasionally would use 400 in a pinch. I avoided 800 though. Now I have my T2i set to Auto with ISO 1600 as the max and I don't hesitate to switch to ISO 3200 if the light demands it. I'll even go to ISO 6400 in a pinch.

This pic here is at ISO 6400 as an example:

Click to expand...
 
One other thing I did was switch the hitogram to display rgb. With it set to RGB I can watch for it clipping colors.
 
Thanks for the tip.

I actually did that too few days ago after I read in some articles that brightness histogram is totally useless as in most cases it just replicates one of the three colors, usually green. So, what i have heard is that the brightness histogram will be identical to the shape of one of the three colors. Haven't tested it though but i find RGB more useful.
Rick Halle said:
One other thing I did was switch the hitogram to display rgb. With it set to RGB I can watch for it clipping colors.
Click to expand...
 
More testing and comparison continues to lead me to believe that I can get images from the 550 that are at least as sharp as images from my 450 (sigh of relief...).

I've been down sizing the 550 images to 12 mpix for an apples to apples comparison to 450 images, and this pretty much assures the images will be as sharp or sharper than the 450 images. And for the most part, when I get a well focused shot with the 550, it will be as least as sharp at 18 mpix as the 450 shot at 12 mpix.

And in every instance, I can more easily get images with the 550 that are bright enough, and the 550 images have better color, better white balance, and less noise.

450D...





550D at 12 mpix...





550D at 100% - 18 mpix...





450D...





550D at 12 mpix...





550D at 100% - 18 mpix



 
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