Thinking of Upgrading from Canon Rebel XS (1000D) to a Canon Rebel T3i (600D) or T4i

w1n78 wrote:

i'm in a similar situation but less experienced. i have an XS right now and one of the main reasons i'm looking for an upgrade is the ability to capture HD video. i narrowed it down to the 7D, 60D, and T4i. the 7D and 60D was too heavy for me and for what i will use it for is too much of a camera. what i really liked about the T4i was the use of Digic5 and the auto focus capability during video capture. i went to a local store and was able to try out my tamron lens on the T4i and got a chance to see what it could do. i suggest you do the same if possible. i brought my own memory card as well and was able to save images and videos.

the tamron is a bit slow with AF, noisy as well. the video recording on the T4i may not work as well with my tamron. it just kept focusing so i couldn't try out the video capture.

my cousin has a T3 and i was able to play with it using my tamron. it was an indoor event and i took some pictures. comparing between my XS and his T3 i found not much performance improvements indoors - although it is slightly faster. keep in mind, i'm no professional - i messed with P and M modes for a few minutes and took a handful of photos. i just wasn't impressed nor did i see huge improvements.

my suggestion is if possible to bring your favorite lens(es) to a store and see if you can play with the display models using your lens and memory card. maybe bring your XS and take the same photos and go home and compare. it is time consuming but at least you will get a better idea of what you'll be getting into. another thing i do is i go to flickr and search for photos that use the camera/lens combo. then i check out the exif data (if available) to give me a better idea of the camera's capability.

i also was able to play with the 40mm f/2.8 STM lens... wow! this sucker is dead silent when focusing and fast, on the T4i. took some pics and video and the low light performance is outstanding. i may have found my next lens after i pick up the T4i. hope that helps.

I had thought of taking a memory card, but your step further of taking my camera and lenses is even better. Comparing ISO noise levels in the store should be informative. Sounds like from you think the T3i isn't much of an upgrade in terms of ISO performance. Maybe I should hold off on getting a new camera and just focus on a good lens. I don't want to wait too long or I won't be able to get very much for my XS in resale.

I think the T4i's video upgrades would suit your needs well, as long as you know it's limits. It will never autofocus as well as a dedicated video camera, but I think it can produce some pretty good quality video as you could see from Alex's video. Good stuff, Alex, if you're reading. The STM lenses are the only ones that will focus quiet enough to be all that useful, and the 40mm is indeed a good choice. Decent low light and it doesn't hurt that it's cheap either. If you hadn't looked at the 18-135mm STM lens, it seems like a decent video lens given it's focal range. It wouldn't have the depth of field of the 40mm, but that could be a good thing for keeping focus. As I've said, video is definitely secondary (though an interest) in my search so I'm sure you can take my comments with a grain of salt.

I'm leaning more towards getting a new lens and leaving the body to be upgraded maybe after they replace it with a new sensor. After all it is something like 3 updated models that have it they're bound to replace it soon I'd hope. I'm hoping to go mess around with the cameras in store soon, haven't had the time lately. If I could get off my duff and sell some of the stuff I have laying around the house that I'm not using it wouldn't probably be as much of an issue which to buy now. But that's a problem for future Tony