New T4i owner has a few questions

seri_art wrote:

I'm not new to Canon DSLRs; had an XSi since they were released in 2008, sold it last year. Now I'm back with a T4i.

- Additional battery - I've had good luck in the past with sterlingtek and greenbatteries. Does anyone have experience with them recently? Sterlingtek's version of the LP-E8 is $13, greenbatteries' is $30. Any difference in quality between them?

I've been using Sterlingtek in my 7D for a couple of years.  They seem to work just fine as far as how many shots per charge.  The only issue I see is they don't exactly track the remaining capacity as well as the Canon OEM batteries.  I have two of them and they have the same serial number so the camera can't tell them apart.  Apparently Sterlingtek puts the same serial number in all of its batteries.

- Eye-Fi card - This is new to me and I'm not yet sure how I'd use it, but I do like the idea of being able to see the photo you take quickly on a laptop (which I have) or tablet (which I don't have yet). I shoot RAW.

> Would I need to shoot RAW+JPG to see a shot quickly on a computer or tablet?

No, there are programs for iPads and Androids that will view Raw files directly.  I use RawDroid and it is definitely slower than viewing smaller JPEGs but it does handle the Raw files from the 7D.

> Is it correct that I'd need an Eye-Fi Pro card to transfer RAW files?

> Are there any drawbacks to using an Eye-Fi card rather than a regular SD card? Are Eye-Fi cards as fast? Fast enough for the T4i (including video)?

No test shots yet. Bought camera body off eBay and waiting for a couple of lenses to arrive, 40mm f/2.8 STM and 18-55mm IS STM kit.

I look forward to getting back into DSLR territory with the T4i. Hey, it has Auto-ISO in Manual mode!