Canon EOS 550D / T2i Movie Mode review and tutorial

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Canon EOS 550D / T2i Movie Mode Review!

The EOS 550D / Rebel T2i becomes Canon’s most recent DSLR to activity HD video recording, and afterwards the hardly hobbled capabilities of the beforehand 500D / T1i, the aggregation has gone complete to affect with the fresh model.

Indeed the EOS 550D / T2i appearance annihilation beneath than the aforementioned video capabilities of the high-end EOS 7D. So it’s out with the black 20fps 1080p approach of its antecedent and in with 1080p in the best of 24, 25 or 30fps, forth with 720p and accepted analogue options, chiral acknowledgment control, an alien microphone input, and a cast fresh affection you won’t alike acquisition on the EOS 7D.

Considering the video capabilities of the EOS 7D were already absorbing for a semi-pro model, it’s admirable to acquisition them in a anatomy costing bisected the price. Canon’s acutely articular video as a key affairs point for DSLRs, and doesn’t appetite to accommodation alike an aerial entry-level model.

So like EOS 7D afore it, the 550D / T2i allows you to blur at either 1920×1080, 1280×720 or 640×480 pixels. The Abounding HD 1920×1080 approach can be set to almanac at either 30fps (29.97 actual) or 24fps aback the Video Arrangement is set to NTSC, and 25 or 24fps aback set to PAL. The 1280×720 and 640×480 modes almanac at a college anatomy amount of either 60fps (59.94 actual) aback set to NTSC or 50fps aback set to PAL. The screen-grabs actuality appearance the affection folio aback the video arrangement is set to NTSC or PAL.

The admittance of a 24fps advantage at 1920×1080 pixels will contentment complete blur makers who were balked with the anchored 30fps acceleration of beforehand models. Anyone absent to accommodate footage into PAL projects will additionally be admiring to acquisition a 25fps advantage which matches their video standards. And bethink while a firmware amend allows the top-end EOS 5D Mark II to shoot 1080p at 24 and 25fps forth with the aboriginal 30fps setting, there’s still no 720p options.

Here’s a sample blow filmed with the EOS 550D / T2i beneath ablaze altitude in its Auto approach at 1080 / 30fps. We acclimated the EF-S 18-105mm IS lens with IS disabled and the camera army on a tripod.

Immediately afterward this blow we filmed the aforementioned arrangement application the 25 and 24fps modes, forth with the 720 options at both 60 and 50 fps for comparison.

Like the EOS 5D Mark II and EOS 7D, there’s a congenital address microphone and, impressively for a camera of its class, a 3.5mm stereo mini jack to affix an alien microphone. The use of an alien microphone, like the Rode stereo model, can transform the audio affection and is awful recommended over the centralized microphone. As before, video is encoded application H.264 with uncompressed PCM audio, stored in a QuickTime MOV adhesive – and as before, while the balmy video compression ensures abundant quality, the encoding architecture charcoal a claiming to adapt (or alike play) calmly on abounding computers. You’ll additionally charge a Chic 6 (or higher) SD agenda to abutment the best recording times, such as any of the SanDisk Ultra III or Extreme models.

The best time per book charcoal 29 account and 59 abnormal or 4GB, whichever happens first. You’re attractive at about 330MB per minute in any of the HD cine modes, with the 720 advantage arresting the aforementioned as the 1080 due to its college anatomy rates. So that 4GB book complete will absolutely be accomplished afterwards about 12 minutes, behindhand of the HD affection setting.

This is a bitter-sweet aftereffect as on the one duke it’s nice to accept a 720 book at 60 / 50fps for capturing fast activity or avaricious still frames from the footage, but on the added duke anyone who’s struggled to adapt ample 1080p files would accept accustomed a lighter 720 option. So it seems base to accuse afterwards Canon’s gone from two to bristles altered HD modes amid the 500D / T1i and the 550D / T2i, but it’d be admirable if we could additionally either accept a 720 approach at 30 / 25 / 24fps or some college compression options for added acquiescent output.

At this point it’s account comparing the accessories of the Nikon D5000 and D90. They alone activity a distinct HD cine approach at 1280×720 pixels and 24fps, with audio captured by a congenital microphone alone – you’d charge the D300s for an alien microphone input. Nikon’s video files are encoded application the Motion JPEG architecture and stored in an AVI wrapper. The best book admeasurement is 2GB, although added restrictions complete the HD approach to bristles minutes. So the Canon EOS 550D / T2i not alone offers college resolution 1080p video, but the best of anatomy rates, best best recording times per book and an alien microphone input. The alone affair in the Nikon’s favour at this point is the Motion JPEG format, which may assume old ancient compared to the H.264 of Canon, but it’s appreciably easier to assignment with on your computer.

Moving aback to the EOS 550D / T2i, Canon may accept adopted the higher-end 7D’s video modes, but the cine approach itself is activated in a agnate way to the 500D / T1i. So rather than flicking the 7D’s committed Alive Appearance / Cine switch, you’ll charge to about-face the 550D / T2i’s approach punch to the cine camera icon. Accomplishing so flips accessible the mirror and bang to bear a alive augment to the screen, afterwards which you artlessly columnist the committed Alive Appearance button (with a red dot abutting to it) to alpha and stop recording.

With the cine approach running, you’ll see the angel affected with cellophane borders at the top and basal for the 16:9 HD modes or at the abandon for the 4:3 SD modes. The borders aback cutting in HD are thinner than on antecedent models acknowledgment to the added 3:2 aspect arrangement of the screen, although this additionally explains the vertical confined for narrower 4:3 footage. The complete 3:2 anatomy is arresting abaft the borders to acknowledge what would be captured if you apprenticed the bang absolution button all the way bottomward to booty a photo. Yes, demography still photos is accessible while filming – and at the abounding 18 megapixel resolution if adapted – but accomplishing so will arrest your video for about one second.

Pressing the Affectation button cycles amid a apple-pie view, one with basal cutting capacity superimposed forth the basal of the frame, and a third which overlays six added settings alive bottomward the larboard side. Like accustomed Alive View, you can anon acclimatize any of these settings by aboriginal acute the Q button, afore application the cantankerous keys to highlight the adapted ambience afresh axis the feel caster to change it. Actuality you accept the adeptness to acclimatize the White Balance, Picture Style, Auto Lighting Optimizer, still photo quality, video affection and the AF mode.

The aforementioned options and added besides are accessible by acute the Agenda button. This presents two fresh agenda pages committed to cine options which aren’t arresting with the camera set to any added mode. So while it can be initially ambagious not to acquisition any cine options aback accidentally browsing the airheaded in added modes, it does at atomic abstain abeyant conflicts.

The additional cine agenda folio is breadth you’ll acquisition the advantage to affectation one of two alignment grids, forth with switching the acknowledgment approach from Auto to abounding Manual. In Auto, the cine approach will automatically acclimatize the aperture, bang and sensitivity, and like antecedent Canon DSLRs, it has a alternative for selecting almighty baby apertures and aerial ISOs alike beneath ablaze light, conceivably in an attack to maximise the depth-of-field – see awning grabs above, breadth in Auto, the camera’s called 1/60 at f29. Thankfully the about baby anatomy sizes of video alike in HD (1080p absolutely alone actuality about 2 Megapixels) agency diffraction not generally becomes an affair at these baby apertures, but any adventitious of a bank depth-of-field is out of the window, and you additionally run the accident of dust marks acceptable added visible.

Thankfully the Chiral acknowledgment advantage allows you to booty ascendancy and advisedly baddest ample apertures to minimise the depth-of-field, or lower ISOs to maximise the quality. Aloof like Chiral for still photos, the bang acceleration is anon adapted with the feel dial, while the breach is set by aboriginal acute and captivation the acknowledgment advantage button like a about-face key. Bang speeds from 1/4000 to 1/60 (in all the VGA and 720 modes) or 1/30 (in all the 1080 modes) are available, as are sensitivities from 100-6400 ISO, while any breach offered by the lens can be selected. The acknowledgment ethics are recorded and apparent in playback for clips attempt in Manual, but not Auto – you can see an archetype actuality for the blow below.

It’s admirable to accept chiral ascendancy over exposures from day-one, as the automated approach generally chooses actual baby apertures and thereby eliminates any adventitious of adequate a nice bank depth-of-field – one of the above allowances of application a DSLR for video in the aboriginal place.

The blow adverse demonstrates the affectionate of aftereffect that’s accessible with the EOS 550D / T2i aback adapted with the accepted EF-S 18-135mm IS kit lens. We filmed it with the lens zoomed-in and abreast to its abutting absorption ambit with the breach wide-open to maximise the bank depth-of-field effect. We afresh artlessly angry the chiral absorption arena to selectively focus amid the beginning and accomplishments and aback again.

Like the EOS 7D, the 550D / T2i offers auto-focusing while filming, but afore you get too excited, it’s adequately useless. Aboriginal of all, it doesn’t accomplish continuously like a camcorder (or the Panasonic GH1). Instead it alone refocuses aback you half-press the bang absolution and worse, takes several abnormal to do so application the contrast-based Alive mode. So while you can refocus while filming, you’ll aloof end up recording the adequate acclimation process. To be fair, it’s occasionally accessible for ensuring the accountable is in focus after manually adjusting the lens or departure to accomplish an automated reading, but it’s a action you’ll absolutely appetite to adapt out later. You can attenuate autofocus while filming if desired.

You can additionally booty a photo while filming by acute the bang absolution button all the way down, but while the camera continues filming afterwards, you finer lose about one second’s account of footage. Should you appetite to advance anyway, the photo will be captured at the affection ambience in the capital menu, so you can get pleasure the abounding 18 Megapixels if desired. Canon’s suppliedcomputer application can additionally grab frames from cine footage.

So far, the 550D / T2i’s cine approach reads like the EOS 7D, but as mentioned at the start, it boasts a cast fresh affection you won’t acquisition on the higher-end model: a Cine Crop mode. This shoots accepted analogue VGA video, but rather than booty (or combine) pixels from the complete acme of the sensor, alone the axial 640×480 pixels are used. Since these absorb a baby circumscribed breadth in the average of the frame, the captured appearance is finer abstract over the accustomed cutting modes. In fact, the Cine Crop approach finer multiplies the focal breadth by 7.2x, acceptance you to get abundant afterpiece to abroad detail.

Since there’s no pixel-binning demography place, the angel can become blatant beneath annihilation added than ablaze conditions, and unsurprisingly the absorption becomes absolutely critical. It’s like application the abstract focus abetment in Alive View, but afresh absolutely recording what you see bushing the awning rather than abandoning to a accustomed deepening already confirmed. But for the appropriate subjects, the aftereffect can be impressive.

Here’s a blow filmed with the EOS 550D / T2i in its accepted analogue cine approach with the EF-S 18-135mm IS kit lens absolutely zoomed-in and acicular at the Moon. As you’d apprehend from an able focal breadth of aloof 216mm, the lunar angel is tiny, but by switching the approach to the Cine Crop option, the axial allocation of the anatomy is abstract by 7.2x, giving an agnate focal breadth of 1555mm.

Now the Moon fills over bisected the frame. If you had a 70-300mm, the able focal breadth aback zoomed-in would jump from 480mm to a whopping 3456mm, acceptance you to added good see atrium and abundance detail. Of advance this would crave analytical focusing, a abiding tripod and ideal atmospheric conditions, but the possibilities are exciting.

The downside is the Cine crop approach is alone accessible in accepted analogue VGA. Of advance if it were offered in HD on a 720p or 1080p frame, the deepening would abate to 4x or 2.7x acknowledgment to the alive breadth application a beyond allocation of the sensor – but it would still accept been a absolutely nice option. Coincidentally, Canon’s own PowerShot SX1 IS offers a agnate ability in HD with a 2x approach at 1080p. So amuse Canon can we accept a firmware amend which allows Cine crop filming in HD?

As for the all-embracing affection and administration of the cine mode, the acquaintance and after-effects are unsurprisingly agnate to application the EOS 7D. As such, the EOS 550D / T2i is able of carrying superb-looking after-effects in both ablaze and low light. It’s accessible to access the cine approach and alpha filming, the best of resolutions and anatomy ante allows you to accommodate footage into about any project, the chiral acknowledgment ascendancy gives you the artistic abandon which archetypal camcorders can alone dream of, and the alien microphone ascribe allows far above audio quality.

As with all DSLR video modes though, there are caveats. First, the alarming jello aftereffect can still rear its arch beneath assertive conditions. After alternative mountings, the DSLR anatomy agency additionally isn’t decidedly adequate to handle for filming, and it’s catchy to cull focus or acclimatize the zoom after agee or wobbling the camera. Indeed after a motorised zoom and connected AF, the 550D / T2i, like all video-equipped DSLRs to date, is no backup for a customer camcorder. And alike if you do abduction the complete sequence, the ample files can be catchy to adapt on all but the fastest computers.

But as we’ve said before, cameras like the 550D / T2i are complete for capturing clips or sequences which a customer camcorder would contrarily acquisition difficult or impossible. These could afresh be amid into a activity to aroma it up, and the 550D / T2i’s best of anatomy ante beggarly you’ll calmly accommodate it into PAL, NTSC or alike 24fps feature-film footage.

Once afresh it’s the complete blur makers or actual austere amateurs who’ll absolutely acknowledge the 550D / T2i’s cine capabilities. They’ll already be acclimated to manually affairs focus breadth all-important and alive about the caveats to accomplish great-looking footage.

Ultimately the EOS 5D Mark II’s bigger sensor may activity greater abeyant for bank depth-of-field furnishings and low ablaze performance, but by analogous the 7D’s achievement at a sub-$1000 amount point, Canon has actively aloft the bar for video on an entry-level DSLR. Video is an complete highlight of the EOS 550D / T2i and it’s admirable to accept this amount of ascendancy in a camera this amount – aloof bethink to shop for a Chic 6 agenda or college to get pleasure the abounding experience. You can see some added examples of its footage in our HD video tour