Canon EOS Rebel T2i (with 18-55mm lens)

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Canon EOS Rebel T2i

Instead of replacing its tired, old XS and XSi models to compete with younger, sprier sub-$700 models from Nikon, Sony, and Pentax in that extremely popular price segment, Canon chose to release an update to its more expensive T1i in the less competitive $800-$1,000 range. Included in the new T2i--dubbed the EOS 550D overseas--are some notable enhancements to its video capabilities, an updated metering scheme inherited from the 7D, an enhanced LCD, and a resolution jump to 18 megapixels. While there are nits to pick with aspects of the camera and areas where even cheaper models outpace it, as an overall package, the T2i narrowly takes the place at the head of the pack of consumer dSLRs.

Although it's about 0.6 inch deeper, the T2i's body weighs the same 18.6 ounces and looks extremely similar to the T1i. The T2i has a very comfortable grip, textured and rubberized in all the places your fingers touch and workable for single-handed shooting. The T2i's control layout is almost identical to the T1i's layout. Canon redesigned many of the buttons--they're flatter, and a tad harder to feel--and now there's a dedicated button for jumping into the Quick Control panel. Other than those changes, the control layout is the same as it's been for many generations, and the layout pretty much works. However, I'd rather have the ISO button in place of the Picture Styles rather than on top of the camera--that's where most point-and-shoot upgraders would expect it to be, and would consolidate all the shooting controls in one spot. Canon did move the button that doubles as movie record and Live View enable. I'll make the same complaints on this that I brought up with the T1i: it doesn't have custom settings and Canon poorly the movie mode on the dial. The latter is cumbersome, in part because the dial doesn't spin 360 degrees, so jumping between movies and still shooting modes is seriously annoying.

As with most of Canon's consumer dSLRs for the past couple of years, Canon also includes Creative Auto mode. Creative Auto is a semimanual mode with capabilities you can view as an advanced Auto mode or dumbed-down Program mode, depending upon your viewpoint. All functions in CA are automated, with a few exceptions. Notably, it replaces shutter and aperture adjustment options with two sliding scales--Exposure (brighter/darker) and Background (blurred/sharp)--that implicitly adjust shutter speed and aperture. It's an increasingly common approach for beginners who'd like to take some chances. The camera also retains My Menu, which lets you build a go-to list of the most frequently accessed menu settings--in my case, for instance, format and metering settings. Canon also adopts the interactive control panel for directly changing most shooting settings via the information display on the LCD; you access it via the Q button.

I still dislike the viewfinder that Canon carries over several generations from the old XSi. It offers the same 95 percent coverage as its competitors, but at a lower magnification than some, and it uses the same horribly annoying tiny focus points that don't actually tell you if it's in focus; locked or not, it simply blinks, briefly. I had to turn on the indicator beep. (Yes, there's a focus lock indicator in the viewfinder, but it's down on the bottom right where it's a bit of a strain on your peripheral vision.)

Given Canon's focus on staying ahead of the field for video implementations in dSLRs, unsurprisingly the whizziest new feature of the T2i is support for 1080p video at 30 frames per second (as well as 24p and PAL-friendly 25p) and 720p at 60/50fps. Those video files may make the camera's SDXC card support a necessity. There's also a jack for an external microphone. Like its higher-end models, you get full manual controls and on-demand autofocus during shooting, which you don't really want to do with most lenses, as they're too noisy.

For photographers, the new high-resolution display--it uses a slightly wider 3:2 aspect ratio instead of the 4:3 ratio in the T1i--and the incorporation of the 7D's metering system is very welcome. The display is really nice, but you do need to crank the brightness to view it in direct sunlight, which can mess with your judgment when shooting video or trying to figure out if you've metering a scene correctly. Canon expanded the exposure compensation range up to five stops in either direction--and up to a whopping 7 stops for bracketing--but you're still limited to a 3-shot bracket and a range of two stops around the center.