Canon EOS 600D Review

March 22, 2011 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star Half rating star

Introduction

The 18 megapixel Canon EOS 600D (called the Digital Rebel T3i in North America) is a new DSLR camera that sits above last year's 550D / T2i at the top of Canon's entry-level EOS line-up. The 600D / T3i offers a 1,040,000-dot vari-angle LCD screen, a 63-zone metering sensor - identical to the one used in the more expensive EOS 7D - standard ISO settings of 100-6400 (expandable to 12800), and 3.7fps continuous shooting. The 600D's video mode features 1080p Full HD recording at 24/25/30fps and 720p HD capture at either 50 or 60fps, with full manual control over exposure and gain. The Canon EOS 600D / T3i is priced at £679.00/€819.00/$799.99 for the body only, £769.00/€929.00/$899.99 with the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II lens, and £949.00/€1,149.00/$1099.99 with the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens.

Ease of Use

Outwardly, the Canon EOS 600D / Rebel T3i is virtually identical its predecessor, with a few tweaks to accomodate the new vari-angle LCD screen. It is a fairly small camera with a largely plastic shell and a pretty narrow, mildly uncomfortable hand-grip. The emphasis is on the word "mildly", though - in actual use, the size and shape of the grip proved not to be too much of an annoyance. In terms of build quality, the Canon EOS 600D / T3i certainly feels solid enough for a consumer-grade DSLR, although not in the same league as the semi-professional EOS 60D and 7D models. Like all of Canon's APS-C digital SLR cameras, the EOS 600D / T3i is compatible with the manufacturer's entire line-up of lenses, including both EF and EF-S glass. When changing lenses, EF lenses need to be aligned with the red dot on the lens mount, whereas EF-S lenses must be aligned with the white mark.

Most of the controls are in the same place as on the 550D, with the changes being mostly cosmetic in nature. The Display button has moved next to the ISO button on top of the camera to make way for the new Info button on the rear. The shape of some buttons and the rear thumb-grip area have also changed somewhat to allow the LCD screen to be pulled out, while the controls on the left-hand side of the 600D (viewed from the rear) have been split into two to accomodate the side-mounted hinge for the screen. All of the buttons are clearly labelled but, being flush to the body, can be a little hard to press at times.

The 1,040,000-dot resolution of the rear LCD panel may not sound like a lot more than the 920,000 dots of the older 500D's display, but given that the screen has an aspect ratio of 3:2 - i.e. identical to that of the sensor - the photos fill the screen completely, with no black stripes along the top and bottom. More importantly the 60D is the second EOS DSLR to feature an articulated screen. It's taken quite some time for Canon to realise that the full potential of Live View and video shooting can only be exploited if it's delivered on a hinged screen, but it makes perfect sense on the consumer-oriented 600D. In terms of flexibility, Canon's left-hinged, free-angle monitor is on a par with those offered by Olympus and Panasonic, and significantly more flexible with those found on Sony and Nikon DSLRs. The high-res, free-angle LCD screen is much more than just a novelty - it's a lot more versatile than the usual combination of optical viewfinder and fixed LCD, providing new angles of view and enhancing your overall creativity. Above all, it's a fun way of composing your images.

We tested the EOS 600D with the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II lens, which offers a fairly standard focal range for a kit lens and crucially includes image stabilisation. This is important for Canon, as competitors like Sony, Olympus and Pentax all offer image stabilisation in their DSLRs. The difference between Canon (and Nikon) and the others is that Sony, Olympus and Pentax have opted for stabilisation via the camera body, rather than the lens, which therefore works with their entire range of lenses. Canon's system is obviously limited by which lenses you choose, but it does offer the slight advantage of showing the stabilising effect through the viewfinder. Canon and Nikon also claim that a lens-based anti-shake system is inherently better too, but the jury's out on that one.

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Front Rear

The EOS 600D's top-mounted shooting mode dial has a multitude of letters and icons. The so-called Creative Zone features Programmed Auto (P), Shutter Priority (Tv), Aperture Priority (Av), Manual (M) and A-DEP modes. The first four of these need no explanation, but A-DEP might be new to those who have never used a Canon SLR camera before. The abbreviation stands for Automatic Depth of Field, as in this mode, the camera will pick an f-stop that allows all the subjects covered by the nine AF points to be sharply rendered, and will also calculate and set the necessary shutter speed on its own.

The new fully-automatic Scene Intelligent Auto mode replaces the 550D's Full Auto mode, analysing the scene in front of you and automatically picking the best settings, much like the systems used by lot of digital compacts. Also reflecting its more consumer-friendly nature, the 600D offers a number of creative filters, as previously seen on Canon's range of compact cameras. Soft Focus dramatizes an image and smooths over any shiny reflections, Grainy Black and White creates that timeless look, Toy Camera adds vignetting and color shift, and Miniature Effect makes a scene appear like a small-scale model, simulating the look from a tilt-shift lens. All of these filters can be applied to both JPEG and RAW files either before or after taking the picture.

The camera also has a Creative Auto mode which is targeted at beginners who have grown out of using the Scene Intelligent Auto mode, allowing you to change a few key settings using the LCD screen via a simple slider system for changing the aperture and exposure compensation, or Background and Exposure as the camera refers to them. Creative Auto has been extended with the introduction of Basic +. Essentially a more extreme version of the well-established Picture Styles, this offers nine options including Standard, Vivid, Soft, Warm, Intense, Cool, Brighter, Darker and Monochrome, all of which can be interactively tweaked to suit your taste.

There's a host of scene modes including Flash Off, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Portrait and, oddly enough for an interchangeable-lens camera, a close-up mode as well. The majority of these scene modes allow users who do not want to fiddle with shutter speeds, f-stops, white balance or ISO settings to let the camera know what type of photo they are about to take, which helps the EOS 600D / T3i to optimise these settings for that particular subject. We struggled to see the point of the close-up mode though, as the quality of one's close-up shots depends more on the use of the right kinds of accessory - such as a macro lens and possibly a ring flash - than any camera setting. The new Feature Guide in the EOS 600D’s menu system usefully provides a brief description of each setting and its effect.

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Front Top

Reflecting its more consumer-friendly nature, the 600D offers a number of creative filters, as previously seen on Canon's range of compact cameras. Soft Focus dramatizes an image and smooths over any shiny reflections, Grainy Black and White creates that timeless look, Fish-eye mimics the distortion provided by an expensive fish-eye lens, Toy Camera adds vignetting and color shift, and Miniature Effect makes a scene appear like a small-scale model, simulating the look from a tilt-shift lens. All of these filters can be applied to both JPEG and RAW files either before or after taking the picture.

In the Creative Zone, the photographer gets to set a lot of shooting variables, including white balance, sensitivity, AF mode, exposure compensation, drive mode and so on. Most of these functions have their own dedicated buttons - ISO on the top panel, the rest on the back - while others can be set on the interactive status screen accessible via the Q (quick control) button. Examples for the latter include file quality settings, metering mode, flash exposure compensation and Auto Lighting Optimiser.

The available white balance settings are Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent and Custom; there is no way to enter a Kelvin value manually. You can fine-tune any of the presets using the White Balance Correction feature. The ISO speed can be changed by pressing the ISO button and turning the control wheel in front of it. You do not have to hold down the button while turning the wheel. The ISO speed can be set from ISO 100 to ISO 6,400 in full-stop increments. If you turn ISO Expansion on in the Custom Functions menu, you can even dial in ISO 12,800; a boosted setting. Auto ISO is also available. The chosen ISO speed is also displayed in the viewfinder.

The EOS 600D / T3i offers a range of three auto focus modes (One Shot, AI Focus and AI Servo) and there's a 9-point AF module with a cross-type centre point and eight line-type AF sensors. One Shot AF is equivalent to AF-S, while AI Servo is the same thing as AF-C on other manufacturers' models. AI Focus is similar to what some other camera makers call AF-A in that it automatically switches from One Shot AF to AI Servo if a still subject starts moving. As regards AF point selection, it can be done manually by hitting the AF point selector button first, then using the four-way controller to select the AF point. The chosen/active AF point lights up in red in the viewfinder. In use, we have found the AF system to be pretty quick even with the kit lens, although the focus motor was a bit loud for our tastes (not surprisingly, given that the 18-55mm IS lens does not have USM).

There are a number of drive modes available on the Canon EOS 600D / T3i. These include Single Shot, Continuous Shooting, Self-timer and Remote Controlled Shooting. In Continuous Shooting mode, the camera can take pictures at a speed of 3.7 frames per second for up to 34 Large Fine JPEGs or 6 raw files. This is identical to the EOS 550D but much slower than the 8fps of the 7D - which is no wonder given that the 7D has two Digic 4 processors, while the 600D / T3i has only one.

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Rotating LCD Screen Side

The metering modes offered by the camera include Centre-weighted, Evaluative, Partial and Spot. The difference between Partial and Spot metering is that the former uses 9% of the frame area, whereas the latter uses only 4% (still a bit too much for spot metering, but there you go). Both of these selective metering modes are midtone-based; there is no highlight- or shadow-based spot metering available as with some rivals. In use, we've found that the Evaluative metering mode provided fairly good exposures with a variety of subjects, thanks to the advanced 63-zone metering sensor. When shooting contrasty scenes, it is worth using the Evaluative mode in conjunction with the Auto Lighting Optimiser feature, accessible by hitting the Q button and using the interactive status panel.

The Live View button is within easy reach of your right thumb. Using this button it is easy to enter Live View, but it takes a surprising amount of time for the camera to actually display the live image (think several seconds). A grid line display and very useful live histogram can be enabled to help with composition and exposure, and you can zoom in by up to 10x magnification of the image displayed on the LCD screen. Focusing in Live View has been simplified, you no longer need to use the * button to initiate auto focus but can use a half-press of the shutter release as normal.

There are three auto focus options in Live View, including Quick, Live and Face Detection. The use of the Quick mode briefly interrupts the live view feed as the mirror is momentarily lowered so that the AF sensors can be engaged, and it also involves a lot of mirror slapping for the same reason. Live view mode circumvents this problem by employing a contrast-detect method. While this is slower, and sometimes it may still take up to three seconds for the camera to lock focus in this mode, I have found that about half a second was enough most of the time. This is still too slow for anything that moves - use the optical finder and the regular auto focus module for that type of shooting - but it is perfectly OK with still subjects. Obviously, you can also opt to focus manually - the large and high-res screen is a real boon to those who do this on a regular basis. As noted above, you can even magnify into the live image, by up to 10x, which allows very accurate focusing.

Live View is also used for the Canon EOS 600D / T3i's movie mode. If you turn the mode dial to the position denoted by the movie camera icon, the camera will enter Live View automatically. Before you start filming, you need to focus on the subject either manually or using auto focus as described above, and optionally set exposure and ISO. To be able to do this, you first need to enter the menu, highlight "Movie exposure" on the relevant tab, and select "Manual". Now you can set aperture, shutter speed (within limits) and ISO manually. Note that even if you do not enable manual exposure for movies, you can still use functions like AE lock and exposure compensation if you feel a need for it.

Once everything is set up, you start filming by hitting the Live View/Record button on the back of the camera. The EOS 600D / T3i will not automatically adjust focus during filming, but you can initiate auto focus at any time while recording a clip. However, be warned that this can do more harm than good, as the microphone can pick up the sound of the focus motor, and the subject might even go out of focus for a few seconds. Setting a small aperture and relying on depth of field for focus is a better idea. Of course you may wish to utilise the DSLR's ability to produce footage with a shallow depth of field, but in that case, it might be a wise idea to purchase a couple of third-party accessories that make manual focusing and focus pulling easier.

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Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

The EOS 600D has a large choice of frame rates, offering a choice of 24, 25 or 30fps when recording Full HD video clips, and 50/60fps when shooting at 720p or VGA resolution. Note however that the available frame rates are also dependent on what you have set in the menu under "Video system": NTSC or PAL. Another novelty of the EOS 600D / T3i is that if you shoot a standard-definition clip, you can use a function called "Movie crop". This means that you can tell the camera to use only the central 640×480 pixels on the sensor to record video, which effectively gives you nearly 10x magnification. This can come in handy when you do not have the necessary telephoto reach to film something that is happening at a distance.

The EOS 600D's built-in pop-up flash now features a built-in Integrated Speedlite Transmitter for controlling up to two groups of off-camera Speedlites without the need for an external transmitter. Note that it doesn't have a more advanced PC Sync port for connecting the camera to external lights, limiting the 600Ds use in studio environments. There's also the expected hotshoe for use with one of Canon's external flashguns.

There is a built-in microphone for mono recording, and you can connect an external microphone equipped with a stereo mini plug to the camera's external microphone IN terminal. The new Video Snapshot feature allows short clips of 2, 4 or 8 sec to be merged into a single movie file, for footage that is short, easy to edit and of similar lengths to the clips used in most TV programmes. The clips are saved to a Video Snapshot Album and you can even add a soundtrack in-camera.

The camera runs on a proprietary LP-E8 battery which, according to measurements that conform with CIPA standards, provides enough power for 400-440 images when using the optical viewfinder, and about 150-180 shots with Live View or about one and a half hours of video recording. The battery can be charged in the supplied LC-E8(E) charger. Also in the box is a neck strap, a software CD and a user manual, which Canon thankfully provides in printed form, in several languages.

In use, we found the Canon EOS 600D / Rebel T3i to be a responsive and versatile camera that almost never got in the way of picture taking. As noted earlier, the auto focus was fast when using the optical viewfinder, and not always painstakingly slow when using Live View, either. Its continuous shooting speed is about average for its class, though its six-frame raw buffer is smaller than we'd like. It takes a bit of time for the camera to fully start up if you wait for the sensor cleaning cycle to be completed, but as sensor cleaning can always be interrupted at a half-press of the shutter release, this is not a real issue. The only thing we found to be truly and somewhat inexplicably slow was entering Live View - it invariably took several seconds for the camera to raise its mirror and display the live image.

This concludes our evaluation of the EOS 600D's ergonomics, handling, feature set and performance. Let's take a look at its Image Qality next.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 18 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

During the review, the Canon EOS 600D / Rebel T3i produced images of outstanding quality. The resolution is absolutely best in class, though you will want to shoot RAW for best results and possibly purchase something else than the 18-55mm IS kit zoom we had in for testing, as it does not do the camera full justice, even stopped down (the camera is available in a number of kits and there is a body-only option as well.)

Noise handling is also very good considering the pixel density. Shooting RAW is again a good idea if you plan on taking lots of high-ISO shots, as you can get better detail with less chroma noise than by shooting JPEG. As regards the colours, we have found them to be a little on the dull side, though this is nothing you can't change in-camera, by way of tweaking the available Picture Styles or creating your own.

The camera's Highlight Tone Priority mode allowed us to retain more highlight detail in contrasty scenes than would otherwise be possible without underexposing the midtones and the shadows. The built-in flash caused no red-eye, and the night photo came out very well. Overall, a very good showing from a camera that has considerably smaller pixels than some of its competitors.

Noise

ISO sensitivity can be set between ISO 100 and ISO 6400 in full-stop increments, and a boosted setting of ISO 12800 is also available. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right. The RAW files were developed with Canon's Digital Photo Professional (3.10.0.0), using the software's default settings and noise reduction set to 0.

JPEG

RAW

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Canon EOS 600D / Rebel T3i has 2 different JPEG file quality settings available, including Fine and Normal, with Fine being the higher quality option. Here are two 100% crops which show the quality of the two options.

Fine (6.26Mb) (100% Crop) Normal (3.08Mb) (100% Crop)
   
RAW (23.4Mb) (100% Crop)  
 

Sharpening

The out-of-camera JPEGs are quite soft and at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes via the Picture Style options.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

   

Chromatic Aberrations

The EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens handled chromatic aberrations well during the review, but on a couple of occasions, it produced some nasty purple fringing even stopped down. The examples shown here at 100% represent the absolute worst results you can expect from this lens mated to the EOS 600D / T3i.

Example 1 (100% Crop)

Example 2 (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the EOS 600D / T3i are Auto, Manual Flash On/Off, and Red-Eye Reduction. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (29mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (29mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (88mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (88mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are a couple of portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting nor the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
   

Red-eye Reduction

Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Canon EOS 600D's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's a Bulb mode for even longer exposures, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 30 seconds, aperture of f/8 at ISO 100. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Image Stabilisation

The Canon EOS 600D's EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens offers image stabilisation, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than with lenses that lack this function. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Image Stabilisation turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are two 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with Image Stabilisation turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti-shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)

Anti Shake On (100% Crop)

1/5th / 88mm

Picture Controls

Canon's Picture Controls are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. The available Picture Controls are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. You can tweak these Picture Controls to your liking, and there are also User Defined styles so that you can create your own look.

Standard

Portrait

   
Landscape

Neutral

   
Faithful

Monochrome

Creative Auto

Creative Auto has been extended with the introduction of Basic +. Essentially a more extreme version of the well-established Picture Styles, this offers nine options including Standard, Vivid, Soft, Warm, Intense, Cool, Brighter, Darker and Monochrome, all of which can be interactively tweaked to suit your taste.

Standard

Vivid

   
Soft

Warm

   
Intense

Cool

   
Brighter

Darker

   
Monochrome  
 

Auto Lighting Optimizer

Auto Lighting Optimizer performs in-camera processing to even out the contrast and correct brightness. There are now 4 different settings - Off, Low, Standard and Strong.

Off

Low

   
Standard

Strong

Highlight Tone Priority

Highlight Tone Priority is a custom function (C.Fn-6), which can be enabled from the menu. Use of this custom function improves highlight detail by expanding the camera's dynamic range in the highlights. To test the effectiveness of this function, I photographed the same high-contrast scene in M mode at ISO 200 (the lowest sensitivity setting available with Highlight Tone Priority enabled), exposing for open shade. As you can see from these examples, Highlight Tone Priority reduced the extent of highlight blow-out considerably. The 100% crops also reveal that highlight detail was better retained and defined.

Off

On
   

Peripheral Illumination Correction

Peripheral Illumination Correction, first seen in the EOS 500D, is an in-camera solution designed to reduce the effect of light fall-off in the image corners. It works, though the difference is not night and day.

Off

On

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon EOS 600D camera, which were all taken using the 18 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Canon EOS 600D enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Canon RAW (CR2) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 9 second movie is 54.4Mb in size.

Product Images

Canon EOS 600D

Front of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Front of the Camera - Flash Raised

 
Canon EOS 600D

Front of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Isometric View

 
Canon EOS 600D

Isometric View

 
Canon EOS 600D

Isometric View

 
Canon EOS 600D

Isometric View

 
Canon EOS 600D

Rear of the Camera - Image Displayed

 
Canon EOS 600D

Rear of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Rear of the Camera - Turned On

 
Canon EOS 600D

Rear of the Camera - Main Menu

 
Canon EOS 600D

Rear of the Camera - Info Screen

 
Canon EOS 600D

Rear of the Camera - Video Mode

 
Canon EOS 600D

Rotating LCD Screen

 
Canon EOS 600D

Rotating LCD Screen

 
Canon EOS 600D

Top of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Bottom of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Side of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Side of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Front of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Front of the Camera

 
Canon EOS 600D

Memory Card Slot

 
Canon EOS 600D

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Canon EOS 600D / Rebel T3i further blurs the lines between consumer and prosumer DSLR, offering the portability of the former with some of the advanced features of the latter. The vari-angle LCD is the most welcome addition, making perfect sense on a camera that will potentially be used by all the family for both stills and video alike. It may not be the most exciting new DSLR, but the EOS 600D / Rebel T3i does a lot of things for the money, and does most of them very well.

The addition of the vari-angle LCD screen, Scene Intelligent Auto mode, Basic+ and Creative Filters, and on-screen Feature Guide all serve to make the EOS 600D more appealing to owners of compacts who have outgrown their camera and want to step-up to something that gives better results without being too complicated. The small, light and friendly EOS 600D fits that bill very well, yet it also offers enough features for both the beginner to grow into and to tempt the more experienced user, most notably 18 megapixels, ISO range of 100-12,800, 63-zone metering sensor, full HD movie mode and built-in wireless flash control. This is a very competent DSLR that allows you to capture incredibly detailed photos without ever getting in the way or spoiling the fun of picture taking. Just make sure you understand that if you are mainly attracted to it by its headline-grabbing resolution, you will need to buy something better than the new 18-55mm kit lens to actually make the most out of all those pixels.

The situation is rather less clear if you already own its predecessor, the 550D / T2i. The vari-angle LCD, wireless flash and plethora of hand-holding modes are all very well, but we doubt that any or all of these would or should tempt 550D owners to upgrade - the 7D is a more natural choice. In terms of the competition, things have heated up since the 550D / T2i was launched, with Sony in particular putting the cat amongst the proverbial pigeons with the video-tastic A55, while Nikon's older D3100 looks a little less tempting now in terms of features but is cheaper, not to mention some of the better and crucially smaller compact system cameras. This mid-range area of the market has certainly become very competitive in the last 18 months.

Despite that, the Canon EOS 600D / Rebel T3i cleverly occupies a position that's mid-way between the 550D and the 7D without being subjected to a price increase on launch. It's the most capable yet friendly Rebel yet, and easily worthy of our Highly Recommended award.

4.5 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4.5
Features 4.5
Ease-of-use 4.5
Image quality 4.5
Value for money 4

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Canon EOS 600D from around the web.

techradar.com »

Canon's triple-digit EOS line has traditionally catered for those dipping their toes into DSLR photography, but as successive models have acquired more functionality, they've ventured further into enthusiast territory.
Read the full review »

digitaltrends.com »

Take a quick glance at the Canon EOS Rebel T3i and you’ll hardly be surprised at its form and style. It looks just like many other entry-level and mid-range DSLRs on the market. Look closely at the back of the T3i, however, and you’ll see one of its coolest features: a 3-inch vari-angle LCD screen rated an impressive 1 million pixels.
Read the full review »

whatdigitalcamera.com »

The EOS 600D is the latest in a long line of enthusiast DSLRs from Canon, but does this latest model deliver enough new features to make it a worthy addition? We find out in the What Digital Camera Canon EOS 600D review…
Read the full review »

Specifications

IMAGE SENSOR
Type 22.3 x 14.9mm CMOS
Effective Pixels Approx. 18.0 megapixels
Total Pixels Approx 18.7 megapixels
Aspect Ratio 3:2
Low-Pass Filter Built-in/Fixed
Sensor Cleaning EOS integrated cleaning system
Colour Filter Type Primary Colour
IMAGE PROCESSOR
Type DIGIC 4
LENS
Lens Mount EF/EF-S
Focal Length Equivalent to 1.6x the focal length of the lens
FOCUSING
Type TTL-CT-SIR with a CMOS sensor
AF System/ Points 9 AF points (f/5.6 cross type at centre, extra sensitivity at f/2.8)
AF Working Range EV -0.5 -18 (at 23°C & ISO100)
AF Modes AI Focus
One Shot
AI Servo
AF Point Selection Automatic selection, Manual selection
Selected AF Point Display Superimposed in viewfinder and indicated on LCD monitor
Predictive AF Yes up to 8m¹
AF Lock Locked when shutter button is pressed half way in One Shot AF mode
AF Assist Beam Intermittent firing of built-in flash or emitted by optional dedicated Speedlite
Manual Focus Selected on lens, default in Live View Mode
AF Microadjustment No
EXPOSURE CONTROL
Metering Modes TTL full aperture metering with 63-zone SPC
(1) Evaluative metering (linked to all AF points)
(2) Partial metering at center (approx. 9% of viewfinder)
(3) Spot metering (approx. 4% of viewfinder at center)
(4) Center weighted average metering
Metering Range EV 1-20 (at 23°C with 50mm f/1.4 lens ISO100)
AE Lock Auto: In 1-shot AF mode with evaluative metering exposure is locked when focus is achieved.
Manual: By AE lock button in creative zone modes
Exposure Compensation +/-5 EV in 1/3 or 1/2 stop increments (can be combined with AEB)
AEB 3 shots +/- 2 EV, 1/2 or 1/3-stop increments
ISO Sensitivity* AUTO (100-6400), 100-6400 Expandable to H (approx 12800) in 1-stop increments
SHUTTER
Type Electronically-controlled focal-plane shutter
Speed 30-1/4000 sec (1/2 or 1/3 stop increments), Bulb (Total shutter speed range. Available range varies by shooting mode)
WHITE BALANCE
Type Auto white balance with the imaging sensor
Settings AWB, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White
Fluorescent light, Flash, Custom.
White balance compensation:
1. Blue/Amber +/-9
2. Magenta/Green +/-9
Custom White Balance Yes, 1 setting can be registered
WB Bracketing +/-3 levels in single level increments
3 bracketed images per shutter release.
Selectable Blue/Amber bias or Magenta/ Green bias
VIEWFINDER
Type Pentamirror
Coverage (Vertical/Horizontal) Approx. 95%
Magnification Approx. 0.85x¹
Eyepoint Approx. 19mm (from eyepiece lens centre)
Dioptre Correction -3 to +1 m-1 (dioptre)
Focusing Screen Fixed
Mirror Quick-return half mirror (Transmission: reflection ratio of 40:60, no mirror cut-off with EF600mm f/4 or shorter)
Viewfinder Information AF information: AF points, focus confirmation light
Exposure information: Shutter speed, aperture value, ISO speed (always displayed), AE lock, exposure level/compensation, spot metering circle, exposure warning, AEB
Flash information: Flash ready, high-speed sync, FE lock, flash exposure compensation, red-eye reduction light
Image information: Highlight tone priority (D+), monochrome shooting, maximum burst (1 digit display), White balance correction, SD card information
Depth of Field Preview Yes, with Depth of Field preview button
Eyepiece Shutter On strap
LCD MONITOR
Type Vari angle 7.7cm (3.0") 3:2 Clear View TFT, approx. 1040K dots
Coverage Approx. 100%
Viewing Angle (Horizontally/Vertically) Approx 170°
Coating Dual Anti-reflection, anti smudge
Brightness Adjustment Adjustable to one of seven levels
Display Options (1) Quick Control Screen
(2) Camera settings
FLASH
Built-in Flash GN (ISO 100, meters) 13
Built-in Flash Coverage Up to 17mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
Built-in Flash Recycle Time Approx. 3 seconds
Modes Auto, Manual flash, Integrated Speedlite Transmitter
Red-Eye Reduction Yes - with red eye reduction lamp
X-Sync 1/200sec
Flash Exposure Compensation +/- 2EV in 1/2 or 1/3 increments
Flash Exposure Bracketing Yes, with compatible External Flash
Flash Exposure Lock Yes
Second Curtain Synchronisation Yes
HotShoe/ PC Terminal Yes/ -
External Flash Compatibility E-TTL II with EX series Speedlites, wireless multi-flash support
External Flash Control Via camera menu screen
SHOOTING
Modes Scene Intelligent Auto, No Flash, Creative Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, Movie, Program AE , Shutter priority AE, Aperture priority AE, Manual
Picture Styles Auto, Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Defined (x3)
Colour Space sRGB and Adobe RGB
Image Processing Highlight Tone Priority
Auto Lighting Optimizer (4 settings)
Long exposure noise reduction
High ISO speed noise reduction (4 settings)
Auto Correction of Lens Peripheral illumination
Basic+ (Shoot by ambience selection, Shoot by lighting or scene type)
Creative filters (Grainy B/W, Soft focus, Toy camera, Miniature effect, Fish-eye) - during image Playback only
Drive Modes Single, Continuous, Self timer (2s, 10s+remote, 10s + continuous shots 2-10)
Continuous Shooting Max. Approx. 3.7fps for approx. 34 JPEG images¹, 6 images RAW²
LIVE VIEW MODE
Type Electronic viewfinder with image sensor
Coverage Approx. 99% (horizontally and vertically)
Frame Rate 30 fps
Focusing Manual Focus (Magnify the image 5x or 10x at any point on screen)
Autofocus: Quick mode, Live mode
Metering Real-time evaluative metering with image sensor
Active metering time can be changed
Display Options Grid overlay, Histogram
FILE TYPE
Still Image Type JPEG: Fine, Normal (Exif 2.30 compliant) / Design rule for Camera File system (2.0),
RAW: RAW (14bit, Canon original RAW 2nd edition),
Digital Print Order Format [DPOF] Version 1.1 compliant
RAW+JPEG Simultaneous Recording Yes, RAW + Large JPEG
Image Size JPEG 3:2: (L) 5184x3456, (M) 3456x2304, (S1) 2592x1728, (S2) 1920x1280, (S3) 720x480
JPEG 4:3: (L) 4608x3456, (M) 3072x2304, (S1) 2304x1728, (S2) 1696x1280, (S3) 640x480
JPEG 16:9: (L) 5184x2912, (M) 3456x1944, (S1) 2592x1456 (S2) 1920x1080, (S3) 720x400
JPEG 1:1: (L) 3456x3456, (M) 2304x2304, (S1) 1728x1728, (S2) 1280x1280, (S3) 480x480
RAW: (RAW) 5184x3456
Movie Type MOV (Video: H.264, Sound: Linear PCM)
Movie Size 1920 x 1080 (29.97, 25, 23.976 fps)
1280 x 720 (59.94, 50 fps)
640 x 480 (59.94, 50 fps)
Movie Length Max duration 29min 59sec, Max file size 4GB
Folders New folders can be manually created and selected
File Numbering (1) Consecutive numbering
(2) Auto reset
(3) Manual reset
OTHER FEATURES
Custom Functions 11 Custom Functions with 34 settings
Metadata Tag User copyright information (can be set in camera)
Image rating (0-5 stars)
Intelligent Orientation Sensor Yes
Playback Zoom 1.5x - 10x enabled in 15steps
Display Formats (1) Single image with information (2 levels)
(2) Single image
(3) 4 image index
(4) 9 image index
(5) Jump Display
Slide Show Image selection: All images, by Date, by Folder, Movies, Stills
Playback time: 1/2/3/5 seconds
Repeat: On/Off
Histogram Brightness: Yes
RGB: Yes
Highlight Alert Yes
Image Erase/Protection Erase: Single image, All images in folder, Checkmarked images, unprotected images
Protection: Erase protection of one image at a time
Menu Categories (1) Shooting menu (x4)
(2) Playback menu (x2)
(3) Setup menu (x3)
(4) My Menu
Menu Languages 25 Languages
English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Arabic, Thai, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese
Firmware Update Update possible by the user
INTERFACE
Computer Hi-Speed USB
Other Video output (PAL/ NTSC) (integrated with USB terminal), HDMI mini output (HDMI-CEC compatible), External microphone (3.5mm Stereo mini jack)
DIRECT PRINT
Canon Printers Canon Compact Photo Printers and PIXMA Printers supporting PictBridge
PictBridge Yes
STORAGE
Type SD card, SDHC card or SDXC card
SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEM
PC & Macintosh Windows XP inc SP3 / Vista inc SP1 and SP2 (excl. Starter Edition) / 7 (excl. Starter Edition)
OS X v10.4-10.6
SOFTWARE
Browsing & Printing ZoomBrowser EX / ImageBrowser
Image Processing Digital Photo Professional
Other PhotoStitch, EOS Utility (inc. Remote Capture), Picture Style Editor
POWER SOURCE
Batteries 1 x Rechargeable Li-ion Battery LP-E8
Battery Life Approx. 440 (at 23°C, AE 50%, FE 50%)¹
Approx. 400 (at 0°C, AE 50%, FE 50%)
Battery Indicator 4 levels
Power Saving Power turns off after 30sec or 1, 2, 4, 8 or 15mins.
Power Supply & Battery Chargers AC Adapter Kit ACK-E8, Battery charger LC-E8, LC-E8E
PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Body Materials Stainless Steel and polycarbonate resin with conductive fiber
Operating Environment 0 – 40 °C, 85% or less humidity
Dimensions (WxHxD) 133.1 x 99.5 x 79.7 mm
Weight (Body Only) Approx. 570g (CIPA testing standard, including battery and memory card)
ACCESSORIES
Viewfinder Eyecup Ef, E-series Dioptric Adjustment Lens with Rubber Frame Ef, Eyepiece Extender EP-EX15II, Angle Finder C
Case Semi-Hard Case EH19-L
Wireless File Transmitter Compatible with Eye-Fi cards
Lenses All EF and EF-S lenses
Flash Canon Speedlites (220EX, 270EX, 270EX II, 320EX, 420EX, 430EX, 430EX II, 550EX, 580EX, 580EX II, Macro-Ring-Lite, MR-14EX, Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX, Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2)
Battery Grip BG-E8
Remote Controller/ Switch Remote Switch RS-60E3, Remote Controller RC-6
Other Hand Strap E2

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