Canon EOS 600D: Controls
Screen and provided lens aside, the other thing that immediately strikes you upon handling the 600D is how relatively lightweight, compact and portable this camera is – although it’s clearly no pocket option. At the same time the Canon manages to offer ergonomically chunky controls and a grip of sufficient size to snake three fingers comfortably around, so it sits well in the palm.
For the first time a Feature Guide has been added to the user interface that ‘talks’ you via text prompts through the camera settings – an explanatory sentence popping up on the LCD with each subsequent twist of the shooting mode dial – so users can pick the 600D up and start shooting without having swotted up via the manual.
For the first time a Feature Guide has been added to the user interface that ‘talks’ you via text prompts through the camera settings – an explanatory sentence popping up on the LCD with each subsequent twist of the shooting mode dial – so users can pick the 600D up and start shooting without having swotted up via the manual.
Amidst the busy 14 settings on the shooting mode dial that cover the creative regulars of program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual mode, Canon has highlighted the Scene Intelligent Auto mode in green. As it sounds, with this option selected the camera itself sets the focus, brightness levels, flash and colour tones according to the subject before the lens – so operation becomes as easy as pointing and shooting.
Screen
Of course we’ve witnessed tilt-able LCDs on bridge cameras and rival DSLRs for a while now, but here its implementation really allow users to make the most of the 600D’s Live View functionality (where the 3-inch, 1040k dot resolution LCD can be used as a viewfinder)for shot composition as well as review.
Because you can flip and bend the screen to achieve previously unrealised shooting angles - such as high or low - it proves a distraction from the regular optical viewfinder. Especially as, if attempting to use the optical viewfinder, your nose squashes up against and smears the screen as you attempt to get an eye level with it.
Canon EOS 600D: Speed and Performance
The 600D’s power switch is adjacent to the shooting mode dial. Give the switch a thumb flick to ‘on’ and the by the time your forefinger has pressed the shutter release button down half way so the 9-point auto focus system can do its stuff, you’re ready to shoot. So no frustrating delay here at all.
The camera deploys sensor cleaning upon powering down, rather than powering up, as a further time saver.
For those looking for grain free results in low light, the basic light sensitivity range of ISO100 to 6400 is further expandable to ISO12800. While that’s up there with semi pro DSLRs in terms of performance, it still falls slightly short of the ISO 25,600 offered by the Nikon D5100 - on paper at least.
High speed shooting at 3.7fps is more akin to what we would expect at the entry level, as is the aforementioned auto focus system. Clearly Canon is mindful of demarcation between DSLR models in its range.
Otherwise a full resolution JPEG records to memory in two seconds, and a unprocessed Raw file a fraction of a second longer, although in truth it’s hard to notice the difference, which is in itself commendable. The 600D is therefore as swift and responsive as you’d want a DSLR to be for daily use.
Canon EOS 600D Verdict
You know that a new digital SLR from Canon or Nikon is not going to be a clunker and that’s the case with the 600D: it’s another excellent if slightly pricey tool for anyone upgrading from a humble pocket point and shooter. All most of us want is to take shots that are a fair representation of what the eye can see, albeit within a fixed frame and the 600D delivers that and more.
More information : http://www.t3.com/reviews/canon-eos-600d-review
