Great camera for an acceptable price, highly recommended.
I am having now this camera for a month (since Dec 2012) and this is my first DSLR. I wanted a camera which would give me good quality photos of people, pieces of art (mostly paintings) and various paysage (for travelling), under limited quantity of light. T4i was one of the candidates that I analyzed for a couple of months, considering several categories that were important for me. Shown below are the categories, info and the last number 1-5 was the rate I gave this camera for each category:
Kit Lens 18-55 3;
Megapixels 18 3;
ISO 100 - 12800 3;
Articulated LCD Fully articulated 3;
Built in Flash Yes 3;
Sensor APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm) 3;
Price 600 3;
Weight 570 g (1.26 lb / 20.11 oz) 1;
Dimensions 133 x 100 x 80 mm (5.24 x 3.94 x 3.15") 1;
Remote control Yes (E3 connector, InfraRed) 2;
Total: 25 points ;
The other candidates were: CANON EOS-M, Canon G1 X, Olympus E-PL5, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1K, Sony NEX-F3K, Sony NEX-5RK, Sony NEX-7, Sony A65, Samsung NX210 and Samsung NX20. Using the same methodology they had 20-29 points. I also compared the test photos for every of those cameras on www.dpreview.com, made under different conditions (mostly different ISO, meaning different quantity of light) and concluded they were all about good enough for my needs.
The reason I finally bought T4i was that the price on E-bay went down to 600$ and I was out of patience waiting for Samsung NX20 to get available for less then 750$. I also bought remote infra red control from Photive and set of filters (UV, Polarizer and Fluorescent) from Vivitar, both working fine.
After all, I must say I am very satisfied with this purchase and would definitely recommend this camera. What surprised me is how much I like the viewfinder which is really excellent. You have to try it in order to understand its value. I also thought the weight of camera would bother me but it does not. Articulated screen is a must and I had it on my previous camera (Canon point and shoot), so that was not a surprise. In my opinion built in flash is a must as well, otherwise one loses any advantage of smaller cameras available on the market if external flash has to be carried as well. Not to mention, the pictures are of great quality as expected with this sensor size, even with this 18-55 lens which is not a favourite lens in the reviews. I experimented with several shooting modes and did not have much discrepancies between what I expected and what I got as the result. I think I bought myself a wonderfull toy for 600$ that I will enjoy using for a long time. What should be better: making videos with this lens is practically not an option, since autofocus in much noisy - but videos were not so important to me, at this moment. For videos, in future, I plan to buy STM lens, maybe 40mm prime, which should provide additional sharpness for portraits, as well, and cost just 150$. (Also planned for future purchase: external flash that would eliminate shadows when bounced or a diffuser.)Read full review
