Canon EOS 650D Review

Canon EOS 650D Review. Designed to deliver stunning pictures in the hands of both amateur and professional.     The Canon EOS 650D may look little different from its brethren, but there are a couple of new things about it that are a sign of things to come. Firstly, touch-screens are all around us today, though the 650D is the first DSLR to come with one. Secondly, the 650D uses a hybrid autofocus (AF) system, which fuses the phase-detect system used in DSLR cameras, with the contrast-detect system found in digital compact cameras.     It’s not the first hybrid AF on the market, but it’s the first for Canon. In theory, Canon’s hybrid AF should make auto-focus faster and more accurate while using live view and shooting video, areas where DSLR cameras’ AF systems have traditionally fallen short.     Using the 650D the old-fashioned way by shooting through the optical viewfinder, AF is fast and accurate, as expected from a modern DSLR, and the camera can shoot at a quick maximum of fi ve frames per second. The camera feels comfortable in the hands too. In terms of physical controls, the 650D loses the Display button on the top plate while gaining an additional Movie mode on the On/Off toggle. This makes it easier to start shooting video than using the mode dial, but you need to take extra care not to enter Movie mode accidentally by overextending the power toggle.     There’s a Q button which brings you into the Quick Menu, where you can easily shift options like white balance, ISO and drive modes. Because the monitor is now touch-sensitive (capacitive, not resistive, just like your iOS or Android smartphone), you can also quickly change settings by tapping the screen. Even the Menu is touch-sensitive, and while we worried the touch targets might be too small, the touch experience works remarkably well.     In live-view mode (shooting via the monitor), AF is faster and more accurate on the 650D than previous Canon DSLRs, but still slower compared to mirrorless and digital compact cameras. It takes an average of a second from the moment you press the shutter to the time the camera achieves focus and shoots. Then the monitor goes black while snapping sounds emanate from within the body. A second or two later, the image you took appears on screen for review. It feels jarring; the experience certainly isn’t the same as shooting with the monitor on a mirrorless or digital compact. Where live-view works well is in tracking AF, once the 650D has a lock on its subject, it usually does a good job of following it around.     Images at low ISO settings look good, clear and colorful, just as we’d expect from a modern camera of this class. The 650D does a good job of decreasing muddiness and keeping a fine grain at higher ISO settings, but ISO 3200 really is the maximum we’d shoot at with this camera. You can go to ISO 6400, but be prepared for a noticeable drop-off in detail and increase in color noise.     The Canon 650D is an all-round capable entry-level DSLR like its predecessors before it. The experience of shooting in live view still leaves something to be desired, so don’t expect to use the monitor to shoot like you would with a mirrorless or compact camera. But when used like a traditional DSLR, performance is punchy and the images turn out well. The touch screen is surprisingly pleasant to use and adds another layer of usability to the 650D.