Canon EOS Rebel T1i

	Controls Summary
• Wide variety of shooting modes • Limited exposure compensation range • 3.4 frames per second in continuous mode • Plenty of metering choices
	Hardware	Page 10 of 21	Design & Handling

Shooting Modes (14.00)

In addition to the standard priority and manual modes, the T1i also has A-Dep (auto depth of field), Creative Auto and full auto modes.

Shooting Modes
	Auto In full auto, the only options that can be changed are self-timer settings and image size. Conspicuously absent is continuous shooting mode.
	Creative Auto Creative Auto mode is a setup designed to ease new users into the sometimes complex world of SLR  controls. Rather than setting an aperture value, you indicate whether you want the background to be blurred or sharp along a five step continuum. Over- or under-exposure can be achieved in the same way, by moving a slider along a continuum. Most of the other settings can be adjusted, but with limited choices.
	P In Program Mode, the aperture and shutter speed are set by the camera, but can be shifted using the control dial, with the exposure staying the same. With the T1i, however, if you program shift, then enter a menu or change a setting, the aperture and shutter speed will reset to the default.
	Shutter-priority mode Called Tv (time value) by Canon, shutter-priority lets you set the shutter speed, and calculates the matching aperture.
	Aperture-priority mode Aperture-priority mode (known as aperture value, or Av on Canon cameras) automatically sets the appropriate shutter speed for the manually controlled aperture.
	Manual Gives full control over shutter speed and aperture. The control dial alters the shutter value; the exposure compensation button must be held down while turning the dial to change the aperture.
	A-Dep A-Dep, or auto depth of field, uses the current autofocus area to focus on your subject, and then adjusts the aperture settings so that anything within that area is in the depth of field.
	Movie Mode The mode for shooting movies, which automatically shifts into Live View, and helpfully reminds you that the exposure lock button is used to focus.
	Scene Modes These are covered in detail below.

Live View (3.50)

Live View is a technology we've seen improve dramatically over the last year or so, but  while it is getting better, it still has a number of drawbacks.

The most significant problem with Live View is trouble focusing. The T1i employs three focus methods: live mode, quick mode and face recognition. Live mode is very slow to focus, and often inaccurate, and quick mode is faster (as it uses the camera's normal focusing mechanism), but needs to raise the mirror to focus, which blacks out the screen briefly. The face recognition mode was good at identifying faces, but due to its slow mechanism, it's very easy for the person to move before focus has been achieved. It's also worth noting that the shutter button isn't used to focus, but rather the exposure lock button, a counter-intuitive procedure.

There are, of course, advantages to using Live View. Firstly, you get 100% field of view, very useful for framing a still life, for example.. Changes to the color mode and white balance are shown dynamically so you can now preview how  the final image will look, and depth of field preview can be shown by using the button on the front of the camera. What's also handy is the ability to zoom the Live View image up to 10x magnification, allowing for precise manual focus.

Live View Displays
Image Only Shows a single image on an otherwise clean screen.	Simplified Information Shows exposure level, number of shots remaining, ISO and battery levels.	Detailed Information Adds information for autofocus, Picture Style, white balance, speed/timing mode and image size.
Histogram Same as above, but with a histogram	Zoom 5x or 10x zoom	Grid Can be set to two different sizes to aid in composing.

The amount of information shown is changed with the display button, from just the image, exposure level and ISO, shooting settings and finally all the above with brightness histogram.

Scene Modes (4.00)

The T1i provides six scene modes arranged on the mode dial.

Scene Modes
	Portrait Sets the Picture Style to Portrait, with continuous shutter mode and one shot focus mode.
	Landscape Uses Landscape Picture Style, which gives bright colors, single shot shutter mode and one shot focus mode.
	Close-up Designed for macro photography, and uses Standard Picture Style, single shot shutter mode and one shot focus mode.
	Sports Sports mode has Standard Picture Style, continuous shutter mode and AI servo focus mode, both of which are great for tracking fast moving subjects.
	Night Portrait Standard Picture Style, single shot shutter mode and one shot focus mode. It is odd that they decided not to use Portrait Picture Style on this mode, which would seem a more logical choice.
	Flash Off Standard Picture Style, single shot shutter mode, AI servo focus mode and the flash won't deploy, regardless of light level.

Picture Effects (5.00)

On some entry-level SLRs, including the recently reviewed Pentax K2000 and Olympus E-620 , you'll find a number of interesting filters and effects you can apply to the image. The Canon Rebel T1i has nothing so obvious, but offers more subtle image controls. The Picture Style controls allow for sharpness, saturation and contrast to be adjusted while shooting. If you're shooting black and white, color filters and tones can be added to the image. The camera also has a custom function called 'auto lighting optimizer' which tweaks exposure and contrast, and can be set to standard, low or strong when it is enabled.

Focus (16.00)

The T1i has nine autofocus points, arranged with eight as a rhombus, and one in the middle. The focusing generally feels fast, though it slows down a bit in low light. Even then, it generally does an admirable job of finding the right point in a timely manner. The focusing motor isn't too loud, though when if you autofocus while recording shooting  video, its proximity to the microphone gives leads to a plainly audible, a very loud grinding noise in the recording.

The nine autofocus points.

Three focus modes are available:

Focus Modes
	One Shot Focuses when the shutter is half-pressed, and maintains that focus.
	AI Servo Will continuously re-focus as long as the shutter is half-pressed, good for moving objects.
	AI Focus The camera will switch between the two other focus modes, depending on whether the subject is in motion or not.

Exposure (4.50)

The T1i's exposure control is narrower than many other cameras, and we would have at least liked to see the exposure compensation run ±3 EV rather than just ±2, and the auto exposure bracketing spanning more than three photos. However, if you set exposure compensation to +2, and use the widest range of auto exposure bracketing, you can squeeze +4 EV, if you want to over-expose significantly.

The exposure control isn't fantastic on the T1i, and we would have at least liked to see the exposure compensation run ±3 EV rather than just ±2, or the auto exposure bracketing being able to take more than three photos. However, if you set the exposure compensation to +2, and use the widest range of AEB, you can squeeze +4 EV, if you want to over-expose significantly.

Speed and Timing

Shot to Shot (3.45)
Canon states the T1i can get 3.4 frames per second in continuous shutter mode, which is precisely we what we found in our timing test. This is a shade faster than the Rebel XS, and while it isn't the fastest camera we've seen, it's by no means the slowest.

Shot to Shot Time Comparison

NOTE: We updated our testing and scoring procedures in January 2009. For comparison purposes, we re-tested several cameras we'd reviewed in 2008, producing the scores shown in the chart above for the Canon Rebel XS and Nikon D90. However, the scores in the original reviews for these re-tested cameras remain unchanged, for consistency's sake.

Drive/Burst Mode (6.50)
There's only one speed for continuous mode, the aforementioned 3.4 frames per second, but if you use the flash or have high ISO noise reduction cranked all the way up, it will slow down. There is no limit to the number of photos that can be taken in this mode. While photographing in RAW, the camera maintains full burst speed for about five shots before slowing down.

Depth of Field Preview (2.00)

The Rebel T1i has a depth of field button just below the lens release. The button is used to show how much of the scene will be in focus under your current settings.  This is a feature that is showing up on fewer and fewer entry-level SLRs, and we like that the T1i includes it.

Metering (8.50)

The T1i has a 35-zone TTL metering system, with four different modes.

Metering Modes
	Evaluative Metering Evaluative metering reads the entire scene, and chooses the best overall exposure
	Partial Metering Meters over 9% at the center of the image
	Spot Metering Meters only off the very center of the frame, approximately 4% of the viewfinder
	Center-weighted Average Meters over the entire frame, but places more emphasis on the center.

Shutter Speed (11.00)

The range of shutter speeds here is standard for this level of camera, with enough control for most situations, though slightly higher-end models usually have a wider range.

Self-Timer (7.00)

The T1i supports three self timers:

Self-Timer Modes
	Self-timer/Remote Control Without a remote control, this is a 10 second timer. If you have a remote control, the camera must be set to this mode for it to work.
	Self-timer:2 sec Two second delay, then takes the photo
	Self-timer: Continuous Chose anywhere between 2 and 10 photos, which are then taken after a 10-second delay.