Some digital camera upgrades outperform their predecessors by leaps and bounds. Some camera upgrades move forward by inches. The Canon Rebel T3i falls into the latter camp. This follow-up to the Editors' Choice Rebel T2i ($799.99, 4.5 stars) adds a flip-out LCD, but otherwise doesn't change any of the major details. It ends up a decent midrange SLR at $899.99 (list) with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, but it simply doesn't wow us, and actually turns out to be slightly slower than the T2i, with softer images, for $100 more.

Design

The most notable new feature on the T3i is its articulating 3-inch LCD. The 1,040k-dot display can flip to the side and pivot up and down 270 degrees, giving a lot of flexibility when shooting crowds or other subjects requiring very high or very low camera angles. Besides that, the T3i looks and feels nearly identical to the T2i, right down to the SD/SDHC/SDXC card door on the right side. In fact, the only other physical change to the camera is its A/V connections. The microphone, A/V out, and HDMI connectors are still located on the left side of the camera, but this time the microphone port is hidden with the remote port under a separate rubber door from the A/V and HDMI connectors. The body measures 3.9 by 5.2 by 3.1 (HWD) inches and weighs 1.14 pounds without a lens. The controls are standard, with a mode dial, a settings dial under the index finger, and a small cluster of buttons for navigating menus.

Like its design, the T3i's list of features is also nearly identical to the T2i. It has the same 18-megapixel APS-C sensor, the same Digic 4 image processor, the same HD video modes (1080p video at 24, 25, or 30 frames per second, or 720p video at 50 or 60 frames per second), the same 3.7 fps continuous shooting speed, and the same 63-zone metering. Even the included kit lenses are very similar, with 18 to 55mm focal length, f/3.5 to 5.6 aperture, and image stabilization. However, the T3i's lens uses Canon's IS II image stabilization, and the T2i's lens uses IS image stabilization. Whether the difference is significant remains to be seen.

Performance

The T3i's image quality is excellent, though not quite as sharp as the T2i with its 18 to 55mm, f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. We use Imatest to evaluate camera picture quality using test patterns. According to Imatest, the T3i has a center-weighted average of 1,878 lines. Anything more than 1,800 lines is considered very sharp, but it doesn't reach the T2i's average of 2,296 lines. Surprisingly, it's only slightly sharper than the 12-megapixel Canon T3's ($599.99, 3.5 stars) average of 1,851 lines, not coming close to the T2i's average.

Noise levels are also very good, with the camera keeping photos relatively free of grain up to ISO 1600. Photos with noise levels of more than 1.5 percent are considered too noisy, and the T3i only produces that much noise at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400. Anything shot at a lower sensitivity has an acceptable amount of noise.

The T3i is incredibly quick when shooting like a conventional SLR. It can capture its first picture after being turned on in just 0.5 seconds, and after that it can capture 2.6 shots per second in normal shooting mode. Strangely, at full resolution in continuous mode with a class 6 SD card, the T3i captured 2.1 frames per second, needing to write from the buffer to the card at times and causing hiccups when shooting for a half minute. Unfortunately, the Live View mode is so slow it's nearly useless. It can take more than 5 seconds to get a lock on a subject in Live View mode, which is a major drawback.

Video looks very good when it's in focus, but unfortunately the focus in movie mode is almost as bad as the focus in Live View mode. The camera has difficulty getting a lock on any close or midrange subject, and I had to switch to manual focus to get a good shot in my tests. When I did focus, the video looked great, with the camera switching quickly between exposure settings to adjust for different lighting conditions. The details are very sharp, and there was no noticable tearing or artifacts, making it markedly better than the T3's video.

The Canon Rebel T3i is a good midrange digital SLR, but its relatively soft kit lens and sluggish Live View mode keep it from being a worthy upgrade to the T2i, which beats the T3i in every major testing category. Since the Live View mode is painfully slow, the flip-out LCD, the only notable upgrade over the T3i, fails to justify the $100 premium. Otherwise, consider our latest Editors' Choice D-SLR, the much quicker-in-Live-View Nikon D5100 ($799.99, 4.5 stars) or the less expensive Canon EOS Rebel T3. If you're not dedicated to an SLR, the compact interchangeable lens Sony Alpha NEX-C3 ($649.99, 4.5 stars) offers very good picture quality with much faster Live View focus (but no optical viewfinder).

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